They Lied To Us

They lied to us.

They told us to study hard and we would get the good jobs and the good wives and the good cars.

They told us to obey and never rebel. They told us to never be curious or ask questions.

They told us to accept the status quo and our reward would be a good life.

We never ventured outside our comfort zone. We never challenged or questioned anything.

We closed our eyes to injustice, dilapidated buildings, the money that passed through their hands, the projects that got awarded millions yet never got finished, the roads that caused accidents and killed our own people, the policies that only lined their pockets and emptied ours. We saw it all but still we trudged on, hoping and believing in that faraway utopia that just one more step of ‘being good’ would bring.

We trudged on under the merciless sun, we trekked with our bleeding feet, we continued when our clothes became tattered and we were open to the harsh elements. We continued when our mouths got so thirsty our tongues were stuck to the roof of our mouths. We continued when our stomach growled and complained bitterly of its emptiness.

We have walked and walked. We never see the promise. Our hearts start to worry and we start to look ourselves fearfully, thinking it but never saying it ‘Have they lied to us?’

When we managed to whisper this question, they would smile with their fat cheeks, pat our backs with expensive wristwatches and say the promise will soon come. It is coming and it is true. After all, I am a living testimony of the promise. I was good and now I am enjoying the good life.

But when we go home, we would hear the stories of how they rebelled and fought and killed in their own days. Still we would say they changed and continue to hope on.

It’s not that we were fools, No. somehow we must have always known but we also knew that there was no way out. What could we say? What could we do to change things? We had given them all the power and they had changed the laws to enable them remain in power for as long as they want.

We also knew that they were some of us who did things for them and got paid. We knew that this people who should be on our sides would turn on us with machine guns and cutlasses, they didn’t get the memo that they should be good. No. They chose the other road and though their lives are full of violence and they drop like flies, they still get a piece of the cake and sometimes, in the dark when no one can hear our thoughts, we wonder if perhaps, that life is not so bad after all. They drive big cars, they get the beautiful girls, they build houses and they are our age mates.

Our mothers clap their hands in our faces and shout in our faces. “Are they not your mates? Can’t you see how they take care of their families and you are here, saying there is no job and eating my food.”

We feel shame. We feel frustrated but we keep the roar inside and smile outside and continue to hope and to believe. This is the life that we know, this dark tunnel. They say there is light at the end of the tunnel but we have given up hope.

We read, we burned the midnight candles, we got the good grades and the certificates, yet our hands remained idle. “Start a business they “ became their new promise. So we obey and we find a little bit of relief.

But what about our brothers in the villages? What about the ones who never went to school? What about our neighbour’s children who hawk all day and never go to school? What about our children? Is this what they will face when they come into this world? How about the potholes and the sinking economy and the suffering faces of the beggars on the streets? How about the darkness that fills our homes every night and the money we burn on fuel?

We look at the rest of the world and it seems that we are living life backwards. That burning question starts to rise again and we close our eyes to it. Its not our business we tell ourselves. We have this small relief, let’s not rock the boat. It’s not so bad. But the question persists and persists and soon, we can’t sleep.

What can we do? Nothing works. How can we fight against this evil that lies and creeps and steals and smiles and is celebrated everywhere?

Dare we look somewhere else?

We see new faces and new voices coming up and a ray of hope shines. But then we remember, that is how they started, with sweet smiles and promises that bring hope. Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t know.

But the truth is that we are afraid. Going down this road will be tough and we most likely could lose. But what is the alternative?