My Take On FEB 28th
I want to take issue with the people condemning the opponents of the event dubbed Feb 28th which calls for unity of all Kenyans by singing the National Anthem at 1:00 pm today. I have gone through posts on social media and on the blogosphere that are branding such people non-patriots among other strongly worded phrases.
If I tell someone to sing the National Anthem, I should be happy when they ask me why they should sing it. This is because Kenya is not a zombie-state where people follow causes blindly. I should take that opportunity to share with them the significance of heeding my request. And if they ask what happens after that, I should go ahead and explain what the cause hopes to achieve. I would do this because its a cause that I believe in and I need to encourage people to share in my belief. And if I do that, I will get passionate followers who believe in what I am doing and hoping to achieve.
The goal of the event today is to foster unity and if you are supporting the event and are already condemning those who are against it, let me just say you have your priorities mixed up. Thats the same as fighting for animal rights while sitting on a sick donkey. To foster unity, you need to preach unity. Unity is only achieved when people learn to live together DESPITE their differences. These people are not actually saying the event is wrong, they are simply asking the proponents to sell the idea to them. And if anyone condemns the opponents of the event instead of spending time trying to explain to them the importance of the event ( and respecting their view, whatever it may be); doesn't that make the day a lost cause? What those condemning them fail to understand is, its THEIR OPINION and they are ENTITLED to it. Its not like they said they will defect to Uganda because there is an event they dont believe in. They simply dont share the same sentiments and passion for the event as the proponents.
Its about time we as Kenyans learn to disagree on issues without dragging the people who dont share our views on those same issues through the mud. We need to understand that we can disagree on an issue and shake hands at the end of it because we understand its the issue, not the person, that made us disagree. I dont want to live in a country of people who are told to wear their underpants on top of their heads and do so without understanding why.
What I know is that by the end of today, some people will have heeded the call and some will not have. At the end of today, some who did not sing will feel they missed out. Some who didn't sing wont care. Some will have sang the Anthem but they will wonder what they achieved. And others will sing the National Anthem, feel the words deep in their hearts and go home with the knowledge they did something great for their country. All these people are Kenyans and all these people are patriots in their own right.
On my part, come one pm today, I will be at Kencom singing the National Anthem. And I will do it because I believe that if Kenyans can stop what they are doing for five minutes to sing our beautiful National Anthem at the same time, its a tremendous first step towards uniting Kenyans. What happens after that is for each of us to decide.
