None put it better than the sagacious King Solomon when in the book of Proverbs 4:23, he made the enduring pronouncements, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it’s the wellspring of life.” Further downstream in the locus classicus of the Christian faith, among the gospels is recounted the tale of Jesus’ rendezvous with the madmen of Gerasa. It was certainly not a fate of their own authoring as they were inadvertently possessed by a full score of demons and evil spirits. So Jesus lands on the shore of the Sea of Galilee antipodal to his quotidian abode and instead of a distinguished welcoming party, he is greeted by these ‘untouchables.’ I label them with this moniker as they had rendered a previously popular thoroughfare impassable with everyone not part of their group bearing the status of ‘persona non grata’! Blokes were so fierce that you could decidedly use that path only at your own risk & peril. Those in the know are certainly conversant with the puissance of the deranged. The son of man took a gander on this lot and they immediately made a beeline for him. The startled disciples played it safe and stayed by their boat, weapons on the ready if push were to come to shove. The ferocious musclemen with the build of pugilists threw up all sorts of gesticulation while grunting menacingly at the Lord, “What do you want with us, Son of the Almighty? Have you come to put us out of our misery before due time?” To the untrained eye, this was a perplexing inquiry but Jesus was certainly street-smart on these matters. At least, game recognized better game! The ghouls knew they had met their match and settled for appeasement to continue their sojourn in the land of the living. A stone’s throw away there was a large herd of pigs browsing on whatever victuals would indulge their omnivorous fancy. This bevy of Lucifer’s groupies had the nous to take cognizance that their eviction notice was being served and agreed albeit with grumbling hearts to take new residence inside the swine. Indeed, Jesus had little time for these fiends and with the sleigh of the hand uttered, “Off you go.” In the blink of an eye, the previously tranquil swill-feeders were transformed into fire-brand speedsters. Cold shivers were sent down the shepherds’ spines as they were alive to the proximity of the cliff overlooking the seafront. Their efforts to stop their investment from racing off the precipice to their doom were futile. That entire panoply to the last pig, performed the terminal dive into the ocean to the disconsolate mortification of the shepherds. Conversely, wheels were turning positively on the other side as the previously violent men now were more sedate and welcomed Jesus warmly and with unshrouded gratitude to their idyllic coastal town. Those tending to their porcine beasts on the other hand were less than thrilled at the unsolicited synchronized diving horror show they had just witnessed from the objects of their occupation. They hurried off in a huff to the town’s authorities to report the occurrence. Bad news spreads fast and soon the mobs of the town were mobilized in an uproar swearing never to allow any upstart wizards and enchanters into their town. Their head of delegation went ahead of them and without any pleasantries asked the Son of Man to leave the locale unconditionally. Oh, poor Jesus! Never caught any breaks with humanity despite even bequeathing upon them avant-garde grape wine to imbibe at Cana, but I digress.
The collective Kenyan psyche is at the time of authoring this piece doubtlessly frayed at the edges. What with perpetual political noise by ill-at-ease politicos & their acolytes, The Covid-19 global pandemic & attendant job cuts, daily news reports of rape & murder, pyramid schemes fleecing intellectually-quiescent Kenyans, flooding Rift Valley lakes, locusts that have dug in their heels, predictable corruption, money laundering, pilferage of national revenue by state apparatchiks, arbitrary hiking of fees by cash-strapped University Senates, land grabbing, aflatoxin-laden maize, mounting taxation, impropriety by errant men of the cloth and many other afflictions that assail Kenyans from every conceivable direction? The Kenyan people have no doubt been brutalized out of shape. Everywhere you look there is no solace and the only shoulder that remains to cry on is your own. Nearly two decades ago, at the onset of the NARC regime spearheaded by President Mwai Kibaki, Kenyans were the most optimistic people in Africa. And yes, they had justified cause because here was a leader that knew how to stimulate the spurs of the economy to enable rapid growth using the Pareto (80:20) principle. We had dispensed with a personality-cultist that literally gave people briefcases of money fetched from the Central bank for merely lambasting him with platitudes. As a fiscal noob, he was not above printing new currency because the implication of such actions on national inflation were alien to him. During the Kibaki era, Kenya became the technological, research & innovation capital of East and Central Africa. In his time, intellectualism was revered as fruits of our national universities invented products like M-PESA, our autochthonous mobile-money transfer service that has gained global prominence as a pioneer. Many other products came to the fore like the myriad attendant services that branched off M-PESA, M-TIBA, Kytabu Inc, Zeraki, agricultural & Veterinary data delivered by USSD codes, android-powered systems, hackathons, drone-executed pesticide spraying, automated irrigation and a host of other technological advances that saw the light of day under our economics-virtuoso of a President.
The truth of the matter is that today things have gone awry with destitution, despondency and desperation as the default state for many Kenyans. You find men trudging along, their eyes staring into oblivion at an uncertain future. At the time of independence, our leaders waxed lyrical, vowing to have an invincible onslaught against Poverty, Illiteracy & Disease. That was before they discovered the sweetness of the trappings of power and assassinations became a byword! Today, such is the dearth of leadership in Kenya that selfsame ills might as well be the national philosophy albeit ethos. Needless to say, this societal construct has spilled unto the greater populace leading to the egregious headlines that our media outlets have regaled us with for weeks. The tragic tale of Constable Caroline Kangogo leads the way. This is a Police Officer who seemed dutiful like many others until the pressures that come with the territory got the better of her & she went berserk. This is not purely the run-of-the-mill, going A.W.O.L tale but entailed a homicidal spree that left blood, iron, gun powder and tears strewn all over our landscape. Elsewhere, people got quite apprehensive with one taking advantage of the quandary to shoot a crush that rebuffed his advances claiming he thought the lady in question was the aforementioned berserker! The unfortunate episode terminated with the female law-enforcer ostensibly taking her life, as even this version of events is still under review. Concurrently, another chilling act of gross criminal malfeasance hit our screens. Lauded by his parents & neighbours as a once-upon-a-time precocious soccer talent with an audacious future, one Mr. Masten Milimu Wanjala was arraigned before the criminal justice system on the heinous accusation of abduction, molestation and murder of 13 children. Even before the blood of these unwitting juvenile victims had leached to the beds of their shallow graves, information hit the airwaves again that sensational, self-confessed serial killer, Mr. Phillip Onyancha had been acquitted of one of his 18 murders by a Justice of the High Court citing shoddy investigations. It must be committed to memory that Onyancha was thrust into the limelight in 2009 when he admitted to having joined some sardonic cult, whose spiritual presence had extolled him to murder 100 women. The long arm of the law caught up with him at victim #18! This is a man who was thought of as so far gone at the time of his apprehension that he was actually caught gormandizing the remains of one of his victims, even adjudged not fit to stand trial before a mental evaluation. Today, apparently he has turned over a new leaf & is a ‘Pastor’ but in the sentiments of West Pokot Governor; Prof. Lonyangapuo, “Hiyo yote ni Kiingereza Tupu!” (All semantics & jibber-jabber). Lest we forget; 22-year old, Mt. Kenya University Student, Mr. Simon Warunge who last year confessed to stabbing to death 4 of his family members & a farmhand. Bone-chilling stuff my people!
A picture-perfect fresco of the mental health travails that torment my compatriots is painted by the sharp rise in the number of suicides. Depression is greatly misunderstood by many, so much so that countless are the times when it is glossed over as merely having a rough day with an exhortation that tomorrow, all will be hunky-dory. After all, at least you have a job which countless members of the demographic with better qualifications than you do not, you have a roof over your head, enjoy 3 meals a day! We often forget that psychological well-being is just as indispensable as those taut pectoral muscles and firm glutes. According to the Economic Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), Kenya had a reported suicide rate of 196 people in 2020. Shock on you if you thought that this figure would be decreasing this year. In just the quarter preceding the authoring of this piece, already 483 more bodies have joined that statistic which to me is blood-curdling! None typifies this scenario clearer than the brilliant and vivacious, budding Paediatrician, Dr. Lydia Wahura who 2 months ago was a post-graduate student pursuing her Master of Medicine Degree at University of Nairobi, School of Health Sciences. Today she’s dearly departed, by her own hand, with two vials of intravenous anaesthesic drugs, a syringe and a printed suicide note chronicling the reasons for taking such drastic measures found on the scene of her last breath. It is jarring when the physicians who should be nursing the rest of us back to salubrious verve, especially those at the peak of their productive powers are so pushed to the wall as to end up “Scared of dying but terrified of living!” Heart-rending.
Today I ask in no want of plaintiveness, how did we normalize the inordinate shedding of human blood in such an abhorrent manner? Such incidents have brought to the fore Kenyans’ mental health struggles. This is a misunderstood conundrum that comes shrouded in such variants, it could as well be the multi-serpentine head of mythological Medusa! Mental health problems are not merely those that manifest clinically as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis or walking in the street slovenly of dress with a gargantuan bundle. You are dead wrong! For most of these problems, one’s psyche could be chipped at consistently without any phenotypical symptoms, with victims often buckling devoid of a strong support system. Many men grow up being told that man-like conduct is non-concomitant with the overt display of emotions. This is a perception that sees people either douse their feelings in the tipple or merely goes about in autopilot mode while affirming how much they have got everything under control. However, a day usually comes when one slight trigger will result in a total breakdown, with the fallout more ominous than the pyroclastic flow from the eruption of a super-volcano. We gloss over small stressful episodes until they fester into the behemoth called depression. For the layman, who more often than not may find it difficult to differentiate between the crack of their derrière and a hole in the ground, diagnosing a problem as indistinct as depression may prove a bridge too far. Invariably, that is what is killing our people. Girl child empowerment in Kenya, though noble is gradually but assuredly turning into a cassus belli for doom in many modern-day families nay societies. We have empowered the womenfolk of our society so much that they are tidally-locked into the miasma of toxic feminism. For a small anecdote, girl meets boy. They fall in love, court, eventually marry. In due course, they have two children before all hell breaks loose. The girl-child who lives her life admiring the disingenuously greener grass on Instagram is coaxed by her ‘chama’ girlfriends to start gushing over Kiki whose man showered her with a Range Rover Vogue to commemorate her 28th Birthday. They fill their chum to the brim, drinking from the poisoned chalice of intrigue & clap-trap with the baby girl now prompted to start looking for an exit strategy from her doting husband. Before long, she’s convinced that she would rather shed tears while jet-set as opposed to laughter as a co-driver in her husband’s modest Honda Civic! Like a lightning bolt out of the blues, the damsel becomes the talk of town after hoodwinking her husband that she’s going to Dubai on a business trip but is photographed in a compromising position at some glamping escapade in an expensive beach resort alongside some Kenyan magnate! Such dishonour will most certainly not be welcomed with a mere storm in a teacup on return but a full-scale homicidal paroxysm. When the hurricane finally tapers to a lull, a melancholic & repentant husband will be in the dock after rendering his children motherless! Regrets galore is the name of the game but the deed will have been done.
It is currently a running gag trumpeted ad nauseum in the public spheres that in politics there are no permanent allies and foes, only interests. Pursuant to the adage above, I would like to submit here that bigotry (cognitive dissonance), political or otherwise is a form of mental illness. Indubitably, political formations here in Kenya are transient with standard-bearers swapped at a greater frequency than the motor running the village jaggery. Never has greater bigotry & closed-mindedness played in the court of public opinion than after the handshake between arch-nemeses, H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta & Former Premier, Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga. I feel little predilection to mention names here but hitherto this détente, the Kenyatta camp was keen to gloat, insult, denigrate and manifest ethnic contempt against the Odinga camp in antipathy to any considerations of national cohesion. Hence, today those whose political clout rested firmly on the roiling of hate against good, old ‘Baba’ have been ruthlessly exposed as their cheap source of political mileage is curtailed. Many have been shown up as nothing more than ignominious propagandists, populist and ideologically-bereft fascists. Today, a formerly united voting bloc that took President Kenyatta to Statehouse twice has been fractured. The region that for the sake of this discourse will be referred to as ‘Mt. Kenya West’ is doubtlessly restless! This translates to a restive country. In astronomical imagery, due to their sizable population, the Central Kenya region has a similar impact to the moon’s gravity on our terrestrial orb pertaining to tidal waves. So critical is the numerical significance of ‘Mt. Kenya West’ that when they sneeze, the rest of Kenya catches the sniffles, their kinsmen in Nakuru & Laikipia are in the throes of a cold while the rest of GEMA almost dies from influenza! If you live in Kenya, then you know what I mean. A fortnight ago, a by-election was held in Kiambaa Constituency to fill the seat vacated by the untimely demise of Hon. Paul Koinange. Though a rural outpost in the backwaters of Kiambu County, the battle for the heart and soul of this jurisdiction was as titanic as to have ramifications on the real-politick of the rest of the nation. After all the huffing and puffing by a faction that fallaciously lays claim to the interest of the hoi-polloi, the margins of victory were ultimately razor-thin! By the time the dust had settled, that clique had won but by only 510 votes, with the dichotomous split running straight down the middle. Any analysis executed by pragmatic pundits will unfurl that this is a pyrrhic victory by forces today in antipodes to the Jubilee Party Government in spite of being elected under the banner of the same outfit. That brings me to my point that a ramshackle political cabal cobbled together on shared hatred, crippling fear of repercussions, ignorance, hullabaloo, appeasement of warmongers, impunity and ethnic antagonism devoid of any transformative agenda, ideological standpoint or even a modicum of temperance a mere decade & a half after our post-election flare-up in 2008 is only a manifestation of a mental block – indeed a mental health issue. This is a ship headed for an iceberg unbeknownst to its captain and crew! It is all reminiscent of a bully bullying others to avoid getting bullied himself.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is certainly a provocative man. This is a deduction I have surmised from deliberations I had with some level-headed pals of mine. The current Head of Government can be a pig-headed & infuriating fellow when he wills. Be it his way of testing people’s psychology or training in political science, I know not. He’s unrelenting as a gift that keeps on giving when you are in his negative graces. A handful of erstwhile bosom buddies have been treated to the torture chamber of his feigned ignorance, dopey glances, wry smiles, child-like rambunctiousness, butter-knife juggling, ignored calls, threats of draining the swamp, spontaneous nocturnal visits to their hide-outs leaving them at their wit’s ends.
All censorship and pretentious social graces now lie dead in a canal somewhere. They are in the grips of insanity with their true character on public display! When you blow up in ostensibly righteous rage, then your double standards are advertised. Those that the gods have slated for destruction, first they make mad! But let us take a step back for some introspection:
- Weren’t you together with him when he instituted the pernicious laws to muzzle free speech?
- Weren’t you firmly in his corner when he used the monopoly to state violence to break up opposition rallies?
- Didn’t you nod in approval when he disregarded court orders?
- Didn’t you dance raucously over the graves of dead opposition supporters when he mowed them down as mere troglodytes who were injurious to the status quo?
- Didn’t you applaud ‘Muthamaki’ as a progressive steward when broadcast signals were switched off during the mock swearing-in of the ‘People’s President’?
- Weren’t you in reverie when the thorn-in-your-side, Dr. Miguna Miguna was spirited out in crocks and a tattered coat unto the frigid climes of Canada despite holding dual citizenship & having little zeal to board the plane?
However, today the shoe is the other foot as the ‘People’s President’ has not only made peace but struck rapport with the Constitutionally-mandated one. Paying homage to the folk wisdom of the Swahili people, “Mkuki kwa nguruwe, kwa binadamu mchungu!” (The harpoon that smites the hog is equally painful to the hunter). I will not bastardize this post by reiterating the obnoxious, duplicitous, newly-minted anti-dynasty balderdash idly vociferated by miscreant sociopaths of the ilk of Rigathi, N. Nyoro, Moses Kuria, bushman Ichungwa, geriatric virago – A. Wahome et.al that virtually pinned the rest of Kenya to the ground during Pres. Uhuru Kenyatta’s rapine phase of impunity. Most insidious is the flip-out by our Deputy President who was discombobulated when he found out the days of bashing ‘Jamaa wa Vitendawili’ together with his ostensible ‘brother from another mother’ were firmly in the rearview mirror. Today, despite President Kenyatta’s admission of the judgement errors in his Jubilee administration, his Deputy is still adamant on being the best thing since sliced bread while pandering to its buttered side, blameless of any iniquities committed under Jubilee. He asseverates his innocence as a mere ‘trailer’ that was hauled by the truck called the Jubilee regime. He is in the throes of a messianic complex avowing wheelbarrows, bottom-up economics and power to the masses as a panacea to economic failure that he co-presided in Kenya. One-upmanship is now the guy’s life mantra. Needless to say, obstinacy to self-awareness is the worst form of mental illness in my book. Medically, the professionals refer to it as delusions of grandeur, megalomania and narcissistic personality disorder.
It is an indictment on Kenya’s mental faculties that a kleptocrat par excellence, megalomaniac, purveyor of idle chatter and International Criminal Court (ICC) indictee, incidentally let off the hook from serious legal proceedings by the collapse of his crimes against humanity case occasioned by sudden & unexplained deaths of witnesses against him adjunct to state reluctance on investigation into his case is now the frontrunner in the Presidential succession race. This is a clear affront on our collective national sensibility. What the hell is wrong with us? A power-hungry crook who would gladly sell off his children to the shadowy creatures of the hades if it would assure of the ascendancy to ultimate political power is here wooing us with sweet nothings. Meanwhile, we are busy drawing schematics in the sand with our big toe at such vacuous advances. Disgraceful! As per Chinua Achebe in his politically–savvy treatise; ‘A Man Of The People (1966)’, castigating the actions of the abominable market trader; Josiah, who tried to steal blind Azoge’s cane to make customer-attracting ‘Juju’ for his shop, a villager opined, “what money will do in this land, wears a hat & trousers!” Clowning around by the public for short-term pecuniary gain when sound decisions are required is emblematic of a mental disorder that should be expeditiously remedied in my considered opinion.
My friends, let’s have a tête-à-tête on hero-cult worship popularly known as the Big Man Syndrome. I have certainly touched on this topic in a previous post but will nonetheless reiterate my sentiments but with greater brevity. In my research, I have found out with little in the form of discernible mirth that there is a condition known as Dependent Personality Disorder. Primarily, persons ensconced in this predicament exhibit and maintain an infantile perspective with limited insight into themselves and the world around them. Invariably, this will entrench dependency leaving the subject vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Can I let you in on a secret of who has a fetish for such people? The populist politician with an outsize ego. Such a condition will leave one so gullible that anybody with the gift of the gab, compelling stories, charisma, poise, self-esteem and indeed linguistic flair will virtually be a demigod in their eyes. I am at pains trying to explain to myself how a fellow in the personification of Migori Governor, Zachary Okoth Obado would still possess the effrontery to traverse far and wide touting himself as the alternative voice of his tribesmen against a mono-familial hegemony yet he stands accused of the callous execution of his mistress and their unborn son! I don’t wish to divulge any more, as the matter is still sub judice. Hopefully, Sharon Otieno gets justice for her ghastly murder. This fierce character has such sway that any attempt to impeach him will result in decidedly dire consequences. It’s in the public purview that the latest attempt to impeach him on verifiable allegations of corruption and abuse of office over well-documented graft under his tenure as the County Chief Executive was scuttled when lily-livered Members of the County Assembly scurried across the Isebania border post into Tanzania, defeating the motion due to a quorum hitch. Assuredly, the men and women who prop up this man in office must be the problem. Of course, the go-to excuse by his handlers would be that his tribulations are politically motivated. However, in good continence, I feel the need to echo the memorable observations of Football Manager José Mourinho – in his obiter dictum against threats by Ole Gunnar Solskjær (his successor at Manchester United) to deny his children food to punish vermicular stability on the turf, “a man steals in his responsibility to cater to his family bedeviled by real-life hunger.” If apprehended, the heist will nonetheless be needlessly labeled as the consequence of sloth and avarice, the perpetrator beaten to a pulp as he’s frog-marched to a police precinct. Meanwhile, when a scoundrel politician is caught with his hand in the public cookie jar, we dismissively christen his tribulations as ‘politically motivated.’ Where is the Justice in that? Are all thieves not breaking the same commandment under God?
A few weeks ago, information filtered through that Dik-Dik Road in Kileleshwa had been renamed to Francis Atwoli Road. No sooner had this been effected by the County of Nairobi than some hoodlums decided they were not willing to accept the new appellative. Egged on by some riffraff canvassing as activists that currently suffer a lull in business pertinent to the prevailing ‘era of good feelings’ between President Uhuru & long-time opposition supremo Rt. Hon. Odinga, they have now decided to dabble in inerudite mischief. The night after the erection of the road signage they decided to deface it. It was restituted but later in the day, the same scalawags were at it again, this time around setting the edifice ablaze while clad in balaclava masks. Excuses were given for the action, mostly along the lines of, “If the people don’t want a renaming, you can’t ram it down their throats” which when put in context is arrant nonsense. First and foremost, the characters engaged in such skullduggery are either jobless louts being engaged for malevolence or low-level employees who in the near future will invariably seek the services of the aforementioned Mr. Atwoli to improve their lot. Unbeknownst to dingbats, Mr. Francis Atwoli is a trade unionist of world renown who has not only been reelected countless times as the Secretary-General of the Central Organization Of Trade Unionists (COTU) since 2001 but also serves in the governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Another feather in his hat is that recently he has been elevated from an ordinary member to the Vice President of the august body. This is in addition to serving in distinction in other regional trade union bodies all across Africa and worldwide. Hate him or love him, his service as a trade unionist is not only indispensable but has put Kenya on the map and as such, it is only natural when we grant the small favour of naming a minor road after the guy. This is in the backdrop of the dearth in naming conventions in Nairobi that has seen us having roads like Muratina Road (after traditional brew) and Githeri lane (edible mixture of maize & beans) in South B, Nairobi. This begs the question:
- Is Francis Atwoli less valuable than some bog-standard, traditional alcoholic concoction or common succotash?
- Is there any dik-dik still left in the locale to justify somebody getting their panties in a twist over their disenfranchisement by way of a name change?
- Are the allegedly aggrieved even residents of Kileleshwa estate?
But the answer here is simple. There is a condition referred to as Borderline Personality Disorder which boils down basically to a combination of herd mentality and congenital asininity. It takes root among people who lack a sense of self, consequently experiencing feelings of emptiness & fear of abandonment that can only be remedied in part by having the sufferer anonymous in some psychotic mob, crowd or gang. This is exacerbated by minuscule enlightenment, a whiff of jealousy, a dash of constrained achievement, a hint of frustration, a jot of ignorance, an iota of malice, a scintilla of entitlement, a smidgen of low self-esteem, a little bit of blood to the head, some victimhood stirred in and you get a dastardly mélange. Totally manufactured umbrage that is anthemic of repressed personal demons. Yes, we understand that there is a heavy helping of single mothers in Nairobi, whose grown children hide behind aggressive or passive-aggressive behavior which is merely repressed ‘Daddy-issues!’ So my take home from all this is to enthuse young men and women to be patient & endeavor to excel in their various fields of expertise so that one day some alleyway or other will be named in your honour. Envy is an ugly emotion, indeed one of the seven deadliest sins according to the Catholic catalogue. Moreover, it is understandable that Kenya is still working on the quest to shared prosperity. Additionally, as in myriad other developing countries, we still grapple with urbanization ills pertaining to the working poor, whose disappointment with life is a veritable trigger-point to mental health problems. Nevertheless, that is no reason for animus towards an innocent person. Finally, try to get some help.
So after my discussions that have turned acerbic in parts and a downright reprimand in others, how do we help our brethren afflicted by variegated challenges with their mental health?
- The most important step is to lend a listening ear. It is surprising how therapeutic it is to have someone show genuine, even feigned empathy with your problems. Let’s be each other’s support system to combat any possible lurch into depression and other monsters that chip at our respective psyches. Men should learn to be vulnerable with their confidants and not just to let emotions continue being pent-up. We should offer each other a shoulder to cry on.
- This one falls firmly within the purview of government. Declare our mental health crisis a national disaster of endemic proportion with affirmative action that will ensure a speedy resolution. External to Covid-19, to preside over the loss of nearly 500 taxpayers in 3 months is simply unacceptable. We are not in any battle here, so it is unconscionable to allow such human casualties anymore. Decriminalize suicide by repealing Section 226 of our outmoded, colonial Penal Code (Chapter 63, Laws of Kenya) which currently renders suicide as a misdemeanor that attracts a jail term. Prison will never deter suicides any more than police bullets deterred bank robberies in the days of Wanugu, Wacucu & Rasta in the ’90s. No need to victimize nay kick a man when he is down.
- Get help for those in psychological distress. Our community help assistants should be schooled on giving psychological first aid to the distressed. Psychiatric treatment and even medicine to ameliorate the problem would be critically crucial.
In closing remarks, the community of empathetic humans is the most important resource in ensuring that we have a healthy nation physically, emotionally, morally, culturally and most importantly psychologically. For how can we claim to be human if we lack affection for our fellow men?
