This thing called hope

Hope is “feeling that what you want will come to pass or that events will turn out for the best.” Hope is a huge topic of discussion among philosophers who – on the one hand see hope as “no more than a fatal illusion which distorts and colours the sober severity of our lives ” and that “to overcome the obstacles which life sets before us one should have to relinquish hope.”

For other philosophers “hope appears as a beneficent and life-supporting power which enables us to perform feats of which we would otherwise be incapable…and inspires us with courage when sorrow and despair threaten to overcome us.”  Johann Goethe a German writer and statesman says; “Hope [is the] gentle comforter goading us to noble ends."

There can be no denying that hope has a place in our lives. Indeed one dear friend of mine (and I mean dear in the President Kibaki’s use of the word), who lives in a far, far away country, often tells me that “Hope has a place in a lover’s heart” – and these words from Enya’s appropriately named lyrics - are a constant reminder. If you have been in the presence of a seriously sick person, you cannot help but hope, that hope is a real and dynamic force.

Yet we also know the meaning of the phrase “Hope against hope” which essentially means to hope a situation will get better even when all reasonable signs point otherwise. On the basis of hope we postpone taking painful corrective actions ‘with the hope that the situation will resolve itself.’  It could be a health condition – for example you need that tooth pulled out, but you hope the pain will go away or you need that check-up but you still hope somehow things will get better.

Right now I know I need to go to the police to resolve a personal challenge. But I have been waiting and hoping somehow the situation to resolve itself – if you can learn from other people’s experience, then learn from mine, no situation resolves itself – and maybe the pessimists are right: “hope is no more than a fatal illusion which distorts and colours the sober severity of our lives” and that “to overcome the obstacles which life sets before us one should have to relinquish hope.”

One More thing
And since am in this 'hopeless' mood, I might as well say, for those who say "our" criminalization is benign, and it has no real impact on our lives' outcomes - they are dead wrong. This is because, it impacts on so many areas of human interactions - including security. The government has a primary role to play to ensure that individual citizens do not threaten the security of each other - and indeed that is why we have the legal redress mechanisms.

But by criminalizing "us" we are placed at a vulnerable position while attempting to use these legal redress mechanisms. That is why for example an individual woke me up in the middle of the night, well aware that by going to the police, I would have to reveal details - totally irrelevant to the case I would be reporting, of the abuse of my right to peace and security.

So right now, am depressed, angry and frustrated wondering why in dear heavens I got born in this "colonial law" worshiping country. I guess, I have had enough. I would like (as you would too, no doubt), live in a country where there are no structural enablers for criminals. 

I blame my current lack of sleep and "foul mood" to this criminalization. I know when I go to the police I will have to explain why this individual comes to knock at my door and not my neighbors - he is counting on me not going to the police, because  of the difficulties I will have explaining this to the police. He is counting on some rogue police officer using my testimony to further ostracise me. 

I give more to Kenya, than Kenya gives to me - like many other people I deserve better. I guess this is a wake up call to look for a better country - yah, the "East or West Home's Best" does not apply anymore. And so I pray "Dear Universe, hear my humble cry, change my national address; give me a national address that values and respects my humanness, my contribution, my being, me,  for thou art the Universe."