Time Marches On

I was at a funeral where the preacher-man looked at the dead man that lay in the coffin and urged us to live in the awareness of our own encroaching death.  Carrying on with the trees motif he had picked for this occasion, he gravely declared, “There are many of us whose trees are mature and ready to be fell.  No one is getting out of this life alive!”

Tic, toc… I need to make my life count!    

On a lighter note though:

Funeral Humour

A notorious thug is being buried and the pastor asks those present to pay their final tributes to the departed man.  There is a long silence, all eyes seemingly glued to the floor.  Eventually, an old lady walks to the front of the church and says that the deceased had been most helpful.

At this point, everyone is all ears.  You see, the the 'mourners' were there to get closure and confirmation that Kamau and his terrorist acts on the villagers were no more. 

The old lady continues with her narration: “Kamau had come home and it was pouring heavily outside.  I had been taken ill, as is normal with us old, neglected folk.  I was freezing as I had not been able to build a fire to chase away the cold.  Kamau came, hewed firewood, lots of wood and lit a fire for me.  I was truly thankful.”

The crowd was touched by the redeeming story, (ala, kumbe there was a spark of humanity in the fellow, after-all?), until the old lady added that her axe-head had been missing ever since.

Someone tell this foolish heart of mine...

M'dearest heart,

How is it that you gush out delinquency and gullibility from the same vein?

When you set your sights on something, your one-track mind is set!

Undeterred, Unmoved, Unrelenting!

Against my own advice, facts and the logic of wisdom notwithstanding, 
your resilience holds.

(Thanks to you, I have flogged a few dead horses in my days)!

.... my friend,

there have been occasions when it would have served you well,
and spared you needless bouts of anxiety if you'd just submitted to my mind.
(But alas! ...you and me both know how irrefutably true this is)!

PS: Still, when all is said and vented, you remain forever mine...
and in my prayers!

... all  my love,

me!

The Fattened Pig Bites Back

My life-long engagement with eczema took a new turn this January.  It flared up like I have never seen it!  It’s like it’s on a vengeance-laden mission. Nasty stuff, I tell you!

Given, the whole assault is a tad self-inflicted.  You see, my system has real issues breaking down animal proteins.  So, as sure as night follows day, I will fight the battle of self-control in a time of excess vs a weak-will every January!   

When the Christmas festivities are all over, there is only one casualty left itching... me.  However, the battle is never anything to write home about.  The worst bout has been easily exterminated by a round of anti-histamines, pap! 

This time around though, I'm paying an unprecedented price for my over-indulgence in meaty treats.  Rash and all…. my eczema-ravaged self has determinedly refused to consider the dreadful prospects of a vegan future.

I am beginning to question wahenga wisdom: 'Ukila nguruwe chagua aliyenona'…. really?

Age-old wisdom on Leadership

There are no bad chiefs, just bad people; and bad people make bad chiefs!

Of public spaces and national psyche

There are few places that have their fingers on the pulse of a people as do public transport, newspaper vending points and shopping centres (pubs & salons). Riding in a bus this week, the driver was telling a passenger that he did not come to Nairobi to look for work, but cash... and by whatever means necessary. In his considered opinion, urbanisation is not about work, (there’s enough work in shags, from where he originates). [Heavy!] This mercantile outlook nailed the thinking of many Kenyans. It explains: why a man robs a country blind and is allocated a VIP seat at a national event; why another over-indulged man, after a life of unimaginable affluence afforded by ‘dubiously-acquired’ billions, dies under mysterious circumstances and is accorded a hero’s send-off; still, why another accumulates crazy cash, courtesy of peddling drugs and other illicits, and why our meek response to such colossal misconduct is voting them into elective political office (the tyranny that is democracy is just plain crazy!); why others still, with criminal charges hanging over their heads, remain serious contenders in the race for the highest office in the land. Our choice of leaders speaks more about us, and our values (or lack of the same) than of our leaders. The tragedy is that when majority of the citizens buy into this Machiavellian thinking, moral degeneration seems all-pervasive and a sort of helplessness begins to afflict the moral-minority. My response? A renewed resolve to stand,DAILY. So, help me God!

Of gullible flock and rOGuE shepherds

If there's any thread of truth in the stories relayed on the FM stations, then deception left the closet a while back and is now roaming the streets, bare! A distressed caller’s narration of the goings-on in her life left me hot-and-cold. Apparently, her pastor has been sleeping with her for a whole year in a carnal effort to banish the curse put on her by her grandmother. On the one hand, I have to wonder about the lady. How did she, in the name of Deliverance, fall for a lie so blatant? Is there a biblical precedence (sexorcism?)? OR is she merely expressing our love for 'Quick-fixes'? Her experience warns me that deception is the destiny that awaits us when, in the face of daunting life challenges, we delegate responsibility for our lives and let others think for us. On the other hand, I'm concerned about this pastor's brand of self-serving leadership. When his lies were exposed on National radio, he unapologetically plunged into ‘spiritual rambling',... the kind that gives ‘men of the cloth' a bad name. Should we disrobe (not literally, of course) shepherds cut from cloth so morally thread-bare? Might a spiritual ombudsman rescue us from this love-less service to God and humanity? Oh, how my heart cries out to the Good Shepherd!

Of Open-plan offices and Opaque-value systems

As I stood in line to be served by a City Council officer today, a Kenyan of Asian origin, accompanied by an ‘indigenous’ Kenyan were there too, exploring the possibility of evicting guys who’ve encroached on the former's land. The discussion was moving along just fine until its concluding moments. The officer on duty confidently concluded that the matter could be resolved within hours. However, there was a little ‘dietary matter’ that needed to be handled. He unashamedly, and in my full hearing, served this declaration: "Council officers don’t eat pumpkins, they eat meat". The land owner, in a very matter-of-factly tone of voice, only asked for the numbers. Did I look like I was hard of hearing or slow of understanding that I could not figure out the ensnaring web of corruption that was unfolding right before my eyes? Have we become so shameless and corruption so common-place that it does not matter who hears or knows? Have we eaten all our shame, and have not a shred of shame left? Who will rescue us from this self-devouring menace? Corruption has gone carnivorous (and possibly rabid)! It's acquired a taste for meat and blood. Will anyone survive unscathed by this cannibalistic onslaught we have unleashed upon our greedy selves?