Sun, 31 Dec 2017 08:52:53 +0000
GRACE, not safety, keeps you alive and safe. During the year you were exposed to numerous hazards some of them had the potential of causing fatal accidents to you. But you survived. You have made it through the year safely not because you were always safe. But because God kept you safe. It’s God who keeps us safe. Thank Him.
The year 2017 hasn’t been accident-free. We have seen accidents especially road traffic accidents claiming many lives of people. Not all the people who died in accidents were careless or unsafe. Most of them were simply victims of unsafe acts of other people. Accidents which occurred could have happened to anyone including you and me. No one is immune from accidents.
Thank God for keeping you safe as a driver. On the same roads which you use, some people lost lives through accidents. The fact that you have not been involved in any accident this year does not mean that you are a skilled driver who drives safely. Some drivers who got involved in accidents probably were even driving more carefully and safely than you do. It’s possible that during the year you made serious driving errors which never resulted in accidents. Probably you even committed uncountable traffic offenses such as driving under the influence of alcohol and over-speeding. The same over-speeding resulted in fatal road accidents for other drivers. God’s grace, not your driving skills, kept you safe.
Thank God for keeping you safe as a pedestrian. You are safe and alive not because you have been always careful in crossing roads. Vehicles hit pedestrians at times and in places you least expect. For instance a certain woman was bashed right at home. Children were playing in a parked car. The car was switched off. As children were playing, one of them disengaged the hand break. Because the car was at a slope, it rolled back and hit the woman who was innocently seated on a reed mat. The woman was injured so badly that she spent many months without walking. She told me “it’s a miracle that I am able to walk again.” Maybe for you, it’s moving cars that missed you. That alone is reason enough for you to thank God.
Thank God for keeping you safe as a passenger. The same buses which you also use killed people through accidents. Don’t boast that you know how to choose safe buses when traveling. The many innocent passengers who have lost lives in bus accidents were not foolish. Your safety as a passenger has nothing to do with your choosing skills. A passenger is the most vulnerable road user. A pedestrian may even escape an accident by running away. But as a passenger your survival depends on the extent of the damage of the vehicle you are traveling in. A vehicle is a machine which can fail anytime. Mechanical failure of vehicles can lead to accidents. It is possible that some of the drivers drove you under the influence of alcohol without you knowing. Maybe you were driven by a driver who was a learner or who was sick. No driver will disclose to you that he or she has poor sight as you are boarding the bus. The point is you have been exposed to so many hazards as a traveler. You just don’t know. So instead of boasting that you always choose safe buses, simply thank God for keeping you safe.
Thank God for keeping you healthy. Right now we have cholera in Lusaka which has been killing people since October. Don’t think that the people who have lost lives to the cholera epidemic were ‘unclean’ or unfortunate. The truth of the matter is that it is not always like that. We often associate cholera with being dirty and poor hygiene. So hygiene-conscious people tend to deceive themselves that they can’t contract cholera. There are people who contract the disease accidentally. Today morning as I write, a certain mother died of cholera. This woman’s child was admitted at a certain hospital here in Lusaka for a different illness. In the process of caring for the child, she accidentally contracted cholera from the cholera-center at the same hospital. She struggled throughout the night thinking it was normal diarrhea. By morning, she passed on leaving the sick child alone. You can’t blame this woman for being dirty. You and I have found ourselves in situations where we could have contracted cholera but God has kept us safe. Thank Him.
Personally I have so many things to thank God for with regard to safety. I constantly remind myself that God is my safety. He keeps me safe from known and unknown hazards. Just because I write about safety does not make me the safest person. I know that I am not the safest person in Zambia or in the world. Even if I was the safest person, that wouldn’t make me accident-proof. I can still become a victim of accidents caused by errors of other people. This thought keeps me dependent on God for my personal safety. God’s grace, not my safety knowledge, is what protects me from accidents.
I have enjoyed so many blessings from God this year. The greatest blessing being the fact He has kept me safe and health throughout the year. God has kept me safe on the road. Early this month I escaped a potential road accident. I was on a bus on Kafue road in Lusaka. The bus driver was driving on the inner lane. Suddenly another driver swerved into his lane without indicating. This forced the bus driver to swerve away from the inner lane into the lane of the on-coming traffic. We could have had a head collision if there was vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Indeed I have a reason to thank God.
I also thank God for giving me this opportunity of sharing my safety knowledge with you. Writing is a demanding task. But I love it. I am a Chemical Engineer by profession, not a writer. As an engineer the language I know best is on which involves symbols, equations and numbers, not writing stories like I do. The quest to empower you with safety information motivates me to get out of my comfort zone and keep on writing even when I feel like giving up. As long as this opportunity exists, I will keep on writing despite my poor writing skills. I often make errors in my writing. Even last week, my wife spotted several grammatical errors. For instance I wrote that “it’s frustrating to be working at Christmas when your friends are having ‘funny’.” My wife corrected me that I should have written ‘fun’, not ‘funny’. I feel bad every time I spot errors after article is published. But at the same time such errors remind me to keep on improving not just my safety knowledge but my writing skills too.
Whenever I am writing a safety article, I write as though it’s my final article. I know that any article can be my last article because it’s possible that I can either die any day even in an accident or Daily Nation Newspaper may decide one day that they have stopped publishing my articles. I hope I am not scaring you by the fact that I am openly talking about my own death. I know that we live in a conservative society where talking about one’s death is considered to be taboo. Some people feel that if you talk about your own death, then you are inviting it. Trust me, I am not inviting my own death. I will not die anytime soon. My point is that I don’t take any opportunity in my life for granted. I live life fully prepared for both the best and worst case scenarios. Understanding both the best and worst case scenarios equips you to live a balanced life because you will know how to respond to any outcome.
As the year ends, it’s important for me to appreciate people who have offered me support. It is not possible for me to mention each one of them here. However the following deserve to be mentioned. My first appreciation goes to Mr Mwanza, my editor and his Daily Nation team who work so hard to ensure that my articles are edited and published. I get amazed how they polish my articles by making them colorful with suitable images. It’s been a great joy for me to work with Daily Nation.
My second appreciation goes to my wife, Sandra. I like how Felix Galamukani puts it in his book, We Don’t Just Become, that ‘some life partners have much more to offer than just romance.’ My wife is such a partner. She is not just a blessing but an inspiration to me. She constantly encourages me to continue championing safety in our country. She believes in me more than I believe in myself. She persistently encourages to write safety articles. To avoid distractions, I often write during the night and sleep in the morning. When I am writing, sometimes my wife wakes up in the night to pray for me, check on how writing is progressing, kiss me, wish me well and return to sleep. Having such a supporting wife is an asset. She is my dream wife.
Last but not the least my appreciation goes to you all who read my articles especially those who read regularly. You are the reason I write. I truly appreciate your effort to read and I love hearing from you. Your feedback, positive and negative, encourages me. I receive a lot of feedback, too numerous to be reproduced here. Last week I received a text message from a lieutenant from Zambia Army appreciating me for an article I wrote in October. It was encouraging to see that after such a long time, someone accessed the article. Another feedback came from a school girl from Munali School appreciating me for the article encouraging pupils to choose safety as career. Discovering that even pupils are reading the entire article was so encouraging. My last feedback worth mentioning came from a lady from Kitwe appreciating me for the article I wrote about food safety. I was thrilled to discover that even women are getting interested in safety.
The year 2017 may have not gone according to your plans. But the fact that you are breathing should make you grateful to God. Many people are battling for their lives in hospitals. Some of them can’t even lift the newspaper which you are reading. I must mention that the fact that God keeps us safe doesn’t mean we should be careless. We need to do our part of observing safety always. End this year and enter the New Year safely. Wishing you a safe and prosperous 2018.
For all your comments, kindly contact the author on cell +260 975 255770 or email: marksucceed@gmail.com
Mark Kunda—Safety Consultant
