10 THINGS WE DO IN CAMPUS THAT MAKE US TOTALLY SUBHUMAN

Campus is where we develop habits we keep for life. It is where we give definitions about ourselves that we can never change. It is way we paint pictures of ourselves that we can never erase. We should therefore be careful what we do, say or engage in. Here are some of the things we do in campus that totally destroy our internal ego, self-confidence and image. They simply make us subhuman.

1.         Having sex without love

Sex is a pleasure, love is another story altogether, really? Since when? The last time I checked, that’s a rule in the animal’s kingdom. Animals know nothing about love, but that’s where we differ with them. Having sex with someone you don’t love simply means you have put your heart and your brain out of the equation, and what does that make you if not a subhuman? Come on, stop being an animal, sex is not merely a pleasure, let it be used for the right purpose!

2.      Dressing irresponsibly

More often people think that the only irresponsible dressings are the contemporary casual kinds for men and the extremely exposing dresses for the ladies. We rarely imagine that the extremely concealing can also be irresponsible at times. You are in campus; your appearance is more important than what’s in your head. You can’t just dress like you don’t care what others think of your appearance. Dress smartly, be decent, be presentable and most importantly, be neat. Some kinds of dressing expose our personalities to irreparable damages, let’s be careful.

3.      Uncaring for our own bodies

It is in campus that we never care at all what damage the foods we eat and drink cause to our bodies. We sometimes cannot avoid certain foods or might not be aware what damage they cause to us. For instance, we often eat meat in campus, but do we know what damage it does to us?  Find out. That aside, what can we say of those that we know but still deliberately expose ourselves to? We know how harmful alcohol and other drugs are to us, but we still use them, without caring. Some dressing styles expose our bodies to cold which may cause incurable illnesses. A rational human being will take care, at least, of his own body. Think and rethink, are you really human if you can’t take care of your own body?

4.      Being insensitive of the feelings and desires of other people

Human beings are social beings. Without the people around us, we can never survive. As much as we show love and care for ourselves, we should never ignore those around us. The same way we need to be happy and comfortable is the very same way those around us need to be. How often do we play too loud music in our hostels without caring the effect it has on our neighbours? Style up, your music doesn’t need to be loud to be audible, at least to you in your room. Mind about others! Ati waende wasome library, who tells you the only effect your music has is hindrance of studies? A human being with a brain and a heart would know that peace of mind is a basic need to some people, if not to themselves. Care much about yourself, care more about others. That’s the one rule we should live by as young people. Do not be too egocentric.

5.      Being insensitive of our physical environment

 Is it not common in campus to get into the room of a student and wonder if its an animal who lives in there or a human being? Only animals do not care about the hygiene of their environment. They are okay with it no matter how dirty. It is disturbing that some university students are exactly like that. If staying in a house for a day without cleaning it is not hygienic, how do you stay for a week or a month in a house without cleaning? And you really think you are human. You can’t just dispose waste anyhow like you don’t know the right place or way to do so.   We must take good care of our environments, for only then can we be different from animals.

6.      Being unkind to strangers

What normally makes us think that strangers are not humans like us? Campus is a place for strangers, we never really know ninety percent of the people we encounter. Now when we encounter people and start uttering some unkind comments about their physical appearance, nature or style in their hearing, we are not any different from animals. It’s dogs that bark at other strange dogs and it is hens that pick up fights with strange hens. What makes you different from them if you can’t, at least, mind your own business when you encounter strangers even if you don’t like something about them?

7.      Expecting to reap where we did not sow

Friends, only animals do not farm but still eat. They depend on chance to survive. Human beings on the other and are not like that. We work to survive. We reap exactly where we sow. I’m normally wondering what on earth is wrong with these guys who get into an exam room unprepared and begin disturbing their neighbours. If you can’t read, why don’t you make other arrangements earlier? Be a self-dependent person. If you expect to reap, then you must plan to sow.

8.      Disrespecting older people, especially lecturers and support staff

When a calf starts growing horns, it normally wants to test and exercise them, so it feels fit to even wrestle a fully-grown bull. But we are humans, we must admit that older people are better than us, at least in age. We must give them the respect they deserve, despite what their work is, whether a lecturer or a cleaner.

9.      Being pushed to work for our own good

A cow has to be forced to pull a cart carrying Napier grass which it will itself feed on. It is because the cow doesn’t realize that pulling the cart is for its own benefit. This is similar to how we often want to be forced to do what benefits only us in campus. Some creatures want to be forced to be in a class or to study for the exams, not realizing that it is for their own greater good. University education is classified as tertiary education in Kenya, meaning, it is not compulsory and one can do without it. If you don’t want to be in the university, pack your bags and go back home. You don’t have to stay there, waste money and do a lot of nothing.

10.  Fighting

At university level! In primary school, disputes were solved through fighting, that reduced in secondary school, and now in campus, you still fight? Wake up friend, you have the ability to speak for a reason. No dispute is beyond solution through dialogue. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Violence can murder a liar, but it cannot murder lies, violence can murder the hater, but it doesn’t murder hate”. Violence is not necessary. It is not a solution, itself is the problem. Wake up!

That is the truth now. Take it or leave it, your choice. Now think and rethink, gauge yourself if you meet the standards of being human, or even of human being. Thanks for reading, kindly be courteous and share this information. It’s important to the restoration of humanity to our campuses.

By Vincent Owino