The Bible says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord…Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:1-4).
In his memoir Dreams from my father: A story of race and inheritance, Barack Obama explains that he wishes to be different from his father. He presents his father as an overly egoistic African man, a philanderer and imbiber with little or no concern about his family’s welfare.
Just like Obi Okonwo in Things Fall Apart who describes his father as lazybones, Barack Obama swears that he never inherited anything worthwhile from his father, Barack Obama Senior, save for his surname and genetic composition.
In May this year, I attended a launch of Rehema Kiteto’s book. At the tender age of 24, Kiteto is the country’s youngest assistant county commissioner, stationed at Bomet Central subcounty.
In the book, which she entitled Daring, Kiteto narrates how she endured economic depravity despite her father being a public servant. She points out an undoing of her father – siring nine children, which is too big a number, hence, scramble for provisions.
In a one-on-one conversation with her, Kiteto vehemently stated that she will, by all means, have a leaner family, unlike her father. She has recently been awarded by Africapitol as among the Fifty most Influential and Inspirational Women in Kenya in the 2023-2024 period.
These are just a few among the innumerable instances where the young directly or indirectly express dissent to their seniors.
You see, when the young genuinely point out a mistake in their preceding generation and work on it diligently, success is sired. This is the power of dedication and being goal-oriented.
All of us know what Barack Obama became after working on the mistakes of his father – he eventually rose to become the president of the most powerful country on earth. This was also the case with Obi Okonkwo and Rehema Kiteto.
Society should not be incessantly condemnatory of the young. A majority of these young people are sufficiently visionary despite harbouring diversionary views and opinions from their elders. All that is important is to give them a chance to express themselves but not suppress, suffocate and choke their spaces.
Teacher of English, author and editor