Articles Tagged Life & Society

Oct 27, 2024
Up close, the illusion fades

Recently, I was gazing across Mombasa’s Tudor Creek at twilight. Nyali Bridge was there in the distance, a perfect picture of twinkling lights. From here, the vehicles crossing the bridge were a pretty series of coloured beams, moving silently, like a movie watched on mute. I had crossed that bridge earlier that day, and it […]

Read More
Oct 20, 2024
The struggle for meaning is both peculiar and personal

While travelling in Italy last year, I came across an interesting juxtaposition. In a small, rustic village, there was a modest, very charming chapel. Right next to it was the village tavern. I paused to reflect. The human being truly has a need for escape from life’s myriad difficulties. Our lives are full of challenges […]

Read More
Sep 22, 2024
Why 60 per cent is often an excellent result in life

Today I want to share a magic number, a target that you should aim for: 60 per cent. School plants strong ideas about what a winning grade is in all of us. The way we get marked tells us that 80 and 90 per cent are the great numbers, the ones that give you ‘A’ […]

Read More
Aug 25, 2024
Faith Kipyegon has lessons for her nation

For a while it looked like this year’s Paris Olympics were going to be painfully disappointing for Kenya, but in the end our women athletes came through. Two women brought us three of our final tally of four gold medals. Beatrice Chebet pulled off the remarkable feat of double gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 […]

Read More
Aug 18, 2024
Support those brave souls who start businesses

So many hopeful souls start new businesses every year. Whether it’s a tiny single-person venture, or a well-funded startup, new firms come teeming into existence. Some studies suggest that at least 100 million new businesses are created annually around the world. That’s good, right? These businesses should meet genuine needs in the market; make the […]

Read More
Aug 11, 2024
Your barber will always recommend a haircut

“Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut” is folksy Warren Buffet at his best. This little bit of wise advice has more layers than a wedding cake, and it’s really about incentives and the distortions they bring into our lives. The barber’s livelihood depends on giving you haircuts, whether you need them or […]

Read More
Aug 04, 2024
AI’s moment is here. Caution needed

Last week I highlighted the three waves of computing tech that we have gone through over the past four decades or so: the personal computer, the internet, and the cloud-connected, multi-featured smartphone. Wave four is now well and truly upon us. Artificial Intelligence. The world as we know it is being rewritten—not by quill and […]

Read More
Jul 07, 2024
It takes mavericks to change the game

Paul Auster passed away recently, and I went back to his breakout book, The New York Trilogy, as a form of homage. The first novella begins with Daniel Quinn, a writer. Quinn uses a pseudonym, William Wilson, to write detective novels. The investigator in these novels is called Max Work. Quinn reflects that in this […]

Read More
Jun 30, 2024
What is a nation?

What is a nation? What makes it what it is? Is a nation its borders, the lines on a map that define its boundaries? Is that what we think of when we think of a country? Is a nation its physical features, the mountains and lakes and rivers that are its hallmarks? Or is a […]

Read More
Jun 16, 2024
Why we should all be activists

Zarina Patel is no more; Kenya’s activist of renown passed away recently. She hit our headlines when she led the protests against the grabbing of Nairobi’s historic Jeevanjee Gardens in 1991. Since then she found a whole range of worthy causes to be involved in. If action was needed against a social injustice or human-rights […]

Read More
Jun 09, 2024
Humans are at their best when they embrace their diversity

Fish & chips. Is there a dish more quintessentially British? It seems to shout out its patriotism. When I first rocked up in the British isles for my studies, a naïve lad from Kenya, I made sure I sought out a fish and chips eatery. I found there was one around every corner, and that […]

Read More
May 12, 2024
A message from Mother Earth

I am Gaia, your Mother Earth, and today I speak to you humans with a heavy heart. I have nurtured and nourished you for millennia, and given you a great bounty teeming with everything you need to thrive. Sadly, you have abused me incessantly, and you have worsened the mistreatment over the past century. You […]

Read More
May 05, 2024
What example are you setting for your descendants?

I watched a television programme recently which highlighted the work of a Japanese cooper—a maker of wooden barrels, casks, and tubs. A simple enough task, you might think—but you stand to be re-educated, as I was. The choice of wood, how to treat it, how to shape it into staves, how to create a curved […]

Read More
Apr 28, 2024
Do you view people as means, or ends?

Asma Khan is quite a phenomenon. A Bengali Muslim immigrant in the UK, she is a trained lawyer with a PhD in constitutional law. Yet her accomplishment is not in the field of her training. Asma is famous simply for cooking the dishes of her childhood. She had never learned to cook when she got […]

Read More
Mar 31, 2024
Why contentment is a state we should all hope to attain

What keeps us going? What makes us keep striving to be more, do more, have more? Is it a necessary human trait, to hanker and to grow? We could call it ambition or aspiration. But I also have other words to for you to consider: greed, obsession, and sickness. The need to have and be […]

Read More
Mar 24, 2024
All the talent we ignore will find a home

A few years ago I was having a chat with a Japanese female executive in Nairobi. She worked for a large multinational organization headquartered in Tokyo. The Kenya operation was undergoing restructuring, and her job was one of those affected. “I guess you’ll go back to HQ in Japan,” I asked? “No,” she said with […]

Read More
Mar 10, 2024
Next time you hit a difficulty—use it!

The renowned actor Michael Caine was once rehearsing a play scene as a young, aspiring thespian. In the middle of the rehearsal, a chair unexpectedly got stuck in the door of the set, blocking his path. Young Michael froze and didn’t know what to do. He told his fellow, more seasoned actor he couldn’t get […]

Read More
Feb 25, 2024
Why every nation should value its writers

What would you say about a land of just 5 million people that has produced four Nobel literature laureates and six Booker Prize winners? This year’s Booker longlist had no fewer than four finalists from this country. I refer to Ireland, a country that routinely punches above its weight in the realm of literature. So […]

Read More
Feb 18, 2024
Are you suffering from the Spotlight Effect?

Picture yourself on a dark stage, delivering the central performance of the day. A spotlight is shining right on you, staying with you as you move. All else is dark. There are hundreds of people in the audience, but you can barely make them out. All their attention is on you: how you look, and […]

Read More
Feb 04, 2024
What is there to be arrogant about?

There are so many arrogant people running around. Full of themselves, cocksure, always right, always certain of their positions, usually dismissive of others. Why, though? What is there to be arrogant about, for any human being? You are arrogant because you are rich, perhaps? But how fickle is material wealth? It can be obtained through […]

Read More
Jan 21, 2024
Pick a side. Actually, don’t

Pick a side. You have to be on one side, or the other. If you’re not for us, you’re against us. If you’re not with us, you’re with them. Pick a side, and stick to it all your life. That message is drummed into us soon after we are born, and then reinforced for all […]

Read More
Dec 31, 2023
Love your life—and your death

As the year draws to a close, let’s learn some Latin. I want to dust off three two-letter phrases that are profound meditations on having a meaningful life. They express timeless philosophies, rooted in many ancient spiritual and contemplative traditions. The first phrase is AMOR FATI. This means simply to love one’s fate. It is […]

Read More
Dec 24, 2023
Why we must honour the ordinary humans in our lives

I was once walking through the older parts of Reading, a town in the United Kingdom. I came upon a lovely old church hidden behind the town centre, and in it a cemetery. There I found this gem: a large wooden grave marker, with an inscription in memory of Henry West. Who was Henry West? […]

Read More
Dec 17, 2023
Why do we admire the rich?

I was once in an airport immigration queue, awaiting clearance to re-enter my homeland. The queue was long, and we were all tired after a long flight.  A very well known business tycoon came in from a different flight. He took a look at the line in front of passport control and walked right past […]

Read More
Dec 10, 2023
Why laughter is indeed great medicine

Another Sunday Nation stalwart has left us. Gerry Loughran, the “Letter from London” columnist, is no more. I will miss Gerry’s weekly missives for two things. One was the positive human spirit with which he reported on events taking place in Blighty. He often told us about things he found disturbing or distressing, but would […]

Read More
Nov 05, 2023
My encounter with a life of modesty after power

Last year I happened to be visiting the United Kingdom. I found myself in a department store, looking through the clothes section. A lady passed by me, and I caught a glimpse of her face. It seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. Had I seen her on the news in years past? […]

Read More
Oct 29, 2023
We can be true to ourselves even as we thrive in a group

A close reader of this column pointed out to me last week that my recent offerings are displaying a certain pattern. When I asked him to elaborate, he pointed out that there is recurring theme, and it’s all about authenticity. Rereading my own work, I saw his point. In recent weeks I have highlighted three […]

Read More
Oct 22, 2023
Do you have the courage to be disliked?

Years ago I was watching The Simpsons, that cartoon series with a real bite to it. Young Bart faced a moral dilemma at school, and was asking his dimwit father, Homer, for advice: “Dad, is it more important to be popular, or to do the right thing?” Homer’s quick response: “You’ve gotta be popular, son. […]

Read More

Archives