I still remember Ugandan President Museveni’s remarks on Conflict and Disaster Management studies when he was invited by his Kenyan counterpart Mwai Kibaki to Masinde Muliro University some years ago. Well, to him as many of us would imagine, thought of how useless the study would be rendered if peace and tranquility prevailed. Good for him, he thought of a possible conflict-free society where war will be a thing of the past.
Nobody wants to live in a world full of wars and conflict. That is what most of us at least hope, that peace prevails. It is a perfect case one would wish to bypass realism thoughts of Thucydides, Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli combined.
Many people fail to understand that conflict has taken many subtle forms. There is conflict of the mind within oneself, this one compels even the strongest and the mighty to beg for a ‘peace of mind’. Conflict of ideas between persons or parties is what is well known. But take for instance conflict in a family-the basic unit of a society. This kind of conflict is the cause of everlasting emotional wounds among family members. It is what makes news in the media, that there has been a fatal clash between a husband and a wife and the trouble that awaits innocent children who are caught up in the mess is just unimaginable.
The modern society ails because of lack of proper conflicts resolution mechanisms. For instance, the way a wife dealt with a stubborn husband-who came home almost at dawn expecting to be served with ugali and hot soup for ‘supper’ in ’80s and ’90s, is very different to what such a husband could meet in our 'digital' world today. Nevertheless, some will say time has changed, but let’s agree tact too has changed. Does this mean that mothers are no longer teaching their daughters right or not teaching them anything at all?
Total substitution of informal education with the structured system of schooling was a blunder. It is during the old era of informal lessons that mothers taught their daughters how to manage a furious husband. Boys grew knowing how to handle family affairs among them solving family feuds by simply listening to their elders.
The society is fast descending to the abyss of moral decay. Our world is now molding a strange generation that can't solve a tiny issue without a fight. It is a pity parent nowadays can dare complain when the school calendar gives two months straight holiday instead of taking it up to teach children about progressive culture, life skills and other helpful informal lessons.
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