It is obvious that many of the great men of the Bible were war heroes — Joshua and David — “mighty men” who are described in terms of how many enemy soldiers they slaughtered. These great men were not evil.

Let no one say that such men are only heroes in the Old Testament, let me remind you that the New Testament considers men like these to be heroes of faith who demonstrated that in their heroic war activities.
On the other hand, we find the prophets speaking out strongly against the cruelty and destruction of Israel caused by nations like Edom (Obadiah 1:9-10).

The same situation of cruelty, destruction and injustice, among other prejudices, prevailed in this country, prompting our gallant sons and daughters to wage war against the system of oppression.
The injustice had an adverse effect on every Zimbabwean socially, economically, morally and politically, making it difficult for people to enjoy the resources in their God-given country.

As we approach our Heroes Day, it is time for us as a nation to reflect on the work accomplished by our fallen and living heroes who selflessly dedicated their lives to the liberation of Zimbabwe, a virtue which is scarce among many people today who have virtually turned to be gluttonous.
If our heroes had the spirit of selfishness which is currently hovering upon many of us today, Zimbabwe would still be in the hands of a few whites while the majority suffered oppression.

We would be moving around shackled by the fetters of inferiority complex, poverty and marginalisation and most of all being controlled by the beggar mentality.
They chose to stand above the rest like David who stood against Goliath and said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

There is every reason for everyone across the country to celebrate since almost every family participated in the struggle for freedom through various ways which include providing food, refuge, clothing and moral support through music, dance and verbal encouragement.
Listening to one of my favourite songs, Ndatadza Kukanganwa, by the energetic Born Free Crew, I was taken to the past and then back to the present and I concluded that our heroes played a pivotal role in the empowerment of our people.

Today, those who work hard can rise to dizzy heights economically since the level playing field was created as a result of fighting for freedom to dislodge those who had grabbed all and left the majority to scrounge for the little available.
Churches which were not aligned to missionaries faced persecution as they were mistaken for political parties disguised as religious organisations.
However, with the dawn of independence, indigenous churches have thrived under the current environment, testifying the goodness of the gains of independence

that came through a protracted struggle that claimed the blood of many sons and daughters of Zimbabwe.

Heroes Day brings together people from different political, social and religious walks of life and serves as a national unifier.
Apart from the gains that we see today, there are many lessons we can draw from their selflessness and hard work.
Every man has one life and does not have a spare one in case the other life is taken away.
During the war, they never considered that, but chose to press forward until they achieved their goal of freedom.

When others fell by the wayside, others carried on with the spirit of liberating our motherland, they considered not their families and some also shelved their educational and professional ambitions with hopes of proceeding when they come back home, but unfortunately for some it was never to be as they could not make it to the new Zimbabwe.

Let us take the same spirit of selflessness which they espoused and further develop our country without only looking at ourselves with the motive of amassing wealth through unorthodox means which derail the progress of the country and the gains of independence.
The living and the fallen heroes have a legacy that we can look at and cherish. Let us sing together with the Born Free Crew, Kusatenda Huroyi, let us appreciate and celebrate as a united Zimbabwe bearing in mind that there is no better Zimbabwean.

If everyone in this country adopts the spirit of faithfulness and selflessness towards what is entrusted to them, really, another Born Fee Crew song, Chishuwo Chemagamba, will be fulfilled.

It is time again for all people from all walks of life to look back and celebrate all the achievements of our heroes lest we forget and think that everything came on a silver platter.

As we do that, let us also stand up strong like David and defend our heroes’ great achievements so that we leave a strong legacy to the patriotic generations to come.

• Faith talk is an interactive column where we encourage believers of different faiths including church leaders and traditionalists to contribute. Send your article to levi.mukarati@

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