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Running on Empty: The Life & Triumphs of Samuel Kamau Wanjiru
Rank: Member Joined: 7/31/2008 Posts: 163 Location: Nirvana
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Having too much money can be a curse rather than a blessing. The sudden wealth puts pressure on you to do things differently and the guy could have been lost in it all. His mother's attitude did not help matters. I would like to believe she is one of the exceptions and in this case probably another parent would have stepped in. And the fact that both his 'fathers' tried compounds the problem. I place all the blame squarely on her shoulders. |The Universe will correspond to the nature of your song ...
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Rank: Elder Joined: 2/26/2012 Posts: 15,980
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Sarrouniya wrote:Having too much money can be a curse rather than a blessing. The sudden wealth puts pressure on you to do things differently and the guy could have been lost in it all. His mother's attitude did not help matters. I would like to believe she is one of the exceptions and in this case probably another parent would have stepped in. And the fact that both his 'fathers' tried compounds the problem. I place all the blame squarely on her shoulders. "Too much" is relative, may be to him it wasnt alot, he lacked financial management skills. The man had a weakness where women are involved and the little money that he had made the gals go bananas. What do we know about his mother and her attitude, we just saw her reaction after the son died. What failed this man most was the company he kept. I refuse to understand the how parenting failed him, if the same parenting made him a champion? "There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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Wendz wrote:
So, what does it tell us about the 'fathers'?. you tell us, why weren't they coming out when he needed school fees and when he wasn't famous? Gold-diggers! and all you want us to see is his mother as a slut who struggled to raise him? Well, she could have been, but at least she raised a champion, dint she? On her own. And no, we didnt see a father figure, that didnt make him less a champion, did it?.... and it dint make him any worse than those raised by both families.... how many bankrupt people have we seen raised up by both parents? Moi's son being one of them(with a pinch of salt), and many guys back in the village who do not make headlines! if it is about women, what would you like to say about Wamalwa kijana (God rest his soul in peace)? and many others... They were also brought up by single mothers? It's all about life choices. Not much about who brought you up as long as they were responsible parents.
 Much respect. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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May be I read the series wrong. His mother did not make him a champion, The Japanese did.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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aemathenge wrote:May be I read the series wrong.
His mother did not make him a champion, The Japanese did. His mother made him man before the chinese made him champion. Wiped his butt,nose,washed his clothes,spanked him, the whole difficult upbringing stuff? That is very important and nt to be forgotten. i think i understand why she was carrying the panga. we saw a mad woman but she was seeing the struggles of raising him. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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essyk wrote:aemathenge wrote:May be I read the series wrong.
His mother did not make him a champion, The Japanese did. His mother made him man before the chinese made him champion. Wiped his butt,nose,washed his clothes,spanked him, the whole difficult upbringing stuff? That is very important and nt to be forgotten. i think i understand why she was carrying the panga. we saw a mad woman but she was seeing the struggles of raising him. 99.9% of mothers do that. It is expected. Nothing abnormal in that. But to create a champion among men. That takes genius.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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Put it another way, when he is (was) in the normal world, basically his mother's world, he is (was) totally indisciplined. However when in a father figure world, such as the Japanese School, The Training Centres, on the Track aganist other contenders, the Champion shown through. What the father figure world did not have the opportunity to mould in him was financial acumen. Perhaps if the Japanese had also included Financial Administration with practical aspects in the curriculum, who knows, he could have ended up a billionare. Incidently, do we have Financial acumen boot camps anywhere?
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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aemathenge wrote:
99.9% of mothers do that. It is expected. Nothing abnormal in that.
But to create a champion among men. That takes genius.
True. It takes a genious to create a champion. But the champion makes use of natural talent.It's only refined and polished. So what does it take to sustain the champion/ship? Isn't that what really matters? and Wanjiru made a blunder there? Quote:However when in a father figure world, such as the Japanese School, The Training Centres, on the Track aganist other contenders, the Champion shown through. Oh so this is the Father figure world? suppose the japanese schools and training centres were run by women only would they still be called 'father figure world?' I need to know what a father world really means.Honestly apart from a father my dad ie. Is it 'manly games,movies ,schools,sports? Do they make a man? "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 2/26/2012 Posts: 15,980
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aemathenge wrote:May be I read the series wrong.
His mother did not make him a champion, The Japanese did. What made him stand out so that the Japanese can make him the champion that he eventually became? He must have had some discipline. These coaches look for skill..the unpolished diamonds, its the mother who made that diamond the jap just polished it. "There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/1/2011 Posts: 8,804 Location: Nairobi
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This society is father figure enough. For the language of money is controlled by the fathers. What Wanjiru did is what any young man with lots of money and races to come would do.
I once heard that in his early days Will Smith lost all his money, and he had to do some 'rehab' to know what to do with himself.
And please also count the millions of mature people who spend their last days in bankruptcy.
The hot issue here, is how death can so suddenly reveal the vanity of our lives.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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@Essyk, there you go again. That very irritating habit of changing a post so drastically. I will start censuring you if you continue. I really will. My analysis is based not on general but to the specifics of Mr. Wanjiru as revealed in the Daily Nation's extracts. This is a world created by a peasant farmer mother struggling financially to bring up a son in a hostile financial environment. The boy could only dream of being in possesion of a car. What to do with that car once in his possession was not in the realms of his upbringing. In that regard driving on the displayed vegetable and fruit merchandize was his idea of having fun. In this environment, I see a child brought up on the poor man's diet. Fruits, Vegetables, milk, wild berries, ugali and occassional chapatis and so creating the rough diamond so to speak. No junk food, and probably the occassional soda. This is what the Japanese took and helped mould into a champion. Remember, the Sunday Nation excepts intimate that he was not always the first. He simply learned (was taught) how to win.
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 12/8/2009 Posts: 975 Location: Nairobi
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Mukiri wrote:What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.. I stand corrected, but wasn't Moi a single father? Maybe he too, should have gotten Phillip a mother figure.. Someone to teach him how to treat a woman right, ama? Its getting hot in here.  You will know that you have arrived when money and time are not mutually exclusive "events" in you life!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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aemathenge wrote:@Essyk, there you go again. That very irritating habit of changing a post so drastically. I will start censuring you if you continue. I really will.
But I didn't change.I only modified
My analysis is based not on general but to the specifics of Mr. Wanjiru as revealed in the Daily Nation's extracts.
This is a world created by a peasant farmer mother struggling financially to bring up a son in a hostile financial environment. The boy could only dream of being in possesion of a car.
What to do with that car once in his possession was not in the realms of his upbringing. In that regard driving on the displayed vegetable and fruit merchandize was his idea of having fun.
In this environment, I see a child brought up on the poor man's diet. Fruits, Vegetables, milk, wild berries, ugali and occassional chapatis and so creating the rough diamond so to speak. No junk food, and probably the occassional soda.
This is what the Japanese took and helped mould into a champion. Remember, the Sunday Nation excepts intimate that he was not always the first. He simply learned (was taught) how to win. So now we are on the same frequency. They refined an unrefined gem but it was still a gem. can only figure him running small races on the ridges and nobody taking notice. then the chinese came equipped him,trained him,and all that talent is perfected. so what is the lesson here? With better facilities/environment our raw talents can become super world class "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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essyk wrote:Is it 'manly games,movies ,schools,sports?
Do they make a man? It is those small things that I think about when I come to think of it. It mommy and I going shopping at the supermarket and starting with mommy looking at almost everything, the price tag, the texture of close up as opposed to the packaging of colgate, eventually spending two whole hours there and ending up only buying milk and sugar and missing Johny Quest Cartoon for that day. This is opposed to daddy and I going shopping for his shaving cream and my geometrical set. He goes up to the attendant "Where are those metal boxes with things for drawing circles and triagles and a pencil etc." and he pointed to the stationery section. He knew where the shaving cream was. We were out of there within seventeen minutes and we were home in time to watch telematch. It is daddy noticing I loved reading Enid Blyton's the Secret Seven and he went and bought me the whole series. It is mommy noticing the receipt and complaining that daddy should have bought just one book and the rest of the money wheat flour. It was just before Christmas. It is daddy taking me and my brothers to watch Safari Rally and coming home soaked and muddy but euphoric, it being the April wet season. It is mommy reprimanding us for jumping up and down recreating the muddy scenes with our clothes all dirty and soaked. It is daddy coming home one evening to find me crying and wimping to mommy how the class bully had whipped me up. It is mommy taking me to the class teacher the following day and complaining bitterly about my being beaten up by the bully. It daddy taking me through three days on how to fight back and the sheer pleasure of kicking the boy's ass on closing day and daddy taking me to a nyama choma den and boosting to the other men how his boy had whipped a bully twice his size. Just take a look at children going somewhere with their daddies the whole squad walk as if they own the world. With their mothers, you will hear the chill reprimand, "usiende hapo kuna maji ya uchafu". Do you mothers have to scream.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 2/26/2012 Posts: 15,980
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XSK wrote:Mukiri wrote:What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.. I stand corrected, but wasn't Moi a single father? Maybe he too, should have gotten Phillip a mother figure.. Someone to teach him how to treat a woman right, ama? Its getting hot in here. @Mukiri, humans tend to create father/mother figures as they grow up if and when they are absent..teachers, pastors, uncles, aunts, coaches etc so i dont think Wanjiru's issue was parenting. A mix of new money and women is really dangerous one needs guidance. "There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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The point of this thread, in my understanding,is that the mother gave us a gem just like all other mothers do. However, this gem was flawed. That is my point.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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aemathenge wrote:essyk wrote:Is it 'manly games,movies ,schools,sports?
Do they make a man? It is those small things that I think about when I come to think of it. It mommy and I going shopping at the supermarket and starting with mommy looking at almost everything, the price tag, the texture of close up as opposed to the packaging of colgate, eventually spending two whole hours there and ending up only buying milk and sugar and missing Johny Quest Cartoon for that day. This is opposed to daddy and I going shopping for his shaving cream and my geometrical set. He goes up to the attendant "Where are those metal boxes with things for drawing circles and triagles and a pencil etc." and he pointed to the stationery section. He knew where the shaving cream was. We were out of there within seventeen minutes and we were home in time to watch telematch. It is daddy noticing I loved reading Enid Blyton's the Secret Seven and he went and bought me the whole series. It is mommy noticing the receipt and complaining that daddy should have bought just one book and the rest of the money wheat flour. It was just before Christmas. It is daddy taking me and my brothers to watch Safari Rally and coming home soaked and muddy but euphoric, it being the April wet season. It is mommy reprimanding us for jumping up and down recreating the muddy scenes with our clothes all dirty and soaked. It is daddy coming home one evening to find me crying and wimping to mommy how the class bully had whipped me up. It is mommy taking me to the class teacher the following day and complaining bitterly about my being beaten up by the bully. It daddy taking me through three days on how to fight back and the sheer pleasure of kicking the boy's ass on closing day and daddy taking me to a nyama choma den and boosting to the other men how his boy had whipped a bully twice his size. Just take a look at children going somewhere with their daddies the whole squad walk as if they own the world. With their mothers, you will hear the chill reprimand, "usiende hapo kuna maji ya uchafu". Do you mothers have to scream.  .Yes mothers have to scream because before u know it the shoe will be in dirty water.It's like an alarm before action. They say prevention is better than cure. But in all fairness this cannot apply to all. So all boys who grow up with their daddies behaving just like urs become men? And those who grew up with mummies only because daddy is absent for one reason or another become sissys? Mahe who is a MAN? My pastor once said there's a diff between a man and a male. A man was responsible while a male was just one because of nature. The mark of a man to me is responsibility not macho. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/18/2008 Posts: 3,434 Location: Kerugoya
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Who is a man? I guess it is those I admire. It is those I would like to be in another life. John Michuki. Mwai Kibaki. Kharisa Maitha. Any of the male Israeli Prime Ministers. Ronald Reagan. Michael Jackson. Men who have or had flaws but they stood up for what they believed in and created monuments out of their believes and have no apologies to make, such that their legacies outlive their flaws. My father, and his father before him and his father before him for being there just when I needed them and who with their lives I learnt what I liked and did not like. That is what constitutes manhood to me.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 11/15/2011 Posts: 4,518
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aemathenge wrote:Who is a man?
I guess it is those I admire. It is those I would like to be in another life.
John Michuki. Mwai Kibaki. Kharisa Maitha. Any of the male Israeli Prime Ministers. Ronald Reagan. Michael Jackson.
Men who have or had flaws but they stood up for what they believed in and created Good monuments out of their believes and have no apologies to make, such that their legacies outlive their flaws.
My father, and his father before him and his father before him for being there just when I needed them and who with their lives I learnt what I liked and did not like.
That is what constitutes manhood to me. Ok. I added a +ve adjective before 'monuments' because we all know of men who create strange ones out of their beliefs and yes without apologies too. "The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/14/2009 Posts: 2,057
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aemathenge wrote:essyk wrote:Is it 'manly games,movies ,schools,sports?
Do they make a man? It is those small things that I think about when I come to think of it. o It mommy and I going shopping at the supermarket and starting with mommy looking at almost everything, the price tag, the texture of close up as opposed to the packaging of colgate, eventually spending two whole hours there and ending up only buying milk and sugar and missing Johny Quest Cartoon for that day. This is opposed to daddy and I going shopping for his shaving ocream and my geometrical set. He goes up to the attendant "Where are those metal boxes with things for drawing circles and triagles and a pencil etc." and he pointed to the stationery section. He knew where the shaving cream was. We were out of there within seventeen minutes and we were home in time to watch telematch. It is daddy noticing I loved reading Enid Blyton's the Secret Seven and he went and bought me the whole series. It is mommy noticing the receipt and complaining that daddy should have bought just one book and the rest of the money wheat flour. It was just before Christmas. It is daddy taking me and my brothers to watch Safari Rally and coming home soaked and muddy but euphoric, it being the April wet season. It is mommy reprimanding us for jumping up and down recreating the muddy scenes with our clothes all dirty and soaked. It is daddy coming home one evening to find me crying and wimping to mommy how the class bully had whipped me up. It is mommy taking me to the class teacher the following day and complaining bitterly about my being beaten up by the bully. It daddy taking me through three days on how to fight back and the sheer pleasure of kicking the boy's ass on closing day and daddy taking me to a nyama choma den and boosting to the other men how his boy had whipped a bully twice his size. Just take a look at children going somewhere with their daddies the whole squad walk as if they own the world. With their mothers, you will hear the chill reprimand, "usiende hapo kuna maji ya uchafu". Do you mothers have to scream. @aemathenge, yu have just nailed it ! hongera ! If you are an eagle don't hang around with chickens; chickens don't fly....
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Running on Empty: The Life & Triumphs of Samuel Kamau Wanjiru
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