JANUARY MUST ALWAYS HURT, MUSN'T IT?

Any article preaching how to be conservative in December is very welcome in January. Bring a copy of the same in December and the same people who read it with a notebook to take notes will brush it aside and probably rename it the ‘Principles of Misery.’ Business has never been good in January as a result. People have a lot of responsibilities lined up for January that it is a miracle for men in offices to have all the three meals in a day. A friend on Facebook posted that cry and got several likes for it, he lamented that, “if you have three meals in a day na hii January, weweni illuminati na tusibishane!” funny it was indeed. Maybe he meant it or maybe not. Do January s have to be this doomed anyway? If we pause to reason, we realize that there is not a January curse at all but several factors, some avoidable contribute to this effect.

January comes immediately after the long holidays. It comes after a massive spending season. People have been bold enough to save all year round so that they may surprise others on the last week of December. Others dig in to future salaries, January one in this case, so that they may keep up with the rest. A journey upcountry during that season cannot be successful with a lean pocket. The agreement is that you cannot be mean during the birth of Jesus. Philanthropists so we all are. Those with enough money, their own or stolen don’t spare it either. The end result is that in January first, no one has the heart to spend. Majority are compelled by circumstances not to eat while others, lamenting the numerous shillings they have parted with over the holiday, curse every invitation to spend even on themselves.

The effect of a collective agreement not to buy means business is down. If business is down it means no easy money around as the people with the money, the successful gentlemen and ladies of business who have the holiday’s kill in their stores, are not the kind who easily part with it. To this effect add the factor that salaries are paid earlier than normal in December, as early as December twentieth, people are already on pumps and bars preparing for the official burial of their hard earned coins which comes on the 24^th of that month. Then comes January, school fees, and we are just dead. This institution that drains the last of our penny has barely any effect in bringing new profits. Schools and colleges often eat by accumulating debts. January fees enter in clearing debts with businesses or what to business people is actualizing last year’s profits which they have already spend.

What is true for each of us must be true for the society in general, but there is not a call from above that the vice-verse statement must hold. It is not a natural law that what is true for the society in general must be true for each of us. Who doesn’t know that people starve to death when the society has enough food for itself? Don’t be too ignorant, people have money in January. However, it takes a bold soul to go against the dictates of the society but it would require an even bolder soul, perhaps with some supernatural power to dictate to the society. Makers of opinion, or policy makers, or politicians which ever name you may adopt have luckily assumed this position. Their heads carry the brains of the society thanks to the unthoughtful benevolence of democracy in giving power to lead. As an individual, depending on one’s strength in spirit, we can choose to wait for change to be affected by the makers of opinion or we can at least effect the change to ourselves if not to our families. Christmas must not leave us so impoverished.

Either way we choose, the decision of how our January would be has it root answers on how we spend in December. Whether the decision to be more conservative during the festive season comes from us or is initiated by policy makers in government offices, it has to weigh the immerse profits during that period against the losses in January, as well as the agreeableness with consumers whom the policy is made for. More specifically to an individual, it has to come from the consideration of being celebrated as the man of class in the rural areas during the season to eat against the possibilities of hungry sleepless nights, beggarly and loneliness during January.