AfricaPress-Tanzania: ON the surface, letting bygones be bygones is a rational approach, for, as distinguished mentors tell, and regularly remind us, harbouring grudges tends to torture the person who does so.
This has negative consequences, such as aggravated stress and may in extreme cases result in nervous breakdown.
By purging oneself of nasty thoughts, such as sustaining a grudge against someone who wronged you a long time ago, the person engages in a process of psychological self-destruction.
If one can purge one’s mind of psychological blows that he or she suffered in the recent and even distant past, the person frees oneself of a huge , tortuous burden.
A the national level, the invasion of a section of Tanzanian territory by the forces of the then Ugandan military ruler Idi Amin in 1978 was a most troubling provocation to us, Tanzanians.
But several years down the line, it would be pointless for us to continue harping on that dark period in our country’s history.
Of course we remain on our full guard, ever ready to retaliate in the event of any provocative adventurism from whatever quarters.
We have deliberately elected to assign a military touch to this opinion piece, against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, with which Tanzania, like other countries worldwide, is grappling.
The pandemic has put the countries on a war footing, the difference being that it is health sector related, as opposed to the military variety.
Unlike military warfare, in which professional soldiers are predominantly engaged, the virus triggered one is cross-cutting, in which all of us are soldiers.
We all have to be on our guard against infection, the ammunition, figuratively speaking, being the precautionary measures that the government has clearly spelled out, and on which wananchi are periodically reminded.
The measures are the military equivalent of ammunition against infections, which can become widespread if the enforcement of those measures is lacking, or pursued half-heartedly.
It is regrettable that when the government recently announced that the infection rate had been dropping, relaxation crept into some people on the precaution-taking front.
This is utterly wrong. Everyone must perceive oneself as a soldier and thus part of an army pitted against the Covid-19 arch-enemy that is still in our midst and which we must earnestly join forces to decisively defeat.
