It’s one of those cold evenings and a stroll around my neighborhood is the most cherished of all the ideas that sir mind suggests as the best way to end a day. The sun’s rays are shyly peeping from the still somehow nebulous clouds. Despite the perceived nuisance that mud turns out to be when it rains, it’s a beautiful Friday evening though it looks like it is going to rain yet again.
It has been raining for consecutive days for the last three weeks and the roads don’t look so friendly for both the pedestrians that can be seen seriously negotiating where to step and the car drivers that would rather join the walking nation than risk their cars being stuck in the mud. An old mzee(man) initially on a bicycle has been forced to alight and push it around as he tries to dodge the muddy potholes. On the rear seat is a pile of firewood that extents some metres high on the bicycle’s carrier. The once perceived convenient means of transport has turned out to be the source of inconvenience.
On the left side of this path that leads to the nearby stream is a ploughed piece of land. A family of three young girls a woman old enough to be their mother and a man who must be in his mid forties are busy sweating themselves dry to ensure that the rains convert some seeds into food enough to last a year. Judging from the already ploughed piece of land, this must be one hard working family combination. This is Africa where in some areas, physical strength, the will to work plus a sweating back means a family is guaranteed of something on the table enough to make one see the next sunrise.
This might make my reader think of the article as being a geographical tour of my hood. The above scene is not in fact what inspired my fingers to have a date with this keyboard. What struck me was this neatly constructed structure. Apparently, I later realized that it was one the most common architectural designs in Uganda.
The month is early December and it has been raining for the most part of November. The grass has grown tall and most of the homesteads owners must have been forced to find out where they last stored their slashers except for this compound that struck my eyes and led my mind to wonderland.
Judging from what I see, the home owners must have lost the importance of presenting the best to visitors and passer bys long ago. Normally in most African homes, homesteads are to always be in their very best so that in the event that somebody visits abruptly he or she leaves with a positive report. But based on the assumption that the old mzee whom I met pushing his bicycle is the owner of the home gives me a reason not to be too harsh but rather embrace some lenience cause of the age factor.
As he passes me and enters his compound, he slowly pushes his bicycle and parks it near a door that triggered the writing of this article; a room that I latter realized was meant to be a car garage which now shelters this precious “car” the mzee owns. It also came clear in my mind why most Ugandans of middle and high income classes have adopted this architectural design. It now made more sense.
I love quotes and writing them down has been one of my long time hobbies that can be traced back in high school. “HOPE IS THE ONLY COMMON GOOD TO ALL PEOPLE” was written I don’t remember when and the author has failed to click in my mind too but all the same pop!!!!….this quote came ringing as a product of the idea bulb when I saw this scene.
No one can predict how their life will be. There is no point in life that we expect the worst even when the worst is inevitably coming our way. HOPE is what keeps us going. A mother hopes for a safe delivery of her child and expects ends to meet for the child to grow into an adult. When a child is born, it grows hoping for the best out of life. Even at the last dying moments when one is enjoying the free gift of air, we still hope for the best.
One funny truth is that even thugs hope that they won’t get caught. I understand that some say a prayer before they go out there and unleash terror on fellow innocent human beings. This implies that hope is still the only common good to all human beings. It does not belong to any religion, creed, class or race. It’s only human to wish the best for ourselves.
HOPE is the fuel to our inner engine. We cease existing when we stop hoping. I’m reminded of the phrase “walking corpse” HOPE is what prevents us from dying before our day. No one in their right minds can wish for the worst except when they consider themselves under qualified to live thus suicide becomes the easiest and quickest way to paradise where the opposite of their current situation is said to be a reality by the believers.
If I may go back to our old mzee, I can bet with anything that at some point in life, he was hoping to buy a vehicle and park it in the garage. I trust he does not stop hoping because God’s time is not our time. This is the beauty of hoping and trusting in God. A strong belief in most of the young people is that they reap the very best out of life. But do we all achieve the goals we wrote down as teenagers? Do we all beat the best academic record set by our predecessor? Do we all join that coveted high school, college or university? Do we all join the best corporate companies, earn the dreamt salaries or drive the posh sleek cars that make as the talk of the town? Do we all date the finest high school m’cita? Do we all live the celebrity lifestyle we once dreamed as teenagers? We don’t. Some do but some don’t. But should we cease practically repositioning ourselves to get the best out of life?
Some time ago in a staff bible study, I remember a minister of the word mentioning the same concept before serving us with drinks at his place. The teaching for the day was not even on hope. Nevertheless, he used an illustration that clearly points out to the topic of my concern; HOPE. How many of us walk with bottle top openers? This was his question. Leaving out details, I realized how such a simple habit shows what our expectations of the day are.
T.D Jakes in his book Repositioning Yourself argues for placing ourselves in a position fit for a life without limits. As much as we may hope and dream, he clearly advocates for taking action so that we maximize on our potential. As I write this article I am on page 56 and I can tell you I now understand the equation; hope/faith minus action= our death.
Stop just hoping that things work out. Stop hoping for the best in life. Stop that and ACT. Dreams are cool but its time you made that move that will convert your dreams into reality. Hope is good when we are doing something about it.
On the other hand, there are things we can’t do anything to change them. Actionless hope is allowed here. When in such a situation, say a prayer of invitation and ask God to take the driver’s seat. This is not to mean we call on God only when we are in need. It only means we have acknowledged our weakness and our inability to navigate our own way. When it gets here, you take the back left seat and leave the controls to the reliable driver; JESUS.
Don’t stop dreaming….don’t stop saying good of yourself. The tongue blesses or curses us……don’t stop hoping for the best out of life..…even as you pray and trust in His provision, NEVER STOP ACTING AND PLAYING YOUR PART.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
PHILOSOPHY 101
Good morning/afternoon/night (whatever time it is your eyes are going through today’s class notes) class. My name is Professor Pogrey Kiogothe and I will be taking you through this introductory Philosophy unit. Welcome to Introduction to philosophy 101. I believe you all decided to join this fundamental unit out of your own individual initiative and on that I congratulate you because as the Son of Man puts it, no one revealed to you the importance of the unit but the heavenly Father for the believers and for the rest I don’t know but all the same here you are, at home away from home.
Let me commence by saying that you aint philosophers because you have attended this lecture but rather by virtue of being a human being. I never did Philosophy in my undergraduate studies but all the same, here I am your philosophy professor.
I didn’t go through my notes for one reason or another but by my own definition, philosophy implies the study of the pursuit of truth, wisdom and knowledge. If I may refer to my earlier statement, we are all philosophers in different capacities because the pursuit of truth defines who we are; human beings with the ability to reason and make judgment based on our conclusions.
Still on my first objective of making sense of what philosophy is by definition, I will synonimise the word with our pursuit of the inner us, existence, our basic principles and beliefs, our core, what drives us. Philosophy according to me can be equated to our perspective of issues. That makes our philosophy. From such originates statements like “a school of thought, philosophies of life, the relativity of truth, differing perspectives”
My next objective will be to introduce the core of philosophy which is the term “relative” and in my case I call it relative relativity. This is a core phrase in philosophy. Still referring to a phrase earlier used, philosophies is a plural term because of the basic principle that distinguishes man from other living beings; the ability to reason and make choice thus the different perspectives to issues. With this at the back of our minds, another very core element is “discussions and arguments” What else can one expect from a plurality of capable minds with differing perspectives to issues? Arguments. Thus in our introduction today, I want to make it clear that different points of view on specific issues is healthy as long as the argument generated is sensical and tolerated by the parties involved because of reasons explained above. The rationale behind this is because of the warning advanced by the wise man Solomon in his writings that forbids arguments with the perceived fools.
Despite efforts to discourage a prospective philosophy student from taking this core unit, I still strongly deem it basic which tempts me to write to all the institutions of higher learning to reconsider and make it compulsory. The reason I say this is that as much as we pursue different courses at college level, some of the basic skills intended for the students could be traced to philosophy. For instance one of the early orientations I got before joining college was on the idea that no answer given on an essay question could be wrong. At that point, I did not know exactly comprehend what my early tutors meant. Later on It made more sense when I joined college. Essay and discussion questions set approve the fact that we all have our own different perspectives to issues thus we argue out questions based on our understanding of the issue at hand.
That reminds me of the exam guide books at high school level. There was one of the authors who took the burden of explaining the basic terms in exam setups. One of the obvious terms was ‘DISCUSS” In his explanation of this word, he considered it exigent to most students, he advised the young readers to watch out for the word. To make it short, a DISCUSSION sheds light on both sides.
Long ago when education and the study of knowledge was more important than the search for gold and oil mines, scholarly arguments were a common thing. As my college professor once put it, people literally travelled far and wide in pursuit of knowledge. Literal scholarly works were subject to arguments and discussions. Theories were approved and disapproved. Literal works were challenged and defended. Thus came the era of defense of thesis, dissertations and theories which are still the way of life in the corridors of knowledge. One did not just wake up one day and earn the respect of fellow scholars. You had to prove mental muscle before a panel. This makes sense of the doctor of philosophy; doctorate degree at the PhD level.
In the last bit of our class today we are going to sample some probable philosophical arguments. In my slight imaginations of how an undergraduate philosophy class would be like, I came across this school of thought that stood for the perspective that philosophy is for the liberal atheists, controversial people. The baseline behind this view was that philosophy questions the existence of a supreme being. This meant that those sitting these lectures should brace themselves for arguments such as “Prove that God exist!!!”
I am a believer in a Supreme God who created the universe thus if the paragraph above is factual then I would not have been a philosopher. What does that mean? Philosophy argues out issues and facts to prove their worth as universal facts. The last two words introduce my students to yet other key terms in philosophy. If I may ask, are their universal truths?
Let us go back to our introduction where we noted ability to reason as a key distinguishing characteristic between human beings and other living things. If I was to be asked to respond to the above phrase, I would base my argument on the bible which is my reference book as a Christian. I would then conclude it to be a universal fact but then I realize that not everyone shares in my perspective.
The ability to reason, to analyze and make best conclusive choices makes us uniquely more of human beings than mere animals. We all have different perspectives to issues. Does that mean we cease to be human when we cannot reason? You know better.
As a key phrase, universal truth has been subject to arguments not only in the philosophical or scholarly world but in the world in general. As a sample argumentative term, let’s use the principle “truth”. What is truth? In simple lay man terms, truth is the absence of deceit. As your professor, my stand on truth would have been neutral. At least that is how I am expected to present myself. But am I not part of the human race? Yes I am. That implies that I have my views on this term too which I won’t shy from sharing. Just to jog your mind, what is the difference between these two definitive phrases? “ Truth is the absence of falsehood” and “Truth is the total absence of falsehood” The first one gives room for the exposure of the components in the word truth; relativism while the second phrase is the ideal definition that tempt us to believe truth to be a universal principle.
As earlier seen, different perspectives to issues is the obvious situation in a world with plural minds. Picture this; boy A steals sugar from his mum’s kitchen and shares with boy B. Boy B is not aware that the sugar was stolen. Later, mum catches boy B licking the sugar and accuses him of being a thief. Boy B swears that he did not steal which is true. But the law considers beneficiaries of a stolen item equally predisposed to punishment. Cries of innocence by boy B is truth as far as he is concerned but the law says otherwise. Both have their own angles on the issue. Both are right in their own perspective.
Thus ignorance or lack of information disqualifies truth from being a universal truth. Same view points originating from presence of knowledge or right information would be the only ground under which truth is truth which in this case close to universalism. We all have our versions of truth on an issue. Does that make us all liars? Depending on the reference point, liars and truth Sayers can be separated. Reminds me of Galileo Galilei and the church in the early days. One camp had science as a reference point while the church had a theological reference point.
By the powers bestowed on me by the Blog University, I am tempted to present some of my own philosophical phrases such as positive impatience, positive negativity, perfect imperfections, contradicting contradictions etc etc. Just to shed some light on a number, positive negativity can be a situation of a good side realized from a perceived negative thing. Eg manure makes organic fertilizer. This means there is a positive side of a perceived negative thing. On the other hand, impatience can be a virtue if viewed from a different angle….i know she disagrees.
My dear student, looking at my watch, it’s about fifteen minutes to time and being the good students you are, I’ll spare some time for questions and answer session. Any queries?
:L;;./l;,kl;hjmiuhmiuhmiu?/// ????mn.hk u hkigt 8yu29 0i92i09i,0,8m t9p3 jkhu fyrdvx bcnvm ??????
Thank you for being attentive and for your active participation. As your weekend assignment, I would like you to argue this out;
As the adage goes, knowledge is power; one school of thought may argue that what you do not know cannot hurt while another camp can make reference to the book of John 8:32 in the Bible that advocates for knowledge of truth as a key to freedom or emancipation. But if we looked at it illustratively and site an example, we realize that knowledge or truth if not used constructively can be destructive. An example is the knowledge of our ethnic identities which may turn one into a stereotype of “we verse them” mental slavery. Such knowledge to children depending on how it was disseminated from parents may cage the youngsters in cocoons which instead of freeing them and enabling them relate well with people of other nations, tribe and race, turns others into ”them” Is epistemology and search for truth worth our time and can it be destructive? Argue for and against (30 Marks)
In conclusion; education makes us all philosophers in our own different capacities since it sharpens our ability to think critically and empowers us to make reasonable conclusions.
(Four years later at the graduation grounds; “ Now by the powers rested on me I allow you to go out there and reason. You may now drop your tassels on the left side of your caps.”
Let me commence by saying that you aint philosophers because you have attended this lecture but rather by virtue of being a human being. I never did Philosophy in my undergraduate studies but all the same, here I am your philosophy professor.
I didn’t go through my notes for one reason or another but by my own definition, philosophy implies the study of the pursuit of truth, wisdom and knowledge. If I may refer to my earlier statement, we are all philosophers in different capacities because the pursuit of truth defines who we are; human beings with the ability to reason and make judgment based on our conclusions.
Still on my first objective of making sense of what philosophy is by definition, I will synonimise the word with our pursuit of the inner us, existence, our basic principles and beliefs, our core, what drives us. Philosophy according to me can be equated to our perspective of issues. That makes our philosophy. From such originates statements like “a school of thought, philosophies of life, the relativity of truth, differing perspectives”
My next objective will be to introduce the core of philosophy which is the term “relative” and in my case I call it relative relativity. This is a core phrase in philosophy. Still referring to a phrase earlier used, philosophies is a plural term because of the basic principle that distinguishes man from other living beings; the ability to reason and make choice thus the different perspectives to issues. With this at the back of our minds, another very core element is “discussions and arguments” What else can one expect from a plurality of capable minds with differing perspectives to issues? Arguments. Thus in our introduction today, I want to make it clear that different points of view on specific issues is healthy as long as the argument generated is sensical and tolerated by the parties involved because of reasons explained above. The rationale behind this is because of the warning advanced by the wise man Solomon in his writings that forbids arguments with the perceived fools.
Despite efforts to discourage a prospective philosophy student from taking this core unit, I still strongly deem it basic which tempts me to write to all the institutions of higher learning to reconsider and make it compulsory. The reason I say this is that as much as we pursue different courses at college level, some of the basic skills intended for the students could be traced to philosophy. For instance one of the early orientations I got before joining college was on the idea that no answer given on an essay question could be wrong. At that point, I did not know exactly comprehend what my early tutors meant. Later on It made more sense when I joined college. Essay and discussion questions set approve the fact that we all have our own different perspectives to issues thus we argue out questions based on our understanding of the issue at hand.
That reminds me of the exam guide books at high school level. There was one of the authors who took the burden of explaining the basic terms in exam setups. One of the obvious terms was ‘DISCUSS” In his explanation of this word, he considered it exigent to most students, he advised the young readers to watch out for the word. To make it short, a DISCUSSION sheds light on both sides.
Long ago when education and the study of knowledge was more important than the search for gold and oil mines, scholarly arguments were a common thing. As my college professor once put it, people literally travelled far and wide in pursuit of knowledge. Literal scholarly works were subject to arguments and discussions. Theories were approved and disapproved. Literal works were challenged and defended. Thus came the era of defense of thesis, dissertations and theories which are still the way of life in the corridors of knowledge. One did not just wake up one day and earn the respect of fellow scholars. You had to prove mental muscle before a panel. This makes sense of the doctor of philosophy; doctorate degree at the PhD level.
In the last bit of our class today we are going to sample some probable philosophical arguments. In my slight imaginations of how an undergraduate philosophy class would be like, I came across this school of thought that stood for the perspective that philosophy is for the liberal atheists, controversial people. The baseline behind this view was that philosophy questions the existence of a supreme being. This meant that those sitting these lectures should brace themselves for arguments such as “Prove that God exist!!!”
I am a believer in a Supreme God who created the universe thus if the paragraph above is factual then I would not have been a philosopher. What does that mean? Philosophy argues out issues and facts to prove their worth as universal facts. The last two words introduce my students to yet other key terms in philosophy. If I may ask, are their universal truths?
Let us go back to our introduction where we noted ability to reason as a key distinguishing characteristic between human beings and other living things. If I was to be asked to respond to the above phrase, I would base my argument on the bible which is my reference book as a Christian. I would then conclude it to be a universal fact but then I realize that not everyone shares in my perspective.
The ability to reason, to analyze and make best conclusive choices makes us uniquely more of human beings than mere animals. We all have different perspectives to issues. Does that mean we cease to be human when we cannot reason? You know better.
As a key phrase, universal truth has been subject to arguments not only in the philosophical or scholarly world but in the world in general. As a sample argumentative term, let’s use the principle “truth”. What is truth? In simple lay man terms, truth is the absence of deceit. As your professor, my stand on truth would have been neutral. At least that is how I am expected to present myself. But am I not part of the human race? Yes I am. That implies that I have my views on this term too which I won’t shy from sharing. Just to jog your mind, what is the difference between these two definitive phrases? “ Truth is the absence of falsehood” and “Truth is the total absence of falsehood” The first one gives room for the exposure of the components in the word truth; relativism while the second phrase is the ideal definition that tempt us to believe truth to be a universal principle.
As earlier seen, different perspectives to issues is the obvious situation in a world with plural minds. Picture this; boy A steals sugar from his mum’s kitchen and shares with boy B. Boy B is not aware that the sugar was stolen. Later, mum catches boy B licking the sugar and accuses him of being a thief. Boy B swears that he did not steal which is true. But the law considers beneficiaries of a stolen item equally predisposed to punishment. Cries of innocence by boy B is truth as far as he is concerned but the law says otherwise. Both have their own angles on the issue. Both are right in their own perspective.
Thus ignorance or lack of information disqualifies truth from being a universal truth. Same view points originating from presence of knowledge or right information would be the only ground under which truth is truth which in this case close to universalism. We all have our versions of truth on an issue. Does that make us all liars? Depending on the reference point, liars and truth Sayers can be separated. Reminds me of Galileo Galilei and the church in the early days. One camp had science as a reference point while the church had a theological reference point.
By the powers bestowed on me by the Blog University, I am tempted to present some of my own philosophical phrases such as positive impatience, positive negativity, perfect imperfections, contradicting contradictions etc etc. Just to shed some light on a number, positive negativity can be a situation of a good side realized from a perceived negative thing. Eg manure makes organic fertilizer. This means there is a positive side of a perceived negative thing. On the other hand, impatience can be a virtue if viewed from a different angle….i know she disagrees.
My dear student, looking at my watch, it’s about fifteen minutes to time and being the good students you are, I’ll spare some time for questions and answer session. Any queries?
:L;;./l;,kl;hjmiuhmiuhmiu?/// ????mn.hk u hkigt 8yu29 0i92i09i,0,8m t9p3 jkhu fyrdvx bcnvm ??????
Thank you for being attentive and for your active participation. As your weekend assignment, I would like you to argue this out;
As the adage goes, knowledge is power; one school of thought may argue that what you do not know cannot hurt while another camp can make reference to the book of John 8:32 in the Bible that advocates for knowledge of truth as a key to freedom or emancipation. But if we looked at it illustratively and site an example, we realize that knowledge or truth if not used constructively can be destructive. An example is the knowledge of our ethnic identities which may turn one into a stereotype of “we verse them” mental slavery. Such knowledge to children depending on how it was disseminated from parents may cage the youngsters in cocoons which instead of freeing them and enabling them relate well with people of other nations, tribe and race, turns others into ”them” Is epistemology and search for truth worth our time and can it be destructive? Argue for and against (30 Marks)
In conclusion; education makes us all philosophers in our own different capacities since it sharpens our ability to think critically and empowers us to make reasonable conclusions.
(Four years later at the graduation grounds; “ Now by the powers rested on me I allow you to go out there and reason. You may now drop your tassels on the left side of your caps.”
Friday, November 19, 2010
TRAVELER'S MIND
"Daddy,,mummy, I wanna be a....when I grow up....." I am sure we are all familiar with this phrase cause at some point or another we were wanna be this, wanna be thats. Its the norm in any ones life to look ahead of time and to imagine what life has in store for us.
I don't know exactly what you wanted to be neither do I remember for certain what my mind was up to at the very early stages of my life.
Life events can be equated with a traveler's mind with every character that comes out of the nine month hide out acting as a traveler. The journey commences and with or without our knowledge, we start emancipating the excitement and thrill that lies ahead but lack the slightest clue of what exactly it is. It then becomes trial and error cause we face all sorts of environments, nurturing and counsel, ideas that compete to shape who we are in one way or another. In the course of our living, we interact with our master source of our identity as we search for temporary and permanent stops along the way. Its a journey where by the master decides when we stop and for how long.
One influential organ that determines who we really are is the mind. Last week on 10th November, I traveled to Nairobi from Mbale Uganda. I aint going to write in detail about the entire trip in terms of what I saw or experienced along the way to Nairobi. But for the travel maniacs, I might as well say in summary that the journey was fabulous. Uganda being a great land fascinated my eyes which were glued steadily outside the window for a big part of the trip. So did the land of all beauty, my motherland Kenya.
I happened to have landed the cherished any traveler's sitting position; next to the window just behind the front seats. This means I was guaranteed of all the exciting scenarios along the way from my favorite Wanale hill as you leave Mbale to the Tororo landmark hill. It was a breath taking view owing to the fact that I did not have any obstruction from my sitting point. To cap it all, sleep not being my number one friend during the day, I was hyper alert. The cool blowing fresh wind was swiftly finding its way into my nostrils heading for the lungs through the slightly opened window. Serenity was at least a part of me for long and I was enjoying an environment completely opposite to the one I am used to. Unlike the urban setting where hooting motorcycles, cars and lorries was the norm, this one was characterized by a monotonous roaring engine acting as a lullaby, soothing Benga tunes (as she calls them) from the stereo and the spacious view outside the grand bus. The driver who was an old mzee must have been a mind reader. I am not a follower of yoga though I greatly respect the practice but this was an opportunity worth giving it a shot. I was on a journey to paradise, one would think from my narration.
I was enjoying a momentary near heavenly bliss and my mind was at peace. My eyes were BUSY SPOTTING NOTHING in particular. It was a state of peacefully relaxed body verses a preoccupied optical sense and generally busy mind.
The last paragraph completely explains the title of my article; TRAVELER'S MIND. I can as well stop here because I have met a writer's number one objecting of making sense of his title to the reader. But then my conscience will never forgive me and my itchy fingers will be held to account by the supreme commander of the me; my mind. Mr brain dictates.
As my mind meandered with the direction the Uganda Roads Authority board dictated, I found myself thinking and trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I believe we have all been in a fast moving vehicle because we are in the 21st century where donkeys have had a chance to rest for a while with the coming of faster automobiles. At least that one I am sure because speaking as an African, we want to reach to our destinations faster though no one wants to be by the bus station on time. Furthermore, the faster the driver spins the wheels, the higher the chances of his children making it to college in this economic times. This also means the corrupt traffic officer will have something to take to his/her demanding boss.
With an almost flying automotive, the traveler's eyes normally have a hard time noting things close to it in detail. Everything seems to fly backwards at an alarming speed. That is a normal thing which I would have explained in detailed and sensibly if I had made it to the American Wing as the founders of this college at the University of Nairobi decided to name it. You will have to understand it in my artistic perspective because the Joint Admission Board(JAB) decided to sharpen my artistic skills at the college of humanities and social sciences at the expense of the scientist in me. At this point, a good reader should have sensed and thanked the gods that he/she is already ahead of me in the flow of my narrative events.
This state of mental relaxation and partial activity thus acted as the centre of my comparison between the way we grow up wanting this and that some of which we cant access. As I stared outside the window, a number of things were running through my mind as my eyes were not idle either. From my sitting position, people, vehicles, trees, buildings, unploughed farms were some of the sights that caught my attention.
The mind is so powerful. It has unlimited potential. There are so many ideas crisscrossing our minds that prove our potential. Some come as ideas which take time to mature. Others come as flashes which we rarely even grasp. As these objects passed the traveler, some could be identified but some could not. What fascinated me is that items or objects from a far off distance were clearly identified. I likened this to things that take time to mature in our minds and end up defining who we are. These could be the clear ideas which pop up and are build on with time thus giving us an identity. On the other hand, the unidentifiable close objects were to me the daily ideas that pop up but are never emphasized or built on. Its like the idea that comes to you;" I think I can sing" but with time you realize a croaking frog is in a better position to lure a child to sleep than you.
Early in life, I thought I would be a doctor. Not that this was my dream career. It was what every other kid at least wanted to be when they came of age. This was more so emphasized by the little priviledge of acting the family doctor when my parents were away. Coming from a BIG family, my parents had entrusted me with the key to the pain killers cabinet. Thus I could prescribe the basic dose for a head ache, cough and a bruised knee. That was a young lad whose environment wanted a doctor our of him.
But was I at my end? No. I was only beginning the traveler's mind safaris. Am I a doctor now, NO. The journey had just started.
We all have our own stories to tell. A good majority of us are not doing what they had thought they will ever be doing. Some had been into courses they never practiced latter in life. Some joined careers to please their parents. Life is a journey we travel trying to find who we really are and what we were meant to be. Our purpose. Our destiny. Our mind is our guide. We think of so many ideas which only serves to guide our search but does not necessarily guarantee our destiny. After all life is one long journey. Others landed job offers totally opposite what they studied for and this became their life. They found themselves. Their found destiny accidentally.
At the teenage and the early adult hood stage of life, the mind does not go to sleep. Music, theatre and performing arts excite us. We aspire to perform physical wonders and be the greatest athletes. Although the likes of Maurice Green, Marion Jones, Paul Tergat, Rudisha, Jelimo, Lebron James, among others made it in this industry and some how found a worth while stop, others have to move on. Some opt for music. These get carried away by rock bands, the likes of Linkin Park. Reggae fans like me loved and still love Bob Marley, while the benga fans like Ole fall for the DRC land. Hip hop and RnB does not spare others. Tupac, DMX, Scarface, Nas, T.I become our icons at some point in life. Soul, classical and the Hollywood movie idols; Brad Pit, Denzel, the Angelinas pull us making us think we are the next big thing in the celebrity world.This is normal at that point in life. After all we are only traveling as we are a traveler's mind.
Then enter Daddy, Mummy and their lecturers before the real college lectures. " Son, I want you to be this and that" " Honey I want you to be a doctor/nurse/teacher/social worker/ lawyer name it,,, because of this and that" We might do as they say but then we have our own minds which latter catches up with us. You will run but eventually your destiny is catches up with you. It might take forever, some unnecessary stops as you travel the road. Keep traveling.
I am not writing my autobiography because I am yet to make an impact in this big world. Did I get it wrong? I don't know. I thought only the big, the great and the mighty who have seen and conquered, been there done it and have testimonies to share with the world write their life stories. I could be wrong because a young ambitious man walked into GNPI Mbale studios the other day with an intention of putting his life story in the limelight through media. So I can as well go ahead and talk about my journey trying to find myself.
Just to save you the positive pain of laughing to the tales of another interesting Muturi life travels in search of a ME, God helped me make it to college where I did arts. It has been a long journey. Many interesting stops came my way. Mark you I never planned to take Arts in college though I latter realized this is the best stop I could have ever made. But that's me. You have your own journey. This was one of the best experiences in my journey. My brief four year stop is coming to an end and on 3rd Dec, I will be taking what God has enabled me achieve. I don't have any regrets whatsoever and it clearly appears to me that it was a worth stopover.
In case you have forgotten, I am still a traveler. My mind is still busy looking around for the next thing to do. I fancy sitting by the bus stop cause that is where I belong. My favourite book is in my hand. I have already said my prayers. God knows where I am headed next. I am sure when the time is right, the next bus that comes to a halt will be the one to take me there and just in case you have forgotten, I AM A TRAVELER.
After all life is one big journey where we travel blindly with the mind serving as a walking stick.
Dear traveler, you have just boarded Mind Airways flight number....Welcome aboard. Its the traveler's mind.
I don't know exactly what you wanted to be neither do I remember for certain what my mind was up to at the very early stages of my life.
Life events can be equated with a traveler's mind with every character that comes out of the nine month hide out acting as a traveler. The journey commences and with or without our knowledge, we start emancipating the excitement and thrill that lies ahead but lack the slightest clue of what exactly it is. It then becomes trial and error cause we face all sorts of environments, nurturing and counsel, ideas that compete to shape who we are in one way or another. In the course of our living, we interact with our master source of our identity as we search for temporary and permanent stops along the way. Its a journey where by the master decides when we stop and for how long.
One influential organ that determines who we really are is the mind. Last week on 10th November, I traveled to Nairobi from Mbale Uganda. I aint going to write in detail about the entire trip in terms of what I saw or experienced along the way to Nairobi. But for the travel maniacs, I might as well say in summary that the journey was fabulous. Uganda being a great land fascinated my eyes which were glued steadily outside the window for a big part of the trip. So did the land of all beauty, my motherland Kenya.
I happened to have landed the cherished any traveler's sitting position; next to the window just behind the front seats. This means I was guaranteed of all the exciting scenarios along the way from my favorite Wanale hill as you leave Mbale to the Tororo landmark hill. It was a breath taking view owing to the fact that I did not have any obstruction from my sitting point. To cap it all, sleep not being my number one friend during the day, I was hyper alert. The cool blowing fresh wind was swiftly finding its way into my nostrils heading for the lungs through the slightly opened window. Serenity was at least a part of me for long and I was enjoying an environment completely opposite to the one I am used to. Unlike the urban setting where hooting motorcycles, cars and lorries was the norm, this one was characterized by a monotonous roaring engine acting as a lullaby, soothing Benga tunes (as she calls them) from the stereo and the spacious view outside the grand bus. The driver who was an old mzee must have been a mind reader. I am not a follower of yoga though I greatly respect the practice but this was an opportunity worth giving it a shot. I was on a journey to paradise, one would think from my narration.
I was enjoying a momentary near heavenly bliss and my mind was at peace. My eyes were BUSY SPOTTING NOTHING in particular. It was a state of peacefully relaxed body verses a preoccupied optical sense and generally busy mind.
The last paragraph completely explains the title of my article; TRAVELER'S MIND. I can as well stop here because I have met a writer's number one objecting of making sense of his title to the reader. But then my conscience will never forgive me and my itchy fingers will be held to account by the supreme commander of the me; my mind. Mr brain dictates.
As my mind meandered with the direction the Uganda Roads Authority board dictated, I found myself thinking and trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I believe we have all been in a fast moving vehicle because we are in the 21st century where donkeys have had a chance to rest for a while with the coming of faster automobiles. At least that one I am sure because speaking as an African, we want to reach to our destinations faster though no one wants to be by the bus station on time. Furthermore, the faster the driver spins the wheels, the higher the chances of his children making it to college in this economic times. This also means the corrupt traffic officer will have something to take to his/her demanding boss.
With an almost flying automotive, the traveler's eyes normally have a hard time noting things close to it in detail. Everything seems to fly backwards at an alarming speed. That is a normal thing which I would have explained in detailed and sensibly if I had made it to the American Wing as the founders of this college at the University of Nairobi decided to name it. You will have to understand it in my artistic perspective because the Joint Admission Board(JAB) decided to sharpen my artistic skills at the college of humanities and social sciences at the expense of the scientist in me. At this point, a good reader should have sensed and thanked the gods that he/she is already ahead of me in the flow of my narrative events.
This state of mental relaxation and partial activity thus acted as the centre of my comparison between the way we grow up wanting this and that some of which we cant access. As I stared outside the window, a number of things were running through my mind as my eyes were not idle either. From my sitting position, people, vehicles, trees, buildings, unploughed farms were some of the sights that caught my attention.
The mind is so powerful. It has unlimited potential. There are so many ideas crisscrossing our minds that prove our potential. Some come as ideas which take time to mature. Others come as flashes which we rarely even grasp. As these objects passed the traveler, some could be identified but some could not. What fascinated me is that items or objects from a far off distance were clearly identified. I likened this to things that take time to mature in our minds and end up defining who we are. These could be the clear ideas which pop up and are build on with time thus giving us an identity. On the other hand, the unidentifiable close objects were to me the daily ideas that pop up but are never emphasized or built on. Its like the idea that comes to you;" I think I can sing" but with time you realize a croaking frog is in a better position to lure a child to sleep than you.
Early in life, I thought I would be a doctor. Not that this was my dream career. It was what every other kid at least wanted to be when they came of age. This was more so emphasized by the little priviledge of acting the family doctor when my parents were away. Coming from a BIG family, my parents had entrusted me with the key to the pain killers cabinet. Thus I could prescribe the basic dose for a head ache, cough and a bruised knee. That was a young lad whose environment wanted a doctor our of him.
But was I at my end? No. I was only beginning the traveler's mind safaris. Am I a doctor now, NO. The journey had just started.
We all have our own stories to tell. A good majority of us are not doing what they had thought they will ever be doing. Some had been into courses they never practiced latter in life. Some joined careers to please their parents. Life is a journey we travel trying to find who we really are and what we were meant to be. Our purpose. Our destiny. Our mind is our guide. We think of so many ideas which only serves to guide our search but does not necessarily guarantee our destiny. After all life is one long journey. Others landed job offers totally opposite what they studied for and this became their life. They found themselves. Their found destiny accidentally.
At the teenage and the early adult hood stage of life, the mind does not go to sleep. Music, theatre and performing arts excite us. We aspire to perform physical wonders and be the greatest athletes. Although the likes of Maurice Green, Marion Jones, Paul Tergat, Rudisha, Jelimo, Lebron James, among others made it in this industry and some how found a worth while stop, others have to move on. Some opt for music. These get carried away by rock bands, the likes of Linkin Park. Reggae fans like me loved and still love Bob Marley, while the benga fans like Ole fall for the DRC land. Hip hop and RnB does not spare others. Tupac, DMX, Scarface, Nas, T.I become our icons at some point in life. Soul, classical and the Hollywood movie idols; Brad Pit, Denzel, the Angelinas pull us making us think we are the next big thing in the celebrity world.This is normal at that point in life. After all we are only traveling as we are a traveler's mind.
Then enter Daddy, Mummy and their lecturers before the real college lectures. " Son, I want you to be this and that" " Honey I want you to be a doctor/nurse/teacher/social worker/ lawyer name it,,, because of this and that" We might do as they say but then we have our own minds which latter catches up with us. You will run but eventually your destiny is catches up with you. It might take forever, some unnecessary stops as you travel the road. Keep traveling.
I am not writing my autobiography because I am yet to make an impact in this big world. Did I get it wrong? I don't know. I thought only the big, the great and the mighty who have seen and conquered, been there done it and have testimonies to share with the world write their life stories. I could be wrong because a young ambitious man walked into GNPI Mbale studios the other day with an intention of putting his life story in the limelight through media. So I can as well go ahead and talk about my journey trying to find myself.
Just to save you the positive pain of laughing to the tales of another interesting Muturi life travels in search of a ME, God helped me make it to college where I did arts. It has been a long journey. Many interesting stops came my way. Mark you I never planned to take Arts in college though I latter realized this is the best stop I could have ever made. But that's me. You have your own journey. This was one of the best experiences in my journey. My brief four year stop is coming to an end and on 3rd Dec, I will be taking what God has enabled me achieve. I don't have any regrets whatsoever and it clearly appears to me that it was a worth stopover.
In case you have forgotten, I am still a traveler. My mind is still busy looking around for the next thing to do. I fancy sitting by the bus stop cause that is where I belong. My favourite book is in my hand. I have already said my prayers. God knows where I am headed next. I am sure when the time is right, the next bus that comes to a halt will be the one to take me there and just in case you have forgotten, I AM A TRAVELER.
After all life is one big journey where we travel blindly with the mind serving as a walking stick.
Dear traveler, you have just boarded Mind Airways flight number....Welcome aboard. Its the traveler's mind.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
WHICH GOD?
The word God has been equated by the majority of human beings, Christians in my case to a singular being who is either the sole, one and only deity in monotheism. God is most often conceived of as the supernatural creator of the heavens and earth, the creator of both the living and the unliving.
The other day, i heard my brother spelling our his dreams and aspiration for life. What left me smiling is his emphasis of which God He was talking about. Not that i even asked him or that he read my mind. No. He just said.." I pray that the God who made the heavens and Earth may answer the desires of my heart" Not that i am praising him or making him seem the best of Christians. No. This just left me wondering how many times people call on god who may not necessarily be the Supreme.
In various contexts, the use of the word may not necessarily mean the God you think of as a Christian. This is especially so owing to the inability to pronounce a capital letter different from a small letter. What does this mean to me as an individual? One can say " Praise God" but mean " Praise god" I am certain that the two phrases sound more of the same if said unconsciously without emphasizing one more than the other.
The word is used by nearly every religious gathering to mean some deity believed to be their head.
What interests me is the knowledge that our words alone cannot take us to Heaven. The bible says not everyone who calls my name will inherit the kingdom. Thus christians are known by the kind of fruits they produce.
Yes we are saved by the grace of God and i also agree that not by our might or actions do we redeem ourselves but by confessing that Jesus is Lord and Saviour, Son of the Living God and the atonement for our sins.
I thank God because its like He knew how the word "God" may be misused thus He sends His son Jesus to be our way to the father.
I have heard of testimonies of people who have joined churches, religious groups and gatherings thinking that these were the true Godly groupings only to be surprised when called upon to sacrifice their loved ones or partake in some weird rituals. Their are millions of religious faiths with not so clear beliefs, rituals, doctrines but still they claim to be followers of the one "God/god"
Test the fruits before its too late. The bible is the sieve through which we know truth which sets us free.
The other day, i heard my brother spelling our his dreams and aspiration for life. What left me smiling is his emphasis of which God He was talking about. Not that i even asked him or that he read my mind. No. He just said.." I pray that the God who made the heavens and Earth may answer the desires of my heart" Not that i am praising him or making him seem the best of Christians. No. This just left me wondering how many times people call on god who may not necessarily be the Supreme.
In various contexts, the use of the word may not necessarily mean the God you think of as a Christian. This is especially so owing to the inability to pronounce a capital letter different from a small letter. What does this mean to me as an individual? One can say " Praise God" but mean " Praise god" I am certain that the two phrases sound more of the same if said unconsciously without emphasizing one more than the other.
The word is used by nearly every religious gathering to mean some deity believed to be their head.
What interests me is the knowledge that our words alone cannot take us to Heaven. The bible says not everyone who calls my name will inherit the kingdom. Thus christians are known by the kind of fruits they produce.
Yes we are saved by the grace of God and i also agree that not by our might or actions do we redeem ourselves but by confessing that Jesus is Lord and Saviour, Son of the Living God and the atonement for our sins.
I thank God because its like He knew how the word "God" may be misused thus He sends His son Jesus to be our way to the father.
I have heard of testimonies of people who have joined churches, religious groups and gatherings thinking that these were the true Godly groupings only to be surprised when called upon to sacrifice their loved ones or partake in some weird rituals. Their are millions of religious faiths with not so clear beliefs, rituals, doctrines but still they claim to be followers of the one "God/god"
Test the fruits before its too late. The bible is the sieve through which we know truth which sets us free.
Friday, November 5, 2010
FAITH, TRUST AND MIRACLES
Disclaimer; this is not a sermon but an article inspired by an incident that happened lately. Not that my trust or faith can move mountains but I picked my lost item (sim card/line) from a busy road somewhere I did not expect weeks after it had got lost. That to me was an odd event which latter I classified as a miracle. Although I trust God to do wonders as He has always done, the incident got me thinking. Others may call that fate or coincidence but I attributed it to God.
I have been planning to write on faith/trust for quite some time. I did have the skeleton but for some time the flesh was missing until recently. Some incidences that happen in our lives offer an excellent platform to communicate and hear from God. This only happens when we are open in the inside to hearing His somehow faint voice that can be heard by only a few.
I don’t expect it to be easy hearing God’s faint voice when our life is bombarded by all sorts of hustles, struggles, trials, hardships, sounds, voices, sites and echoes. But even in such environments, God still talks to us in various ways when we get out of, beat or grow above our hustles and meditate. This explains why the ancient prophets and gurus would leave the society and exclude themselves in search of the divine voice. It is faint. God does not stand on the tallest building in town and talk loudly to us. He whispers.
Miracles are all over for those who see them. God speaks to us more often than we can imagine. The question is do we understand His language?
I have not been very sure on whether to tackle my article from the faith point of view or the trust perspective. The two have been close to synonyms as far as I am concerned. But then I realize that wisdom demands that we bite what we can chew which means I must narrow down to manageable quantities. I still want to go against the grains and force faith and trust to be twin brothers and for the gender sensitive reader, twin sisters from the same mother. I again want to link them to miracles. One may be asking how Faith, Trust and Miracles are related.
What is faith and what is trust anyway? While in high school, one of my friends would encourage me after sitting a tough exam paper that faith is putting all your eggs (read- answer booklets) in God’s basket and counting the blessings (read A’s) before they hatch (read- before they are marked) The little understanding I had then of the word was that faith implied total surrender of my fate to a powerful being who would make things work out.
I can’t tell if I was wrong in my belief then but I can attest that miracles did happen when the going was tougher than I could manage. I remember relatively “good” grades coming from nowhere. Was that faith moving mountains or was I just being optimistic and hoping for the best which pulled the grades my way? The latter might not be true cause we all hope for the best though not everyone have their hopes actualizing or materialize. I at the same time don’t imply that I am a modern day father of faith. All the same, I strongly believe God sends a miracle once in a while with a precondition that we first trust His ability to pull one from the blues.
Trust on the other hand connotes a transparent communication as a foundation for building relationships. A sense of safety and a comfort is present in the interpersonal interaction. Trust is sufficient in God –Man vertical relationship. Man trusts God to cater for his needs and ensure all is well. Trust means I delegate everything to you because I know you are better placed to handle things my way than another I do not trust.
My next assignment will be to define a miracle. Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy defines a miracle (from the Latin mirari, to wonder), an event that is not explicable by natural causes alone. It can also be something beyond the reach of human action and natural causes. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature.
First, we might be forced to examine the ingredients behind the occurrence of a miracle. One of these is the magician or miracle performer. The second component is the recipient or beneficiary of the miracle. Another important thing to note in our analysis is the relationship between the two. You will realize that the two have a vertical relation. This in simple terms is that one is above the other. The magician is considered more powerful and the recipient looks up to him/her for wonders he himself/herself cannot do or perform. Thus their relation is somehow trust oriented. One is powerful and can do what the other cannot. The weaker party surrenders to the one thought to be sturdy.
How does the miracle occur? This is my assumption; In the secular setting, one may be forced to pay for the miracle thus on his part, the magician responds appropriately. On the other hand, God responds to those who trust in his ability to do the unexpected. This in relative terms, prayer, faith and trust acts as the currency for a miracle to come ones way. ie to the believer.
Up to that point, it’s clear beyond doubt that miracles thrive in an environment where trust (read faith/ belief) and ability are present. This is the case both in the secular and religious world. The only difference is the level of trust and the ability of the powerful character to perform wonders.
Biblically speaking the writer of the book of Hebrews dedicates the 11th chapter to covering this topic of FAITH. This shows how important faith is. The chapter celebrates the great men of faith. In the introductory verse, faith is defined as knowing something to be real even if we don’t see it. It is a belief that the world was created by a Supreme omnipotent God and thus hoping for solutions from this powerful being.
These great men mentioned in the chapter did the unexpected. They knew the secret to pleasing God; Faith. Abraham left his home in Haran and headed for the unknown where the Lord was leading him. Even in old age, Abraham believed in God’s promise of a son. Abraham was 100 years while his wife Sarah was 90 years, way past menopause in “civilized” modern man’s terms. I just imagine such a promise in modern times.
Faith means we are ready to trust the unknown future to a known God. It’s like going out on a journey whose destiny is uncertain but the traveler has a strong confidence in the guide, the compass, the atlas and the map. These tools in our journey with God equates faith.
Imagine the extent of trust people have for fellow mortals like magicians, witchdoctors or practicing trained doctors. It best suite me to ask my reader; How powerful is your magician aka miracle worker. What level of trust do you bestow him? What are your reasons for the kind of trust, belief or faith in your miracle worker?
The writer of this article is a Christian but I can’t measure the level of my trust in God. I don’t know for real if God considers me a traveler in the already trodden ways of trust by the greats like Abraham. As much as I claim to be a Christian, I am subject to failure when it comes to trusting God.
Being the critic you are, I am expecting questions such as “Now that life to many is an obvious miracle, does it really require faith or trust in God?” I believe many people regardless of their religious inclination believe in some powerful being beyond them. The names can differ but there could be a similarity in the beliefs narrowing down to the same God. But this is my assumption. That’s one angle of looking at it. The other approach is that God is a just and fair God. Unlike human beings, He wants everyone to have a feel of His powers. Human beings charge for the little wonders they perform some of which are possible via twisted means. But God loves us all and wants us to benefit from His overflowing free grace thus life is given to all. To live is by grace. There is nothing we contribute towards our being alive. Life thus in itself is a free miracle for all.
Life as many will agree has many challenges. It can be a bumpy ride as well as a load. All the same, miracles are expected. We struggle and do everything we can but sometimes things just don’t work out. Especially in modern economic times, depression, stress, despair prompting suicide as the easy escape route is “normal” to many people. But does that mean life has to stop? We don’t stop the hustle just because one door has closed. When you reach the end of the rope, tie a knot and hang on there. Note: The event leading to this article happened exactly after all means of trying to get the mobile phone line back had been exhausted. I learnt that God finds us at our points of total surrender. We push on both in actions and in faith which we do knowingly or unknowingly.
One of my all time favourite quotes is that hope is the only common good to all people. We may not be religious parse but still we expect a solution to come by in the long run. Our rewards come when our relation with God entails trust and we have faith in His ability to do the odds. To a religious man, this is a miracle if we were at the end of the rope.
One Congolese gospel musician and pastor gives an illustration in his song of children playing that excites my desire to learn to trust God. One child is thrown up by the others and held before falling. That is an amazing display of trust in each other by children in their play. Parents also throw their children up and hold them as they come down. Have you wondered why the infant smiles even when this can lead to death if the infant drops. Do you think the little one does not fear heights or know the dangers involved? It does know. But it TRUSTS that all will be well since DADDY or MUMMY is in charge.
Trust is that important. With total surrender of our lives, fate, issues, problems, hustles and unknown future to a known God, the unexpected happens. He leads us to greener pastures and cool waters even when our environment is harsher than a desert.
That’s a miracle right there; a product of letting go of the steering wheel, sitting back and taking a chill mode knowing all is well. That is the beauty of TRUSTING GOD.
Friday, October 29, 2010
BY THE RIVER / A DAUGHTER OF THE MOON
In accordance with my community’s expectations, by the river I would sit after a long day's work herding my father’s animals. The cattle is sacred to our people. We believe that of all the communities in our small world, God Enkai made the cattle specifically for us. There is a very special bond between a Mansun man and his cattle. Thus taking care of my father’s herd of cattle is something I’ve always cherished just like any other Mansun young man. Part of the reason for this is because of the inheritance factor among other important societal rites which calls for slaughtering of large number of cattle during such events like the men’s initiation. Thus every young man for the two above reasons would protect his father’s herd with his own life if it gets to that extent.
As earlier briefly introduced, Mansun community like any other African community has specific roles for the different groups of people. Part of the reason I sat by the river during this hot afternoon was to water my father’s cattle as this was part of my duties as a Mansun young man.
Just to give you the bigger picture as to why the River Suwa qualifies as my plot for the narration, this water body according to our people is the source of life. It is argued that from this river our great grand parent, the father of the Mansun people emerged. Legend has it that the first Mansun man emerged from these waters with his wife and a herd of cattle. From then on, the story has been told and retold to many generations . This thus made the river be called the mother or source of life. It sounds more of a myth to a mind that has accessed civilization but not to the Mansun people. This is our version of the creation story as the Genesis is to the Jews and Christians.
Its relevance as a source of life over the years is also emphasized by the fact that the community depends entirely on it as a source of livelihood. We water our animals at the legendary river and our people come for washing and bathing at the different points of the river along the valley. More important, our women come for cooking and drinking water from the same rive. Yes, our young ladies too came to the river for water to take to their mothers back at home.
Thus, this river is the centre of Mansun people’s daily life. It is so significant that our people say failing to come into contact with it in one day was like missing out on oxygen. A story is told of a young man who drowned in the river for talking ill of it. River Suwa is our sacred Shrine because our god’s live in the deepest point of the river and its from there that they created man and our cattle.
Until after my initiation followed by the frequent visits with the young men to the river Suwa to water the cattle, watching and teasing the young ladies coming for water with their pots, I didn’t get why my grandfather used to call my late grandmother “My Suwa of Life”
Life for any Mansun family starts by river Suwa when the young people meet in the course of performing their different culturally gender prescribed roles. This is when they have undergone initiation and are allowed to freely interact with their counterparts of the opposite sex. This is followed by the traditional strict courting supervised by the uncles and the aunts not excluding the grand parents whose constant counseling is key for marital preparation. After a guy had identified a suitable lady, he would introduce her to his uncles whose role was to do thorough investigation into the lady’s family back ground. This was not necessarily done with the lady’s awareness. She would be left out of this until the young man’s side was certain of her suitability.
I had already had my share of the famous boy-grandfather man talk with my old boy, my grandie. In addition to this, my father had not been left out. From these lengthy talks, I was confused at some point as to who was in need of this “water of life” as he liked putting it. With his constant prodding, I developed this habit of taking longer than usual watching as I grazed my father's herd by the river. Not that knew what this stay longer by the river advice was all about.
Grand Pa insisted on this adage that the grass is greener by the rivers. As far as I am concerned, I don't think this was or is the only place where grass grows greener. I have my own eyes and trust me, I can see far and wide. I've been in the business of feeding these animals since I was five years old thus I know where the grass is greener. I am also familiar with the colours. I can differentiate blue from green, orange from red and so on. I have in fact crammed the colours of the rainbow. Despite the fact that I consider my wisdom reliable enough as far as judgment is concerned, the old men's words make me doubt my judgment. "Son, I know you have come of age and I believe you know what is good for yourself but it does not hurt following the wisdom of those who have been there before you. Ever since your great grand mother begot me some hundred and something year's ago, I have never heard of anyone dying because they opened their ears to word's of wisdom. If an old experienced sailor points out to you the deepest parts of a sea, will you doubt him?" he asked after a long monotonous conversation. "I wont doubt grand pa" i replied absent minded. Its latter on that I came to know who the experienced sailor was and his been there stories.
Grand pa had a habit of following his lectures with saying which he never explained. Thus I had to derive meaning from his long never ending talks. Grand pa like any other wise and respected member of our community lived by his words. He believed that the most nutritious and greener pastures were by the riverside. This thus offered the basis for my thoughtful evenings watching the young ladies and trying to question the old man's reference to grand mother as his "Suwa of life"
This habit of grazing the animals and taking them to river Suwa long before the other young men and leaving late went on until one this feminine character emerged.
This is not to mean that she was the first i had seen. Our mothers have brought up many beautiful daughters. I had always seen, met and talked to some of the finest feminine creatures that came with my visits by the river.
This time round, there was something about this one character that was above normal. I was seated under an acacia tree staring into the distance. Nothing of interest was visible and my mind was wondering off into the horizon. I was almost dozing off due to the effect of a warm evening breeze and the comfort and serenity offered by the acacia shade. Some of the animals were peacefully regurgitating the day's cud.
Ole is the daughter of the moon. Surely as far as i am concerned, the beauty that struck me was way beyond the normal. I can clearly remember how she invaded my dreams long before she came into this earth. Its like i saw her descending from the clouds with grace and style. Before i could comprehend what i was seeing, i woke up from my dreams and from a distance i saw beauty like nothing else. With a smile that radiated and still radiates than the rising sun, eyes glaring like the morning star, a nice African curvature, golden brown skin, she greeted my eyes. I cant tell what really ensued after this but i only remember my mouth uttering something like "Can I help you get the water? I know of where the river flows gentle and the water is Cristal clear and clean"
May be i flattered her with my acted superficial gentleman's nature but she obliged to my request and i took her for a walk along the river to where the waters flow clean. This was the best day of my life in the company of a lady i kept wondering later on" Where have you been all these days?" I had been all over our village but i never set eyes on her. Surely she had come from the moon.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months which bore years describing life in the company of a daughter of the moon. Ole is a lady everyman would kill to have. She passed the uncles', aunts', grandpa's test of an African woman. She makes my wisdom complete cause she has her own unique perspective of issues. If only she had a chance in the white man's education ladder, the top would have been her destiny. Principles govern her life and hard work and the desire to succeed defines who she is. The last time i overheard the women speak, they called her the wise woman described by a man they called Solomon in Proverbs 31. Maybe I'll have a look at this famous book one day since Ole has been mentioned in it. She is a defender of our fathers' faith and a key observer of our people's traditions.
As i write this article, its been close to eternity since the occurrence of the narrated events. My Ole has been by my side close to infinite years. She just left for the river a while ago and i already feel the pinch of her absence. I know its going to be a hard day for me cause i hear she is taking our little Marion for an evening walk. Apparently, Marion is 10 years old and being the woman she is, Ole is training her in the ways of being a woman of substance. They have left for the river. Yes, for river Suwa.
Grand Pa is long gone but his wisdom is still fresh on my mind like the morning dew and the echo of his voice calling Grand Ma "Susa of Life" still rings in my ears. Life is one big circle. Nothing gets lost. Words said long ago are still in the air waiting to be repeated. Our son Musa is coming of age and soon and l promised to tell him my story of how i met Ole, my "Suwa of life" by river Suwa. He will soon be visiting River Suwa to water the animals and the cycle will be repeated.
This now makes sense. Moses's wife, Isaac's wife Rebecca among others are products of a water source somewhere. The river is the source of life.
Grand Pa insisted on this adage that the grass is greener by the rivers. As far as I am concerned, I don't think this was or is the only place where grass grows greener. I have my own eyes and trust me, I can see far and wide. I've been in the business of feeding these animals since I was five years old thus I know where the grass is greener. I am also familiar with the colours. I can differentiate blue from green, orange from red and so on. I have in fact crammed the colours of the rainbow. Despite the fact that I consider my wisdom reliable enough as far as judgment is concerned, the old men's words make me doubt my judgment. "Son, I know you have come of age and I believe you know what is good for yourself but it does not hurt following the wisdom of those who have been there before you. Ever since your great grand mother begot me some hundred and something year's ago, I have never heard of anyone dying because they opened their ears to word's of wisdom. If an old experienced sailor points out to you the deepest parts of a sea, will you doubt him?" he asked after a long monotonous conversation. "I wont doubt grand pa" i replied absent minded. Its latter on that I came to know who the experienced sailor was and his been there stories.
Grand pa had a habit of following his lectures with saying which he never explained. Thus I had to derive meaning from his long never ending talks. Grand pa like any other wise and respected member of our community lived by his words. He believed that the most nutritious and greener pastures were by the riverside. This thus offered the basis for my thoughtful evenings watching the young ladies and trying to question the old man's reference to grand mother as his "Suwa of life"
This habit of grazing the animals and taking them to river Suwa long before the other young men and leaving late went on until one this feminine character emerged.
This is not to mean that she was the first i had seen. Our mothers have brought up many beautiful daughters. I had always seen, met and talked to some of the finest feminine creatures that came with my visits by the river.
This time round, there was something about this one character that was above normal. I was seated under an acacia tree staring into the distance. Nothing of interest was visible and my mind was wondering off into the horizon. I was almost dozing off due to the effect of a warm evening breeze and the comfort and serenity offered by the acacia shade. Some of the animals were peacefully regurgitating the day's cud.
Ole is the daughter of the moon. Surely as far as i am concerned, the beauty that struck me was way beyond the normal. I can clearly remember how she invaded my dreams long before she came into this earth. Its like i saw her descending from the clouds with grace and style. Before i could comprehend what i was seeing, i woke up from my dreams and from a distance i saw beauty like nothing else. With a smile that radiated and still radiates than the rising sun, eyes glaring like the morning star, a nice African curvature, golden brown skin, she greeted my eyes. I cant tell what really ensued after this but i only remember my mouth uttering something like "Can I help you get the water? I know of where the river flows gentle and the water is Cristal clear and clean"
May be i flattered her with my acted superficial gentleman's nature but she obliged to my request and i took her for a walk along the river to where the waters flow clean. This was the best day of my life in the company of a lady i kept wondering later on" Where have you been all these days?" I had been all over our village but i never set eyes on her. Surely she had come from the moon.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months which bore years describing life in the company of a daughter of the moon. Ole is a lady everyman would kill to have. She passed the uncles', aunts', grandpa's test of an African woman. She makes my wisdom complete cause she has her own unique perspective of issues. If only she had a chance in the white man's education ladder, the top would have been her destiny. Principles govern her life and hard work and the desire to succeed defines who she is. The last time i overheard the women speak, they called her the wise woman described by a man they called Solomon in Proverbs 31. Maybe I'll have a look at this famous book one day since Ole has been mentioned in it. She is a defender of our fathers' faith and a key observer of our people's traditions.
As i write this article, its been close to eternity since the occurrence of the narrated events. My Ole has been by my side close to infinite years. She just left for the river a while ago and i already feel the pinch of her absence. I know its going to be a hard day for me cause i hear she is taking our little Marion for an evening walk. Apparently, Marion is 10 years old and being the woman she is, Ole is training her in the ways of being a woman of substance. They have left for the river. Yes, for river Suwa.
Grand Pa is long gone but his wisdom is still fresh on my mind like the morning dew and the echo of his voice calling Grand Ma "Susa of Life" still rings in my ears. Life is one big circle. Nothing gets lost. Words said long ago are still in the air waiting to be repeated. Our son Musa is coming of age and soon and l promised to tell him my story of how i met Ole, my "Suwa of life" by river Suwa. He will soon be visiting River Suwa to water the animals and the cycle will be repeated.
This now makes sense. Moses's wife, Isaac's wife Rebecca among others are products of a water source somewhere. The river is the source of life.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
It Must Be Hard Being A Lady
On my way to the office after lunch, I saw this lady that left me smiling all the way. Being a naturally born artist, I am tempted to go into description of what caught my eyes. But lets first walk through this together.
God is a good God. He literally created women with men in mind and vice versa. He sure is an artistic God. Like iron and magnet, He created them for each other. Like a moth after a source of light, He designed man after a woman. Like a cameraman after a rainbow or a setting sun, He adapted man's eyes for her beauty.
Art is in my blood. I like beauty. If not loving it, then I adore it. A number of my friends know me for my love for detail, color and anything that catches my optical attention and ignites my imagination. Despite this individual liking for Art, I believe all men are artists in a way. I am talking on behalf of men because that's the easiest way to approaching my article. I believe men like what they see. Its in their nature to ogle and lose attention even in your ( read girl friend/wife) presence. Forgive him if he did this the last time you were together. Its not his fault. He cant help it.
This might be contrary to what a number of you expect me to say. To meet your expectations in some way and to accommodate you, I'm going to break it down. After all I need you to walk with me.
At the teenage up to the early adulthood stage, men are more of entirely visual beings. Not that they turn blind when they become adults. I say this because of the saying " The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" Anyway how do we make a 21st century lady go to the kitchen without having to cause 3rd world war at home? Anyway, don't take it lightly. Who would imagine eating a semi cooked food for supper. We all desire good cooking, women included. This statement makes sense to a man whose immediate concern is having a lifetime helper to cover up for his weakness. Women supplement men while men on the other hand supplement women thus the idea of marriage.
Now let me get back to my argument. In my last writing on the L.O.V.E Thing, I went biblical and mentioned Genesis 2:23 where Adam liked what he saw and named Eve Woman because she was from a man's bone and flesh. The idea of Genesis makes me believe that women have had the pressure to look appealing to a man since the creation story.
To stick to the title of my article, it must be really hard for the ladies to keep on lighting the world. Ask Esther Passaris of Adapt A Light organization in Kenya. Men desire to see women at their best. That's what women have been made to believe. Sue me if you don't carry a mirror, lotion, mascara, perfume etc etc in your hand bag. I don't know if that was God initial plan. Its like the pressure to look good, appealing and attractive is so engraved in a woman's mind. Are men to blame for this? Do we put so much pressure on our ladies in terms of what we expect them to look like?
Does every lady believe in the passage Psalms 139:14 that you are wonderfully and fearfully made? I love the way the Psalmist begins by praising God and then ends with reassuring himself that he knows very well he is wonderfully and fearfully made.
Now back to what I saw after my lunch break. This was an already light skinned lady who had gone ahead and applied red like make up to appear lighter. That was not strange to me. I'm used to ladies with make up. I have nothing wrong with make up anyway. After all men nowadays also do groom themselves. We also want to get her attention and to generally look presentable to the world.
What I have a problem with is why some women have been made to believe what the world considers beautiful and not what God says. The grass has been presented as greener on the other side. A light lady has been made to believe black is beautiful while on the other hand a black skinned lady wants nothing to do with blackness nor believes that black is beautiful but does everything to appear slightly light. If only Steve Biko and the black is beautiful slogan advocates had lived much more longer.
It sure must be hard being a lady in a world where the west is the benchmark of beauty. " You are either a Beyonce or a Nun" ...."How will you get a man when the western standards for beauty is waist zero. How do you get a man when they are all after figure eight?"... "You will die single if you are never going to enroll in a gymnasium. "..."No plum shaped lady has ever got himself a husband!" ..."Please invest in high heals or else dudes will bypass you for the model heights..." " If only I had a slightly larger butt, he would not have dumped me for her"..."Are you aware that chemists nowadays sell butts enlarging gels?" That must be the girl talk in most of the women wash rooms worldwide.
Isn't the world unfair for our ladies? Imagine a plum like (sorry if i sound rude) shaped woman living in the western world. Or a slender lady in a traditional African society where a woman is judged by the fullness of her physical orientation. Don't you think the world is a living hell for them if they have an issue with their esteem? Accepting and loving yourself in such a cultural environment can be quite hard. This is because of the strong cultural influence that dictates what is beautiful and what is not.
It must be really hard having to strip almost naked to make a living. I don't imply that men don't go to this extent but watching a lady in some music videos will drive my point home. Imagine a male musician shooting a music video fully dressed like an Eskimo in the Arctic region and with him are our poor sisters dressed for a sun bath at the beach. It sure is hard being a lady.
While a number of men like light skinned ladies, there are others who would kill to have a black berry. May be its true that the darker the berry the sweeter the juice. On the other hand, there are those who prefer a slender campus figure lady as they are called here in Uganda. God knows us the way we are and has a reason as to why he created us this way. The heavy weights make good weight lifters while the light weights are the track masters. Both are athletes anyway. We are all beautiful in different capacities.
Is it because no one is made perfect that's why we keep going over board in search of perfect selves? I don't know. The last time I read the creation story, God liked what He created. Keeping it natural and accepting yourself the way you are does not mean you will die alone. It does not mean no one will find you attractive.
Men too have their own pressures. Imagine failing the ladies' Tall Dark and Handsome (TDH) entry mark. It must be terrible for guys too. Some also wish they were slightly taller by some inches. Others wish they were a bit heavier than they are. The bald headed claim to admire Michael Jordan but we know better. Some even have never been to a basketball court. A majority of those with beer bellies curse their hands for never letting go of the brown bottle. But all the same people must come to terms with who they are. If you don't love yourself the way you are who will?
Don't you now believe in God's word through the Psalmist that you are wonderfully and fearfully made?
If not, then you are really finding it hard being who you are.
God is a good God. He literally created women with men in mind and vice versa. He sure is an artistic God. Like iron and magnet, He created them for each other. Like a moth after a source of light, He designed man after a woman. Like a cameraman after a rainbow or a setting sun, He adapted man's eyes for her beauty.
Art is in my blood. I like beauty. If not loving it, then I adore it. A number of my friends know me for my love for detail, color and anything that catches my optical attention and ignites my imagination. Despite this individual liking for Art, I believe all men are artists in a way. I am talking on behalf of men because that's the easiest way to approaching my article. I believe men like what they see. Its in their nature to ogle and lose attention even in your ( read girl friend/wife) presence. Forgive him if he did this the last time you were together. Its not his fault. He cant help it.
This might be contrary to what a number of you expect me to say. To meet your expectations in some way and to accommodate you, I'm going to break it down. After all I need you to walk with me.
At the teenage up to the early adulthood stage, men are more of entirely visual beings. Not that they turn blind when they become adults. I say this because of the saying " The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" Anyway how do we make a 21st century lady go to the kitchen without having to cause 3rd world war at home? Anyway, don't take it lightly. Who would imagine eating a semi cooked food for supper. We all desire good cooking, women included. This statement makes sense to a man whose immediate concern is having a lifetime helper to cover up for his weakness. Women supplement men while men on the other hand supplement women thus the idea of marriage.
Now let me get back to my argument. In my last writing on the L.O.V.E Thing, I went biblical and mentioned Genesis 2:23 where Adam liked what he saw and named Eve Woman because she was from a man's bone and flesh. The idea of Genesis makes me believe that women have had the pressure to look appealing to a man since the creation story.
To stick to the title of my article, it must be really hard for the ladies to keep on lighting the world. Ask Esther Passaris of Adapt A Light organization in Kenya. Men desire to see women at their best. That's what women have been made to believe. Sue me if you don't carry a mirror, lotion, mascara, perfume etc etc in your hand bag. I don't know if that was God initial plan. Its like the pressure to look good, appealing and attractive is so engraved in a woman's mind. Are men to blame for this? Do we put so much pressure on our ladies in terms of what we expect them to look like?
Does every lady believe in the passage Psalms 139:14 that you are wonderfully and fearfully made? I love the way the Psalmist begins by praising God and then ends with reassuring himself that he knows very well he is wonderfully and fearfully made.
Now back to what I saw after my lunch break. This was an already light skinned lady who had gone ahead and applied red like make up to appear lighter. That was not strange to me. I'm used to ladies with make up. I have nothing wrong with make up anyway. After all men nowadays also do groom themselves. We also want to get her attention and to generally look presentable to the world.
What I have a problem with is why some women have been made to believe what the world considers beautiful and not what God says. The grass has been presented as greener on the other side. A light lady has been made to believe black is beautiful while on the other hand a black skinned lady wants nothing to do with blackness nor believes that black is beautiful but does everything to appear slightly light. If only Steve Biko and the black is beautiful slogan advocates had lived much more longer.
It sure must be hard being a lady in a world where the west is the benchmark of beauty. " You are either a Beyonce or a Nun" ...."How will you get a man when the western standards for beauty is waist zero. How do you get a man when they are all after figure eight?"... "You will die single if you are never going to enroll in a gymnasium. "..."No plum shaped lady has ever got himself a husband!" ..."Please invest in high heals or else dudes will bypass you for the model heights..." " If only I had a slightly larger butt, he would not have dumped me for her"..."Are you aware that chemists nowadays sell butts enlarging gels?" That must be the girl talk in most of the women wash rooms worldwide.
Isn't the world unfair for our ladies? Imagine a plum like (sorry if i sound rude) shaped woman living in the western world. Or a slender lady in a traditional African society where a woman is judged by the fullness of her physical orientation. Don't you think the world is a living hell for them if they have an issue with their esteem? Accepting and loving yourself in such a cultural environment can be quite hard. This is because of the strong cultural influence that dictates what is beautiful and what is not.
It must be really hard having to strip almost naked to make a living. I don't imply that men don't go to this extent but watching a lady in some music videos will drive my point home. Imagine a male musician shooting a music video fully dressed like an Eskimo in the Arctic region and with him are our poor sisters dressed for a sun bath at the beach. It sure is hard being a lady.
While a number of men like light skinned ladies, there are others who would kill to have a black berry. May be its true that the darker the berry the sweeter the juice. On the other hand, there are those who prefer a slender campus figure lady as they are called here in Uganda. God knows us the way we are and has a reason as to why he created us this way. The heavy weights make good weight lifters while the light weights are the track masters. Both are athletes anyway. We are all beautiful in different capacities.
Is it because no one is made perfect that's why we keep going over board in search of perfect selves? I don't know. The last time I read the creation story, God liked what He created. Keeping it natural and accepting yourself the way you are does not mean you will die alone. It does not mean no one will find you attractive.
Men too have their own pressures. Imagine failing the ladies' Tall Dark and Handsome (TDH) entry mark. It must be terrible for guys too. Some also wish they were slightly taller by some inches. Others wish they were a bit heavier than they are. The bald headed claim to admire Michael Jordan but we know better. Some even have never been to a basketball court. A majority of those with beer bellies curse their hands for never letting go of the brown bottle. But all the same people must come to terms with who they are. If you don't love yourself the way you are who will?
Don't you now believe in God's word through the Psalmist that you are wonderfully and fearfully made?
If not, then you are really finding it hard being who you are.
Monday, October 18, 2010
This L.O.V.E Thing
Note; Man here is a unisex term for both(male and Female).
The modern day world is very complex but human relations is much more complex than it may sound. Its getting harder and harder to get track of events, technology, ideas, fashions. This is because of the fast pace of life. More so, its even harder to understand people. Human relations at times turns quite mechanical.
But then, even with all these changes, both in technology and other facets of life, does man cease to be man? Will he in the long run change into a robot? Can he do away with the fact that his is a fragile and emotional heart? Even with the plastic surgeries, can a change of the normal heart quench the God made desire to love and be loved? Its true that man is greatly gifted, but not gifted enough to change the nature in which God intended him to live.
In Genesis 2:20- ff God makes man a companion. Thus the idea of love is initiated and instituted by God Himself at the onset of the creation story. When Adam saw EVE, in verse 23, i like what he said;
"Finally! A person like me...." Easy to read Bible version
In modern day context, that may be would have been something like " Wow, this lady is heavenly cute..." Don't you agree that that was love at first sight? Even if you have a different opinion, Adam must have liked Eve for them to co exist.That right there is the idea of attraction.
Love is a beautiful thing. We all feel the need to be cared for. Some times ago, i was watching a cartoon movie of the English fairy tale Jack and the beanstalk. I do enjoy animated movies the likes of Cinderella and the seven dwarfs among others. What got my imagination is how the giant was forcing a little girl to sing for him. When the girl refused, the giant cast a spell on her and she turned into a harp. The idea of music and a harp brings out the fact that even the mightiest of men have a soft spot that needs a tender touch. That might only be a fairy tale but its quite logical even in modern day life where giants and fairy tales are no longer told.
Despite this evident need for love, some still find it hard to believe in it. Men are told that they should be stone hearted while women are urged to be gentle, tender and caring. Does this imply that men need no TLC? Was love meant for women? No. Love is a universal unisex feeling. They say it a universal language that even the blind, the dumb and the deaf understand.
Some years back, a friend, Solomon told me of his experience of relationships. His was a touching story. He narrated of how he was once the good guy who would do everything for the lady he loved. He had met " The love of his life" at a Physics symposium while in high school. Solomon would make your favorite candidate for the most disciplined student's award. The one whose name never appeared anywhere in the noise makers list. This was your index one and the hope your village school. He had no prior encounter with this monster called "attraction aka l.o.v.e" He had sworn to wait till he was in college to get a girl friend.But here he was, a victim of what I called attraction 101.
I liked his vivid narration of the whole encounter. According to him, he had fully armed himself with the basic physics points. Although i was one of the poorest if not the poorest physics performers, with the explanation of how he had seriously equipped himself, what was "rocket science" to me sounded easier than ever before. I hope you get the idea of how our Einstein was ready to conquer all the visiting schools.
He had a momentary paradise in front of the hall explaining the kinematics-motion of objects. For the first ten minutes, the guy was going through the points like what Odili was doing in Chinua Achebe's "A man of the people" eating hills with his bicycle like yams. This was until she majestically walked into the room. The door was right in front of the thirty meters hall and the eyes met. The beauty that struck our poor Einstein was enough to take away the genius mind and replace it with a blank one and in addition give him a stammering tongue. This according to him was the most breath taking scene he had ever seen. He told me amidst laughter that he can still remember how his knees got weak, his hands started trembling and how he nearly pissed on himself.
For the sake of my impatient reader who is cursing and asking that i hit the nail on the head, the guy eventually got the chance to sit some meters from the lady and after gathering all the strength in his then weak body, he managed to say hi. With the help of his close buddy Hakim, he managed to get the lady's contacts. The lady's parent's happened to have named her Zuena. The first letter that went like this; "My dearest Zuena,,,,,and ended with some dedications like Celine Dion- The Power of Love" was followed with a reply then another letter and another until the holidays come and went.
I hope you remember your first romantic letter. It was no different.
The firs few minutes meetings were followed by an hour then a day until the love birds were the talk of the village. This to him was the best time of his life. He had just discovered This L.O.V.E Thing.
He loved his girl friend with the whole of his heart as God demands. He was ready to sacrifice it all for her. A trip to the moon was possible if it was what would make her smile. Crossing a crocodile infested river to get to her was not something he could think twice. They went through 1 Corinthians 13 together and told each other sweet biblical and novel stories. They walked by the streams in the evenings. Evening coffee and the sweet lunches was part of their weekends. The surprise gifts and visits, the letters and poems, the sweet songs from his melodious sounding lady are still fresh in his mind. He did not tolerate the idea of having more than one girl friend as most of his friends did. He loved her dearly. He also believed in the purity of relationships. In simple terms, this must have been the ideal Godly relationship. Some of his favorite quotes were "True love waits" and " Sacrifice is the true measure of love"
Does this give you the picture of the ideal cross gender relation? This changed when they joined college. What college offered as far as the social life was concerned was totally different from what he had been used to. Had they been acting out of ignorance? Was their relationship based on naivety?
With the excitement of a new born calf and the energy and enthusiasm of a bomb about to explode, the young man entered university same did the beautiful Zuena. Unfortunately for the presumably inseparables, they joined different colleges. Things did not change in the first few days, weeks and months. After all nothing had changed they thought and with the notion that love conquers all, they new they were destined to be together.
With no classes to attend during the first weeks of freshmen's stay in compus, alot of the time was spent together. Solomon would travel to be with her lady over the weekends and so would Zuena. With this new found freedom and lots of time together, boundaries were compromised and new grounds were explored. After all, they had come of age and they were now grown ups they thought.
Things started changing when Eve finally ate the fruit and after sharing it with Adam, their eyes were opened. This new found pleasure formed the new level of interaction. Since i assume parental guidance is applicable to internet access, i would then say that L.O.V.E was equated with S.E.X.
In Africa, its normally said that you don't allow a kid to taste honey and leave the door open. My dad used to tell me that sex is the sweetest thing after salvation. May be he was right. And i can tell you that from the confessions of a Solomaniac, it sure was irresistible. The two had discovered what their parents and their own principles had denied them. At least that's what they thought and furthermore everyone else in campus was doing it.
This opened the guy's desire for conquering new grounds and the lady on the other hand thought she was not being appreciated enough. She started getting attention from other campus dudes. Little did she know that she was a victim of the dreaded gold rush. Its a ritual in many Kenyan institutions of higher learning. This is where continuing student capitalize on the naivety of first year ladies some of whom have no prior experience of relationships, sex and the heart aches that come with this.
Our beautiful but somehow naive Zuena ended up in the hands of a 3rd year Engineering student called Ben. With a C.V reading two years of the experience chasing after gold, this was yet another opportunity to get unrefined gold. Previous sweet moments with Solomon were overshadowed with the master of the art of woman seduction. This was a new class i call seduction 101. The guy knew how to handle a lady more than Solomon, she thought to herself. This time round, promises of trips to the moon seemed more real and the idea of love appeared clearer than before. The whole days initially spent with Solomon turned into hours then minutes and drastically faded with time. Efforts by Solomon to contact her proved futile. He had no option but to find new love and to move on. It was a new dawn of explorations for both.
After a month of night raving, partying and all sorts of excitement, Zuena had lost all the value she was thought to have. It was like an aftermath of a sugar chewing episode where all the sweetness had been exhausted and what was left was meant for the compost pit. She was left for the dead. Zuena had lost her sense of pride, her esteem was low and Solomon was nowhere to be found even though she blamed him of letting her stray. On the other hand, Solomon was but a walking corpse. He was empty and longing for the return of the old days even though he no longer felt anything for her once "miss all"
Both youngsters had walked the path of L.O.V.E and the results were nothing to talk about. They had incurred emotional and psychosocial wounds. According to Solomon, he started hating the idea of love. He never felt a thing for ladies for quite some time. The campus gospel of hit and run made more sense than anything to him. He started forming a chain of girlfriends just as every other campuserian was doing.
Men were but beasts to Zuena. She swore never to give herself to a man. Trusting a man was like trusting the devil himself. Trust was meant for the pulpit and its environs not between her and any human being in a trouser.
This is a story that is familiar to many young people. Any one sharing such a story from a practical first hand angle might think he or she has nothing to do with love. Heartaches are a normal thing. Life is but a journey where we form our own trails as we walk. Its not always a smooth paradise where we walk on already made trails. More often than not, life offers us a chance to tell our own practically experienced stories. That is what makes life real.
If we are born with no maps nor compass but forced to walk through the jungle of life, what do we expect but blisters and scars? All the same we have to give ourselves a second chance to love despite such an experience by Solomon and Zuena. I still emphasize that love is a beautiful thing. Dont get me twisted or wrong.
After going through such experiences, allow your heart time to heal and keep on moving. When pricked by a thorn, take it out, rub some antiseptic and keep on moving. Our hearts are meant to experience the desire for warmth, feel the need to be hugged, pampered and generally appreciated.
I know what it means, to be hurt, betrayed of denied a chance to love cause i am a life's traveler like you. I have been there, bruised but had to keep on moving. After all do you expect me to hang myself because one door closed? NEVER. You knock and if it wont open, you move on.
And if any one comes knocking, be human enough to open and find out who is there and what they are up to as long as you have your principles and boundaries and maybe your weapons intact. Some have welcomed angels and soul mates unaware.
Dont you know that Christ also is for the idea of standing by the door and knocking hoping that you will open?He LOVES us that's why He wont tire but keep on knocking.
That is part of the whole idea of L.O.V.E Thing-----JOHN 3:16
The modern day world is very complex but human relations is much more complex than it may sound. Its getting harder and harder to get track of events, technology, ideas, fashions. This is because of the fast pace of life. More so, its even harder to understand people. Human relations at times turns quite mechanical.
But then, even with all these changes, both in technology and other facets of life, does man cease to be man? Will he in the long run change into a robot? Can he do away with the fact that his is a fragile and emotional heart? Even with the plastic surgeries, can a change of the normal heart quench the God made desire to love and be loved? Its true that man is greatly gifted, but not gifted enough to change the nature in which God intended him to live.
In Genesis 2:20- ff God makes man a companion. Thus the idea of love is initiated and instituted by God Himself at the onset of the creation story. When Adam saw EVE, in verse 23, i like what he said;
"Finally! A person like me...." Easy to read Bible version
In modern day context, that may be would have been something like " Wow, this lady is heavenly cute..." Don't you agree that that was love at first sight? Even if you have a different opinion, Adam must have liked Eve for them to co exist.That right there is the idea of attraction.
Love is a beautiful thing. We all feel the need to be cared for. Some times ago, i was watching a cartoon movie of the English fairy tale Jack and the beanstalk. I do enjoy animated movies the likes of Cinderella and the seven dwarfs among others. What got my imagination is how the giant was forcing a little girl to sing for him. When the girl refused, the giant cast a spell on her and she turned into a harp. The idea of music and a harp brings out the fact that even the mightiest of men have a soft spot that needs a tender touch. That might only be a fairy tale but its quite logical even in modern day life where giants and fairy tales are no longer told.
Despite this evident need for love, some still find it hard to believe in it. Men are told that they should be stone hearted while women are urged to be gentle, tender and caring. Does this imply that men need no TLC? Was love meant for women? No. Love is a universal unisex feeling. They say it a universal language that even the blind, the dumb and the deaf understand.
Some years back, a friend, Solomon told me of his experience of relationships. His was a touching story. He narrated of how he was once the good guy who would do everything for the lady he loved. He had met " The love of his life" at a Physics symposium while in high school. Solomon would make your favorite candidate for the most disciplined student's award. The one whose name never appeared anywhere in the noise makers list. This was your index one and the hope your village school. He had no prior encounter with this monster called "attraction aka l.o.v.e" He had sworn to wait till he was in college to get a girl friend.But here he was, a victim of what I called attraction 101.
I liked his vivid narration of the whole encounter. According to him, he had fully armed himself with the basic physics points. Although i was one of the poorest if not the poorest physics performers, with the explanation of how he had seriously equipped himself, what was "rocket science" to me sounded easier than ever before. I hope you get the idea of how our Einstein was ready to conquer all the visiting schools.
He had a momentary paradise in front of the hall explaining the kinematics-motion of objects. For the first ten minutes, the guy was going through the points like what Odili was doing in Chinua Achebe's "A man of the people" eating hills with his bicycle like yams. This was until she majestically walked into the room. The door was right in front of the thirty meters hall and the eyes met. The beauty that struck our poor Einstein was enough to take away the genius mind and replace it with a blank one and in addition give him a stammering tongue. This according to him was the most breath taking scene he had ever seen. He told me amidst laughter that he can still remember how his knees got weak, his hands started trembling and how he nearly pissed on himself.
For the sake of my impatient reader who is cursing and asking that i hit the nail on the head, the guy eventually got the chance to sit some meters from the lady and after gathering all the strength in his then weak body, he managed to say hi. With the help of his close buddy Hakim, he managed to get the lady's contacts. The lady's parent's happened to have named her Zuena. The first letter that went like this; "My dearest Zuena,,,,,and ended with some dedications like Celine Dion- The Power of Love" was followed with a reply then another letter and another until the holidays come and went.
I hope you remember your first romantic letter. It was no different.
The firs few minutes meetings were followed by an hour then a day until the love birds were the talk of the village. This to him was the best time of his life. He had just discovered This L.O.V.E Thing.
He loved his girl friend with the whole of his heart as God demands. He was ready to sacrifice it all for her. A trip to the moon was possible if it was what would make her smile. Crossing a crocodile infested river to get to her was not something he could think twice. They went through 1 Corinthians 13 together and told each other sweet biblical and novel stories. They walked by the streams in the evenings. Evening coffee and the sweet lunches was part of their weekends. The surprise gifts and visits, the letters and poems, the sweet songs from his melodious sounding lady are still fresh in his mind. He did not tolerate the idea of having more than one girl friend as most of his friends did. He loved her dearly. He also believed in the purity of relationships. In simple terms, this must have been the ideal Godly relationship. Some of his favorite quotes were "True love waits" and " Sacrifice is the true measure of love"
Does this give you the picture of the ideal cross gender relation? This changed when they joined college. What college offered as far as the social life was concerned was totally different from what he had been used to. Had they been acting out of ignorance? Was their relationship based on naivety?
With the excitement of a new born calf and the energy and enthusiasm of a bomb about to explode, the young man entered university same did the beautiful Zuena. Unfortunately for the presumably inseparables, they joined different colleges. Things did not change in the first few days, weeks and months. After all nothing had changed they thought and with the notion that love conquers all, they new they were destined to be together.
With no classes to attend during the first weeks of freshmen's stay in compus, alot of the time was spent together. Solomon would travel to be with her lady over the weekends and so would Zuena. With this new found freedom and lots of time together, boundaries were compromised and new grounds were explored. After all, they had come of age and they were now grown ups they thought.
Things started changing when Eve finally ate the fruit and after sharing it with Adam, their eyes were opened. This new found pleasure formed the new level of interaction. Since i assume parental guidance is applicable to internet access, i would then say that L.O.V.E was equated with S.E.X.
In Africa, its normally said that you don't allow a kid to taste honey and leave the door open. My dad used to tell me that sex is the sweetest thing after salvation. May be he was right. And i can tell you that from the confessions of a Solomaniac, it sure was irresistible. The two had discovered what their parents and their own principles had denied them. At least that's what they thought and furthermore everyone else in campus was doing it.
This opened the guy's desire for conquering new grounds and the lady on the other hand thought she was not being appreciated enough. She started getting attention from other campus dudes. Little did she know that she was a victim of the dreaded gold rush. Its a ritual in many Kenyan institutions of higher learning. This is where continuing student capitalize on the naivety of first year ladies some of whom have no prior experience of relationships, sex and the heart aches that come with this.
Our beautiful but somehow naive Zuena ended up in the hands of a 3rd year Engineering student called Ben. With a C.V reading two years of the experience chasing after gold, this was yet another opportunity to get unrefined gold. Previous sweet moments with Solomon were overshadowed with the master of the art of woman seduction. This was a new class i call seduction 101. The guy knew how to handle a lady more than Solomon, she thought to herself. This time round, promises of trips to the moon seemed more real and the idea of love appeared clearer than before. The whole days initially spent with Solomon turned into hours then minutes and drastically faded with time. Efforts by Solomon to contact her proved futile. He had no option but to find new love and to move on. It was a new dawn of explorations for both.
After a month of night raving, partying and all sorts of excitement, Zuena had lost all the value she was thought to have. It was like an aftermath of a sugar chewing episode where all the sweetness had been exhausted and what was left was meant for the compost pit. She was left for the dead. Zuena had lost her sense of pride, her esteem was low and Solomon was nowhere to be found even though she blamed him of letting her stray. On the other hand, Solomon was but a walking corpse. He was empty and longing for the return of the old days even though he no longer felt anything for her once "miss all"
Both youngsters had walked the path of L.O.V.E and the results were nothing to talk about. They had incurred emotional and psychosocial wounds. According to Solomon, he started hating the idea of love. He never felt a thing for ladies for quite some time. The campus gospel of hit and run made more sense than anything to him. He started forming a chain of girlfriends just as every other campuserian was doing.
Men were but beasts to Zuena. She swore never to give herself to a man. Trusting a man was like trusting the devil himself. Trust was meant for the pulpit and its environs not between her and any human being in a trouser.
This is a story that is familiar to many young people. Any one sharing such a story from a practical first hand angle might think he or she has nothing to do with love. Heartaches are a normal thing. Life is but a journey where we form our own trails as we walk. Its not always a smooth paradise where we walk on already made trails. More often than not, life offers us a chance to tell our own practically experienced stories. That is what makes life real.
If we are born with no maps nor compass but forced to walk through the jungle of life, what do we expect but blisters and scars? All the same we have to give ourselves a second chance to love despite such an experience by Solomon and Zuena. I still emphasize that love is a beautiful thing. Dont get me twisted or wrong.
After going through such experiences, allow your heart time to heal and keep on moving. When pricked by a thorn, take it out, rub some antiseptic and keep on moving. Our hearts are meant to experience the desire for warmth, feel the need to be hugged, pampered and generally appreciated.
I know what it means, to be hurt, betrayed of denied a chance to love cause i am a life's traveler like you. I have been there, bruised but had to keep on moving. After all do you expect me to hang myself because one door closed? NEVER. You knock and if it wont open, you move on.
And if any one comes knocking, be human enough to open and find out who is there and what they are up to as long as you have your principles and boundaries and maybe your weapons intact. Some have welcomed angels and soul mates unaware.
Dont you know that Christ also is for the idea of standing by the door and knocking hoping that you will open?He LOVES us that's why He wont tire but keep on knocking.
That is part of the whole idea of L.O.V.E Thing-----JOHN 3:16
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Soul Food
One man Karl Marx argued that religion is the opium of the masses. By this he meant that man finds solace in his pursuit of the Supernatural. Man is by all means a religious being. The tendency to worship and dedicate oneself to some particular revered figure is common to all human. What differs is the one being worshiped and the level of commitment and belief.
Religion has numerous definitions but one that strikes me most is the vertical relationship between the worshiper and his/her god. This is a strong belief in another who is considered powerful than thyself. Thus the Christian who believes in Almighty God, the Muslim who believes in Allah or the traditionalist or Animist who believes in the forces of nature all adhere to a power they consider beyond them. Even the idol, cult worshiper also believes that the idol has in some way more powers than him/her.
Man has been known to have a number of motivational levels according to Abraham Maslow. Man has a hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, the physiological needs are the very basic. Man will attempt addressing other needs after the basic needs have been met. As long as the stomach is full, one can actually sleep out in the open. This is followed by security needs then the need for love and belonging.
Its utterly unthought of for human to live on their own. We all need family and friends for psychosocial support. Just like little kids, people need confirmation that they actually belong in a stable social circle. We need to be loved and to be offered a chance to love in return.
After everything is said and done and that one has registered success and wealth, we feel the need to be appreciated and respected. Esteem need is key as it crowns our achievements and in a way validates our social status in front of our peers. People want to feel confident and respected in the company of others.
Up to this point, many people could be smiling cause they have in a way attained all the above. Maslow again goes ahead and talks of another level of human need which is self actualization. Here, the shape of a pyramid Maslow chose makes sense to me as the number of self actualized people is quite low in the whole world. Many have had wealth, have achieved impeccable success in their careers but still they are yet to be self actualized.
How many parents out there have ended up forcing their children to pursue career paths they themselves wished they had? how many doctors, accountants, psychologists, sociologists, lawyers do we have out there and are hardly enjoying their careers? Many. How fast is the practice of yoga taking shape all over the world? The spread of fire on dry savanna cant compare to the speed. People are in dire need of inner peace and satisfaction thus the Asian practice of meditation is gaining popularity world over.
In my opinion, Maslow should have or maybe he did talk of soul food. Self actualization is where people have attained their full potential. These are individuals who have lived life to the fullest. They have in a way satisfied their inner souls.
For some of us who have not yet reached this level of complete peace with thyself, Jesus offers the solution to our lack of inner peace.
Human beings as we gave seen above are in constant communion with their soul. It is no their fault to want to listen to the inner being. Its because a lot of potential is within. It is argued that if you listen deeply you will find your purpose on earth thus the self actualization desire.
God made us with a reason. He knows why He created us. In Jeremiah, He says I new you while you were in your mother's womb.
One can only self actualize when they have found out God's purpose in their lives. Through constant communion with Christ, our souls find feeding cause God's word and a relationship with His Son Jesus is what our soul desires to feed on. Thus FOOD FOR THE SOUL
Religion has numerous definitions but one that strikes me most is the vertical relationship between the worshiper and his/her god. This is a strong belief in another who is considered powerful than thyself. Thus the Christian who believes in Almighty God, the Muslim who believes in Allah or the traditionalist or Animist who believes in the forces of nature all adhere to a power they consider beyond them. Even the idol, cult worshiper also believes that the idol has in some way more powers than him/her.
Man has been known to have a number of motivational levels according to Abraham Maslow. Man has a hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, the physiological needs are the very basic. Man will attempt addressing other needs after the basic needs have been met. As long as the stomach is full, one can actually sleep out in the open. This is followed by security needs then the need for love and belonging.
Its utterly unthought of for human to live on their own. We all need family and friends for psychosocial support. Just like little kids, people need confirmation that they actually belong in a stable social circle. We need to be loved and to be offered a chance to love in return.
After everything is said and done and that one has registered success and wealth, we feel the need to be appreciated and respected. Esteem need is key as it crowns our achievements and in a way validates our social status in front of our peers. People want to feel confident and respected in the company of others.
Up to this point, many people could be smiling cause they have in a way attained all the above. Maslow again goes ahead and talks of another level of human need which is self actualization. Here, the shape of a pyramid Maslow chose makes sense to me as the number of self actualized people is quite low in the whole world. Many have had wealth, have achieved impeccable success in their careers but still they are yet to be self actualized.
How many parents out there have ended up forcing their children to pursue career paths they themselves wished they had? how many doctors, accountants, psychologists, sociologists, lawyers do we have out there and are hardly enjoying their careers? Many. How fast is the practice of yoga taking shape all over the world? The spread of fire on dry savanna cant compare to the speed. People are in dire need of inner peace and satisfaction thus the Asian practice of meditation is gaining popularity world over.
In my opinion, Maslow should have or maybe he did talk of soul food. Self actualization is where people have attained their full potential. These are individuals who have lived life to the fullest. They have in a way satisfied their inner souls.
For some of us who have not yet reached this level of complete peace with thyself, Jesus offers the solution to our lack of inner peace.
Human beings as we gave seen above are in constant communion with their soul. It is no their fault to want to listen to the inner being. Its because a lot of potential is within. It is argued that if you listen deeply you will find your purpose on earth thus the self actualization desire.
God made us with a reason. He knows why He created us. In Jeremiah, He says I new you while you were in your mother's womb.
One can only self actualize when they have found out God's purpose in their lives. Through constant communion with Christ, our souls find feeding cause God's word and a relationship with His Son Jesus is what our soul desires to feed on. Thus FOOD FOR THE SOUL
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