Time for a facelift

The inevitable happened. Berlusconi won with a majority. So face-lift is in, lifting up the faces of the downtrodden is out. Viva Riches! Out goes any opportunity for any real change.

Meanwhile, I had a good weekend where I finally got to see the outside world after my surgery. One of Zak’s uncles who works in Uganda was here and it got me thinking about Uganda and Africa in general. Zak’s uncle was quite taken with the natural beauty and resources that Uganda is blessed with. He said that people could walk quite safely late into the night provided they offered no resistance if they were mugged. There seemed to be less hypocrisy there. Nobody pretended that there was no poverty, crime or corruption. The robbers performed their duties without too much aggression and the government officials actually did their work promptly after taking their bribes.

I was momentarily taken aback by his laissez faire attitude but come to think about it, the same issues plague my own country but the veil of hypocrisy is so impenetrable that all appears hunky-dory. Farmers die in debt-ridden agony and majority of the people live in collapsible huts while we, the great middle class shuts its eyes to the mayhem and either export our kids to any of the developed countries where we hope they will have opportunities that we never had or have them join IT companies where their souls are sold for huge salaries. The rich becomes richer at the expense of the poorest of the poor who have neither the education nor the wherewithal to further their cause. The educated middle class who could have been the keepers of our nation’s conscience is trapped in mindless gossips about Bollywood or the latest reality shows. Always the same refrain, “where is the time?” when serious issues are brought up or “Can one person really make any difference?”

From what I have read, I do not think that any country in the world remains immune to such complacence, decadence or hypocrisy. We have left our countries in the hands of the worst amidst us. Where are the great leaders who can bring out the best in us, the desire to serve, sacrifice, and obliterate ourselves in the betterment of our fellow beings?