Behind My Pipe Smoke
By Fanzo Skhova
28/July 2016
Christians, I guess it may be the case with other religious doctrines, believe that doing good on earth, will be rewarded with a good life after death. This good life will obtain in what is believed to be the Kingdom of Heaven.
The gospel says it is God’s promise of a grief-free life in the afterlife. We are advised that the more we do well on earth, when we die, we will go to Heaven and apparently, there is a place called Paradise right there where we will live in all forms of comfort humanly imaginable. Why we should die first and live again in Heaven is a question I promise never to ask myself again. We are sternly warned, that should we do things against the will of God or commit sin, we will earn business class tickets to hell. In hell, we are told, all kinds of hurtful things happen to those who have the fortune of being chosen and granted free citizenship for loyalty by Lucifer. We further learn from preachers of the holy content that the primary business in Hell is human flesh barbeque.
A distant observation proves to me that a majority of some politicians happen to be Christian. I suppose they most likely expect to die and “go to Heaven” where they will experience first-hand the promise they too make to the electorate. The promise of “a better life for all”. What seems to be missing from their project plan to migrate to the Kingdom of Heaven is the critical element of doing well by God. Elderly people are considered ancestors in the pipeline. They are fountains of knowledge, history, experience and morals. Across the world, there is above average consensus that elderly people are custodians or fountains of wisdom. The elderly ought to be handled with extra care.
I am double-pained during this period of local government election campaigning. I am pained by the absence of awareness by some politicians, especially those who believe in good life after death, that they are effectively wasting time and resources here on earth by practising Christianity because Heaven or Paradise is not where they will find themselves. I am also pained by the naivety and vulnerability of the poor but most importantly poor, naïve, vulnerable and blindly trusting elderly. The amount of no-good some politicians do on earth is astonishing and certainly is far from earning them access cards through the gates of heaven.
In desperate bids to guarantee themselves fame, personal growth, power and income or in short, political career, some politicians are doing what is figuratively called pulling out all stops. Regrettably, in a literal sense, these politicians pull out sickly and elderly people out of the comfort and warmth of their wood-powered self-made drum heaters into the cold and open discomforts of sports fields in order to promise them “a better life for all”. I guess this better life starts next week as of 4th of August 2016. It is evil, in as much as it is criminal to intentionally and knowingly engage in fraudulent social activities. The noun fraud is generally defined as “wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain”. A fraudster is a person who does or intends to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities”. We all know that government is far from taking credit for improving people’s lives. In some villages in Moretele world, we still hear of people still obtaining “clean” water from a mobile tank. In an article Moretele Times ran recently on Enviro Loos, one of our readers, Xa Humba LR Chauke, commented that “Looks like the idea of a water borne sewer system in Moretele will not happen in our life”.
However, at these sport fields or stadia, some politicians target old age formations and dispatch buses to deliver the numbers in order to drum down naïve ears of the sickly elderly a long list of paradise-like prospective gains including better roads, primary healthcare, free water and electricity, improved pension grant, lunchbox-size houses, free and compulsory basic education and training, non-racial access to recreational amenities and jobs. I don’t mind if you give a 70 year old person free and compulsory basic education and training, jobs, houses, roads because everyone relishes the idea of dying in comfort and riches. I suppose no one is ever too old for education and of course we all want to earn an honest living through gainful employment.
It is a carefully considered opinion that these elderly do not need to hear about jobs or education but something else. Even if we succeed in fulfilling this promise, they will spend half their late employment life completing sick leave forms and dosing off in these long, speeches PowerPoint presentation infested workshops. In a recent stadia campaign, I heard some of the elders even cursing the food parcel catering and t-shirts that came with the package. My point is, above them to this harsh winter, the content of your campaign is also irrelevant to the elderly because after that, they might have to endure spending another long day queuing at a clinic. Do not feed on easy prey.
It is my view that it is irresponsible to drag the elderly into the harsh winter conditions for our own selfish career interests. These are a people we should protect at all times. We dare not put their fragile lives in jeopardy to advance self-gain and political careers. Let us not finish off these fountains of wisdom and knowledge. It is as heartless in so much as it is hypocritical to seek to perpetually preserve a lie. In the eyes of the judiciary, these half-fulfilled promises amount to prosecutable fraud. In the eyes of the same God politicians claim to serve, it is nothing less than a sin. Elsewhere in Exodus chapter 20, the commandment instructs us to: “Honour your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Oh, before I leave, in the same chapter, another commandment warns you: “You shall not steal!”
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Moretele Times.