A LAND OF THE BROKEN PROMISES.

I have broken many promises in my life, small promises and big promises, promises made to myself and promises made to others, promises made while few people were present as well as those made with many people present. You would be right to call me a serial promise breaker. But what did You expect? Am only human (Read, am only Kenyan). Furthermore, a big promise broken or a small promise broken are all the same, at least it is so in God’s eyes because to Him, all sins are the same. Sometimes I feel like God is unfair on this ruling. Imagine just looking at a pretty woman lustfully is the same as doing the act with her in a secret room somewhere? It always sounds unfair to me. Maybe we need to petition God on this or use the Kenyan way, enlist Gen Zs to demonstrate and have God rank sins from small ones to big ones. Unfortunately, God cannot be corrected, his kingdom is a theocracy and not a democracy.  

Let’s talk of promises big and small. Guilty as charged, I accept that I broke even big promises but guess what, am just the same with you who broke a small one. You behind there, you who said you would call and never called. Same with you, you who said you would look into it and never did. You, you who said, ‘I will look for you’ and never did. You, you who said, ‘I will follow it up for you’ and never did. You, you who said I will come at 4.00PM but came at 4:37 PM. We are all guilty of lies.  Of course, these are the promises that we make rather casually, just as a by-the-way and have no plan or intention of keeping them. Talk of, ‘I will keep you posted’. Talk of, ‘I will let you know’. Talk of, ‘I’ll send you a message’. We just say things and peoples’ words, especially in Kenya nowadays don’t have meaning. Next time we just need to shut up. I believe that our words should bind us to the action attached to them, otherwise, they are meaningless.

But there is one we Kenyans are most notorious for. And this is, ‘I will pay’. I have heard so many of ‘I will pay you’ promises made to me, and I can tell you for free 95% of the time, that promise is never fulfilled, at least not exact as per the promise. And there are so many versions of it. ‘I will pay you next week on Friday’. ‘I will pay you next month’. ‘I will refund in two weeks’ time’. ‘I will refund next month’. Kenyans will make these promises left right and centre with no intention or plan to keep them. A few months ago, I made a personal decision to try and be making promises more carefully and ensure to keep them. The first test I set for myself was to borrow money from a friend. So, I borrowed Ksh. 100,000 and promised to pay on the 23^rd, the exact date I was to receive my salary and for sure, I paid on the exact date. The second test I set to myself was to clear all my payslip-based loans before I left employment and for several months before, I started paying more than the required monthly repayment amount, as much as I got from all my sources. As to whether I was able to clear before leaving employment or not can be anyone’s guess. So, as a custom from that time, I don’t promise to pay without having a clear plan as to how and from where I will pay and any promise I make needs to have clear timelines in respect of ASAP principle. I know of a few people who borrowed unsecured loans from banks, intentionally left employment to run away from paying their loans and enjoyed their loot. As much I respect that as their personal choice, my personal opinion considers that to be theft. If you did that, you are a thief in my opinion. (I could be wrong)

I have some good news for you Kenyans and any of us who would be a victim of lies from borrowers, a formula to test whether the promise is true or false. A few days ago, a close relative of mine needed to borrow around 10 thousand shillings from me. And this is how the formula goes……... But cautious though, don’t use it if you don't want to hurt or break your relationships because, it can easily break your relationships. The formula is about interrogating. Interrogate, interrogate, interrogate. Like for me, I asked the borrower some hard questions like, ‘why do you need the money?’ And they said, ‘I need to pay rent for my business premise’. And I asked, ‘How come you didn’t earn enough from your business to be able to pay rent?  And they said, ‘Business is a little bit down, competition is high and of late, it's not doing very well’. And I asked, ‘did you not say you will pay me next month?’ Then they said they would pay as promised. Then I asked, ‘How will you be able to pay if your source is the same business and the conditions are not changing?’  And they said, ‘I know but I will pay you’ At this point I knew that, though their promise to pay could be genuine, it would result into a lie because the promise was not backed up by a good plan to fulfil it. Of course, I gave them the money but after some intervention from another close relative, but I would be surprised if the money would be paid, and on time.

The big question is, why do we make promises that we are not even sure we are going to keep?  With no intention nor a plan to keep? I think that the answer is simple, we know we are lying but make the promise as sweet as possible and our aim is only to get what we want. Simple. In Kenya nowadays, ‘I will pay back’ stories is what Kenyans call, ‘stori za jaba’ (unfounded theories).  Of course, I have lost so much money given out to people in the manner of false promises, including one born again brother who has been paying me as he wishes since 2018 and is yet to clear 85K but he does business worth millions every few months. But he is a Kenyan you know and Kenyans never pay back money, at least not as per the promise. In my observation, only 5% do but the rest? They will just pretend like nothing happened. They don’t care what the money giver thinks or feels or the plans they had for their money. That is nothing to them. It is worse if they believe that the person they borrowed from is wealthy. They tell themselves that the borrowing is small and that it is nothing to the giver because they already have too much. How these guys are able to calculate the wealth of their lenders amazes me, so much.  

So, at this point I would wish to ask you. Why did you say you would pay that person but you have kept it for nearly 2 years, 3 months, 6 weeks? Why are you unfairly keeping what is not yours? What if we called you a thief?  Would you feel insulted? You still insist that you will pay. Okay. But when? If you don’t have an exact plan and timeline, then you may as well be called a thief because, it is highly likely that you will not pay. Sometimes, I tend to compare that which is unfairly acquired to wolf among sheep, and I think, it eats up your genuine resources and you eventually end up with nothing.   

 So, I have one more formula that I used while I worked in the service industry. This helped me keep many of my promises unbroken. Instead of saying, ‘I will call you’. I used to say, ‘I will call you by tomorrow evening but if I don't call you, please call me yourself instead’ and at that point, I would give out my phone number. That made the promises easier for me because, I would be exonerated for not calling and that shifted the responsibility to the other person. That is a beautiful secret, or what do you think?

I don't know whether we should talk about Kenya’s president and his promises or his political brigade and their promises!!!  The courage with which these people make and break promises is just amazing. The latest I heard is the 1M chapati production machine. But this calls for introspection for each one of us.

We need to look into ourselves and count the number of promises we still need to fulfil. You can probably begin with that debt that you promised to pay. Just do a plan. You don’t have to pay everything at once. Call that person and tell them that you want to start paying 500 shillings every month and begin to pay. Just do it. In that way, you begin to gain credibility in the eyes of God and men. And in that manner, we can begin to fix this country one step at a time and one person at a time.

Maybe the next step would be to try and make less and less promises, be careful what we promise and concentrate on keeping every promise we make. Am not totally innocent but I have learnt to make less promises and to keep the ones I make. For example, I don't say, ‘I will call you’. Rather I prefer to say, ‘I will call you at exactly 4:00 PM and I do exactly that and if something comes up, I will excuse myself before. When I Know that the meeting starts at 10.00 AM for example, I leave the house 15 minutes earlier so as to be there the exact time the meeting should begin. Some Kenyans will come 35 minutes later and feel nothing. Seriously Kenyans!!! We need to be serious about what we say because, Kenyans cannot be trusted with what they promise. And as we blame the president and politicians for broken promises, how many promises do we ourselves break on a daily basis? It is true that the fish rots from the head but for Kenya, the entire fish seems rotten.

I wouldn’t want to say any word more. But that is my opinion. Do you mind us considering God’s perspective from the holy book?

In Numbers 30:2, God says, “When a man makes a vow…he must not break his word but must do everything he said.” Psalms 15 would also be a good chapter to wrap it up.

Let us remember that God notes every promise that we make and needs us to keep it and while most of us are guilty on this area, we can begin by keeping the promise we make next. Shall we?

                  

@ Stephen Mungai

 

TREASURES, HUNTERS AND GATHERERS

Of Adam descendants, my mother has me, the first and four others of Eve descendants. For the bigger part of our lives, she has single handedly fed us and catered for all our needs until each of us is now able to fend for themselves. Our father loved his drink and was present with us only for a short period before he succumbed to liver cirrhosis and that in part explains why me and alcohol have always been strange bed fellows.By good luck for my mother and unlike many of her peers, there is no grandchild left to her care by any of us and that means that all she has been doing for close to 10 years since all of us left is to work for her own needs and projects. Another luck we have as siblings is that she is always independent, hardly needs our financial support and, but for a few of her projects that we contribute to, we are all happy to keep our resources to ourselves. However, there has always been a soft fight between me and her, that she reduces the amount of work she does or at least the number of hours she works because, as long as I can remember, she is up at 4.00 am and works consistently in her shop until 11.00 pm in the night when she usually retires to sleep. She does that 7 days a week and only breaks when she has a day out to attend an event and this comes quite rarely. Her work ethic is admirable but sometimes I feel like she is doing too much unnecessarily.

At this point, I would wish to tell a tale of 3 cities worlds apart, that I had a privilege to experience. And as the teacher I was trained to be, the formula is always from known to unknown. We therefore begin with Nairobi. Literally, Nairobi never sleeps. I once was an ardent reader of Sunday Nation newspaper and many Saturdays I would get late in CBD chasing the dream and would leave town with my paper in hand anytime from 11.00pm and like you guessed it, in those wee hours of the night, the city is usually well welled up with very many people doing all manner of things the whole night and that has been so as long as I can remember. Until today, a close relative of mine leaves her house daily at 2.00 am for Marikiti market to get supplies for her green grocery store and of course, I always bring the subject of safety in our discussions in an effort to dissuade her but that usually falls on deaf ears but I'll keep trying.

Little known to me is the city of Rome that I once had the chance to accompany a friend on their pilgrimage trip to the Vatican. Rome is as fast as Nairobi, doesn't sleep much as well and as many with their popular Italian suits, everyone is moving to different places in haste like the world is ending. What was fascinating about Rome is how the city moves more underground than over it. The city has an elaborate underground sub train network that moves millions of people across the city every minute. While in Rome, we mostly moved between Battistini and Anagnina in the subtrains, that are huge, fast and always full beyond capacity with locals and foreigners from allover the world in Rome usually for religious reasons. The colosseum, the st.Peter's square, the museums and humongous historic buildings sightseeing were breathtaking and left beautiful memories etched on my mind. Rome was simply super!!

We now land to the unknown city which we can call F, which I also got chance to visit. In my opinion , F is much developed than the former 2. Has a good bus and street tram system, is cleaner that the 2 but everything moves slowly. No one is in a hurry over anything. People don't cross roads until pedestrian lights turn green, whether there are vehicles coming or not. The city literally sleeps. Any day I woke up and left the house at 7.00 am, I was shocked to find myself almost alone in the streets. Streets do not begin to fill up until 8.00 in the morning. Shops and supermarkets don't open on Sundays so if you fail to buy yourself household supplies by Saturday, then you have to wait until Monday. There, people are not allowed to work more than one job and if so, then you split your 40 hours a week into all the jobs you want to have. For the time I was there and for the first time in my life, I learnt to sleep 8 hours or more in a day and not to feel guilty about it. For the quality of life, F is a wonderful place to live but for those interested in becoming rich, please F* off from F to Nairobi or Rome for better prospects.In F, there are days when all businesses close at 1.00 pm on a weekday to attend city festivals, businesses close at midday on Fridays to begin the weekend and as a culture no one works a minute beyond their contract time so, if my contract says 5.00 pm, it is that, and if customers are still waiting for service at that time, you tell them to come tomorrow and that is normal everywhere.

I've tried to tell my 3 cities tale very briefly because my writing space is small and my pen's ink is running out.

And so good people, let's gather behind the tent for a short conversation and I wish to ask a few questions. When will we stop this hoarding epidemic or must we allow it to catch our children as well? Why are we so obsessed with leaving riches for our children? I think we owe them only education. Let's not call it a good education coz that is a can of worms talking about private and public schools. Do we ever sit down and calculate what we need for the rest of our lives and understand how much more we need? I think Kenyans need to just slow down a little because, the hunting and gathering has reached crazy levels and that's why we steal from government, corporates and from other unsuspecting innocent people. To find someone to trust with your resources in Kenya has become hard as looking for a pin in the belly of indian ocean. We cannot continue like this or we will not have any country to leave to our children. We need to keep in mind that there is moth and rust. Your children could begin selling your hoards one after the other immediately you kill yourself hoarding.

Maybe we should work less, sleep more, visit parks more often, visit friends and family more (many of us visit only when one of them has died). We simply need to take time to enjoy our free God given life and sometimes we do not need money for that. Maybe we need to heed God's advice on hoarding, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21. Or should we just continue gathering. Okay fair enough, so what do I stand to gain in the new deal?

@ Stephen Mungai

 IMAGINE ME

Imagine me being always honest about my thoughts!! Imagine me telling the truth, past, present and even in future!!! Just imagine me being human and accepting that I have limitations and seeking supernatural powers to defeat the limitations!!!! Who sir, me sir, not me sir but who? Imagine me owning my mistakes and not blaming someone else!!! Imagine!!! Just imagine me.

I wish to tell the story of Nikita whose second name is as beautiful, not adhiambo or atieno but another beautiful name from an area around lake Victoria, where her roots are traceable to. I've always had a thing for girls from that side of Kenya and as was in my high school days, Ruth was an obsession of equal magnitude for me. My alma mater is Eastleigh high school, a day school in Nairobi and while our family lived in Huruma, I had to commute to school and back custom as it were on a daily basis for four highschool years. A mention of those days well up in me very fond memories of the exciting days they were. Talk of the KBS buses that boys would board and followed a then perfected script of dodging bus conductors to avoid paying fare or the Manyangas (Matatus) of those days, beautifully decorated Matatus, Kenya's mini buses including Eliza Kid and 680, the two favorite Matatus for the boys of our time. It was a daily cup full of fun for the four highschool years. But now there was Ruth. So beautiful. I would cross fingers yearning to meet her daily on our way to school and every moment we met drove emotions of mortal desires through me in a sweet but very defeating way. I grew in love with the Luo people since then and learnt a lot of Luo language and 'alot' in the beautiful language means sukuma wiki or collard greens just in case you want to learn Luo language, which I consider the most rich, artistic and interesting of the many languages of Kenya. Ruth was by then a Student at Ngara Girls High school. Back to Nikita. Her face is so cute, white properly placed teeth accentuated with every smile she makes. She is tall, just an inch or two shorter than me. Her gait is the pattern of the warm breeze falling on beautiful flowers in spring. Her front and backside, very well endowed, like are girls from the lakeside, the work of a perfect workmanship that God is. Nikita is honestly a temptation I have to defeat everyday but Just imagine of us relaxing, our sunglasses on facing the clear skies sipping our drinks on the shores of indian ocean in a lovely Beach of Malindi Kenya...... Imagine us together on a weekend getaway in an expensive hotel in Naivasha Kenya. Guess what, I dare to make one of this plans real if life continues to be boring like sometimes it has the tendency to get. I know Nikita would love it too because I can already see it allover her eyes, the girl loves me too. The girl is single and selfishly, I hope she remains so a little longer. But wait a minute, by the way am a happily Married man and there are Kids between us. But that's all there is to it and there is no need to bore you with my less than interesting marriage stories.

I've always heard that a problem half spoken is half solved. What of a problem fully spoken? Imagine me going to God and undressing myself, my thoughts bare, body prostrate to the ground or upright to the heavens and telling God of my temptations and limitations and asking him to help me to defeat and overcome them!!! Imagine me, not pretending that all is well and not telling people lies or so, putting on a fake smile and acting holy while I hide my sinful acts against a facade of fake righteousness!!! Imagine me!! Imagine me!!! Just imagine me being blunt honest with myself, with humans and with God!!! Many times am a pretender and not honest but God keeps reminding me in his holy scriptures that, 'You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Psalm 51:16-17. Imagine me!! Being a human with limitations, honestly and openly owning Up to them regardless as to whether I am dealing with fellow Humans or God himself. Just Imagine me!!! Just Imagine you, Just Imagine we. . ..just Imagine us. Just Imagine.

@stephen Mungai

JEUDI DES CENDRES

 JEUDI DES CENDRES

Avant que les cendres du mercredi des Cendres ne se déposent, parlons des cendres, car aujourd'hui sera le jeudi des Cendres pour certaines personnes. Le vôtre peut être le vendredi des Cendres et un proche de votre famille le samedi des Cendres. Avant que vous n'absorbiez les ondes de choc de votre parent et que vous ne vous lassiez, un dimanche des Cendres ferme le rideau pour votre ami d'enfance. Et ce lundi est devenu encore plus bleu quand il est devenu le lundi des Cendres pour cette célèbre personnalité publique nationale qui a choqué tous les citoyens. Puis, à quel point mardi pouvait-il être noir quand il s'est avéré être le mardi des Cendres pour le gentil collègue que tout le monde aimait.
Sur la 19e Avenue de la ville de Genèse 3, ce fut une triste rencontre pour l'Homme lorsque Dieu prononça les mots les plus durs jusqu'à présent dans le grand Univers, la Bible ''À la sueur de ton front
tu mangeras ta nourriture
jusqu'à ce que tu retournes à la terre,
d'où tu as été tiré ;
car tu es poussière
et tu retourneras à la poussière. »
Ce sont les mots mêmes que nous aimons éviter, souhaiter et même éviter les conversations autour d'eux. En colère contre la classe politique, c'est pourquoi lorsque des jeunes férus de technologie au Kenya ont créé des photos et des vidéos des politiciens actuels du Kenya dans des cercueils, cela a suscité tant de colère et de ressentiment de la part des politiciens du parti au pouvoir, y compris du président lui-même, car personne ne veut penser ou se rappeler qu'ils vont mourir. Mais pourquoi ne devrions-nous pas plutôt nous préparer pour notre jour des cendres ? Nous vivons honnêtement dans ce monde comme si nous y étions en permanence. Nous trichons, nous volons, nous tuons, nous commettons l'adultère et brisons des foyers, nous méprisons les pauvres parce que nous nous considérons comme riches, nous escroquons des victimes sans méfiance et, à la manière typiquement kenyane, nous volons des innocents ou des caisses publiques et accumulons des richesses si énormes que même nos arrière-arrière-petits-enfants ne les épuiseraient pas. Et pourquoi devrions-nous le faire ? Pourquoi voler pour de futurs enfants dont certains que vous ne rencontrerez jamais, comme si vous aviez un contrat pour voler pour eux. Le mal n'a aucun sens si nous continuons à nous rappeler qu'à un moment inconnu et inattendu, nous mourrons. Nous devons nous engager à faire le bien et je pense que nous devons parler davantage de la mort pour la réalité qu'elle est et cesser de considérer Dieu comme un grand-père cosmique rabat-joie pour la bonne raison qu'au moins Il nous a dit que nous mourrions.
Permettez-moi d'être le premier à mener la conversation sur la mort. Ainsi, lorsque nous travaillons, concluons des affaires, planifions et nouons des contacts, nous devons éviter le mal et nous concentrer sur le bien parce que nous sommes candidats à la mort et que nous pouvons mourir à tout moment. L'histoire biblique de l'homme qui rassemblait suffisamment de nourriture pour lui-même et la stockait dans des greniers devrait être une « claque sur notre visage » car, alors qu'il était assis pour manger, boire et faire la fête, le propriétaire de l'âme arrive et dit : « Insensé, cette nuit même ta vie te sera demandée » Luc 12:13-21. Alors, agis-tu comme un insensé ou fais-tu ce qui est juste et es-tu prêt pour ton jour des cendres, ton jour de mort ?

@ Stephen Mungai

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ASCHERDONNERSTAG

 ASCHERDONNERSTAG

Bevor sich die Asche des Aschermittwochs legt, wollen wir über Asche sprechen, denn für manche Menschen ist heute Ascherdonnerstag. Für Sie könnte Ascherfreitag sein und für einen Ihrer nahen Verwandten Aschersamstag. Bevor Sie die Schockwellen Ihres Verwandten absorbieren und buuh, schließt ein Aschersonntag den Vorhang für Ihren Freund aus Kindertagen. Und dieser Montagsblues wurde noch düsterer, als er für diese berühmte nationale Persönlichkeit, die alle Bürger schockierte, zum Aschermontag wurde. Und wie schwarz konnte dann der Dienstag sein, als er sich für den netten Kollegen, den jeder liebte, als Ascherdienstag herausstellte.
Auf der 19. Avenue der Stadt Genesis 3 war es eine traurige Begegnung für den Menschen, als Gott die bisher härtesten Worte des großen Universums verkündete: Die Bibel: „Im Schweiße deines Angesichts

sollst du dein Brot essen

bis du wieder zur Erde wirst,
davon du genommen bist.

denn Staub bist du

und zum Staub wirst du zurückkehren.“

Das sind genau die Worte, die wir so gerne vermeiden, wegwünschen und sogar Gespräche über sie vermeiden. Aus diesem Grund haben technisch versierte junge Leute in Kenia, die wütend auf die politische Klasse waren, Fotos und Videos von den aktuellen kenianischen Politikern in Särgen erstellt. Das hat bei den Politikern der Regierungspartei, einschließlich des Präsidenten selbst, so viel Wut und Groll hervorgerufen, denn niemand möchte daran denken oder daran erinnert werden, dass sie sterben werden. Aber warum sollten wir uns nicht lieber und besser auf unseren Aschetag vorbereiten? Wir leben wirklich in dieser Welt, als wären wir für immer hier. Wir betrügen, wir stehlen, wir töten, wir begehen Ehebruch und zerstören Familien, wir ignorieren arme Menschen, weil wir uns für reich halten, wir betrügen ahnungslose Opfer und in typisch kenianischer Manier stehlen wir von unschuldigen Menschen oder aus der Staatskasse und häufen so große Reichtümer an, dass selbst unsere Ur-Ur-Enkel sie nicht aufbrauchen könnten. Und warum sollten wir? Warum sollten wir für zukünftige Kinder stehlen, von denen wir einige nie kennenlernen werden, als hätten wir einen Vertrag, für sie zu stehlen? Das Böse ergibt keinen Sinn, wenn und falls wir uns ständig daran erinnern, dass wir zu einem unbekannten, unerwarteten Zeitpunkt sterben werden. Wir müssen uns dazu verpflichten, Gutes zu tun, und ich denke, wir müssen mehr über den Tod als die Realität sprechen, die er ist, und davon absehen, Gott als kosmischen Spielverderber zu betrachten, aus dem guten Grund, dass er uns zumindest gesagt hat, dass wir sterben werden.

Lassen Sie mich zuerst das Gespräch über den Tod führen. Wenn wir also arbeiten, Geschäfte machen, planen und Kontakte knüpfen, müssen wir das Böse vermeiden und uns darauf konzentrieren, Gutes zu tun, denn wir sind Kandidaten des Todes und könnten von jetzt an jederzeit sterben. Die biblische Geschichte des Mannes, der genug Nahrung für sich sammelte und in Kornspeichern lagerte, sollte uns ein „Schlag ins Gesicht“ sein, denn gerade als er sich hinsetzte, um zu essen, zu trinken und zu feiern, kam der Seelenbesitzer und sagte: „Du Narr, noch in dieser Nacht wird man dein Leben von dir fordern“ (Lukas 12:13-21). Und also benimmst du dich wie ein Narr oder tust du das Richtige und bist du auf deinen Aschetag, deinen Todestag, vorbereitet?

@ Stephen Mungai

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ASH THURSDAY

 ASH THURSDAY

Before the ash Wednesday ashes settle, let's talk about ashes because today will be ash Thursday for some people. Yours may happen to be ash Friday and a close relative of yours ash Saturday. Before you absorb the shock waves of your relative and boop, an ash Sunday closes the curtains for your childhood friend. And this Monday blues got bluer when it became ash Monday for this famous national public personality that shocked all citizen. Then how black could Tuesday be when it turned out ash Tuesday for the nice colleague everyone loved.

On the 19th Avenue of the city of Genesis 3, it was a sad encounter for Man when God declared the harshest words so far in the great Universe, The bible ''By the sweat of your brow

    you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

    since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

    and to dust you will return.” 

Those are the very words we love to avoid, wish away and even avoid conversations around them. Angered by the political class, this is why when tech savvy young people in Kenya created photos and videos of the Kenyan current politicians in caskets, it evoked so much anger and resentment from the ruling party politicians including the president himself because, non wants to think or be reminded that they will die. But why shouldn't we rather and better prepare for our ash day? We honestly live in this world like we are permanently here. We cheat, we steal, we kill, we commit adultery and break homes, we disregard poor people because we consider ourselves rich, we swindle unsuspecting victims and in a typical Kenyan fashion, we steal from innocent people or from public coffers and gather so huge amounts of wealth that even our great great grandkids would not deplete. And why should we? Why should you steal for future kids some of whom you will never meet, as if you had a contract to steal for them. Evil makes no sense when and if we keep reminding ourselves that at unknown unexpected time, we will die. We need to commit ourselves to doing good and I think we need to talk about death more for the reality it is and desist from regarding God as grandfather cosmic killjoy for the good reason that, at least He told us that we will die.

Let me be first to lead the death conversation. So as we work, do deals, plan and make contacts, we need to avoid evil and focus on doing good because we are candidates of death and we might die anytime from now. The bible story of the man who gathered enough food for himself and stored in granaries should be a 'cammon slap on our face' because just as he was sitting down to eat, drink and make merry, the soul owner comes and says, ' you fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you' Luke 12:13-21. And so are you acting like the fool or are you doing what is right and are you prepared for your ash day, your day of death?

@ Stephen Mungai