In every human being's life there is someone or some people they admire so much. A person or people they wish everyone else was like. A person or people they would feel so proud to be associated with. A person or people who in their world is or are larger than life. A person they would wish to be in their company not only when they are alive here on earth but even in their next life after death. And all in all a person or people who for them defines certain aspects of human life.
There is no set rule on how to admire others or who we may and may not admire. Actually, I may admire somebody while another person doesn't really admire them. The people we admire may either be women or men depending entirely on us (the admirer).
In contemporary world, most people admire such persons as their school teacher(s), friend(s), political leader(s), great musician(s), university professor(s) and the list is endless.
For me, there are several people (others even dead - may their souls rest in peace) whom I admire based on what section of society one is referring to. For instance, in music I would not say music is music not until I hear some late Franco Luambo Luanzo's hit songs like "Attention na SIDA", late Mayaula Mayoni's "Cherie Bondowe", late Joseph Hill's "Only jah a christian", late Madilu's "Ya Jean", late Michael Jackson's "Earth song" or Eric Wainaina's "Mili yetu".
Now am a young gentleman fast moving towards fatherhood/husband-hood and as such it is normal to find yourself admiring certain women whom you would wish your future wife/mother of your children at least was like if not necessarily a "copy paste". Am sure such women are in every young man's life and for me these women are Mrs. Alice Asaka, Mrs. Ida Odinga and Mrs. Michelle Obama in that order.
Alice Asaka is my mother. The wife of Asaka snr. (God bless you, dad) who is the son of the great land of Kochogo where I belong. Whenever I come across the word discipline, Alice Asaka comes to thought. In my life she is discipline and discipline is her. As a mother through constant correction, direction and guidance she largely molded me into who I am today.
When you see me walk in through the doors of a church building on a Sunday morning; when you come into my house and see a bible somewhere in the corner of the table; when you hear me mention the name "God"; when you hear me say "am sorry" or when you hear me telling somebody "thank you," give it all to her. She taught me all that.
All my life (since I became conscious i.e. able to perceive and memorise/remember) I have observed this woman with keenness that even I, personally, can't comprehend. The way she does her things amazes me. The way she has gone about bringing up all her four children (me included) into responsible individuals makes me admire her the most.
I know nearly everybody loves their mother but am sure not many of us a lot of the time find anything worthy of admiration in mothers except the fact that they carried you for 9 months and were there for you till you became an adult able to fend for him/herself. Sad or grim it may seem but I have observed it around me and it's a fact.
I view myself as a person of influence in the society gauging by the keenness with which people listen to me, the warm reception I get from friends and hardcore resistance I get from my foes. This may be in a small scale now but as sure as sure can be, before long it is gonna grow into an influence worthy of reckoning with.
And this is where my admiration of Mrs. Ida Odinga and Mrs. Michelle Obama comes in. Mrs. Ida Odinga is the wife of Kenya's second Prime Minister the Right Honourable Raila Odinga (quick recovery, sir), while Mrs. Michelle Obama is the wife of United States of America's first black President, his excellency President Barrack Obama (congratulations, sir).
These two women have managed and are managing to successfully jaggle between the heavy tasks of "wifing" men of immense public influence, bringing up decent families while at the same time retaining the "woman" in them. These women have not let their education levels take the better of them. They are well educated at least by the standards of their respective countries (i.e. Kenya and US), sharp in thought, forthright, faithful and above all very pragmatic in their approach to life.
Anybody who has ever seen these women with their families either at a family gathering or on holidays or in cases of emergency like the one Ida unfortunately finds herself in at the moment, will agree with me that they are in charge as wives, mothers and leaders, and none can take that away from them.
Their beauty not withstanding, these three women have won my admiration by their good public rapport that has won them the love of people around them. They have got a welcome spirit that is inherent in them. A spirit that sees them receiving visitors day in day out without getting bored or tired of the continuos or rather never ending visits to their humble aboreds by sometimes total strangers.
They have touched lives of not one, not two, not three but of numerous people around them in ways so simple yet so transforming and unique that may pass unnoticed by most of their contemporaries but will surely be carried on to generations to come as 'golden' legacy.
Surely, these women are larger than life. And I admire them!
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