KANYI GIOKO: Charity: The measure of a cultured society

Kanyi Gioko (Ph.D.) Career Educationist, Researcher, Digital Content and Curriculum Developer./HANDOUT

Greetings, wananchi or, as we may now more aptly call you, steak-holders.

2025 has been a remarkable year: demanding, instructive, and ultimately rewarding. We have stumbled, learned, and risen again. Yet amid all this motion, one cannot help but pause and ask: Do you remember when Christmas was truly Christmas, when life simply rocked?

Those nostalgic holidays were rich with meaning. Cousins visited one another in joyful rotation, open spaces transformed into spontaneous picnic grounds, and sleep became optional from the night of the 24th through the 2nd of January. Food was plentiful, laughter was constant, and conversations flowed effortlessly, about movies, long walks in nature, and family matters that only made sense during the festive season. Family felt like family.

Back then, chicken tasted like chicken, rich, hearty, and capable of producing a thick, nourishing soup. Water sparkled, drinkable straight from the tap or the river. Wheat flour was fortified, wholesome, and satisfying. Society itself felt generous and humane. Walk into almost any homestead, and a meal was guaranteed, served with warmth, hospitality, and good vibes.

So what happened?

Have you ever felt that the years of our youth were somehow more advanced, more fulfilled than the era we now inhabit? Are we progressing, or are we quietly deteriorating?

Dear people, the time has come for collective self-reflection. Somewhere along the way, we allowed a hollow culture, disguised as civilization, to erode our moral and cultural foundations. We became eager consumers of whatever content or ideology came our way, often without questioning its cost to our identity, compassion, and humanity.

I recall a lesson from my grandmother that still anchors me. Her farm bordered a busy road. One day, young and vigilant, I spotted a stranger harvesting and eating fruits from the edge of the farm and rushed to report him. Calmly, she asked, “Is he eating or carrying?”

“Eating,” I replied.

She said simply, “He is hungry. Hungry people eat. When he is full, he will leave.”

This was the same woman I had seen transform into a fierce defender of her land, a no-nonsense mountain lioness when confronting trespassers and idlers. Yet beneath that strength lived deep humanity. She understood dignity, need, and compassion, and she taught me that charity is not weakness, but wisdom.

Contrast this with us, the self-proclaimed modern generation. We have surrendered our natural tendency toward compassion to a carefully choreographed narrative that glorifies selfishness, extreme individualism, and unchecked acquisition.

Where families once absorbed hardship together, shielding each other from naked want, today we witness abject poverty existing alongside abundance, sometimes within the same household.

Ironically, modern humanity has come to acknowledge that blood alone does not define family; trust, honesty, loyalty, and courage do. And that realization should give us hope, not despair. Nothing is truly lost unless we choose to abandon it.

We have a responsibility to reclaim the traditions that once held us together. Charity must be practiced with dignity, intention, and respect. Through it, we restore hope and rebuild strong social units.

This holiday season, make it personal. Reach out to someone close to you. Give your time; it is priceless. Talk, visit, listen, guide. Give something if you can but remember presence often matters more than presents. Touch lives gently. Wish people well. Step in when you can. Be kind always.

This is who we are meant to be.

Happy Holidays, and a prosperous New Year 2026.

The writer is a Career Educationist, Researcher, Digital Content and Curriculum Developer.

He Comments on Topical issues.