People talking about war lack care, wisdom

By Col. Pecos Kutesa WAR, it is said, is like an illicit love affair. It is a lot of talk and explanation at the beginning. Then a quick and violent action, and a lot of talking and explanation afterwards. When one hears UPC diehards talking of war against the current regime in Uganda and in their words proposing to lead that war as they claim to have led past wars against dictatorship (The Monitor, December 22), one tends to be reminded of the observation of Eric Erickson (1902-1994), a post-freudian figure who coined the concept of ego-psychology. Some of the Ugandan elite missed out on one of the stages of development and so failed to acquire the virtue of generativity or care as Erickson said. The age of this stage is from 24 to 65 years. This stage entails not only parenthood but also the ability to be productive and creative in many areas of life particularly those showing concern for the ensuing generation. The reverse of this virtue is stagnation which is characterised by symptoms of inter-personal impoverishment, self absorption and other destructive negative traits. So the individual lacks the virtue of care defined by Erickson as “The widening concern for what has been generated by love, necessity or accident.” The most active age group of Uganda falls in this category of 25 to 65 years. Since the so called life expectancy of an average Ugandan is only 46. This is the time to be building with the aim of acquiring the virtue of care. Uganda’s socio-political history has made this age group not active participants in building the national cake as it is known, but on how to share and grab the remaining crumbs of the said cake. A big percentage of this group have left productive fields to aspire for political posts right from LC1 to ministerial. There is fear that the generation may suffer from stagnation. The current talk from all walks of life about our political leaders seems to point to what transpired when man tried to build the Tower of Babel as told in the Bible. It seems our leaders are talking in foreign languages. Let us aspire for the eighth and last of Erickson stages which he calls Ego-integrity versus despair. It is a stage one reaches after having adapted to the successes and failures of existence. Ego integrity is a feeling that life is meaningful and the virtue associated with it is wisdom. Which even in our African culture is always associated with old age. It is known that old desperate people, end up cursing the day they were born. Those are the people who start talking of war. Maybe they lack the virtue of care, let alone wisdom. “The determined concern with life itself in the face of death itself,” as Eric put it.