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This is a question I was asked during my first job interview this year. Obviously, I hate being told to liken myself to a beast.
It is usually very irritating because animals cannot reason, are not rational and animals just are that- animals.
As I write this piece, I am feeling very zetetic. Yet I am still not sure whether that which I am after will become a reality. My gamut is quite emotionally ravaged.
So I heard this story, it is about the in-law of one of my sister's chums.
Lets call the bugger Jim. Jim is an Alcohol inspired name according to Google. So Jim once went to the court during the trial of one of his friends. Since Jim was a perpetual sot, he went to the courtroom drunk.
In the midst, he fell asleep in court. Upon waking up he thought he was in one of the many drinking dens he frequents and he burst out loudly;
"Wewe hapo juu pewa mbili na we askari pia pewa kadhaa."
Obviously, you know what happened to him. He got some respite when he was bailed out by his bigger brother.
Anyway, methinks this is the kind of guy who grew up and interacted so much with animals and this could have affected the way he relates with people.
Many African ladies, Ok, that would be committing a fallacy if I generalized that by saying many yet only a negligible count usually call their progeny names of animals that are not so palatable.
I remember one of our primary school teachers imitating how dogs behave, yet some women will call their children, "Umbwa hii."
Don't such women know that such names have consequences on the character of their children. The worst is being called a sheep. "Angalia hii kondoo."
Such names are in no doubt affect the thoughts of a child. It is usually a time when most children are learning about similes and when you call him sheep, he will start thinking he is a fool and may be introverted and withdrawn.
So many grow up crestfallen, devastated and cynical. All because someone called him a dog,or a cow and many other animals whose names I cannot remember. Yet we feign ignorance that we are no hurting when one calls us a name we instinctively never like.
However,there are scenarios where you call your buddies names of animals behind their back like, "Hikyo kiumbwa" or "Kale ka fisi." When the person you are conversing with hears the name call, you laugh like it is a normalcy. We humans are indeed queer. Our actions need to be audited but much more, our words need to be taken to the ombudsman or that commission headed Kaparo, Yes, NCIC, to clarify whether they fall under what is libelous.
But we are Kenyans. I remember as an eight year old, I went and messes with the hornet's nest by abusing or name calling some dudes we used to play with. When their mother heard, she was furious, she came out and gave me a dog's beating using a broom and that was the end of our friendship.
I went back home sobbing like a kicked dog hoping my mum would intervene. Even though she was pained, she told me I had been taught a lesson never to name call and think of myself as very strong.
Every other time I listen to ethnic music and hear the name calling, I usually feel ambivalent. I just donno why, but since it is the message that majority of people from my roots can aptly relate to, then I must admit, the backseat will serve me just right.
SITUONANE.
[Photo Source: Google Images]
