ShutDownZimbabwe: Where do we go from here?

When the heart is burdened, the spirit is broken, the soul feels encumbered, and the body is debilitated, making hope a mirage forever receding to the horizon. It is during such times that music becomes a source of inspiration. Music is one of nature's finest gifts to man, which makes it possible for him to relate to his fellow men and the environs around him.

Music is a powerful tool in a miasmic world where everything seems to be in abeyance and the might jolt the feeble from their dreams. It is an elixir to those whose aspirations are trampled on; so soothing and ennobling. One is reminded of the passing on of our legend and national hero, Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi, who has a song for every occasion. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace!

In this instalment, however, gentle reader, I bring your attention to the aftermath of the recent demonstrations that rocked our country, through lyrics from Don Williams' song "Where do we go from Here". He croons:

The groceries are gone, my pay cheque is spent. They turned off the water; I'm behind on my rent. Last night I drank my last beer, And where do I go from here?

I've been laid off since Monday before. The union is holdin' out, hopin' for more. Well, I could be laid off for years. Oh, where do I go from here? Where do I go from here? Most of us have been left pondering the next move, after realising that the gods of fortune seem to drop winning cards in the laps of others, and only losing ones in our own. We fail to realise that whatever situation is directed our way has a source in one of our own.

Through our actions we create enemies in others, and expect them to love us in return, yet violence is known to beget violence, and love begets love. Now that our aspirations have made us enemies with our neighbours, whose homes, dreams and children we have shattered, where do we go from here? Because of our bottled anger, we have not only set our dreams ablaze, but we have also in the fashion of the demented arsonist set fire to our own abode. It is not wise to throw cow dung at others for some always remain on our fingers.

We pride ourselves in being peace loving people, yet our hearts are filled with hate, grave pure hate. But why? A man who does not forgive others and let go of his anger suffers the most, for he cannot also forgive himself. He sets about hurting others just for the feel of it, yet inside him he cries for help, because the hurt also rubs on him. There is need for reflection, and introspection if we are to move forward as a nation.

There is no peace in destroying your neighbour's livelihood, no peace when we mourn over "Peacetime Corpses" (Bvuma, 1999), and no peace when brother hacks brother's head for lack of trophies, and rapes sister to prove himself a man.

Creating monsters out of saints As human beings we should be guided by conscience, because after all deep inside we are good people, as Jung (1964) intimates: "Deep down, below the surface of the average man's conscience, he hears a voice whispering, 'There is something not right,' no matter how much his rightness is supported by public opinion or moral code." Something is not right in the way we express whatever discontent or grievances we may have, and something isn't right either, in the way we clamour for an eye for an eye. It only make us all blind.

The children we have seen running about as if possessed by demons to inflict pain on others, what really would they become? They are our children, our investment for the future, and sadly they have lost both filial and sibling love. Are we not guilty of creating monsters out of saints; monsters that will in future draw blood from open wounds we are inflicting on ourselves today? In the poem "Arms and the Boy" (1918), Wilfred Owen is contemptuous of the use of children for political or military expediency.

An innocent boy whose "teeth seem for laughing round an apple" is trained to become "keen with hunger for blood; Blue with all malice and thinly drawn with famishing for flesh". As a consequence of the situation he finds himself immersed in, the adolescent "protester" is robbed of his innocence.

Instead of being taught to value life by those who purport to be the custodians of his rights, he is tutored to destroy it because to him all that resembles life is reduced to a madman's caper — trivialised. When we teach our children to loot on our behalf, to hate and disrespect those they should be emulating in their communities, what does that say about us? Where do we go now from here? Scalding ourselves, creating jobs for others

As Albert Einstein posits "the important thing is not to stop questioning" and the best way to answer is to ask questions (Socrates). Fellow countrymen, kinsmen and friends, who benefits if as brothers we rise against each other in the name of democracy? Now your neighbour's children are orphaned, their source of livelihood destroyed, and yours also are no better off, would you say you had won? Nobody wins in violent demonstrations just as nobody wins in war. There are no victors, only losers and corpses.

Zimbabwe is our country, our Motherland. We know no other. Yes, we going through difficult times; we are suffering, it is true, but will it help us much if are to destroy the only thing that we have — our humanity?

Our economy suffered close to $500 million losses over the period that we decided to "shutdown" our country, yet our appetite for both jobs and food remained whetted. As we struggle in an attempt to trudge on to the Promised Land, we are burdened, as our situation does not seem to have been helped. But in all this some among us have kept their jobs, for they thrive in chaos. As we got poorer both in spirit and body, they got richer.