Why Evil Will Never Stop

…until we all do.

Flashback: Primary school. Late nights finishing up homework, early mornings reading ahead of the teacher; hands raised to ask and answer questions in class, long lines outside the staffroom to seek clarifications at tea or lunch breaks… and when at last we sat those National Examinations, it paid off for each person, one way or the other. High school bore more responsibilities, more opportunities, more freedom of choice. Four years which also played out differently for us all, more like all those instruments at an orchestra, a few featured prominently, but everyone, low or high grades, carried just as much weight. Stars shine when the sky grows dark.

Fast Forward: Present day. I’ve been on (and off) campus for a while now, and like everyone else, I am not blind to all the evil that is. Take for example, a Med student who comes to campus fresh and ready to save the world, just as the script read in his childhood, ‘When I grow up, I want to be…

A few weeks into campus, our friend falls behind in his academic pursuits, he’s been bumming and partying for overly long. So he takes on that habit called dubbing assignments and taking short notes into the exam room. If he is lucky, he gets away with it for all six years or suffers (petty) punishment once or twice over that entire period. Sometimes, sadly, he earns himself first class honors and goes ahead to be your private doctor of choice and mine too…even the president’s!

But this isn’t about the Med Student only, think about the engineer, the accountant, the architect, the computer scientist, think about you. So eventually, people die because someone did not pay attention in class, the buildings collapse, the roads, railways and runways are super faulty, chemical plants kill millions, companies close down, nations fall into debt…you get the picture.

Grades are important, good grades even better, honest grades absolutely perfect. My point is we need to pursue a standard of excellence in all that we set out to do. Degree ni Harambee? Really? See where that has taken us as a nation, as individuals! No offense, but I know we can do better than this. Honesty pays off. Always.

Because campus will be over one day soon and we all will have to prove our worth, long after the Honors are shelved, may honest character back up all that our papers say about us…and public shame befall us otherwise.