The Shattering of the Young Man Dreams - Essay Example

Title: The Life of Dr. Griffins Stuart Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name and Code: University: Date of Submission: The Life of Dr. Griffins Stuart Dr Griffins had only managed to click 27 before he went to be with the lord. This was seen to be a main setback to both the close friends and families that thought that the deceased should have lived longer to enjoy the fruits of her education. At only 27, the dreams of the young man were shattered as the young man was found dead on the fourth street of Hurlingham Suburb in the Kenyan Capital, Nairobi. This was the death announcement of the deceased as curried out on the 24th of March 2011 in the Kenyan National Daily. It is with sadness that we announce the sudden death of Dr Griffins Stuart who was found dead on the 24th of March in 2010. Dr. Griffins has been working as a senior Criminal Investigation Department (Drugs section) as the head of the larger Coast Province. He was son to Benard Stuart and Christine Stuart from Katine, Swiftgate in Savanna. He is brother to Steven Grate Stuart, Godfrey Goodluck, Shevcheso Headman and Hillary Nilsson. He is cousin to Simon Niccon, Shuvri Katwe, Tony Bleak, Jotham Micheni, Michael Joseph, Edward Stewart among others. Family and Friends are meeting daily at the Upper Hill Springs Restaurant at 6.00 pm. There will be a fund raising to aid the funeral expenses, on Thursday 28th April 2010 at the same venue. The funeral would be held on Saturday, 30th April 2010 at his father’s home in Katine, Savanna County. Background Dr. Griffins was born in 1983 as the seventh born in a family of eleven. Being born in this family, Griffins and the brother had to undergo a lot of struggles, as they contented with the extreme poverty that was in their family. This family faced a lot of challenges that included shortage of food and water, poor housing facilities and poor clothing. This was a great challenge that the family had in one way or the other struggled with, but had very little hope of overcoming. However, Stuart Griffins at the age of four was always talking positively arguing that one day, the woes of her family would come to an end. He always walked bare feet to school and came back in the evening, with optimism that one day they will be out of the mess they are in (Grusec & Hastings, 2007, p. 231-240). One thing that was different from the rest of his three brothers and seven sisters was that he held on Education as his brother and sisters gave in and dropped out of school. This gave him the chance to learn and earn certificates. He became one of the first people to graduate with a Master in Criminology from Makerere University. At a tender age of 26, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the United States International University. His efforts were much appreciated by the Government, when he was appointed in the Criminal Investigation Department as head of the Coast Region. He therefore became the youngest CID Provincial Head, to have ever lived in Kenya. Prior to his death, he had complained of his life being in danger, after being in some occasions trailed by unknown persons and warned of ‘necessary action’ to be taken against him prior to his death. Age is a great factor to the quality of life that someone lives. Humans tend to make decisions on life differently at different ages of life. As a kid, one is prone to live a life of being directed and helped to shape up into an adult. As the kid, grows he gets to learn more life skills as he transforms his life from being much consultative to making their own informed decisions. Griffins is no exception as he passed through this various stages of life. What made Griffins to be a little bit different was the age factor in comparison to the fast rate of climbing the academic and the professional ladder. Having a doctorate at the age of 27 speaks for itself. The need to save his family from the jaws of poverty was a great motivation that pushed Griffins to academic success. He dedicated most of his energies at a young age to education while most of his age mates went around not considering education as very necessary. The attaining of the masters degree in criminology was the main turn point to both academic and professional success. Being a top Criminal Investigating Officer at the top level at the age of 27 was not an easy task for Griffins. He had to contend with so many things that many in the Kenyan society and society in general would argue is the territory of the experienced old guards and middle aged professionals. This means that, if Griffins was to live like a middle aged person, then his socialization would be affected in the sense that he would not have to pass through the ‘normal’ stages of life (Ladner, 1998, p. 87-95). This explains why he still had to go for night parties and hung around with the young people even after feeling that his life was in danger. The deceased was born in a poor family background in Kenya. Given the conditions facing his family and the need to move away from the extreme poverty, there was need to strategize on exit to life full of poverty. The man eat society of the time could not allow a poor person to rise the above the poverty but only through Education. This in one way or the other motivated the deceased to work hard and eventually pass the examinations. The fruits of the hard work were shown when he learnt and even proceeded to get a scholarship to pursue a Masters degree in criminology (Barcan, 1993, p. 67-74). The education of the deceased in a great way impacted on the life of the deceased. Given that he spent most of his life in education, there are some life skills that Griffins missed that made him to become a serious alcoholist. This social behavior was not very good as it exposed him to situations that he couldn’t even think of marrying or starting up a family. As such, the deceased remained to lack the social control as education he had had led him to be some kind of social misfit in the society. He was always overconfident by the fact that he had great certificates at the tender age he was. Griffins worked as a Criminal Investigation Department officer and specifically dealt with cases that involved drugs and drug trafficking. This in a great way impacted on the life of the deceased as the life he lived was not up to the task in dealing with drugs. Issues of drugs are very serious in any country and Kenya is not an execution. Drugs barons in Kenya operate in syndicates and would in many ways work with all they can to do way with all the obstacles in conducting this illicit business in the country. The huge sums of money involves in the illicit business has in the past led to a number of officials from the investigating agencies being killed in cold blood (Keene, 2003, p. 123-129). Prior to Griffins meeting with his death, he had complained that he was receiving threats of assassination from unknown sources. He even went ahead and recorded statement over the same with the police. He had also complained that he was being trailed by some unknown persons whenever he went but could not confirm their identity. This puts a close link of his murder to drugs and drug trafficking. His life as an alcoholist could not allow him to live comfortably as a criminal Investigation Department officer. The Kenyan society is well known for hardcore criminals that assassination in order to get away with their drugs cases has been part and parcel of their operations. The work of criminal investigating officers dictates that they have limits of operations due to the duty they carry out. This means that one has to live more of a secret lifestyle so that his or her life is not vulnerable to attacks by criminals. This was not so with the criminal officer (Griffins) who was font of going to night parties hence exposing himself to the works of criminals he is to investigate. This actually has been a major blow to the dreams of living longer (Leo & Chall, 2003, p. 123-131). Marriage is a very great institution that shapes an individual. The effect of marriage in a person usually makes far reaching implications on both the actions of the persons and the perspective at which they look at various life issues. Marriage in one way or the other brings a sense of responsibility and belongingness. The life of Griffins would have most likely taken a different angle from the one it took were it be that he was married. Griffins had no sense of responsibility and attachment that would make him not sleep in the Bars. Since he was an adult who is expected to make his own decisions, he chose to live a life of partying. He totally had no family where he could account for coming late or failing to turn up at home. He had fat salary to his account yet the responsibility he had was that of taking care of him and provides a little support to his immediate family (Owens & Settersten, 2002, p. 45-57). The family background he had also greatly contributed to everything that happened on his life. The educational success was out of the need to kick poverty out of their family. Griffins believed that something needed to be done to change the economic status of his family. The only better way he could do it was by using the tool he was accessed to, that is education. He decide that even if he went bare feet to school, he would not relent in seeking for education. The Kenyan society was also good at that time as education was quite affordable and Griffins had only to burn a few bags of Charcoal and the little fees problem would be sorted. Were it be, that he came from an economically endowed family, it is likely that Griffins would not have achieved as much as he did (Fowler, 2007, p. 87-112). Friends are a great factor in the shape of an individual’s life. This is because, the friends we have tended to affect the type of decisions we make and the lifestyles we decide to live. This means that friends are likely6 to affect the shaping of one’s life. Griffin’s life and events that characterized his life up to death has widely been affected by the kind of friends he had. This would come in way of the type of lifestyle he opted for. The Griffin at the later stage of life as a Criminal Investigation Department officer was quite different from the one in his local village in Katine (Brym, 2008, p. 102-115). Most of the Friends Griffins hanged around withy were drunkards and contributed so much to his alcoholic state. In fact at some point, Griffins had shown the desire to stop drinking alcohol. He did make an effort and for about a month, he had not come nearer bottle of alcohol. He even tried avoiding the bars and joints that sold alcohol, However, the situation turned out to be different when a friend of him passed by his house to ask why he has gone under and was becoming ‘unsocial’ Of course Steven had carried with him a few bottles of beer and this time round. Griffins was found back into drinking. The next week after these, he was full swing back into drinking that his job was so much affected. It did not take longer than this the he started receiving assassination threats (Vernon, 1970, p. 211-223). Griffins was actually killed in cold blood and his dreams shattered. The society we live in plays a great role in whatever our life becomes. References Fowler, B (2007), The Obituary as Collective Memory, Routledge, New York City, p. 87-112 Keene, M. (2003). New Steps in Religious Education for the Caribbean, Mexico City: Nelson Thornes, p. 123-129 Barcan, A (1993), Sociological theory and educational reality: education and society in Australia since 1949, UNSW Press, New York, p. 67-74 Grusec, J. E., Hastings P.D (2007), Handbook of socialization: theory and research. Guilford Press, New York, p. 231-240 Owens, T.J., Settersten R.A (2002), New frontiers in socialization, Elsevier, Texas, p. 45-57 Brym, R.J (2008), Sociology as a Life Or Death Issue, Cengage Learning, New York, p. 102-115 Vernon, G.M (1970), Sociology of death: an analysis of death-related behavior, Ronald Press Co., New York, p. 211-223 Leo P. Chall L.P (2003), Sociological abstracts, 51(4), 123-131 Ladner, J. A, (1998), The Death of white sociology: essays on race and culture, Black Classic Press, Chicago, p. 87-95 Read More