The Two Tools

By Bondo Dieudonne

”Hey! Are you the one?”

 

”The one’s already gone, I’m Kabaso, now.”

 

”So, it’s happened, indeed!”

 

Kabaso is a young boy living in a very rural area. The place has blood and gold within. However, unless you grasped it greedily, there was bloody black gold for everyone. He looks around himself; everything seems repetitive; days and months come and go, and nothing changes. Except that the conditions become more severe. Wherever he used to fetch firewood, there are now houses. The camp becomes small as the population augments recklessly. In his world, he feels that something is wrong with the beliefs of people around him. As an imminently responsible man, he perceives the circumstance with a diverging lens. On his way home, he confidently walks on the road. Anyone would say that Kabaso’s father is the one who made the road. Funny enough, he bumps into an old man who has known him since his arrival in the camp.

 

”Many of them attempt to have that pride you have so easily.”

 

What he meant was that there were a lot of people who tried to set big goals but failed. Others wanted to change the situation they were in, but unfortunately, they did not succeed. From that experience, the old man demonstrates how impossible it is to modify what has been set for a long time in the area—the suffering and difficulties. He continues by adding,

 

”Whenever you see people walking with one leg, don’t resist; simply follow the rhythm,” argued a neighboring old man.

 

The neighboring man has got designs of bones all over his shirt, which he only washed one week ago. He could even be taken as an example of the skeleton in biology class. His steps were really well managed, and he moved to avoid any bleeding from his heels. He was too exhausted to believe that the manna would come from the sky. In spite of the daunting declaration from the old man, Kabaso considers it to be a point of reflection. He wonders what went wrong with the long-standing man to cause him to be so disillusioned with the prevailing wind.

 

”I think he is reasonably too old to have the sort of dreams I possess.” Kabaso thought to himself.

 

The words of that old man echo themselves in Kabaso’s ears. As he walks back home, Kabaso frowns, his head down and slouching. Upon reaching his dwelling, he grabs the Holy Bible and starts reading his favorite books in the Bible, proverbs and psalms, chapter 23. Despite those daunting words from the old man, he shouts, claiming he must make it happen since there are people waiting for him. He has to palliate their grief with what he owns, be it abstract or material.

 

Not only is he empowered by his eagerness to watch renovations around him, he is also authorized by the Word, which is the foundation for his work ethics. That humane heart hurts greedy bosses in the area. So, they are all bearing a grudge against him. They claimed that: “This is wishful thinking. You cannot become wealthy by giving to others. Instead, you will stay poor and get poorer. Come to us, and we will show you how the game works.”

 

Kabaso assertively responded, ”There is more in giving than in receiving, the one in me is more powerful than you, who claim to have everything.”

 

They acted in this manner because they could see the true Kabaso shining in his speeches, full of encouragement and optimism for the future. What astonished them the most is how he could have faith in the Heavenly Father and proceed with his fight for betterment while in school. It has marked a divergence from what other residents were doing. They either believe or sweat a lot—they work hard—and, as a result, their outcome is always identical. Unfortunately, they do not understand it as they are supposed to. Maybe it is necessary to have someone shouting in the desert to awaken them. Of course, they have one, Kabaso.

 

Almost a decade later, Kabaso meets with one of the so-called rich people in the camp. The man, glooming, greets Kabaso. He finds himself working for Kabaso’s company, assisting and empowering widows, orphans, and other people in urgent need of help globally. Kabaso had gotten a scholarship and was now in Canada, specifically Toronto. Keeping eye contact is now very grueling for those men from the camp because one cannot gaze at the sun due to its brightness. His brightness has surprisingly increased, surpassing the restraint people could have had concerning that little boy’s next step. 

16 March, 2023