The Wilful Servant
Issue #1
I am pretty sure that by the time you read that title “The Wilful Servant”, you were hooked. Your oxytocin levels sporadically spiked as you were intent on deciphering what I meant by this title. You expect an interesting story. A twist between both logic, real-life scenarios and analogies that will entertain and educate you. I hope you do acquire some knowledge from this so I will get right into it.
Do you think you are a servant by any means? Would you accept to undergo servitude at any point in time? Do you think you would survive the mental overload caused by the same? Would you be comfortable making anyone subservient to you? If your answer to any of these questions is ‘NO’, then you have never been so wrong in your life. You must be wondering what I am talking about so read on. Let me show you how much of a servant you are. Let me offer insight into your life. The life you hope to have someday and the treatment you give to others every day. I will use several words that you come across now and then.
Technology. How much do you understand about it? How much of it do you use daily? Do you think you would be able to survive a week without it? What would you be willing to trade in exchange for it? As you continue to muse over that, try to think about how much it takes to get you that flashy, trendy device you own in terms of a phone. Think about the 55” screen hung on the wall of your living room. Do you think you paid enough value for it? Would you be willing to trade it for the thousands of lives lost for tech companies to manufacture that specific unit that you own? The short answer is No. We are enslaved to screens for almost half of our adult lives. We may not be necessarily seeking entertainment from them but fact remains that our lives can never be complete without them.
Statistically speaking, the cases of ocular issues has been steadily on the rise since the beginning of the 21st century, for adults and children alike. Children who were long ago playing outdoors and making noise in residential neighbourhoods can now be found seated in front of a screen either playing video games or watching kids’ programs. Through these means, the concept of subliminal messaging has thrived to unimaginable proportions. Kids are now conditioned to talk and behave in a certain manner and parents have no control over it. If you happen to sit and watch these programs with children, you will realize that there are so many inappropriate messages that are conveyed through these programs. As parents do we have control over this? No, we do not. In essence, we are ‘wilful servants’.
Media. Freedom of the media is one of the key pillars of a thriving democracy. Most countries in the world give their media houses the freedom to air any news they deem fit. What they never tell you is that these media houses are owned by the same people whom they report about. Think about the media house owners. Who are their friends? Where do they go to relax on weekends? Whom do they socialize with? What do their social circles look like? I may not be utterly correct in my claims so I shall keep this very short and simple. The rich and influential only socialise with persons of similar status. This is not wrong because I wouldn’t hang out in areas where I feel unsafe. The natural human being would love to be among people of similar social standing. This will make them feel among progressives like themselves.
What if I told you that in some of these ‘elites only’ events, these people may have met and discussed some issues as appertaining to the kind of message to transmit to the public? It may happen in such situations. They could make such decisions by simply shaking hands and the next day the citizens would be receiving information from a specific person’s point of view. The channels by which it would be possible to fact check such information are eliminated. Any other information is made non-existent so we are made to believe only what we receive as news. Information is power, but when we have one-sided versions all we simply are is powerful servants.
Employment. How many of us have been frustrated by the tedious task of job seeking? It is many if not most. The requirements for these jobs are superfluous and ask of so much more than they offer to give. We are made to take certification after certification and learn so many skills, few of which will ever be relevant in our professions. In many offices, you will find a graduate engineer working as an accountant. Or a high school dropout coming from an influential background working as a general manager. How so? Why would the world be so unfair? While we continue to think about our sad state of affairs, the government now asks the youth (the highest unemployed population) to seek self-employment opportunities.
Great idea but where do we begin, since we have nothing? Oh! Right! We have wheelbarrows here. Be innovative. You are young and energetic. Why on earth would anyone need a wheelbarrow in a technological world? Have you heard of the internet? Or are we living in the early 1900s? In our country today, a high school graduate can comfortably write a term paper for a student at Stanford University, USA and get him an A+ grade. At the end of the month, he will earn a 6-figure income, which is way more than what a public servant pockets every month. The only disparity is that the public servant can own properties worth billions of shillings all over the city. The only best description for this is, ‘only in Kenya…’
I can go on and on to describe how much of a rotten society we are but to what end? What can we do yet we are ‘wilful servants’? We can however begin the change from within. The better we are in tune with ourselves, the better we are at making others see our point of view.
Do you now agree that you are a wilful servant?
