Consideration
Math was never my strong point, but let’s give this a shot…
- Kenya has a population of 47.6M.
- Of the these, almost 50% (23.5M to be exact) are like you, male. Median age for these males is 19.9 years old. If I could make that more personally relevant:
a. You are older than half the males in this country.
b. The boy-children under 19.9 years are theoretically all consumers. School-going children. They do not work, they do not produce (theoretically). They just consume (education, food, finances, entertainment, etc.).
c. You, on the other hand, being older than 19.9 years, you fall among those who theoretically should be producing more than you’re consuming; who are old enough to be useful to the rest. To put it another way (admittedly exaggerated), since you’re in the older half, you personally have one young Kenyan man “depending” on you to produce wealth i.e. ideas, activities and things of value to others. (Recall idea of maturity in Part 13.) If you have a younger sibling, that “younger Kenyan man” could very well be him (or her, if it’s a small sis).
3. Plenty in this series has been on how you are forming and training yourself especially in these lockdown days; how you’re growing your own human capital through better use of time, deeper knowledge of yourself, identifying your skills and talents, a mentor to demand from you and hold you accountable, etc.
4. Yesterday’s post (Part 25) begun to focus our attention on those 5 friends whose human capital you’re trying to improve (in body, mind or soul). 5 Kenyan men (and/or women) who you are trying to be a good friend to.
5. But that is 5 men out of 23.5M men, 0.00002% of the Kenyan male population. On your mobile phone alone you’re in touch with many more men! Your typical sim card holds 250 contacts (ignoring those you can save on your smart phone). Imagining at least 50% of those contacts are youthful men (cousins, classmates, drinking buddies, acquaintances, teammates, fellow worshipers, gym buddies, work colleagues), that’s another 125 men at least. What are you doing for them?
6. Is it pride (see Part 26) that stops you from sharing with these guys all those ideas and resources you’ve come across that would build their human capital, open their horizons, ignite their ambitions and energise their passions? For example, how many men are you sharing this Guide to Manliness with? Out of 23.5M, how many?
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