Not on strike

Image credit: www.ats.edu.mx

"Man down!!! Call 911!!! Get a medic!!!" Scrubs, ER, House or Grey's anatomy, choose your pick, whichever series you fancied, those desperate cries were the norm. You would be acquainted with seeing the casualty getting prompt attention, in a decent medical facility and probably end up walking out of that hospital alive. The reality, in Kenya, right now couldn't be any more different.

The doctor's strike has gone beyond day 60!!!! The country has been brought to its knees. Scores are dead as a result, thousands are in agony, and this is just a rough estimate. I shudder to think of the actual death toll. Protracted negotiations have yielded precious little in terms of a breakthrough. Bizarrely, our government seems more focused in expending its energies on rallying it's citizens to vote rather than race to the negotiating table in the hope of reach an amicable solution to end this impasse.

Many see it as a case of misplaced priorities and I am not one to disagree with them. The doctor's resolve to abscond from work has brought to the fore once again the mismanagement of the ailing health sector.  Remuneration that isn't commensurate with the medic's labour, run down health facilities, insufficient equipment are just some of the problems blighting the sector. It isn't a well-oiled machine that's for sure, but a broken one, tottering on the brink of collapse. It's indeed disheartening to see many people writhing in agony, sullen-faced and unsure when they will get medical attention or whether they will be alive by the time it does come. Not only possessing broken bodies on the outside for whatever injury or sickness, they are broken on the inside at the realization that their plight is being given a wide berth, but it's not just them who are broken.

Brokenness is as rampant as corruption is in this country. We are broken as a result of divergent political views, broken as a result of diverse ethinc groups and deep rooted tribalism, broken by widespread graft that sees a few pocket millions while millions have close to nothing in their pocket. Brokenness is something we're all too familiar with, rich-poor, man-woman, old-young, no-one can claim immunity from it.

Our relentless pursuit of happiness to numb our pain is testament to how broken we are. There is only so much a flourishing career, a fun night out laden with alcohol, an escapade to Naivasha, Nax-Vegas, the coast or  a one-night stand can do to mask our pain. As patients countrywide are compelled to do patch up jobs to conceal or alleviate the pain, all the while failing to comprehensively treat their infirmity, so the same goes for the aforementioned,they are merely patch-ups, quick fixes, pain relievers that never go as far as treating our actual brokenness only just bringing temporary respite. They merely paper over the cracks.

Despite our cover ups, inevitably, the brokenness will show. As has been said often, hurt people tend to hurt people, not because of a fault of the other, but just the mere fact that they are hurt. Brokenness shows through anger or lashing out by fists or words despite little or no provocation.It is evident when one only sees the glass empty in everything, a bonafide cynic, ever complaining, whining, criticizing  and trash-talking just about anything or anyone.


Brokenness rears its ugly head in aggression, the pain of brokenness being the motivation to be overly competitive and get ahead to the pinnacle of one's career with anything else being of little concern. A relentless drive egging you on just to make a point and prove someone else wrong, who had made a mockery of your competencies or capabilities. It  is seen in aggressively trying to prove 'the nice guy' among the ladies or a constant need to be the 'it girl'. Aggression can go as far as sexual abuse in crude groping and even rape. Not to be left out, is the modern-day aggression which compels one to flaunt and parade a 'successful' lifestyle on social media that bears scant correlation to one's reality. Instead, only serving as an effort to hide one's struggles or vulnerabilities and portray that the character in question has got his/her life together.

What of the guys and girls stricken by passivity. Almost always hesitant to act or take initiative, reluctant to make decisions,  bereft of confidence in themselves and all too willing to resign themselves to a fate of mediocrity. They of the 'victim mentality', ever one to lay a finger at fate conspiring against them.The causes of which are numerous.

Men and women broken because Dad was a flawed father figure or wasn't even a father figure at all, not an ever-present but an always absent, never there for you when you needed him or wanted him. Children broken, because their parents chose to part ways. Their perspective of family fractured, as well as their souls, their identity broken and leaving them more inclined to alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sex,depression etc.

Relationships gone south have led both men and women  being overly suspicious and cynical of the other gender's intentions in dating. Ladies thinking all men are irresponsible, cheats and all about using them, whereas men think that women are full of drama, double standards and are just after their money. Each group resents the other, each group refusing to be told that the other can be anything different. In its aftermath, are women who hate men with a vengeance and think only of them as chauvinists and misogynists, while men hate women in equal measure and see them as overbearing feminists.

What of the broken because cancer took their bff away, or a bullet took away their cousin. For some, they never got a chance to hold their baby in their arms, some did only to bury them years before they reached their prime. Others had to watch as their parents slipped away too early

Brokenness mostly stems from our past. I think it always does. The guy haunted by the lady he impregnated and his decision to go the deadbeat path, the lady haunted by the string of guys she regrets sleeping with. The athlete remorseful that he took that pill to gain a competitive edge. The mzae pained that his marriage is on the rocks following revelations of a clandestine relationship years earlier. The lady whose nudes of yester-year leaked thus tarnishing her reputation. The man who looks back at how ignorant his decisions were that ultimately distanced himself from financial freedom.

Once something is broken, it's broken, it never goes back to it's pristine condition. Thus, it's a depressing reality for all of us that our brokenness will plague  us for the rest of our lives. All we can do is mask it. What if I went all Morpheus on you and told you that there was another way. What if I told you the doctor who could fix our brokenness isn't on strike, what if I told you his treatment doesn't require to hold a massive fundraiser to pool funds for transport, treatment and accommodation in India.

You probably wouldn't believe me and I don't blame you, I haven't been living as if I did.I didn't see him as a doctor but that guy who rescued me from Hell and  could give me good things like health, cash and a girlfriend if I just did good things and stayed away from evil. I was wrong.

Jesus isn't just that guy who hooks me up with good stuff. He isn't only my gatepass to heaven, he is my Lord, savior, healer and effectively my doctor to treat my brokenness and yours as well if you allow him to. When you consider how badly broken you are as a result of your past, it's natural to expect treatment will come at a cost. Sometimes we want to earn that treatment and think we can pay it with a few righteous deeds here and there but we can't. We can't pay him for the treatment. We can't earn his favor or his love because of what we do for him, Our loving doctor incredulously renders his services to us 'pro bono'!!!

Yaani free!!!His gift of salvation, which is the diagnosis and subsequent treatment of our infirmities is free for those who would believe in him and accept him as their saviour. Jesus chose to be a life donor and sacrificed his whole body on the cross that we may have life in him and be reconciled to God(John 3:16, 1 Peter 3:18, 1Timothy 2:5-6)

Isaiah 30:18 reads, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.!" Our doctor isn't holding out on better conditions to treat us, he longs to be gracious to us and took the initiative to come to earth and reach out to those who were suffering and in bondage to save them from oppression, to give them treatment, hope, a new start.He doesn't wait till we have cleaned our lives, got our lives together to come and provide treatment, he reaches out to deliver us, heal us and restore us even when we are dirty, full of shame, remorse and regret and don't feel worthy of it. The same way the father treated the returning prodigal(Luke 15:11-32) is the same way he treats us when we come to him.

He gives us his spirit of power, love and self-discipline(2 Timothy 1:7) that enables us not to live in fear of our past but in confidence and with affirmation that we are God's sons. (Romans 8:15). He forgives us of our past mistakes and out of gratitude of that forgiveness we freely forgive others and live life buoyantly as opposed to living it with heavy hearts nursing grudges and resentment for things done to us (Isaiah 43:24-25, Colossians 3:12-13)

In Jesus we become new creations,(2 Corinthians 5:17), not in bondage to our old habits as before. Even if we do struggle to completely shake them off and the process of becoming a new creation is both instantaneous and gradual;  his grace is sufficient for us and his strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)

All this comes from recognizing that the patch up jobs, the quick fixes are insufficient to deal with your brokenness. Only God can and he won't force himself upon you to fix you, he will come to your aid if you let him, believing you can't do it on your own and that he can.

Do you desire healing or forgiveness from a broken past? Do you desire peace within you? Do you want a fresh start, a clean slate, freedom from the burden of trying to be perfect? The remedy is Jesus and he is also the doctor that hasn't downed his tools but is waiting for you to let him into your life to save you.