A man’s primary purpose in life is to provide, both for the present and the future. Often, nothing he possesses naturally is seen as inherently valuable. For a woman, however, the opposite is true, as she is born with much of what is deemed valuable for the species. It's a rather bleak topic to discuss, yet it reflects a truth we have come to understand.
Recently, I buried a great man who did everything right, though it wasn’t enough to earn him the long life he so deserved. Born and raised in poverty, he was on his way to becoming the best in his field, until he met someone he couldn't resist. As a child, he encountered a beautiful girl whom he believed could walk on water. Their young love blossomed in the dusty, rural farmlands of western Kenya, only for life’s circumstances to separate them for nearly two decades. During their time apart, he built a foundation that his peers from the village could only dream of.
From barefoot maize harvests in the village to excelling at a national high school and eventually graduating from university, he grew and evolved.
The girl, however, didn’t fare as well. Despite her family’s best efforts, she hadn’t built enough value in herself to secure a great suitor. Yet she did one thing right—she maintained her God-given beauty, which proved to be his one weakness.
I don’t recall exactly when I first saw them together, but eventually, I realized they were living together. He had the potential and momentum that most women wish they could see in a partner, while she brought her beauty and another man’s child. And there it was—a ready-made family we all hoped would last. And last, it did—about twenty years. In that time, I went from being a bumbling, unsure teenager to a grown man, now counting the grey hairs in my beard and beginning to process the knowledge I’ve gathered.
In those twenty years, I watched a man I grew to respect lose his voice, his body, and his soul. This was a man who stood by me when my eldest son was baptized, a man who raised another man’s child and three of his own without once crying out for financial help, even when he was on his knees.
As I stood beside his grave, watching as his body was lowered, I remembered a time when I needed him to stand with my father and me. Yet he was so overpowered by her that he couldn’t lend his support. As I looked at her while this great man was laid to rest far too early—a man who had so much more to teach and give—I realized that she had killed him...........
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