I look back at my early years and see how much the influences I had at the family level and the societal culture and subcultures have had on me. Same case the schools I attended had so much influence as well. The same case with the numerous workplaces and jobs that I have had. The influence of the people I have loosely interacted with have similarly had an impact on my character.
Similarly, when I look at so many people, I read or see so much of what has influenced their lives even judging by their talking, behaviours and even their own admission on what has impacted on them to make them what they are or do.
Many people's character, conduct and attitudes are built along the socialisation and experiences they go through from an early age. Their disposition, apart from their natural abilities and inclinations, have had environmental and socialisation aspects influences.
I have observed many people of varied characters, especially those in public limelight. When you dig into their life stories or their journey you find a good correlation of how they behave with what they have gone through so far since their childhood.
I have taken time to study the life of various famous or infamous historical figures and some of the things they did have the correlation on so many things that happened in their lives and circumstances that led some to take such actions that they did that made them famous or infamous.
Globally I have studied and watched many videos and read a lot of literature of historical and influential figures like Adolf Hitler, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Junior, The Bush family, Donald Trump, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Walton Family, Nelson Mandela, John D. Rockefeller and Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Arap Moi, Warren Buffet, Pope John Paul II, Mao Tse Tung and Deng Xiaoping.
Others are Winston Churchill, Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Michael Jackson, Serena and Venus Williams, Christiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton , William Ruto, Raila Odinga , Bernard Arnault, Richard Branson, Ronald Reagan, Richard Branson, Jack Ma and Samuel Macharia.
If you examine quite a good number of the many of them there is a good correlation of what they achieved or have achieved due to their innate capacity and the circumstances they found themselves in, in terms of environment, upbringing and situations.
For big business people, especially in America, the upbringing, the environment they found themselves growing in and the opportunities that presented to them meant something to propel their ventures. How would one describe Moi growing from a remote and significantly dry area in a tough environment and getting all the way to Kenya’s presidency?
You can’t underrate the missionaries' work in his backyard influence and the pre-independence circumstances and his location and what he was doing to springing to public life. His character orientation from a tough background and community/tribal and regional considerations endeared him to be a humble vice president who was not threatening to the wielders of power under President Kenyatta.
That humble mien and his natural calculative nature perhaps inborn or moulded by his growing up enabled him to win favour with powerful people like Charles Njonjo and others who felt he would be unthreatening when he rises to power and perhaps could easily be taken from him.
So from some historical literature some powerful people then thought he could easily be pushed out of power as he holds it temporarily for them for them to beat their rivals such as once feared powerful minister Mbiu Koinange and the likes of Njoroge Mungai who were among the favourites to power due to their closeness to the then old and ailing president Kenyatta.
So Moi’s rise to power was a temporary arrangement in their mind and was even once described as a passing cloud. After all his background pedigree, community and education was nothing much to write home about then. Once in power they found he is not a pushover. He had mastered the survival games pretty fast.
He pushed them away within no time. Having survived from a very hard childhood and background his level of resilience and survival instincts must have been very strong. The level of political cunningness that Moi had was not out of nothing, it was background and experiences plus a natural disposition in the combination.
I have watched many people I have worked with or done one thing or two with including businesses and have learnt a lot. Some I can tell their backgrounds damaged or made them great or do better or have that compelling desire to do so. Some have been unable to overcome some of the background issues that hinder their progress.
Others are out of sheer character such as greed, laziness, myopic behaviours, recklessness, arrogance, hate and so on that wreck them eventually. I have also seen people who due to their hard upbringing who work so hard to never ever get to that kind of circumstances again. Some I have seen ending up being workaholics and go-getters.
I can’t ignore the personality issues inborn in people as some people are naturally propelled to behave the way they do. For instance, I have met business people who are serial entrepreneurs and go-getters and when you dig deeper into their family you can trace the ‘gene’ in them.
How would one describe the historical fights between Israel and Palestine? Historical and environment (in terms of geography and geopolitics) issues must have a lot in these interminable wars. What also radicalises some groups of people in various parts of the world?
It has a lot to do with the environment and so much of the circumstances they have encountered or found themselves in over time. So the environment and relations one is exposed to means a lot in his or her life endeavours, character, conduct, attitudes and behaviour.
After having read quite a number of books on the characters of people and having experienced so many I can tell that background and life experiences and circumstances have influence on how people behave.
I have seen political figures whose circumstances turned them into what they were. Some turned to being dictators and others quite smart politicians. If you dig into the history of so many big names you can find a lot on what influenced them.
The author is a social analyst and commentator
