CONSIDER OUTSIDE AFFAIRS TOO!

To say that I like News and current affairs is an understatement of the year...I am almost addicted to it. One of my History teachers (at Zingwangwa Secondary School is to blame for this.) He had a way of explaining historical events and tying them up nicely with the present that I immediately fell in love with History. And as you may know, today’s current affairs are tomorrow’s history, and as they say...the rest is history.

I know that although I live in this cozy little corner of the world fondly referred to as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ or Malawi if that sounds more familiar; the course of our history is far from decided within our narrow borders.

The destiny of that poor fellow on the street selling pirated DVDs or that mother of 6 struggling to eke out a living through selling vegetables (most of which freely grow by the benevolence of nature) is decided in boardrooms so many miles away in Washington, London, Tokyo and lately in Beijing.

While the majority of my fellow citizens are so preoccupied with the Bingu versus Joyce soapie, I bet less than 1% are even aware that a fifth generation stealth fighter jet was spotted on a runway in China (I bet the majority are wondering what on earth is a fifth generation stealth fighter jet? And what has that got to do with me?). Maybe it is significant, maybe it is not, but the point is that there is a lot going on in the world that potentially has more significant impact on ordinary people’s lives than what goes on at the home front.

Ever wondered why people in the world only got to hear about Malawi when a US Pop star decided to adopt our children? How many times in a day do we hear about Israel (a country even smaller than our own and with fewer people too), How about Afghanistan? Iraq...these are all just names to most folks who didn’t even hear that North and South Korea are on the verge of war which would potentially drag in the US, China and a host of other nations who can justify their entry into such a bloody slugfest (most of them with confirmed Nuclear arsenals).

I also bet that most of us have not heard of religious hoodlums masquerading as holy fighters who volunteer to go wherever there’s a “holy cause” to blow themselves up (of course in places where there are other people to blow up) for a reward of some sort in the afterlife.

All I am saying is that there is a lot more going on out there that we also need to pay attention to. Remember, when England decided to fight Germany (2 European countries) it became the First World War.