Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Of responsibilities.

Dear readers,
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
Stan Lee

So how was today? It was the first day of term, there were the normalities of this school carried out – the principals speech and the sixth form assembly.

And there was the announcement of who would form the body of our sixth form committee for the rest of our tenure as upper sixers here. I didn’t get a position and there was nothing to be sad about. Tomorrow I have got a society meeting and I am hardly expecting to get a position, and in the event of me getting a position there is the likeliness that it wouldn’t be a notable one. Indeed. Inevitably so, I have never held a position in my life before - not in any club or society, not in any student body. I was never a prefect nor a class monitor. It was, I believe, not because I was not good enough but rather a combination of hard luck and of course, the tendency of my presence going unnoticed. A position in school regardless of whatever position it is, is the embodiment of responsibility manifested in the holder of the position. The holder should be thoroughly responsible and dedicate himself to fulfilling those very responsibilities. Yet it is also understandable that some people were never meant to be leaders, despite how much they want to be one, and I am one of them.

Zimbabwe is a poor country, today rather than in the earlier years when agricultural exports had buoyed the economy to such great heights that it was once regarded as a gem in African civilisation. Today its inflation rate stands at in excess of 100000% and its economy to Western eyes is beyond repair, similar to those dead fish in the supermarket that can never be resuscitated even if you had God’s breath. In a position of great power, the liberator of Zimbabwe from the oppressive white regime of Ian Smith, the young Robert Mugabe was believed to be able to bring Zimbabwe into an era of glory that was unparalleled in Zimbabwean history. Today, the government is bellicose and its power waning, it support base wavering as news of an imminent loss of the Zimbabwe Parliament to the opposition MDC. Robert Mugabe is a broken man, a man who had so much power to himself that he was possessed by it, he had forgotten his promises of restoring glory and he had forsaken his responsibilities to his people. And that is power that has gone sour, fresh responsibilities bestowed on a leader whom let those responsibilities go stale with his souring promises. Today, he is a broken man seeking a recount of votes in the recent elections. And today, we might never know whether Zimbabwe will ever be a sustainable state again. I certainly hope that with the confidence vested in the MDC, I hope they do a much better job in maintaining the welfare of the forgotten people of the country.

I hope this term will be better and I certainly hope this term I will find something to write in my UCAS personal statement. For now, adios.

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