Kenyans, White People and Horses in the Heart of Arkansas.
Summer is here and most places are opened. Have you noticed that if you go into a store with a mask, people look at you funny as if to say, “traitor, infidel, evil!” Not long ago, not wearing a mask was seen as a violation of human rights. Fights broke out when people walked into Wal-Mart without masks, “SATAN!” they screamed. Now the same people who demanded that we wear masks are telling us that wearing a mask means you are not vaccinated, and therefore, “SATAN!” Humanity remains the same, generation after generation. They wobble like the moon. Who can trust what man says? Who can be trusted to remain constant? We change with the tides. What is one true thing about humanity? What can we trust about human beings but that they die!
It is for this reason that Muhubiri (the ‘Preacher’), also calling himself ‘the Teacher’ in Ecclesiastes (1:1, NIV) proclaimed
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look? This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
(Ecclesiastes 1:10-11, NIV)
Indeed we forget yesterday. We forget our misery, our pain, our suffering. We forget those who loved us, those who cared for us, those who sacrificed their lives for us. A parent sits alone in the village after bringing up seven children. They are all gone. She wonders what it was all for. Why the sacrifice? Why the pain and constant sorrow? She wonders as she hopes one of her children will stop by to bring her sugar. Yes, and we forget that just a few weeks ago those who wore masks were seen as heroes. And those who did not were the villains. The tides have changed and we are following them.
The Preacher in Ecclesiastes was right. It is the same under the sun. But even beyond the sun, it is the same. For the galaxies dwell within their own foundations. Existing as they were set to exist. They follow a foundation beyond our human understanding and within them dwells a path. Set out by the Creator in the beginning and watched by Him in His constant essence to accomplish His will and purpose in the end. What do we do? Do we close the doors and in depression judge the earth as dangerous? Do we forfeit that which is good in fear of that which is evil? Do we not venture out to explore the constant universe because we are not constant and dependable? I say NO!
I cannot do that. To do that is to submit to the forces of darkness. They that set out that which is evil. It is they that promised Eve bliss knowing that what was packaged as “becoming like God. Knowing good and evil”, was but an ecstasy of absolute spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual decay. To rebel against Satan, we must affirm again that God created the heavens and the earth with men and women at heart. He wanted us to enjoy what he called “GOOD”. To eat the products of the earth, to see the beauty of its boundaries, and to touch, smell, and hear the sounds of rivers, of birds, of rain drops, and if possible to soak in the waters and walk on the beach.
This article comes from that rebellion against venturing out. Driving to Mount Ida in the State of Arkansas there is a jewel of a resort hidden from those who refuse to venture out. But for you, who like me reject the idea of imprisonment, take Highway 70 West of I-30 a few miles South of Little Rock Arkansas. Head West towards Hot Springs where you join Hwy 270 towards Mount Ida. You will see the sign for this beautiful place near Joplin just before you reach Mount Ida (there are two resorts—Shangri la and Mountain Harbor). The resort at Mountain Harbor reminds me of those wonderful resorts in Mombasa that have swimming pools which allows one to see the ocean while taking a swim. In this place, your children will enjoy the pool while you sit at the deck beholding Lake Ouachita. After that, you can take them for horse riding.
Though all the people in the resort maybe white Anglo-Saxons Protestants or Catholics, do not be afraid. Do not fear them because if there is something I have learned from my many years in the United States of Amazement, it is that white Americans are wonderful people. Not only are they benevolent, but also they do not care who you are if you do not care who they are: they just want to enjoy themselves without being accused of being racist.
Remember, no one knows whether you are vaccinated or not and the resort is clean and smells like the pines that dominate the landscape. But if, like me, you inherited the DNA from your mother with a disdain of germs, dogs in the kitchen, or other alien bacteria, by all means wear a mask! Not because the resort is dirty, far from it, but to convince yourself that you are protected against that which you cannot see.
Teddy Njoroge Kamau (Ph.D.)
HTBluff Associates. Diaspora Messenger Senior Columnist
Kenyans, White People and Horses in the Heart of Arkansas.
