"My children cannot eat glory", that is a line from Sarafina. Sarafina is a movie adapted from a play in the early 90s starring Leleti Ngema (née Khumalo), Whoopie Goldberg , Miriam Makeba and Bongeni Ngema. It was written and directed by Bongeni Ngema, I first watched it when I was about 5 years old. My mother and I loved it so much that we watched it at the Nairobi cinema 3 timesand to this day I have a copy of it at home. The movie is based on the African uprising against apartheid in South Africa and depicts the struggles of a group of school children who are arrested, tortured and some openly shot during protests. The scene where that line comes from is of a mother having an argument with her daughter who is now discontent with the life that they live. The mother , played by the late Miriam Makeba, lost her husband in Mozambique and left her to take care of their 4 children. The daughter, played by Leleti Khumalo, defends her fathers decision of fighting and sees it as a heroic gesture but her mother sees no reason to put him on a pedestal as he left his family in poverty and as she says "My children cannot eat glory".
The survival instinct is one of the most powerful driving forces in a human being, it's that little voice inside you that makes you run a little faster or fight a little harder to ensure that you endure. Some of us however have an even stronger force inside us, honor. Being held in high esteem over others or otherwise flawless in their undertakings. It's what drives most in the disciplined forces of old and is masked behind such words as patriotism , duty or serving a purpose greater than their own. It has been cultivated in people over rmillenia where fathers teach their sons that there is no greater purpose one has in life than to serve a calling such as serving your king, fighting for your village or working for your family. This has however become an outdated concept in an age where people seek wealth over service to others. I may not be able to pin point for sure when the change happened but it may have to do with when social inequalities were clearly defined. I digress however because discussing this in a hundred or so words would not do the topic justice as the changes have occurred in the last 100 years. Let us looks at situations much closer to home. The youth of today have been sold on the need to accumulate as much wealth in the shortest time possible and by any means necessary. This has given birth to the tenderpreneurs and gold diggers of our age, no judgement to them I must add as there is nothing honorable in flawless poverty. However, What does this do to the fabric of our society? Well, it first creates distrust between the haves and have nots where the haves always think the have nots want to sabotage them. Between employers and employees where the managers have to micromanage their juniors to ensure nothing fishy is going on. These are very genuine concerns because every manager knows a situation where their Juniors have tried or taken advantage of loop holes in the system. We hear this everyday and it becomes a snow ball effect as those who get away destroy the morale of the actual hard workers in the organization. It also makes work harder as new rules are put in place to increase oversight. I can go on and on about all this but the fact still remains, the culture of get rich by any means necessary has to be fixed.
It's always a good idea stop and look at both sides of the equation in order to get an understanding of why this happens and has continued to happen. 50 % of the country lives below the poverty line and for those people ,every single day is a struggle. Some break away from the chains of poverty and make something of themselves but the constant feeling that at any time you could just find your way back is too much to ignore thus the best way to combat it is to ensure that your as far above the line as possible. There is the right way, hard work and dedication but that does not necessary work for everyone so there is the quick way. The quick way comes in using a position of some influence to line pockets or just outright looting , a more popular one with our politicians. I don't judge these people because I ask myself, would I do things differently if I was in their shoes and since I don't know the answer I would rather not judge.
A story from the series "Hustle" given by the main character sums it up easily.
"My father ate, worked and slept. Towed the line, paid his taxes on time and all he wanted to do was retire at 60 and live off his pension. He dropped dead at the post office 5 days to his 60th birthday, he was paying his phone bill"
There is honor and glory in being without fault but truth be told " My children cannot eat glory"
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