Prime
Guard yourself against hopelessness
What you need to know:
You have heard people describe their partners, children or jobs as a hopeless case, meaning that they are ready to cut their losses and give up on them
The recent Karamoja iron sheets scandal still feels like one of those plays Greek playwrights would choose just to emphasise the hopelessness of the human situation; not real life. To be particular, it reminds me of Nicochares, the author of the Deiliad, who had a knack for portraying people as worse than they are. But unfortunately, this is real life and it is yet another example of the state of our corruption-riddled country.
But is that all it is?
Personally, I think the scandal points to a deeper malaise that has infected our population both young and old; hopelessness. This collective hopelessness has given birth to the kind of apathy that makes us indifferent to our environment and the nitty gritties of everyday life. This is seen even more in places such as Karamoja where the harsh arid environment and prevalent violence has dehumanised the society so much that people do not care whether their situation changes or not.
For many of them, that is the only life they have known and they believe that there is nothing much one can do to change the situation. In fact, if we are being honest, a good number of them do not feel that there is anything wrong with the lives they are living and that is why they are pathologically resistant to change.
So, I can imagine that even a minister felt that those few iron sheets were not going to make any difference anyway and in conventional wisdom, it made more sense to give them to those who already have structures that need roofing.
I know this kind of feeling because I have witnessed it first hand on an individual level. I have seen relatives and friends just give up and give into hopelessness. I have seen families disintegrate into oblivion when a little hope would have made a great difference. After all, it is often said that the loss of hope is the beginning of death.
You have heard people describe their partners, children or jobs as a hopeless case, meaning that they are ready to cut their losses and give up on them. But if there is one thing I know for sure is that there is no such thing as a hopeless case. I also know that nothing good ever came out of quitting.
At the risk of sounding like a motivational speaker, let me remind you that the most hopeless cases offer the best chances for a better life. Imagine how hopeless Abraham Lincoln’s campaign to abolish slavery must have seemed. Even closer to home, remember an Aids ravaged Philly Lutaya embarking on a campaign against the disease. Or the ultimate example of Jesus Christ dying on the cross at the hands of the very people he was supposed to be saving. All these efforts might have seemed as forays in futility and yet they bore fruit.
As the salt of your family, children organisation or country, you must guard against losing your saltiness because if you do, you will only be fit for the dung hip where people will just tramp over you.
