Some Life Lessons

In November, 2003, she posted the following on her social media accounts: “The view of Langata cemetery reminds me that that will be my home too some day”.

Many months later on July 26th, 2014, she posted this: “If only we treated others like we would want to be treated, the world would be a happier place,” on her Facebook account. A day later on her Twitter account, she posted the following: “A man’s dignity is not measured by the amount of tears shed when he dies.”

It was now a week before her planned operation meant to donate a kidney to an ailing uncle. While thousands of kilometers away from home, rather unknowingly left the world with the solemn messages. But with her life, she taught us about paying the ultimate sacrifice for the good of others. Maybe she knew. That as she went under the surgeon’s blade, it would be the last time she would shut her eyes to never open them again-at least in this side of eternity. Some people hold the belief that it’s possible to feel the end of life as it approaches. A lady in the prime of her life, with a determined intent to save a loved one’s’ life and avert the loss of life through a kidney problem. Her story speaks of courage. She must have known the pain too well though, having gotten bereaved of her own father in the previous year and to the same ailment.

She flew out of the country and landed in India for the sake of her ailing uncle. But the cruelty of death struck and took with it the life of Rehema Kanini Muthoni during Kenya’s 16th year anniversary of the 1998 bomb blast in Nairobi. The sadness that followed was as deep as the acknowledgement of her sheer kindness and will.

It’s known for a fact that as time has gone, we have become a world full of egocentric tendencies and individualism is like never before. Sometimes, even caring for one’s own blood-connected relatives is totally lacking. Brothers kill each other for the sake of wealth. Jealousy and other minute matters have been magnified by our own selfish ambition. Love is no longer a verb but a noun. The end, many believe, justifies the means but what if we posed and reflected upon what in life means the most?Silence.

I do not know what you hold dearest in life. It could be your education, your looks or the desires that drive you from one day to the next. Realize we will not be eternally here on Earth. We are just passing by. Make the most of it but remember, sometimes you’re not meant to have it all. If you can breath without the aid of machines, praise God for that. Don’t let selfish ambition drive you nuts as you try to prove yourself. Jesus summed up all the commandments as thus: Love God completely and love your neighbour as you love yourself.

Rehema Kanini is described by her family and friends, as a selfless and compassionate individual. Maybe, just maybe, she heeded to Philippians 2:3-4

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

                

Sapped by Social Media

We are living in the information age. Long gone are the days when news was only a recurrence after every hour on a radio transmitter, when all the drama that had happened in a day was only accessible in the evening during the news on TV. When newspapers would sell as hot cake and even the most memorable events were a preserve of those who were privileged enough to own electronic systems. But now, now even if a tsunami hits the East Indies or Siamese twins are born in Guatemala, then we’ll get to know of it concurrently because technology and in particular the internet, has enabled for this to happen.

It’s an age of freedom and infinite possibilities. It’s also a time when human exploits and madness has been brought to the fore like never before. Platforms to distribute information have been enhanced. The rise of social media has also experienced unprecedented leeway to how people-irrespective of location, live their daily lives. It was all fun and exciting at the beginning but much damage has also been brought to the fore.

Take for instance Facebook, second biggest country in the world, in terms of population and quickly growing and will ultimately overtake China. Began by a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, he launched the site as a Harvard sophomore on February 4, 2004 and in its first decade has seen such tremendous growth both in members and revenue and it’s now one of the biggest grossing companies globally. I like Facebook. It’s an avenue that helps to easily keep in touch, share thoughts and ideas but it can also get pretty annoying at times.

Much has been said about weird ‘Facebookers’ and I might probably be one so I won’t delve much into it. But you and I, unless you just landed from the now defunct Planet Pluto are part of the 1,600,000,000 member Facebook family.

Twitter, founded initially by Jack Dorsey who with friends had originally imagined Twitter as an SMS-based communications platform. This would have enabled groups of friends to keep tabs on what each other was doing based on their status updates. Pretty much like texting, but not. Jack sent the first ‘message’ on Twitter, now known as tweets on March 21, 2006 9:50pm. It simply read, "just setting up my twttr". Various other developments took place and eight years on, the platform meant for SMS between buddies has grown-albeit with its 140 characters max feature to an avenue that has 400,000,000 members and growing.

Having a meal at a restaurant... What is the first thing to do? Of course, get the appetizer or as called in hospitality circles, have the starter meal. But after many years, the trend has changed. First thing you do before gulping your meal is to take a picture and post it online especially by use of Instagram. Though not among even the top five popular social media sites, Instagram is unique and fun and also is the highest growing of all social media sites. Founded in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, since the beginning it has been one platform that has spread globally at a supersonic rate, causing the interest of Facebook which in April 2012 bought it for 1 billion of dollars. From having a million users in December, 2010 to the current 180,000,000 active users, 16,000,000,000 photos shared, and 1,200,000,000 likes daily, there seems to be no letting up by this social media site.

Man truly is a social being, just as is the nature of his Creator, God. Amidst all these developments with even other sites not mentioned here, why are we seemingly further apart from each other? I mean, there is LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, VK, Flickr, MeetUp, Ask.fm, Classmates and many more others, including the ancestor of them all; MySpace but seems as if we have grown even colder in communication and further in actual interaction with one another.

So, why not take sometime off social media sometime. Log out and get outside. Look around, smile at the person close by...but not for too long lest they update on Facebook that “A weirdo. Right next to me!” or do it too sleazily lest they reach out to their phone for a selfie.

Be social, away from social media. Live and love life.