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