The philosophy of Kabwe Zitto

Dear Dr. Shah:

As a citizen of our great nation Tanzania, and an avowed nationalist, I found your essay compelling because of its complexity, particularly when outlining the root cause of evil in the world. Evil can be defined as an "an abuse of freedom" but that abuse may not occur through awareness. In fact, I think most evildoers are not aware of the implications nor the intent behind what they do.

An example comes from the Bible. In Eden, Adam was curious not malicious. Evil came from disobedience but his intent was not evil.
His intent was to explore the world, define and label his surroundings, maybe even embrace a bewildering context that made him an alien in his own backyard. His efforts were at broadening his limited optics, creating perspective where there were bleak shadows of misunderstanding and incoherence, creating language where there was silence, a void. In short, Nature is uncomfortable with voids and finds ways to fill them. This is certainly true now and held true at the beginning of civilization, from moment Time and Man were play partners. The implications of Adam's actions--if you believe in New Testament Christian theology--is that all mankind suffers as a result of one act of disobedience on the part of one man, symbolic of all mankind. How to measure intent? Certainly not through consequence.

What we Tanzanians have in our favor--above all Africans--is a genuine love of justice, freedom, truth in government. And our government has not failed us in the sense that efforts are being made to perfect the imperfectable instrument, an institutional machine that mirrors Paradise, the throne of Grace where God sits as head of His kingdom. I am referring to government as a paradigm for Heaven in the clearest and most sincere terms because I see reflections paralleled in my wonderful country, Tanzania. Meaning what exactly? We continue to lead by example through excellence, political intuit unparalled anywhere on this great continent of ours. Let us stand firm, noting that 2008 will sharpen our national identity each moment.

Nick Mwaluko

* Nick Mwaluko holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Columbia University in New York where Nick was also a Point Scholar, GLAAD Fellow.