Coffee & Cigarettes

Back in my undergraduate days, 2009-2014, we picked up a few bad habits that helped us through some tough times, i.e. binging on coffee and cigarettes to help us cope with hunger pains. Sorry, this isn’t a glamourous blog about sitting outside coffee shops in Paris, pulling on slim cigarettes.

I remember waking up in another country far away from home to an empty fridge, because I had not yet learnt how to budget my finances, and thinking to myself ‘Damn, it’s going to be one of those weeks’. And so to help me and many other comrades who were going through the same thing, we learnt that having a good stock of coffee and cigarettes, really helped us stretch out whatever little rations we had, if any.

Ps. I do not smoke cigarettes anymore, they’re bad for you. However, you might catch me smoking a cigar once or twice a year.

So as not to step on toes other than my people’s, just imagine this blog is in reference to my fellow Kenyans. The reason I bring up coffee and cigarettes helping with hunger is because I believe far too often, many people still live with the thought of ‘How am I going to survive the rest of the month’. Especially now within this experience of the pandemic, which, I feel has taught us a valuable lesson about the way we live. Another thing the pandemic has taught us, is that with an internet connection many of us can work from home.

The city can be a harsh place to live in, that is, if you’re not making the sort of money that allows you the kind of luxuries that come with being a top tier professional. Yet, even those who make top dollar aren’t always happy. So why do so many of us flock to the cities, just to get by with the bare minimum? What is it about city life that is so magnetic? I think it has something to do with humans being social animals. But is it worth the hunger pains? Not everyone is going to make it to the top, pyramids are not designed that way and the city is cutthroat.

So, do we continue to numb the pain with coffee and cigarettes or do we change the game so that, at the very least an average life is something to be desired?

Humor me for a minute.

10-15 young men who are friends, and have learnt how to be around each other with agreed rules of engagement, find a way to make enough money to buy land they can build a community on. Somewhere outside the city, somewhere peaceful. They then learn masonry with the two hands God gave them, no rush. They each build one-bedroom bungalows with enough space for themselves and a significant other. These young men then all find young ladies who are ready, committed, submissive, cooperative, and eager to build a healthy community with them. They build free-energy systems, waste management systems such as biogas, perfect their farming skills, and make sure they are connected to the internet.

The idea here would be to make the countryside a legitimate lifestyle option. Now, because they don’t live in the city, there is no need for clubs, women, alcohol and other vanities. But that would make life so boring right? Well, it’s their land, they can expand and build themselves a club house, brew their own alcohol and travel to new places if the need for adventure should arise. They are not paying electricity bills, food bills or rent, so whatever little money they do make, can be saved for expansion, travel and innovation.

But no, I know. We prefer the coffee and cigarettes, because in our minds those 10-15 young men have settled for the village life. I see far too many youngins get into morally depraved activities just to feel like they belong, to keep up with a mirage of a lifestyle that will have them looking back at their lives, and wonder what they have done with their time. This fast glamourous life many youths today admire and desire when they look at some of their peers is a pitfall. Many of those kids are from wealthy families who are reaping the benefits of their parent’s labor.

And even the ones who do toil for what they have, have benefited from their parents’ networks in one way or another. Most people don’t see any real money until later on in life; much later in life. Wealth in most legitimate instances is a result of compounding. Anyone else is extremely lucky, because it’s slim pickings, or, has acquired their wealth through some corrupt scheme. And you do not have the kind of power and influence it takes to get away with corruption.

So why do we choose coffee and cigarettes instead of joy, happiness, satisfaction and peace?

I think it is because we have decided that Western norms and culture are the standard for happiness.

By –Simon D.M. Karanja