Maravi

(EDITORIAL) Heroes and unity

Heroes and unity
By Editor
Monday July 02, 2007 [04:00]

The struggle to better the lives of our people did not end in 1964. It is still continuing and it will never end. The heroes of our independence struggle made a lot of sacrifices and more sacrifices will need to be made and should continue to be made if we have to harbour any hope of overcoming the problems and challenges our people face today.

We had problems in the past, we have problems today and there is no doubt we will have even bigger problems and challenges tomorrow no matter how well we do everything - and we should do everything well even if that calls for our greatest effort.

The commemoration of Heroes and Unity days should help us continue fighting for the cause that the heroes and heroines of yesterday fought for; it should keep our heroes and heroines alive for those who seek a better world, especially the young people of all times, when they have the opportunity to follow their example and retain their tenderness. If they do this, then the commemoration of these two important days will have achieved its purpose.

We cannot create a better country if we don't want to struggle for it. A spirit of struggle must be created, and leaders of the calibre we require must be created, they must be found with them Diogenes' lamp and patience of Job - a task that becomes more difficult as more and more idiots take up leading political positions to satisfy personal ambitions. We should not allow politics to be the dumping ground for everything that is rotten. Politics should be treated as a very noble undertaking requiring or demanding the very best of our sons and daughters.

The heroes and heroines of our independence struggle should serve as teachers who we can take as models to follow. We should learn the experiences of these selfless people. And those who have struggled should be ruled by an eagerness to teach, but not in a pedantic way. Rather, they should teach what they know with human warmth and their work should be governed by a lack of pretention, complemented with a spirit of sacrifice that sets an example. We should not forget that we know only a very small part of what we should know. We must learn a lot of things without believing ourselves to be experts in everything.

The world we live in today is a very complex one. Today we have to fight neocolonialism. This new form of imperialism constitutes its most fearful manifestation, because of its camouflages and the long experience the imperialists have in dealing with us.

We shouldn't forget that nobody is born a hero. Heroism isn't something that is planted. Heroism is a part of political work, of the work of constant teaching, of the example set by our leaders. In this way, we can create an army of citizens who will help our country overcome its problems and challenges.
We should always remember that there is no struggle that ever comes to an end and we all have a duty to keep its ideas, principles and goals alive. No one can close off prospects for future progress. Nobody controls the future. Prospects for the future exist everywhere in the world, in all countries and all peoples because humanity has no alternative to meeting the future, has no hope but the changes, advances and improvements that the future may bring.

If we look at things this way and act accordingly, our heroes and heroines today languishing in poverty and destitution will feel compensated for everything life has dealt them. This day - Heroes and Unity Day - should be used to reaffirm our convictions and give us more arguments for our enthusiasm to see our country move forward. This day should provide a stimulus to reflection and encouragement to preserving our hope in causes that have never ceased to be legitimate. We won't return to the Chachacha days again, to throwing stones, but we are confident that, with our faith, those days will return to us.

We have no alternative. We must continue struggling, with the hope that a better Zambia will become a reality - as it will, if we keep struggling. We should never renounce our dreams, the dreams of our heroes and heroines for a more just, fair and humane Zambia. Struggling for a better nation means, in part, building it.

It is said that today's dreams are tomorrow's reality. In this country, we have seen many of the dreams of the past become reality. And, since we have seen this, we have the right to keep on dreaming of things that will become realities someday in our country. If we don't think this way, we would have to stop struggling, for the only logical conclusion would be to abandon the struggle for a better Zambia. And we think that no person, no citizen of goodwill, one with a humane and sensitive mind, ever abandons the struggle for a more just world, just as they never stop dreaming or yearning for such a country, for such a world.

But only selfless and honest people can look at life in this way. This is the way the heroes and heroines we are remembering today lived and struggled for this country - they were selfless and honest people. We are all aware of their humanity, great merit and sensitivity - this is what makes them heroes and heroines. And we should never attempt to deny what we are, we should instead reaffirm our principles - principles that some consider outdated but which remain in effect because the causes that gave rise to them haven't disappeared.

And one of the most important actions of reaffirmation of self consists of re-establishing our sense of the future and renewing our historic optimism. If we prevail, greed, vanity, selfishness will be totally defeated and a more just, humane and fair society will emerge in our country. This is what our heroes and heroines, in unity, struggled to achieve.
Let us stand firm and continue this struggle - victory is certain. Our people have no alternative but to seek and struggle for a better life.

Labels: EDITORIAL, INDEPENDENCE

posted by MrK @ 5:17 AM