The model is wrong

A model is an abstraction of reality.

The model I am concerned about is the model that tells us that to succeed in life, to be happy or to live comfortably, all one requires is education, a good job and hard work. There have been people selling this model to me since I was little tot. My parents have been selling it to me as far as I could remember. I spent 20 years in school and all my teachers sold this model. Its sold on TV, in the movies, in books, in the bible everywhere basically. Do you remember,
'Someni vijana, muengeze pia bidii. Mwisho wa kusoma mtapata kazi mzuri sana' or 'Amkeni kumekucha ...' or 'He who does not work does not deserve to eat'

So it is only natural that I bought this model hook line and sinker. The model basically sells the idea of suffering and toiling now to earn future returns. As an avid believer of this model I spent my childhood worrrying about education, spent hours on end reading instead of enjoying my childhood. I went to one of those academies. In class 8 I used to be at school from 7 a.m to 6 p.m Monday to Friday, on Satos school ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday's from 2 - 4 p.m. The school was focused on books and not education. So I never did any sport, drama, music e.t.c I guess some of you now understand why I cant kick a ball straight, that is when I dont miss the whole damn ball and kanyaga one of my teammates instead.

But all the effort I put in paid of. I got to go to a good High school. Of course good as per the model is a school that has in the past produced reasonable KCSE grades. The only problem with the High school was that it was a boarding school. Honestly, how do God loving parents send their kids to these den of thieves, drug addicts, rapists, homo sexuals and claim that they are doing it for the good of their children. None of my kids will step into a boarding school. I started to drink when I was in High school, I discovered prostitutes because of High school, I even nearly did weed when I was in High school. The place was pathetic, it used to get so cold a guys hands would turn blue. They used to make me run a 12km cross country four days a week for three months. In High school I turned into a petty criminal, I learnt how to tell a lie while looking at a guy straight in the eye. The only thing that kept me sane was sport.
However, as a true believer of the model I got out with a fairly respectable grades that allowed be into public uni.

I have now been working for three years and reality has checked in. The bubble is busted and I can see the model for what it really is 'A lie a fat stinking lie'. I work hard like the rest of you guyz. I like what I do half the time but this does not compensate for the other half when I detest what I do and hate myself for doing it. The model promised that things will get better but instead I am headed down a long dark road that promises nothing but abject poverty and misery.

Sometime back when I was out of town one of my managers joined us in the hotel. The journey from Nairobi was pretty long so he had time to read the paper and think about things (which is very rare in his case). The first thing he said when I walked into his room was "You know I am fucked". He went forward to show me newspaper adverts of palatial homes in Runda, Lavi and Westi that were going for between 15 and 30M. He then shared how frustrated he was that it had just occured to him that if things went on the way they are he would never get near such a house.

I was taken a back. This guy should be a success story as per the model. If I work very hard for the next 5-10 years and lady luck shines my way I will be in this guys shoes. The guy is in his mid 30's owns a house worth around 3.5M which he paid for in cash monies - hataki mortagage ya mtu. He has been married for like 10 years so he does not waste money on crap like girl friends. He earns like 300K, now thats the kind of pay that a guy needs. Compared to most guys his age he is doing well. But as he indicated if our employer failed to pay him at the end of the month his kids would be out of school and his wife would have feed the family on ugali and skums. According to the model this guys should be at the top looking down on us mear mortals. But the guys is walking a serious tight rope and I am not even half way to being him according to the model.


Believers of the model will wake up early in the morning, go to work, spend the whole day doing lousy jobs for bosses they hate and earn peanuts at the end of the month. The will trudge along five days a week to only live in the weekend. I have sacrificed a lot and received very few benefits. The worst bit is that this is as good as things get. Things will only get worse from here. Since I live with my parents I can wake up tommorrow and refuse to go to work and the only impact on my life will be having to switch to Allsops or citizen as opposed to Tusker. But what will happen in 10 years when I have a wife and kids pulling me down?

What a guys should do is give up on the model. Spend your days doing anything you like or doing nothing at all. You will definately have nothing but how is that different from continuing to struggle under the curse of the model and still have nothing. There must be equity if you work you benefit. But since work as defined by the model has no benefits then you are better of doing nothing.

Au?