Friday 11 October 2013

50 Shades of One

"Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength. No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose hope that is the real tragedy." ~Dalai Lama~


I have restrained myself from writing this post ever since the #WestGateAttack happened. At the time when words flooded my mind, I was too sad to write. Too heart-broken to write. Too overwhelmed by the love and support Kenyans showed each other. The solidarity. I suppose I felt unworthy of penning down my thoughts. I wanted to do more than just write. I wanted to be able to turn back time and prevent it all from happening. For those few days, I wanted to play God and take everybody's pain away.

The #WestGate Attack was a sack-full of disaster. Death. Destruction. Despair. Desperation. Darkness. Heart-ache. Trauma. Shock. Inexpressible grief and sadness. It was really the last thing we needed as a country as we celebrate turning 50. But the #WestGateAttack also revealed our strength as a country. For four days and nights we were one, we were all Kenyans in the face of tragedy and despite the damn terrorists cowardice attempt to divide us along religious lines, we remained one. 

Then,  like the leaves of a tree respond to the wind and sadly, true to the Kenyan form,our 50 shades of our oneness began to appear...

This is how we are one in this my beloved country

#WeAreOne before political talk finds it way in tragic events
#WeAreOne before #KOT become political analysts and CSI agents 
#WeAreOne before the tragic events of West Gate become a class issue
#WeAreOne while giving out press statements but not when sharing blame... Hence the NSIS-Police-Army circus of tossing this hot-potato to each other
#WeAreOne before a church is torched and a Muslim Cleric is killed by gun-men
#WeAreOne if our neighbor is not of Somali origin
#WeAreOne before going for elections but 42 when results are counted...

I could go on and on about our various shades of  #WeAreOne... Or I could dream of a better country. 

This is not the country I dream of living in. A country where no matter how tragic events, politics, class and conspiracy theories of individuals with brains the size of a grain of sugar take precedence over the grief that has affected so many of us - directly or indirectly,

I dream of living in a country where political discourse will look beyond our politicians and focus on policies that will solve our problems
I dream of living in a country where our unity has only on shade. White. Not Grey. Where our unity is as sure as the rising of the sun
I dream of living in a country where social media will be used to build and not destroy things
I dream of living in a country where we can be Kenyans all year round... Tragedy or no tragedy.

We clearly haven't gotten it right within this first 50 years. I hope and pray that we will get it right for our kids within the next 50 years...

We should remain one because if the tragedy of #WestGate, politics, religion, class and conspiracy theories do anything else rather than unite us, then we will have failed as a country. We will have compounded to the problems facing our country.

May the departed souls rest peacefully... May their loved ones have a forgiving heart, learn to smile again, learn to laugh again. Learn to be whole again.
May the survivors be healed - physically, emotionally and psychologically. May their memories of that day be deleted from their minds.
May our heroes find peace. May they be the reason we aspire to be truly a nation. May they always be honored in life and death. 
May our nation heal from this pain. May we never forget 21st September 2013. May we never know this grief again. 

May we never lose hope... Hope that we will one day be one!

May our next 50 years be one shade on one.....


1 comment:

  1. Heartfelt truth well said and worth the wait. Only such moments of honest reflection will lead us to true reconciliation, forgiveness, healing, life.

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