Acquire Wealth and Power but Have a Life

Perhaps the biggest challenge in life is to strike a balance between having power and wealth while at the same time enjoying uninterrupted inner peace. Presently, some of the richest people and the most famous politicians in our country may be spending sleepless nights for fear of being indicted and possibly shipped out of the country to the ICC in the Hague for prosecution in having planned and financed the post election violence that led to the death of more than 1300 people and displacement of thousands of others from their homes. Despite their immense wealth and power they seem to be leading lives of cornered animals! Across the seas, our prominent and famous "son" at the White House may not be very comfortable at the moment due to the incessant assault by the Republicans who are threatening to end his tenancy at the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 2012. The Pope and his handlers are constantly worried about his security wherever he may be and this explains the big security arrangement for him when he visited the UK recently. Whenever you turn to the obituary pages in our local newspapers you are likely to see full page colour portraits of prominent people which may cost as much as KES 600,000.00 but strangely, there is absolutely nothing that their families can do to bring them back to life. In a bizarre recent report, a church in Nakuru that lost their pastors in a road traffic accident kept prayer vigil with the vain hope of bringing them back to life.In all probability, even the two richest men in the world, Carlos Slim Helu and Bill Gates, may from time to time suffer the anxiety of losing their vast empires in their life time. Perhaps the biggest question we need to ask ourselves is why do we spend so much time in the vain quest for power and wealth when we know that they will never give us permanent satisfaction? Most probably, the answer  lies  in the mystery and paradox of life that makes it all the more worth living! However, I think, we could derive greater pleasure in life by working hard so that we don't become burdens to others but remember to share with others what is beyond our immediate needs. But I suppose that craving for power and wealth per se is a selfish basis of capitalism which is evil.