admin
ZIMBABWE today commemorates Heroes Day, an important day on which we reflect on the sacrifices made by the brave sons and daughters of the soil who laid down their lives so that this country could be free.
At the time of the war, many participants were young, too young, for the grisly war that lay ahead and the cold winters, hungry days, wet nights and ultimately death.
Yet the heroes faced these grim prospects with equanimity.
Many would meet their death in the forests and valleys of foreign lands mostly in Mozambique and Zambia due to natural causes or at the hands of the enemy who would deploy arms against refugees, as in the cases of Nyadzonia, Chimoio and Freedom Camps.
In various battles in the country, many others would also die. However, greater triumph would still come at the end of the day. And come it did, and our heroes came back marching after vanquishing the enemy and ending close to 100 years of colonialism.
The happy year we witnessed that was 1980.Thirty-five years on, we still cherish the sacrifices that were made by the gallant sons and daughters of the soil. Heroes, like Independence, do not go out of fashion, and this is a point that has to be made in the most emphatic of terms.
Our Independence and the heroes that brought it were not some kind of game or some kind of fad.
They define who we are: a proud nation that is committed to self-determination and making sure that indigenous people of this land live in and enjoy the endowments of our God-given country.
That this country faces challenges here and there, which is but natural for such vicissitudes occur anywhere under the sun, should not devalue the importance of our independence or the heroes that brought it.
In that vein, we take strong exception to some quarters that seem to deride heroes, the fallen ones, for having sacrificed their lives “for nothing”.
This is very unfortunate and stupid thinking indeed.
Of course, we know that those that are peddling this kind of mentality are the counter-revolutionary types in the opposition movement that is backed by our erstwhile enemies. But we must quickly slap down that idiocy and myopia.
Just because one does not have money to buy bread should not necessarily draw derision from one’s children who then mock the parents for having built a house.
Common sense tells us that bread, and even more delicacies, can and will still be enjoyed in that same house on a better day; on better days.
It is that simple.
Zimbabwe is facing economic challenges, most of them due to sanctions imposed on the country by the West, with the support of the same myopic forces, and we are sure to move away from that stage sooner rather than later.
To deride heroes because we are facing a passing phase is absolute nonsense and an abomination.
Those that do so are also hypocrites.
While people of yesterday laid down their lives for the liberation of this country, what are they doing to advance the cause and spirit of the liberation struggle?
Nothing!
Much worse, they are the very same people that given the slightest opportunity would sell our heritage to our erstwhile colonisers.
We take particular umbrage at attempts at trying to redefine heroes by some quarters that are known to have fled the very calling of the universally accepted heroism.
Take for example, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader whose tale of abdicating liberation duty to go to work for a white factory in Mutare and later on Trojan Mine in Bindura, is a matter of public record.
Today he tells us that illegal vendors “are the new heroes of our time”. Honestly, we cannot cheapen the national hero ascription to that level, unless this kind of mischief is a psychological way to deal with skeletons in the cupboard?
Can we reduce national heroism to the level that it fits misguided activists who are fighting lone, misdirected little battles to undo the gains of the liberation struggle? As a country, there is a certain level of sanctity we should uphold for our national events, symbols and observances.
Where we disagree we should be quick to realise that some things should not be touched; trod upon.
Independence is sacred; so are the heroes that brought it, and the national flag that symbolises our victory and nationhood.
We cannot negotiate on this.
Only misguided elements would demean, defame and defile such symbols. Worse still, only fools and idiots will happily sacrifice these things for a mess of pottage.
Our Independence is forever – and we must cherish it. Our heroes are forever and they should remain on the revered pedestal of our nationhood.
Online Reporter