CHIBHORANI TALK
WITH SEKURU TAURAI

Pachirungu vanoti, tit for tat or an eye for an eye. Ndiko kudzosera chakaipa nechakaipa. If you slap me I will also slap you and will not rest until I do slap you. Here in Chibhoraniland pachiKaranga tinoti, tsvaru akadana tivu, which means we actually go further than an eye for an eye. Here if you lightly slap me I will actually respond by giving you an upper cut blow that can send you tumbling to the ground minus a few teeth. All this can be said to be justifiable and the public will actually encourage or advise the complainant to revenge and if she or he doesn’t she or he will suffer public scorn and ridicule. This is the essence of revenge, ndiko kutsiva.
Human beings encourage revenge, but Jesus the preacher of love and forgiveness told his followers to forgive not just seven times, but seventy seven times which literally means never ever revenge. He goes further to say that it is better to love your enemies more than those who love you already for there is no credit in loving them. For him if someone steals your shirt give him your jacket as well and if you are slapped on the cheek give the other cheek so the slapper can slap you again. Well, this one takes some character but for him that is the way to go. There is this South African musician who said in one of his songs that an eye for an eye leaves the world blind, which is actually true. A bomb for a bomb, which is a weapon of mass destruction, will eventually lead to the total destruction of the planet. Is that what we really want? Small examples! See what is happening between Israel and Hamas. Instead of them as neighbours living peacefully as hama nehama they are busy playing tit for tat or rather tsvaru akadana tivu, causing so much suffering being injury, death, hunger, homelessness including a lot of infrastructure destruction. Hamas slapped Israel on the face and killed over a thousand Israelites, ndiko kuti tsvaru. Israel responded ndokubva yati tivu with a heavy blow and its heavy blow has left over 35000 people dead and still counting. Check out the death and destruction that is happening in Ukraine leaving people injured, dead and homeless. Is that really necessary?
Of course in life we will make each other angry. But in that anger let us learn to forgive and refrain from revenge. Revenge even over trivial reasons has left and is leaving many in Chibhoraniland divorced, estranged, injured and dead. Vanhu kwavo tauriranai zvipere nokuwirirana. Kutsiva kunoda waitirwa zvakanaka uchitsiva nokuitira zvakanaka uyo akuitira zvakanaka. Tikadai tingagara murugare. Ndiko kutaura kwaSekuru Taurai.