When familiarity become costly

Shame Isaki
There are special relationships that God has given us in life. Some of them are biological, some are professional while some are spiritual. While it is very true that life is dynamic it is also very true that how we handle the above relationships has a greater bearing on the direction our lives take.

It is very saddening to note how people are so careless when it comes to these relationships and it is only when at times these relationships have broken down beyond repair that people begin to realise or count their losses. I will take, for instance, the parent-child relationship. This is a biological relationship and in a normal set-up there is a father, mother and the child or children. In this set-up it is easy for the parents to look at their child as their ‘‘property’’ or creation and so they can do anything they want with it but it’s not supposed to be so.

The existence of the father and mother and their eventual reproductive engagement results in child-bearing and this child is a minor human being who deserves respect, care, love, provision, protection and guidance even though the child may not know that these things exist and are there for him/her.

To protect the uninformed kid/s the Government has even put in place legislation which ensures that children’s rights are not violated by those who believe that they have unchecked powers over their offsprings.

It is also true that kids can also take for granted the existence of their parents mistakenly thinking that because they are kids they can just say, do or behave anyhow and get away with it. No it’s not like that. If a child is not taught to respect or obey parents then that child’s future is doomed because there is a special anointing or authority which is divinely sealed in parenthood and if this is violated then a child cannot expect to excel in life. It becomes important to obey and honour our parents while the parents must be caring and loving to their children. This is one relationship.

Another one that is taken for granted is that of husband and wife. Many relationships or marriages are on the rocks because partners don’t know how to treat each other. They treat each other like objects without putting extra effort to unlock the true value of the other person. Husbands are ordered by the Bible to love their wives while a loved wife is ordered by the Bible to submit to her husband.

It is in the atmosphere of love and submission that the best of the other person is realised but it’s not like that most of the time. Spouses get too familiar with each other that they end up with no respect for each other and eventually it becomes costly. The same is true in professional relationships where a boss can befriend a junior and if the parties involved do not know their limits with regard to interaction levels problems will arise when these people become too familiar and thereby compromise the professional relationship with serious consequences especially to the lesser.

In a church setting a congregant or believer should never be too familiar with his/her pastor no matter how open and accessible the pastor may be because in doing so you may miss your blessing or miracle because instead of seeing an anointed man/woman of God you will be seeing your ‘‘friend’’ and yet it’s not supposed to be so.

I have gone to great lengths trying to introduce and explain myself in different relational settings so as to bring home my thought of the day on the recent fall from grace of several ZANU-PF stalwarts. Many people have said and continue to say a lot about what is happening but after a long, careful analysis of the whole situation I have come to the conclusion that many of the affected misread the game and thereby found themselves being victims of their own machinations.

Some had been with the President for over 50 years and they could also have shared both the best and worst of times such that these people could rightly claim to know the President in and out. There is nothing wrong with knowing someone in and out especially after spending so much time together. It only becomes a problem when you use the knowledge you have of the person to clandestinely plan against them, taking advantage of the trust they have in you. Besides you don’t claim to know a person unless the spirit of God reveals who they are to you. There are things you don’t know!

This is exactly what our brothers and sisters who now find themselves on the wrong side of the revolution did. They took advantage of their familiarity with and knowledge of the President coupled with his advanced age and they thought they had it all wrapped up. They overlooked the important things:

(1) They failed to realise or did they deliberately choose to ignore the fact that while it is undeniable that the President is old, the truth of the matter is that the man is still sharp and calculating, and add to that very calm. They overlooked this at their own peril.

(2) Surely at his age the President by now should have nurtured ‘political sons and daughters’ who are loyal to him come what may and these would be always available to sniff out any mischief and protect the interests of the veteran leader knowing too well that by so doing they are also protecting their own interests. This again the schemers overlooked to their own demise.

(3) Thirdly some of them forgot that they had a bad history and politics being politics they forgot that you always have to watch your back. They became so comfortable in their appointed portfolios forgetting that the one who appointed them would always be vigilant knowing what a human being is capable of doing. At the end of the day the schemers thought they had outwitted the President but, alas, it is the President who had the last laugh.