The Bone of Kanten

The Night Fire: The Bone of Kanten

If someday you were approached and asked if you think you needed people around you, it will take some time before you recognize the importance of others in your life, even those you never knew. If you are coming from what we call modern society, you are at risk of perceiving others like a compliment to the comfort that the politics have promised. It is because the leaders of this modern system are working toward reducing our dependence on each other. This system wants to represent the most important thing in every one of us or, at least, it wants to manage the relationships we develop among each other. For this to be possible, it is clear that this same society has to work on ruining the trust we establish in each other. The idea of friendship, family, marriage, etc. will be slowly losing their values as long as the attitudes that were before considered bad or vicious, even diabolical, are becoming increasingly acceptable by individuals that are internalizing them and including them in their new vision of the world. 

If you were approached one day with a question, “What scares you most in life?”, you will not hesitate before answering that it is another human being and what they might do; that human being is our neighbor, our brother, sister, father, mother, friend, husband, wife, child, etc. and the system makes you say why is it increasingly becoming the necessary evil? All the others are in your image, and since you became capable of all the evil, so are the other humans. The only thing that can hurt you and hurt the rest of the world is you. 

Luckily, there are parts of the world where the cultures are refusing to let humankind die of the evil that every human being is capable of. There are societies that are not systems of exploitation. There are also societies that are teaching us values like friendship, generosity, honesty, etc. Our story happens within that context. 

Kanten was living in a very small village in the African savannah with his wife and kids. Kanten was not just a farmer like most of the men of the village, he was also a hunter. Two or three times a week he goes to hunt and comes back with a lot of meat and shares it with all the families of the village. The whole village was living on the rhythm of the hunts and the meat that Kanten brings. Some families sometimes even send their children to go wait by his door every time they knew that he went to the bush to hunt. Kanten was very popular. He had a friend that always came to help him on his farm or to carry the meat. His friend usually stays in his place for dinner. 

One day Kanten came from his hunt with very little meat. He that always brings a lot of meat to the village that day only had a rabbit. It was as if all the animals in the bush decided to hide. Kanten was very frustrated. He decided to go home and to enter his house through the back door and told his wife to tell his neighbors that his bow was broken: “Cook this rabbit with spices. We will organize a very small family feast”, he said to his wife. Kanten went to lay down in the sleeping room. From time to time, he would lift his head and with an excited voice full of authority he asked, “How’s the rabbit doing?” His wife answered, “It is still cooking.” Then Kanten would say again, “Has the meat softened?” “Not yet,” answered his wife. Then in a sort of excitement that was betraying his guilt, he said, “Stir up the fire!” A calm then fell back on the house. One could only hear the small cracks of the wood that was burning. Kanten drowned himself in his dreams. His wife was patiently stirring the fire. 

The silence of the house was troubled by a voice coming from outside. It was the voice of the best friend of Kanten. One could hear the voice repeating instantly, “Hey, Kanten, hey! It’s me, open the door!” The wife of Kanten ran to him and asked what to do. “How is the rabbit doing?” asked Kanten. “It’s cooking,” answered his wife. “Has the meat softened?” “Not yet” answered his wife. “Close the kitchen door and tell my friend that I’m laying down because I’m not feeling well.” The wife came back a few minutes later and whispered to Kanten “Your friend is sitting in front of the door. He asked me which kind of friend would he be if he goes home knowing that you are sick?” “How’s the rabbit doing?” Kanten asked. 

His wife ran in the kitchen and came back saying “Its boiling”

“Has the meat softened?” 

“Yes,” answered the wife. 

“Tell him that I’m seriously sick and I could be dying. That will make him go home.” The wife came a few minutes later and told him that his friend asked for a mat and is now laying outside waiting for a chance to help. 

“Hypocrites! Hypocrites!” murmured Kanten, who is now starting to lose his mind. “How is the rabbit doing?” he asked in excitement. 

“It’s boiling,” answered his wife. 

“Has the meat softened?” 

“Yes” 

“Tell him that I just died. That will make him go away.” The wife talked to her husband’s friend, and a few minutes later, the whole village was in Kanten’s compound crying and mourning. They started making the preparations for a burial while Kanten was playing dead. He was then bathed and dressed for burial. Before closing the coffin, Kanten’s wife asked to have a moment with the corpse of her husband. 

When people left the room, his wife said, “This game is going too far, Kanten, get up!” These people want to bury you!” 

Kanten whispered, “How is the rabbit?” 

“It’s cooking,” answered his wife. 

“And the meat, has it softened?” 

“Yes, the meat and bones are all soft.” 

“Is my friend gone?” 

“No, he is here.” 

“Let them bury me then.” 

The coffin was then closed and nailed and taken to the cemetery. Hours later the friend of Kanten came to Kanten’s wife and asked, “Now, will you share the rabbit or will you go play dead too? You see, even the refusal of my friend to give me a piece of his rabbit didn’t affect my duty to offer him the burial he desired.” 

At every stage of our life, the vice and the evil of this world is waiting, and they do not miss the opportunities we offer them by turning us into criminals, responsible for all the evil of this world, gliding unknowingly from one evil act to another.