LOOKING at what is happening around in our communities these days, you will agree with me that the inability by many to “profitably” handle personal pressure or problems is a real challenge.
It is becoming a national disaster considering the number of deaths and other incidents caused as a result of our responses to life’s challenges. What humanity needs to understand is that problems will always be there. As long as we live, we shall have problems and these were never meant to dominate or kill us the way they do now.
There are many reasons why it is so, but as far as I see it, today, one major reason is our community relationships which are poisoned by many things such as our cultures, traditions, anger, selfishness, gender prejudice, ignorance, and unforgiving spirit.
If we were relating well and in the spirit of love, we would certainly avoid so many of these dehumanising responses as we will be driven by love towards one another.
God intended for us to love one another as we love ourselves.
This means we were supposed to care for one another in the same way we would care for ourselves. We were supposed to do to each other what we do to ourselves.
Your problems become our problems and we together attend to them and find a common solution. In this way we would overcome evil so easily in our communities.
However, it is no longer so as people care less about others. They will hardly pay attention to your problems until you either commit suicide or kill someone. Then, they will only turn around and say: “We saw it coming.”
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Yes, they saw it coming, but did nothing to help. This is selfishness. How many times have you seen your neighbour, workmate, friend or relative traumatised by some issue and you kept quiet and only to hear they are dead or in hospital or prison?
Beloved, I do not believe this is the way to live this life. Most of us live in self-condemnation because of the things we did not do for others. Let me show you a few examples of what I am talking about.
- I observe that, these days most of our funeral services are a display forum for disgusting selfishness. Many of us never buy our relatives, friends or workmates, flowers or gifts while they are alive or sick only to show up with expensive flowers and some roses at the funeral.
- We never make time to visit them in their troubles, but we are the loudest at the funeral or we are always the first to tell others how we saw it coming.
Beloved, is this the way we should live as a society? When we become too busy for our relationships and duty of love and care towards one another as a community, we slide into chaos.
People kill each other, kill themselves and destroy life just like that. I was just thinking the other day, as we were going for a funeral in Kezi.
Our convoy of cars was travelling at 40km per hour. The reason was that we were carrying a corpse.
There is a dead person in the car and we are so careful with our speed, okay. When must we be so careful about our speed and people?
Is it when we are carrying the dead or the living?
I observe that when carrying passengers, motorists are so reckless and they would even travel at 140km per hour in an 80km zone.
What do we call this? I think our priorities are misplaced. We need to care for one another while we are living rather than when dead.
We need to respect one another while we are living more than when dead. I think as a people we need to rethink some of these things and begin to live for one another.
Beloved, life is about helping one another carry our burdens. Life is about helping each other and blessing others. The fundamental purpose of life is to help someone else and assist the weak so they are strong.
Our society eats its weak people by leaving them alone to die lugging their burdens on their own. This is cruelty. This is selfishness. This is lack of love for others. Life well lived is spent or lived helping the needy.
The challenge is we have reduced human need to food, clothes and school fees only. Human needs are broad and include the emotional things which are mostly hidden.
Love is the greatest need. Someone in your community, office, neighbourhood, kombi, bus, classroom, or even in that pub, is looking for a listening ear.
They are just waiting for you to ask a simple question or pay attention to the cry in their heart lest they die tomorrow. Would you care to listen? Would you care enough to ask?
Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Kilton Moyo is a pastor, guidance and counselling consultant and author of Responding to Personal Crisis. Call or WhatsApp on +263 775 337 207/ 0712 384 841.
