Be wary of people driven by evil

Famed Greek philosopher Socrates once noted that once the mind is blind, then sight is useless. His words have never been truer for me than what is going on in our world right now. For instance, consider the Eric Mwesigwa saga. The gentleman took over our screens claiming to have been tortured by government agents because he supports the opposition. Sadly, this being a common occurrence in our times, we were quick to believe and sympathise. The question on everybody’s mind, however, was who was this Mwesigwa person and what secrets could he possibly have that would help govern and ruin the opposition?

But being who we are, we did not have the luxury or the patience to reflect on this dilemma and wait for an answer. Mwesigwa disappeared from our radar even faster than he had appeared until he decided to resurface in season two of his saga. This time, he was an all-new kind of character; speaking a language for which us common folk needed subtitles to understand. The plot twist was that our victim was after all, the villain.

That for a Shs50m offer from the opposition, he inflected wounds on his person so as to make the government look bad. “Does anyone really need to do anything to make the government look bad at this point?” I wondered. Because anything more than what we are seeing would cease to have any impact and actually become a parody. Whereas I know such scenarios are common in the political world, I think Mwesigwa’s delivery was not convincing enough.

His act had so many loopholes for it to be believable. I failed to relate to his motivation for the whole fiasco apart from maybe an inexplicable need to carry around bodily scars and public shame. I was reminded of Mwesigwa and his sojourn into foolishness by a relative who is currently being held hostage by the mother of his children.

Following one of those common marriage misunderstandings, his wife of five years packed a bag and her two children and returned to her family home. She sent emissaries to inform her estranged husband that she would not return unless he married her. My relative, still seething from anger told the emissaries that he was grateful to her for providing him the solution he needed. Since he did not intend to wed her, could she please send the children and move on with her life?

She could not believe that she had been bested so early in the negotiation stages. She replied that she would only give him the children if he sent her Shs10m. When my relative recounted his sad tale, I was shocked that I was not surprised at all because for a long time I have known that our society is slowly but surely being saturated by people that are driven by a motivation that for a lack of a better definition I will call evil.

Motive

Otherwise, what would you say drives someone to promise love and support another person when they know there is just dry grass where such emotions reside in normal people? What drives someone to borrow money from a friend who has always had your back knowing that you will not pay it back even in a million years?

What drives a woman to conceive a child with the sole purpose of trapping a hapless fellow well knowing you should have a warning sign reading “not to be let near small persons”?

As you relate with people, take time to understand what drives them. What makes them come alive? Are they the kind that thrive only when there is chaos and pain? If they are the kind, you better distance yourself from them because for all you know, your friendship could be based on the multitude of problems in your life. How sure can you be that your partner or friend is not orchestrating the turmoil?

Do not trust evil, however well it might be packaged and presented to you. Distance yourself from people driven by fear, anger, jealousy, greed and hate. A scorpion will always be a scorpion, it is their nature; they cannot help it.

Tip. Avoiding unsafe experiences is a win. And no matter how good you are at physically and verbally defending yourself, it often comes at the risk of physically injuring yourself. And you never know when someone is going to draw a gun or knife on you, either. So, do not be the tough guy and instead attempt to prevent the situation from escalating.