A bogy of the mind

“We tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn’t always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away.”
-Albert Camus, The Plague

Last weekend my internet and cable went out in my apartment, so I spent most of Saturday and Sunday lying on the couch with the windows open, reading The Plague. I have to write an essay for my Ethical Issues in Public Health class on the “strengths and weaknesses of utilitarianism and contractarianism or rights theory in public health ethics,” built around a reading of one of several books, of which I chose the novel by Albert Camus. This isn’t the essay… just a story and some thoughts…

Shortly after I returned home from Eldoret, a street boy I knew was killed. He was traveling between Eldoret and Nairobi, presumably in search of greater economic opportunity in the big city. As many street children do, his mode of travel was to hang onto the undercarriage of trucks carrying goods between these two urban centers. The roads are bad enough that trucks travel slow enough such that street children can hang onto the chassis for a few kilometers, hop off when they grow tired, then climb back on to travel further down the road. Somewhere along the road, he lost his grip. Caught under the wheels, he was killed instantly. A mere street boy, he was quickly forgotten. An orphan of poverty, in search of money, food, friendship, and family… the road cut short his journey. He was 12.

Shortly after Christmas, as the world began a new year, violence erupted on the streets of Kenya. Poverty, tribalism, corruption and shattered hope created the context for killing. Former neighbors turned into enemies. Historical tribal tensions were re-ignited under a new pretext of politics, burning violently to the surface. “The whole country was on fire” several of my friends told me, recalling the horrifying months of January and February. Poverty, the pit holding the fire, quickly deepened.  In total, 1,133 Kenyans died and thousands are still displaced, living in camps.  Blood stained many hands.

Many of us subscribe to utilitarianism superficially. The greatest good for the greatest number. It sounds very appealing. But would you allow a single person to die in order to save ten? Instead we believe ourselves to be inherently worthy and equal as individuals, regardless of our “utility”, everyone sharing a right to life, to prosperity, to well being, to health… And releasing us from egoism, we live within a social contract. It is not only our own right that we must ensure; we have a responsibility to ensure that other’s rights are upheld as well. By upholding each invidual’s right to life, and recognizing we are inextricably connected to every other person in this world, we collectively share the moral burden of ensuring every person’s rights, without having to sacrifice anyone…

Kenya is a poor country, with a tenuous, and short, history of democracy. There is much work to be done with big development strides to make, and with this comes the possibility for great hope and achievement upon electing a new president, and also the bitter anger and sense of betrayal if the democratic process is taken away from you. In Kenya, there are bad roads, unregulated laws, families living without enough to eat, children out of school and out of home, living a life on the streets in search of food, income and meaning. Born into circumstance, as we all are, the boy who died was living the reality of having to travel between Nairobi and Eldoret hanging onto the undercarriage of trucks. Because of this, he died. I knew him, interviewed him, talked with him, have his picture on my computer. You are now reading about him. He, and others like him—other street children in Eldoret; the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable, the oppressed, the unlucky no matter the geography—are our responsibility. We abide, or must abide, by a social contract that both guarantees and takes responsibility for their rights… to life, to prosperity, to well being, to health…

Poverty is not a bogy of the mind, not a bad dream that will pass away. It is our responsibility. Indeed, men are passing away because of it.