We are the ones.

We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the relentless heroes who will stand up against injustice at a global level. This is because we were that younger hero who stood up to a bully in the playground. We stood up despite our fears and against the fearful when we had more reasons to be afraid.

We are the ones we have been waiting for to do the work that no one wants to do. We are not “no one, who wont do anything, anyone who should do something, nor everyone who is doing it, apparently”, but someone. We are you and I, individuals who have had enough and who will arise with what little strength we have in our bodies and the strength of the Almighty behind us to change this world by clearing our little patch of earth with the intention of provoking others to action.

We are the ones we have been waiting for so we will no longer sit down lazily, looking on helplessly as bad turns to worse. We will no longer fold our hands and turn to each other with the unspoken question “What can I do?” in our eyes. We will no longer walk around with our heads bowed down, shoulders hunched, afraid to look up and see the crowns on our heads. We will no longer stick our heads in the ground ignoring the strength in our limbs.

We are the ones we have been waiting for and if not you then me. I am the one I have been waiting for. A single oak is not a forest, but neither is it a reed to be bent, nor grass to be trampled upon. I am the one I have been waiting for, and so I will now arise out of the dirt, relentless heroine I, till something changes.

The cry of a damsel in Distress.

We have stood on the sidelines of fate, waiting for a hero. We have been waiting for someone whom we could cheer on. Now as the world looks upon Zimbabwe with concern you cannot help but notice the glances that they cast our way. Puzzled looks that seem to ask “What would happen if one of those cheerleaders, one of those supporters stood up and stepped out the sidelines and into the race? Out of the darkness and into the limelight? What then?

People of Zimbabwe we must stop waiting for a hero, do you not know that God has already placed within you all that you need to win this race. Zimbabwe does not belong to one man or one party. The time has come for us to arise and step out of the shadows where our heated whispers accomplish nothing. Our country laments the death of democracy, a concept it has never known, while the land laments the death of its warriors. Warriors it gave birth to and raised to stand against injustice. The plateaus and savannah have never known such fear. A cry from the mountains rings out and reverberates through the country, through the land and through the people. Finding no answering call it returns as an echo, almost but not quite. Will there only ever be a single voice lifted up against injustice?

What would happen if we stood up brothers and sisters, and said, screamed, shouted, ENOUGH? Enough of this bullying regime. Enough of the pain, enough of the suffering, enough of the torture, one brother to another. Enough of children starving to death, dying for a lack of simple medicines, their parents unemployed and frustrated. Enough of all this nonsense.

What if we arose with one voice to tell the “big boys” that we refuse to be silenced? What if we told them to sit down and shut up and hear the cry of a damsel in distress? Listen to the cry of the people, dying of a myriad of diseases. Listen to their rumbling stomachs as they queue for bread. Listen to their murmurings of dissatisfaction “sotto voce” because they are too afraid to speak out. Yet what if one person would be brave enough like Oliver Twist to ask for more. “Could I have some more of life?” “Could I taste more of life?” “I want to cease to exist and begin to live, to live life and live it abundantly”.
What if people of Zimbabwe? What if that person was you? What if the champion we’ve been waiting for all this time was you? Just imagine.