The Art of Self Sacrifice

I must admit that I am always inspired by what other people do be it big or small. I am always thrilled thinking about Tupac and his great songs, Malcolm X and his wonderful freedom activism and Tom Mboya’s sobriety. I have always seen myself as a Mboya boy in a number of ways.

If what you confess is what you possess, I guess I am on the right track. These great leaders have always inspired me. Through their deeds, I understand that the biggest office anywhere in the world is the office of service to humanity.

I do not take anything or anyone for granted, I prefer to learn and inspire life stories. I would love to be a man of great intent in my country. I will tell a short story that really transformed my life. I would say it was an eye-opener to me. It all now makes sense more than ever before. A story is told of a very hard-working garbage collector called Zacharia.

He was the garbage collector for a kingdom far, far away. Many in the kingdom took Zacharias’ work for granted. He was, after all, just a garbage collector. He was not the king, who oversaw the council of ministers and made sure that they approved and enforced policies that ensured a good quality of life for the residents. He wasn't a farmer who brought the food to the masses or a tailor who sewed the clothes that kept them warm.

He was just the guy who spent his day sweeping up dirt and putting all the garbage away outside the city walls. Zacharia on the other hand, woke up earlier than all the other residents every day, making sure that the city was clean enough for the people to live, work and play in. He did his work with relish because it made him happy to see the streets clean enough for the children to eat off.

One day though, Zacharia woke up with a severe headache, fever and a "running “nose. He asked his wife Sheryl to run over to the doctor's office and fetch him a doctor but that day, the streets were not cleared of their garbage and all the excesses of the day before were left all over the streets of the kingdom.

First, the stray cats and dogs got into the bags of garbage that the people had left on their doorsteps every evening for Zacharia to pick up the next day. Then the rats came out to partake of the unexpected meal. The cockroaches joined them too. By the time the residents woke up, there were all sorts of filth all over the streets and it was all just chaos.

Children could not go to school, and nor could they play in the streets. The adults had to jump over piles and piles of filth and those who were too feeble or too scared of the rats and roaches simply stayed home. The king who was expecting dignitaries from a kingdom nearby had to cancel the meeting for fear of his honourable guests seeing his kingdom in such disarray. Instead, he called a meeting a meeting of the council to find a way to sort out all this mess, on that day, all residents of the town realized just how important Zachariah was to their comfort and happiness.

Do you ever feel like you do not provide much of a service to society? Do you feel Like you are not on track? It's not. Whatever it is you do, do it with pride because if we didn't need your life, you would not have that life. I am glad I presented my case to you.