u/Lower-Knee-8585

Every time I'm outside whether I'm walking, chilling or just doing my stuffs a lot goes on my mind. Sometimes I wonder if people do notice it. Like someone once told me I always look somewhat absent minded, I get that though, guess it's because of my shagginess.

Anyways, I look at people and see this confidence and hope in them that is not just something I can ignore. The way boda guys are always in high spirits. How that chapo guy is concerned about his cooking and hopes you like it. Mama mboga on the other hand have this welcoming energy, and don't get me started with how easy going they are. How they help select onions and whatever plus the small jokes and the 2 minute conversation that are just yk. I see their resilience and it wows me.

Even in this shithole we found ourselves, they still afford to smile and move on with life despite the stress and economic pressure that lurks around.

It's business yeah I get but there is something soft and human about them you won't find in a typical Kenyan office. Idk but offices often feel cold, performative, or emotionally distant.

Come to think of it, no siblings grows up in the same house (hypothetically). No siblings have the same or experience same parents. No siblings have the same childhood. Why not?

First, there's the birth order. Parents don't relate to the first child the way they relate to the second child to the last one.

Then there's gender differences. I'm talking about what actually happens in a typical family. The children don't experience the same parent's love, they experience the way the parent shows up.

Three, the parent's relationship might be in a different phase. They might be in a different economic situation hence each child will evoke a different response from the parent. It's not that they love any one of them more than the other, but they responded to them differently.

Lastly, children are born with different temperaments, which is they experience the world differently. So even if you could be the same parent to all your kids, which you actually couldn't be, they'd still have three different parents because they would experience you differently.

What are your thoughts?

A lot of you, I know, have already worked and earned your first paycheck. Do you remember that sensation when you got that first paycheck and you looked at it and you said, "there must be some mistake." No! there's no mistake. The government is like, mmmh, here's the rest of it. We took off this, for this, and this for that. We took PAYE (Pay As You Earn) to fund government services like education, healthcare, and security. We took VAT (Value Added Tax) to raise revenue from goods and services bought by consumers. We took Corporate Tax to collect revenue from company profits for national development. We took Excise Duty to tax products like fuel, alcohol, betting, and airtime while also controlling excessive consumption. We took Import Duty to protect local industries and earn revenue from imported goods. We took Fuel Levy/Road Maintenance Levy for building and maintaining roads. We took Housing Levy to support affordable housing projects. Taking and taking with their long right-gluttonous hand.

And don't get me started with SHA shenanigans.

That’s what Kenyans are paying for, and it’s coming directly out of the lives of ordinary people. When we do not have enough money for roads, when public hospitals lack medicine and equipment, when rehabilitation centers for drug addicts remain underfunded, when schools in some parts of the country do not have enough textbooks, teachers, or classrooms, it is because much of that money is going into maintaining political power, protecting the interests of a small elite class, servicing massive debts, and sustaining a system that mainly benefits those already at the top. To protect that class, you have to protect the political and economic system that serves that class, even if ordinary citizens continue suffering through higher taxes, unemployment, and poor public services.

Discussions with both humanities and science faculty always shatter a perception that academia is tightening its focus on the sciences at the expense of the humanities. But chemistry faculty cite increased pressure to pack more science into a 4-year course of study. Some are redesigning chemistry curricula with the goal of making graduates more employable in specific career areas such as computational chemistry and health-care science. Observations vary, however, on what employers are looking for, and there is a distinct concern among faculty that chemistry students could be negatively affected by reduced exposure to the humanities.

“Branches from the Same Tree,” Says Albert Einstein on science, religion, and arts.

Science and engineering students are somewhat old-fashioned positivists. Their love for science is largely based on their confidence that it solves problems beyond just technical ones. They just have an uncritical faith in the power of science and technology. They need to be shaken out of that a little bit. They need to understand that the problems they are going to encounter in the world are not going to be as tidy as the ones they encounter in computer rooms.

What are your thoughts on the increase focus on STEM?

I do get asked by friends to show up for them sometimes and I do. But I doubt their loyalty. They once told me that friendships are transactional and I was like, you mean we cant just be buddies? And tbh I never thought about friendships that way. Like anything I shared or share with friends isn't something I had ever set a price tag on yk.

What bothers me is I never took it seriously, but with time I have realized that in my whole group I'm always the last person to know anything about any recent updates in the gang. Like, something interesting and fun will be going on but they won't tell me not until I hear it being joked or talked about in the middle of a banter. So I wonder what else they might be hiding behind my back. You ever heard the phrase, "There's a friend group that you are not a part of in your gang?"

Anyway ni rant tu, I hope I don't sound petty. Besides, that's the only gang I have, and you guys know how it's hard to make friends. Plus I'm not paranoid so please don't throw that card.

Idk if I’m petty by saying this, but honestly guys, why do people still keep their dating profiles up even after getting into a relationship? Isn’t the whole point to go there, find someone, and sign off?

Like, if you’ve genuinely found your person, why still keep yourself “available” online? Even if you’re not actively talking to people, the profile being there can still send mixed signals. Feels like you’re keeping options open, seeking validation, or leaving one foot outside the relationship “just in case.”

And before people say “it’s not that deep,” small things matter. If you met someone through a dating app and agreed to be exclusive, deleting or deactivating the profile just feels like a natural sign of commitment and respect. It’s kind of like saying, “I’m done searching.”

Like why do you wanna be popular on a dating app?

At around 4 years old, unavalishwa school uniform slightly too big, a big school bag, and parents believe education will change everything. In primary school, children are told to work hard so they can become doctors, lawyers, engineers, pilots, or teachers.

By 14, KCPE or KPSEA becomes the first measure of worth, whether they will invest in your high school study or leave you out in this cruel world is something not hard to decide. At 18, KCSE determines who is called “bright” and who quietly disappears into survival*.*

University becomes the promised bridge to success, where young adults chase degrees while balancing "hope", pressure, identity, relationships, and fear of unemployment.

By 25, society expects ukue stable, kajob, independence, maybe marriage. Social media nayo ikona pressure, making people feel late in life while everyone else appears successful.

Tukifika 30, many are carrying invisible weight: loans, family expectations, aging parents, younger siblings depending on them, careers that may not exist, and dreams slowly reshaped by reality. Some build businesses, others leave cities for farming, freelancing, or survival hustles. Marriage, parenthood, and responsibility redefine life juu wasee wanatry to give their children a softer upbringing than their own.

By old age, the Kenyan dream often becomes simpler than wealth: peace, land, family unity, dignity, health, and children who remember your sacrifices. In the end, many realize the dream was never only about success, but about surviving hardship while still remaining human.

Are there women who are okay with having a child with someone na kila msee afanye mambo yake? Alafu we co-parent? Like it can be 50/50 or the man can do 70 and the mother 30? I'm just weighing the situation cause feels like marriage is not something I have plans for. I can see the 3rd floor right ahead of me, I got I few corners to take.