Pity

Saturday, I was at work. Saw this early edition of the Monitor Newspaper, Sunday Monitor that is. I flipped through it, got to an article, Saggy Campaigns for Gay Rights. I was apprehensive when I started reading it. I was howling with laughter by the end. Hilarious.

I sent an email, from my gayuganda address, lauding Saggy’s humour. And today, I found a reply. Curious I opened it. Its not usual to have a letter to the editor replied. There were only 3 words in the message, plus the name of the sender. 3 cryptic words, that made me stop to think.

‘I pity you.’ The gentleman wrote back.

I was puzzled. I went back to the original Saggy article. Had I misunderstood it? Satire, Saggy style. Cutting, blunt, very much to the point. And hilarious. No, I don’t think I misunderstood that article.

So, why was I to be pitied?

It was later that I realised, maybe the gentleman was pitying me because of my frank gay address? Possible.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed most likely.

Now, I certainly do not think I should be pitied. Well, I am gay, that is true. But that is like saying I am black. A fact. Should I be pitied because I am an African? Not really. So, why was the gentleman pitying me?

The more I thought about it, the more puzzled I became.

Then it came to me, the gentleman truly wanted to help me. He could not give me much, but he felt that his emotion of pity would suffice. He would write to me, and give that to me. He would express his piteous thoughts on my being a gay Ugandan.

I wanted to write back and thank him for the pity.

But I thought that would not be appropriate. This guy was wasting an emotion which was truly valuable to him. I needed to do something about it.

I mean, he was wasting pity on me? Why should I be pitied because I am gay? Why should I be pitied beyond any other Ugandan? Sincerely, I could only feel pity for him. For wasting it on me.

So I wrote back, as briefly, as succinctly.

I replied, ‘Poor you.’