(This first paragraph is named “As
a Luo would say”). During this month, I spent better days of the month on the fishy
shores of Africa’s Largest fresh water lakes that was named by a Briton
explorer, John Hanning. So this guy saw and thought that the fancy African names Nam Lolwe
(Luo), Nalubaale (Luganda) or Nyanza (Kinyarwanda) were not fit for such a
wonder. So he decided to name it after his beloved queen, Queen Victoria and
how that name stuck I know not. I mean, even children in those areas are taught
that the original name was Lake Victoria and it was “discovered” by the said Briton.
Yeah right, like the young and well-built warriors of our motherland (and
sister-land for Uganda and Tanzania) who lived along the shores of this water
body never even once saw it. Like they daily passed it and were wondering “what
is this? It looks like water …or sand.” Then Bam! A Briton stumbles upon the
water body and he says “Guys, I have made a discovery. There is something here
that looks like a large basin (pun intended). Your Majesty , what shall we call
this? Name it and it shall be done.” “A lake”, she said “Oh Your Majesty, may
you live forever (the irony in that statement). Oh royal and beautiful one, you
are full of wisdom. I shall name it after you”. And so it became; Lake
Victoria. Colonialism *sigh*
Where was I? Yes, Kisumu. While I was there on some work
assignment, I got to interact with a people who are known for pride, love of
the fine things in life, and lovers of life itself; the Luos of Kenya. Though this
might be a stereotype, it can be both a good reputation and a bad reputation to
have. During the last of my days there, I spent an evening at one of my friend’s
place. The family has it all, by worldly standards. They really live up to
their reputation, except one thing. Pride. The vast house is home to more than
10 kids and an equal number of young people. 80 percent of the people living
there are adopted or were taken up from various hardships. And they live such a
simple life that when you meet the father and mother on the street you would
easily dismiss them for some guy and lady trying to make it in life. Their
humility melted my heart and almost brought me to my knees. I was going through
a time of self-assessment, and God had been speaking to me on some of the areas
in my life that need to be worked on.
This made me look at our
generation and weep (kinda). Humility has been replaced with pride, and serious pride
in our generation. We are a people who want to feel important so much that we
want everyone to know how important we are. We attach monetary value to
everything and we want people to know how much it was actually worth. Most of
our conversations are full of how we did this, how we did that, how much our
phones, cars, houses, headphones, tablets, sunglasses cost, where we went for
holiday etc. 
We are itching to mention these and other ego-boosting thoughts to
others, more often than not, our peers. We like to ask “do you know (insert
name of a celebrity)?” “Have you ever visited (insert fancy place)?” “How much
did you buy that? I bought mine for (insert ridiculously high price)”. We want
to make others see how important we are, how we know people and how wealthy we
are. Without knowing it, we are harboring and feeding pride. We are slowly
killing humility. Sure, our friends and people will tolerate us, but only for
a while. They eventually get tired and we end up with no friends…or with fake
ones. Worse still, we could fall victim to what someone once said; “It is better to lose your pride
with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your
useless pride.”
We are itching to mention these and other ego-boosting thoughts to
others, more often than not, our peers. We like to ask “do you know (insert
name of a celebrity)?” “Have you ever visited (insert fancy place)?” “How much
did you buy that? I bought mine for (insert ridiculously high price)”. We want
to make others see how important we are, how we know people and how wealthy we
are. Without knowing it, we are harboring and feeding pride. We are slowly
killing humility. Sure, our friends and people will tolerate us, but only for
a while. They eventually get tired and we end up with no friends…or with fake
ones. Worse still, we could fall victim to what someone once said; “It is better to lose your pride
with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your
useless pride.”
I recently read an article here that talked about the very same thing. The
author states so well that when you act like you’re important, you only
prove you aren’t. He goes ahead to show how proud people are cheap. Not in the
way they look, the way they spend or the way they earn — cheap in the way they
treat other people, and the way they attempt to assign a dollar value to
everyone they meet.
“I’ve gone from having money in the bank to applying
for a job flipping burgers in 6 months straight. When you’ve lived like that,
you have a different attitude to money, and you have a different idea of what
it means to be a Have or a Have Not. You’re less likely to look at someone and
decide that they’re worth a material amount or they’re worth nothing.
You’re less likely to try and show off your money,
your status or your prestige. The reason? You know that none of those things
are worth more than other people, other human people.”
I know, many times I have also
been a victim of the same. I have been infected with the same syndrome and
looking back at it, I felt disgusted. So disgusted at myself and I
kept asking myself “Was that necessary?”, “What have I gained?” Even God Himself says,
Through Solomon: “When pride
comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom… Whoever belittles
his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.” Prov 11:2;
12
and
Through Paul: For if anyone
thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Gal 6: 3
Friends,
let us do
self-assessment. If we find that we have pride (knowingly or
unknowingly), let
us strive to replace this with humility. After-all, T. S. Eliot said
“Most of the
trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important”. Don't know where to start? Get feedback from your close circle of
friends...it will surprise you.
Facebook: Njeri Kareithi
Twitter: @deekareithi
