RIEP Elizabeth Wafula.
By Dorcas Sarkozy
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the late Elizabeth Wafula. I will never understand the pain they are going through. May the Good Lord grant them strength and grace during this most trying of times.
Likewise, and regarding the accused, I will never understand what would drive James Ololo to such a dark place; to such an act of depravity.
Nothing, in my mind, justifies the taking of another human’s life.
Everyone involved in this tragedy – directly and indirectly – loses.
Death has a finality to it that affects everyone whose life intersected with the life of the dearly departed.
It also affects everyone whose life intersected with the life of the person accused of taking a life.
And in both cases, we, whose lives intersected with the life of either – deceased or accused – are left with questions; questions whose objectivity, whose compassion reflect our personal bias; our agenda – social, political, cultural, ethnic, gender, class etc.
Questions that may never be answered.
Anyone claiming that one should be able to tell whether they are in an abusive union is being disingenuous and an opportunist.
If anyone can predict, with a high level of certainty, human behavior, including its propensity for murderous violence, they should patent that formula /algorithm and sell it to governments and organizations – especially the government of Kenya!
Stephen Paddock, the man who, a week ago today in Las Vegas, unleashed death and mayhem on unsuspecting and innocent concert-goers – forever upending thousands of lives – did not have even a speeding ticket to his name!
He was a “model” citizen whose penthouse at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, along with expensive meals and drinks, were “comp’d” by the hotel’s management because he, Stephen, was a “high roller” who gambled $10K/minutes. His brother referred to him as a “millionaire” who paid KSh.40,000,000 in cash for a house – one of many.
In this hyper-partisan season of silliness, some sycophant offered a patently partisan (and heartless) take on the tragedy, one that linked the opposition – ODM to be exact – to the accused. I read that post and far from becoming angry, I simply became sad. I walked away from my laptop to calm myself before continuing.
Let me offer this one observation:
If the US, with its vast Psych-Ops/Pers-Prof gadgetry and top-notch research facilities has been unable to predict thus prevent the astronomical level of (gun) violence – including, incidentally, domestic violence, what makes some of the Monday Morning “experts” think that Belgium, with its vastly smaller population AND strict gun control laws, not to mention lower propensity for violence, would have predicted the tragedy?
I will stop here because I have already disrespected the memory of the dearly departed by removing focus from their memory and delving into the arcane, frankly, irrelevant post-event “This is Why What Happened Happened” province of opportunists and those with agendas.
Because regardless of everything and anything, a life has been lost and consequently, the lives of two families and of their friends are forever changed and for that, I offer my deepest thoughts and prayers.
