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I wake up every morning and the one thing that runs through my mind is what I am going to write next. Some call it an addiction and others simply think of me as mad, but when it comes to dreams, ambitions and passion, isn’t madness warranted? When I say madness in this case, I mean always thinking of something to the extent that you live, breathe, and dream of it all the time.
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965), also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Arabic: الحاجّ مالك الشباز), was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist.
With my passion for writing comes two things: I collect pencils and notebooks. I take trips to town just to buy the new brand of Pelikan pencils and relish the moment, but no one shares my enthusiasm. My room mate calls me mad, my friends just insist that I am “special” but the way they say it does not sound special.
And people are different. I take my inspiration from Malcolm X, who said, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” I have critics who do whatever they can to try and prove two things; (i) that I am crazy and (ii) need to have a reasonable hobby. They sit down and talk behind my back and when I am not listening, but at times I look at them, and I see the person that I do not want to be. I don’t want to sit back and comment negatively about someone else’s life when I have my own to live, and it seems to me like most black people have done that all their lives.
I am Kenyan, and in saying this it does not mean that I despise my country; I rather want what is best for her. Kenyans sure do have the weirdest character when it comes to critiquing each other and even parliamentarians. There is a square just opposite the Kencom Bus Terminus, where people sit idly from 6am to 7pm and they discuss how awful their parliamentarians are. The leaders they have voted into power are selfish, stupid and corrupt; and how they wish they could be like America and practice democracy; how they wish they would be like China and be technological giants; how better off South Africa is for hosting the 2010 World Cup. This goes on for hours on end and these idlers go back home and sleep hungry. It is all talk, all wishes, but none of them work on it.
Kencom Bus Terminus (Nairobi) - Not what you expected?
It is true that getting a job in Kenya is stressful, and if you get lucky enough to earn at least $160 per month, life is better and a little more comfortable. But to say that Kenyans needs a Malcolm X to make them stop feeling inferior to other developed countries would be 100% true. However, not having had the honour of meeting the man–I am restricted to his sayings and life experiences only, which are well laid out in The Autobiography of Malcolm X as written by Alex Haley between 1964 and 1965.
The first time I picked up the book, I had a nostalgic feeling, because I do not like to read autobiographies–they always make me question what I am doing in my life and, at times, that freaks me out. But while reading Malcolm X’s autobiography plenty of emotions overcame me. At the end of it, I was left in awe at how strong a character he was and how hard it was for him to live through such trivial times when anyone and everyone wanted him dead. He constantly looked over his shoulder and when I read Alex Haley’s confession that Malcolm X always sat facing the door – I was scared for the man.
Malcolm X lived for what he knew was right and fought for what to him was freedom – and in this, he sought to empower the black people, to make them believe that they needed no one’s approval other than their own to make them feel special. I am constantly faced with this challenge each time I tune the television set to watch our Kenyan news. It is always filled with politicians making very “stupid” remarks and then refuting them at a press conference even though the media shows them a video of their previous comments. We can never be like anyone else. Rather, we can ensure we are better with every passing second, that we do humane deeds and care for each other. We can stop idling and rather go about working on how to improve our lives.
How can we modernize when we do not have that mentality? How do we expect to be punctual when we wear wrist watches but never look at them to see how many minutes we have left? Why do we pretend to be speaking with an accent that is not our own? Why is it that anyone with an American accent is considered superior to your brother/sister who speaks the same message? For how long are we going to want and wish we had something instead of working hard to achieve it? Talking does not help, words alone have not power, but there has to be some determination and strength behind them.
I am a writer. I collect pencils and notebooks, and I am proud of who I am. Give me one month and you shall be reading my published book, and seeing them on shelves everywhere you go, but what of you? That is what I keep telling my friends each time they ridicule me, and they laugh.
Malcolm X was right, “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”
Kenyans must have the right mentality before reaching that state of being.
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