By Abdullahi Jamaa
Have you heard about why geese fly in V-formation? You may be interested in knowing. Geese fly in flocks where each bird flaps its wings creating a stronger force to counter heavy winds. Through this formation, the flock gains over 70% more flying power than if each bird flew on its own.
Like these birds, communities who protect their common values and interest will achieve success quickly and profoundly. If we go by the story of the geese and compare our affairs with the birds, then surely we know where we belong. We are far from the geese instead we are a community that has seemingly agreed to embrace an individualistic life without caring for the decaying social fabrics of our society.
Going by what is currently happening; the fighting in the county assembly, the gubernatorial court battle, rampant corruption, mismanagement, political arm-twisting, clan chauvinism and the endless online barrage, we are transforming into a community that is slowly approaching a dangerous abyss.
Our leaders lack civil morality and our community holds the wrong end of the stick; this is the real end to destruction. We cannot lead and we cannot be led, we cannot listen and we cannot understand. There is confusion everywhere not our homes, not our offices.
But I don’t blame the leaders; oh sorry the politicians, I mean the destroyers of our community, the bloodsuckers and the killers of our ambitions. I am talking about those who mastered the art of public stealing, those who think leadership is a profit-making business, those who lead to trade and those who dress to deceive. You know them and you can name them. But yes I blame myself and I blame you too.
I blame myself because I failed to use wisdom and ingenuity in electing meaningful leaders who can put the interest of my community at heart; instead, I chose clan over community, money over humanity, function over family, fake over reality, flaws over values, hate over love and war over peace.
I blame myself because, I did not care that the community is falling apart; I thought that as long as I am making my life and earning my daily bills I have nothing to care about. I go to work and back to home every day with nothing except food and office files. I come across community problems but I don’t find the time to look for solutions. With my knowledge and experience I don’t take part in community initiatives, instead, I sit and drink coffee every day wasting my hard earned money and time.
The amount of money I use daily for coffee and expensive dinners can educate a girl at a day school in Wajir. It can buy books for my old primary school or buy some food items for my poor relatives or pay for my masters’ class in installment. I am a wasteful person without a vision and mission.
I am a big problem and I only see problems. I operate a Facebook account where I insult deliberately. I post nothing but problems, I comment on nothing but criticism and I like nothing but lies. In Facebook sometimes I am a sheikh using religion to dissuade opinions and ideas. I don’t respect other people’s opinion because I know everything under the sun. You can’t tell me anything because I know it all.
I work for the county government as a public servant yet I don’t attend to my work on time. I don’t respect my boss because he is from another clan. I know my boss can’t do much because I am from a majority clan. I can insult him when and if I want, sometimes through Facebook.
I blame myself because at home I am nobody. My old mum still cooks for me. I don’t have time to help in family chores wasting all my precious time online. My education and my energy are meaningless because I can’t use to correct my own mistake. I am doing some silly mistakes in my life, mistakes that are avoidable if only…
I blame myself because I chew Khat every day. Over the years I have wasted and missed a lot of opportunities. I have no time for my children and family, I don’t know if my child is in class six or seven. I neglected my wife’s right turning to be an unsupportive and violent man. I have misused the innocence of my wife and took her for granted because the community supports me with all my wrongs. I am no longer part of the community and the community is no longer part of me. I blame myself.
And you too, I blame, because every day you wake up serving only your own interest. You are a dead man or woman walking; you died long ago at the age of 25 years yet waiting to be buried at the age of 80. With your university degree, you did not solve a single problem in your life; your own life is in gloom and doom. You assist in public stealing and office mismanagement yet you were educated to restore hope and development. You were educated to bring change, to advance innovations but all that is a waste, in fact a disaster of a kind.
You dine with politicians to grease their palms and to cut deals that impoverish your village and neighbors, the orphans and old mothers. You continue chest-thumbing in social media and in gatherings, castigating anyone with a meaningful idea. You know it all. You are the bigger problem in our community; you are a monster, devastation.
This is our problem and we must own it. I accept my failures because that will be the beginning of my redemption. They say being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.
I yearn for change for I discovered my problems, my mistakes and blunders. I yearn for change because it dawned on me that life is not all about making an individual person. Life is not about going to the office and coming back home. Life is not about me alone.
The real meaning of life is been part of the community through thick and thin. No man is an island, every person is a piece of the community. We all know how it is to be a poor community and we must learn that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.
“The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” ― Albert Camus
Abdullahi Jamaa is a Muslim writer passionate about environment and pastoralism. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Plu media. You can contact him by email: jamaa.abdullahi@gmail.com or follow him on Facebook Click Here.
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