09/08/2026
*"Stand Upright: Break the Mountain Into a Path"*
_By Comrade Ngudde Baker of Hi One Village_
My people, gather close. Let the night carry this.
There was a man in Hi One Village called Kasule. He had a home, a wife, and children. But the house was leaning. When the rains came the roof wept. The garden was tired. The needs of the home kept piling, and every time neighbors came to help him he would stand for a moment, then lean again.
They would say, "Kasule, let us hold you up."
And they held. But a hand that always holds will never teach a man how to stand.
One evening under the mango tree I sat with him and said, "Brother, *a man should be upright, not kept upright.*"
He looked at me and asked, "Then how, Comrade Ngudde?"
I told him, "Because *all things can be broken down.*"
You are looking at your trouble as one big wall. But every wall is raised brick by brick.
That roof is sheets and nails. Mend a part today.
That garden is rows. Clear a row today.
That worry is many thoughts. Put one thought down today.
*"Everything difficult, confront it into small particles."*
Do not try to drink the whole river. Take a cup.
Do not try to carry the whole harvest. Carry a basket.
Do not fight the whole season. Fight this morning.
So Kasule began. He woke with the sun. He fixed a part of the roof. That corner became dry.
He cleared a part of the garden. Seed went into the soil.
He went and spoke, and made a plan, and took the next step, and then the next.
He stopped waiting for the crowd. He walked on his own feet.
With time, the house stopped leaning. The garden began to feed the home. The children walked with pride.
Later I found him outside, calm.
I asked, "Kasule, who is holding you up now?"
He smiled and said, "No one, Comrade. I am upright. Because I learned to break the mountain until it became a path."
Then I reminded him of what the elders taught:
*"He who cannot live in society, who has no need of others because he is suffic
