YOU ARE ME.

This is a tribute to 147 lives lost in the most inhumane of ways, and a memorial piece for the Garissa Attacks. 147 is indeed not just a number, it represents lives, young lives, the future generations and technocrats of a nation that really needed them. We shall forever remember them. You shall be missed!

I have heard before, that the pen is mightier than the sword. I cannot validate the meticulousness of this adage, nor calculate any conclusive assertion whatsoever that can hold water. This however shall not stop me from nailing my colours on the mast though, as I have seen many other writers do the same in the recent past, and on the wake of the Garissa attacks in a University in Kenya.

On 2^nd April, 2015, as I shall recall, was a day I woke up feeling quite ready to face the challenges of being a Kenyan student, the demand for sheer hardwork, if anything, and the competition to achieve and be better than the rest. In a developing country, education is not only preponderant; it is arguably the ticket to a good job, and almost certainly, a bearable life. So as usual, I woke up early that morning in order to make it to school and in good time, and you can imagine the feeling I felt as my heart contorted when the breaking news shattered across my TV screen. It was easily me, or any one of us in that situation, facing the realms of afterlife, again, because someone felt their religion was being smudged by the simple existence of another human being.

It is this absolute imprudence that really pains me. The chicanery, and the existence of this ‘fool’s paradise’ is not only disheartening, it is brusquely demeaning and a derogation of humanity. No. I refuse to blame the loss of these young lives on religion, or terrorism for the matter. The taking away of human life shall never be validated by the narrowness of any religious, legal nor social cogitation. (I strongly oppose capital punishment, mind you.) Neither shall I blame these bloodcurdling murders on ‘ideologies’ nor ‘radicalisation’. I say, we are humans, not animals, thus, I can only attribute this to the ignominy that has been a creation of our own hatred against each other.

Don’t be fooled my brothers and sisters. This world currently knows no love! We have forgone the art of humanly love, for other attributes that we have assumed to be more integral. We preach peace when the sun shines, yet darkness give us opportunity to scheme acts of conflict. We make love under the sheets, but only spread acrimony and detestation in the streets. We have become agents and masters of judgment. We have taken it upon ourselves to even decide who lives and who doesn’t! Manhood is now measured, by how one’s manhood actually measures. Womanhood has been downgraded to mere beauty and the price of a weave. We kill our women, we kill the old and we have even wiped out future generations. Even worse we have attempted to blame this on our own creations, or on Islam, Christianity, Buddhism…  Yet it is simply because it is as if we have as vowed to not show love to each other.

We are shedding so much innocent blood, just because humanity is at war with itself. This is war against love and hate. This is war between a husband and wife, who may appear to be lovebirds, but who would rather prefer spending their time with their accomplices and friends than be together like spouses ought to. A war between a father and his son, who are bound to love each other by blood, but who would rather spend their evenings in the bar than take a father and son walk in the park. This is war, against our mothers and daughters, who don’t see eye to eye, because mommy is too busy with work, while her daughter prefers her free time spent with her BFFs in alcohol dens. The love of our leaders, and the political class… Need I even indulge on this hogwash? You wonder how we expect to look out for each other at this rate. Haven’t we, by our own doing natured the spread of these so called ‘ideologies’? In fact, if we shall talk about ideologies, I wonder if there are any worse than those that we already habour within ourselves.

Sigh…

Maybe, if we shall learn to love each other, like both the scriptures and the Quran teach, maybe, just maybe, we shall make this world a better place for our unborn sons and daughters. For anarchy shall certainly be the result of our obstinate character. How much blood has to be shed?

I pray for, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, and I hope, that this message shall live true to the implied fact, that the pen (sic) is indeed mightier than sword. In respect to that, I do hope that the ISIS fighters shall silence their guns for a minute, that the LRA in Uganda shall give more thought to their actions. That the Alshabaab shall hear my cry, and that of Kenyans and all those affected, and that Boko Haram shall finally bring back our girls. It’s just a show of love, and that is really not hard to ask for. Or is it?

In the words of one Alaine Laughton, “If I love you, like I love me, and if I treat you, like I treat me, oh what a world, this would be? #YouAreMe”

#WeAreOne