A WORLD OF VALUE IDENTITY
Washing my mother’s car is not
something I did every day. But today was a Sunday and after a family prayer, humility
came naturally. When asked to do a job on the car, I did not hesitate or think
that my mother was bugging me like she always does, to be a good boy.
So Sunday morning I washed mum’s car.
The rarity in doing the task made me relish it even more. I washed and rinsed
it a good number of times but every time I looked at it from a different angle,
I saw a dry patch already formed on it. It always made it appear as though I
had done an awful job. Then I would fetch water and rinse again and again. I
washed that car!!!. Even the tyres were scrubbed and silts removed from underneath
its body armor. I was determined to do a job. A spotless job. An Italian job. But
why an Italian job, I thought to myself, and not let’s say a Collinso (my
nickname from a Kenyan friend) or Ugandan job for that matter.
The closest idea I know about Italians
is from Hollywood Italian movies like the Godfather or reading Mario Puzo’s
classics like the Sicilian. But here I was determined to do an Italian job
which loosely translates into a perfectly well executed task. That’s when I
realized that these are simply value identities attached to a specific people
either out of direct encounters with them, mind engineering by big story
tellers i.e. the media (Hollywood included), or a preconceived bias about other
people we have never seen or heard of, what Chimamanda Ngozi terms as the one
sided story. One only needs to walk down the annals of history particularly World
War I & II to appreciate the impact of value identity. In Hitler’s Germany for
example, the Germans considered themselves a superior race to the rest of
mankind because of his dogma. On the other hand, the Japanese last resort in
the face of defeat by the world powers was carrying out suicide pilot
expeditions in enemy territories, also famously known as kamikaze operations.
This could not have been possible if the Japanese did not have a deeply grounded
belief in the element of honor mostly associated with Japanese samurai
warriors. Regardless of their extremities, these value identities influence the
moral character and resolution of a people. Which brings me to my next point.
What value identity do we have as Ugandans and how should we be identified as a
people. How can we forge a truly national character and be identified by it
rather than aggravating our tribal differences. Most often, values are
instilled and built within a people by its leaders. US president Delano Roosevelt’s
freedom from fear speech and President Paul Kagame’s Agaciro campaign are just
brief examples. Agaciro means dignity. You cannot talk about dignity without
cleanliness. No wonder it is easier to
pick a coin than a polythene bag in the Rwandan capital. Others values are simply historically adopted
like the hatred between the Jews and the Palestinians. America is also known
for the American dream, for igniting new hope for brighter prospects and
freedom. These were inherited from the forefathers of that great nation and
they have transcended generations. That
does not make America any less racial or tribal in character but the ideals
that make up the United States embolden every citizen to work towards forming a
more perfect union. The United States of America is what it is because of its whole
encompassing character. American actress Meryl Streep echoed this sentiment at
the Golden globe awards remarking how Hollywood is full of ‘immigrant’ actors
and actresses whose inestimable efforts have contributed indelibly to that thriving
industry. She then joked that the whole industry would all have to be chased
away because of Donald Trump’s ill attitude towards immigrants. It is the
belief in such values not the written presence of the same that has made the
United States of America develop a pantheon of value system institutions that
command respect and reverence. A case in point being the federal court
injunction against President Donald Trump immigration ban against Muslims. Here
in our Uganda, people are re-arrested after having been granted bail. Most recently, High court freed a Rwandan
national imprisoned by Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence but the security
operatives have not complied with the decision of court to restore his personal
liberty. Which makes you wonder whether we still have a belief in our values
and the institutions that embody them. Should we then lose heart and discard
them all together. Trample these ideals in the dust because of a few instances
of non-compliance with the grand norm that we more readily get to know about
rather than instances of compliance with the same. I say that we continue to
have hope in our constitution and in our national character as Ugandans. Our
national conscience maybe shattered but we have to mend it. We have to believe
in the promises of our constitution. The past and present cannot break us. Let
us believe in the future. Let us believe in Africa. And here is a message for Mr.
Donald Trump, and the western media that reports only gruesome pictures of
famine and starvation. You cannot belittle a people. This is the greatest war
that we now face as Africans. That war hinges on value identity. A war far
greater than a missile ballistic war. It is a war to claim our pride and
dignity.
