Of words and freedom..

Of words and freedom:

Oh Australia!!!!

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Premiere is probably the one guy who I can say has a lot of nerve. (Choose a phrase to replace that if you want!) His recent speech focusing on a fundamental right, freedom of worship couldn’t have come out at a better time. A time where Nigeria has buried nearly and could be over 150 of its nationals killed over religion related differences. A time when many more nations have adamantly refused to let a ‘religious fugitive’ use their air space, let alone take a pit stop in their land. A time in which we are heading where who you think created the world may be your new passport!

Rudd strongly believes that ‘immigrants, not Australians must adapt’ to the country’s lifestyle, norms and historic caves of genesis that give a sense of belonging. You chose the place and all that defines and shapes it; then eat your vegetables! If you can’t change how the map looks like, then for the sake of all that is good and pure, deal with it. Live and let live. And that applies to the words and the freedom that it gives me as a human being. They say true freedom is only in the mind. I say out of the abundance of the heart (greatly linked to the mind in ways more than one) the mouth speaketh. Yes; SPEAKETH!

But Rudd also brings out another fundamental right should you not be comfortable. The ‘Freedom to Leave’. How simply intelligent this is Mr. Premier! Why would you shatter my car’s windscreen or worse still, get a bullet lodged in your stomach for a man you have never seen? Why would you fight what is fundamentally necessary to keep the ‘untouchable’ away from your backyard, meaning your safety comes first?

Very simple; leave. A whole nation can’t be staring immeasurable peril in its eye because of what can and can’t be said. For too long have governments and quite honestly you and I been compartmentalized because we can’t say this or that. The media have had their fair share of this cake, and pitifully will still be forced to gobble down some more. Why? Because we are afraid of the liberty we will own from freed words. Sadly we are more than comfortable in your little spaces and vocations. Better the devil we know than the angel we don’t right?

Wrong! Just like Rudd, I am more than convinced that we need to befriend this angel and really know what they are about. And if that means that I will have to speak, then so be it. The devil that we know is increasingly becoming the number one stranger, hovering right among us. Things need to change, and soon.

Let’s sew in the threads that have always held us together, tighten the knots of that mesh that we call ‘Kenya-ism’. Keep the faith, keep the culture, keep everything, keep it all. And if it means using words, then by all means, feel free.
‘We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.' said Rudd, the freed.