A hero puts others’ interests before his

Jun 11, 2009

A hero is someone who prefers good for others over himself even if it costs him his own life. He focuses not on self-interest, but that of others.

By Rev. Nathan Kyamanywa

A hero is someone who prefers good for others over himself even if it costs him his own life. He focuses not on self-interest, but that of others.

Recently, we celebrated and recognised the heroic actions of those who lost their lives to bring us the peace which we enjoy today in this country; and as a result the economic relative growth. They will never enjoy the fruit of their sacrifice, but they paid the price.

There are many heroes who did heroic actions but were not killed; they either died natural deaths or are still living — they are also heroes. We sometimes tend to magnify only those who died and yet even those who are still living could have laid down their lives if that is what it came to.

We thank God who gave us the heroes, they are His gifts to us, He knows why He created them because He always works on purpose: there is no haphazard thing with God — we thank Him.

When we talk of Kabalega — he was a man of vision for his people: I get grieved when I hear people, both Banyoro and non-Banyoro blaming Kabalega for all the sufferings of present day Banyoro.

I agree as a human being he made many strategic mistakes and wrong decisions (which we all make anyway and continue to make), but that does not remove the vision Kabalega had for his people; what is that vision? An independent people able to defend themselves; proud and self-reliant.

Those who blame Kabalega should be fair and judge him in his own context. His context was his kingdom and the welfare of his people. I doubt if he had ever gone beyond his kingdom ; why? Because he lacked nothing.

Suppose it was you or me, and someone came into your home and began ransacking your wealth and property, would you look around and throw your hands in the air? So Kabalega was a real hero much as others who took a different approach are heroes.

To think about the reverse, should we blame all the negative things which came with colonialism on those who welcomed the whites? I do not think so, similarly let us appreciate Kabalega’s heroism. Suppose he had won and the collaborators lost — Kabalega seemingly lost, he was shot in the hand, taken captive, exiled and died on his way back to his kingdom.

All heroes at the time of their struggle seemingly lose and I can give three examples, Jesus Christ seemingly lost and his excecutors won. Jesus was arrested, tortured, judged and hanged — all his followers scattered.

The Uganda martyrs seemingly lost. They refused the Kabaka’s advances and stuck to their faith. They were herded together and burnt to death.

Luttamaguzi seemingly lost. Ssebirumbi came to his house with soldiers and Luttamaguzi was arrested and tortured, but refused to reveal the whereabouts of the rebels and he was killed. But did they really lose? No, for Jesus Christ — His victory is evident even today. Likewise, the Uganda martyrs, Luttamaguzi and many others like them. Therefore, Kabalega, the Uganda martyrs and Luttamaguzi are all heroes.

It is a pity and shame that many Ugandans live carelessly and are corrupt forgetting that there are people (heroes) who paid a price to create the current situation where we live freely and happily. We are like spoilt children who find their parents wealthy and do not know how much their parents toiled to accumulate that wealth, if they do not take care of it, it soon disappears and since they do not know how to make it, they are left destitute.

We can all be heroes by preferring good over bad.

We can become heroes by refusing to give or take a bribe and by rejecting corruption and evil behaviour. People who take bribes eat good food but by refusing to take a bribe, we join in the chorus of the heroes and through that, we maintain our society, nation and future.

However, short of refusing to take bribes, our destiny is doomed and we are giving lip service to the heroes. When we are not genuine, we are hypocrites.

Whereas our heroes sacrificed their lives to create a fair and just society, many of us are busy cheating, defrauding, squandering public funds, sacrificing children, etc.

Heroes look like failures, but I would like to point out that in the case of Jesus Christ, it was the intervention of God which brought Jesus back to life.

We need to allow the intervention of God by each one of us allowing God into our hearts and decisions. Corruption in Uganda will be fought through our hearts and convictions, not commissions, organisations or seminars.

The writer is the Bishop of Bunyoro Kitara Diocese

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