Not Exploiting Others

In the year 2000 when I was in Standard 7 at Naro-Moru Primary School, I enjoyed playing as a goalkeeper in the soccer matches we had on Saturday break-times. One Sarturday as we were leaving the classroom for our usual break-time soccer matches, our geography, history & civics (GHC) teacher named Miss Esther sent me to buy bread for her from a shop that was about 800 metres away. I obeyed her.
Going to buy bread for Miss Esther made me miss the chance of playing as a goalkeeper in the soccer match we had during the break time of that Saturday. And after that Saturday, I never reclaimed my role as a goalkeeper in the matches that followed.
Over the last couple of years when I have remembered how Miss Esther sent me to buy bread for her on that memorable Saturday, I have sometimes felt bitter that she exploited me. She didn't share the bread with me. Neither did she give me a tip for my service. What's worse, she made me lose my goalkeeping position in the fun-filled soccer matches we had on Saturdays.
The other incident I will tell you on how I was exploited happened one morning in 2002 when I was a first former at Starehe Boys' Centre. That morning, I was getting ready for breakfast in the school dining hall when a second former called Andrew Otando asked me to take to the high table a notice he wanted read to the whole school. I accepted to take the notice.
Guess what! The captain to whom I handed the notice, a caring fourth former named Michael Mwangale, inquired who had sent me to deliver the notice. After I informed him it was Andrew Otando, he summoned Otando to the high table. I never got to know what Mwangale told Otando but I am sure he reproached him for taking advantage of me.
Remembering such experiences has made me sensitive to being exploited. These days, I hate it when someone takes advantage of me by making do tasks they should do themselves. That's why I have made it a rule to either decline or charge a stipend when a person asks me to do something for them.
Last Saturday but one, my eldest brother Joe Kagigite came home with his three kids. While Joe waited for several of his friends who were to visit us later on in the day, he took the initiative of moving parts of a bed from the living room of our mansion to a back veranda. Since I hate being exploited, I was afraid Joe might ask me to help him move the bed parts. I therefore made up my mind that I would tell him I was busy in case he enlisted for my help. Luckily, he didn't ask for my assistance.
When Joe's friends finally arrived home in the afternoon, we had a wonderful time swapping stories outside our mansion as they feasted on toothsome meals. Towards the end of our interaction, two of the visitors took out from a car several cartons of goodies they had bought for us.
One of the visitors asked me to take the cartons to the mansion, a duty that I thought was fair not only because I was going to benefit from the goodies but also because my parents were not strong enough to carry some of the cartons. As I began lifting one of the heavy cartons, I requested Kayla Wanjeri, my 12-year old niece, to assist me. She obliged and quickly took two cartons of milk to the mansion.
Three days later, I felt a tinge of guilt for what I did to Kayla. I thought I had taken advantage of her by asking her to carry cartons containing milk that she would never drink since she doesn't live with us here at home. Honestly, what I did was wrong and I hope her dad, my brother Joe, never complained to her about it. And that guilt feeling has made me resolve never to exploit a child again the way Miss Esther exploited me when I was in Standard 7.
The great American president Abraham Lincoln once said, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." Like Lincoln, I would also not want to exploit anyone just as I hate being exploited. I wish to treat others the way I want to be treated. Not an unwise course of action for you to take as well, my beloved reader!
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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed reading the above story on not exploiting others, you might also enjoy another one on "Overcoming Timidness" which I wrote about three years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.
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