Unintentional Suicide...

When she said no, she meant no! But the terror in her eyes excited him. 'Today, you'll pay for every blue-ball episode' He said. A look of confusion washed across the terror on the screen of emotions that was her face.

He saw it and said 'Let me remind you'. As he described her honest-to-God I'm scared of guys look as a come-hither look, her modest dressing as seductive veiling of her voluptuous body, she lost all desire to protect him.

Let him rape her as her AIDS-ridden neighbour had done when she was but a wee lass of eight. Since her fear excited him, she kept the look of terror on her face, veiling the venomous hate she felt.

Let him enjoy her terror, get high on her cries and pain. Then let him die slowly, as she was.
He hadn't even batted an eyelid when she'd told him it was that time of the month...

Would you rather insure... or invest?

Earlier this week I watched a video that reminded me of something I've been thinking a lot about lately... This video by Charlie Chaplin had a lot of salient points and although I may not have understood or agreed 100% with all of it, the one thing that struck me was our human-ness and how helping another soul in need is integral to who we are as humans.

In today's evolving society and with the ever-increasing depths of evil the human mind can conceive and get the rest of the body to co-operate in carrying out,  it's easy to make excuses to NOT help those in need. Family does not look out for you anymore, friends let you down, and as for lovers (whether at the dating or marriage level), the less said about them, the better.

However, as I walked to class today, I thought about how reaching out to another in need is like an investment and how many of us choose to buy insurance instead. I am not a finance person so my analogy is quite basic here. Don't think too far if that is your field.

When we help another, we invest and a lot could happen to our investment. The financial markets may crash, a corrupt board of directors may squander our hard earned cash, or we could realize our investment was a scam, pure and simple. On the other hand, we could strike oil and make it big. If the person you help decides to bite the finger that fed it, it's a bad investment. Otherwise, you get your dividends, in cash and in kind(get your minds out of the gutter).

When we do NOT help, we could liken it to buying insurance in that we get to keep and safeguard what belongs to us against uncertainty. Definitely, insurance isn't 100% safe because claims could be denied, etc. but for the most part, we keep and protect what we have.

It seems sometimes that we are all buying insurance. I am guilty. Everyone is protecting what they have and not paying any forward. Whilst wealth may be preserved this way, none is created.

I pray that for the rest of the year and onward, we will all have the grace needed to make prudent investments with our time, our voice, our talents and capabilities, our support, encouragement, and material possessions when need be.

It's not easy, given how treacherous humans (remember this includes ourselves) can be. However it is easy when we think about the fact that we will carry none of these to the other side. When we die, our talents, money, etc. wont go with us. But the good we did with them may be paid forward into what awaits us in the afterlife. And I believe if we truly look hard enough, we'll find that more often than not, investments pay off in this life as well.

A Dream Deferred...(more like abandoned)

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore– And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

~ Langston Hughes

Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day. A number of my friends and classmates from High school graduated from the Ghana Law school. 

I have mentioned on this blog (I think) that growing up, I probably went through crushes on all the professions there were. 

Law was my longest-lasting crush...

So yesterday, I congratulated my friends and then sat to re-evaluate my life, a tad wistful. 

I never gave law a chance. It held my fancy the longest out of all my professional crushes and yet I never even went out for drinks with it.

You know that cute guy/girl you fancied and never dated but will always smile wistfully whenever you see them with another? 

No matter how happy you are with your partner?

I love what I'm studying now and given the chance to do it again, I probably still wont choose law. 

I'm excited to finish school and get my hands on impacting the world with all I am learning.

But for me, law will probably always remain, that cute boy/girl you see or remember and wonder,

'What if?' even if you don't want them anymore...

Do you have a 'What if'?

My Favourite Time of the Day is...

image source: totaltranslucency.wordpress.com

Just before Sunrise...
The moon is still there but is grudgingly conceding defeat and going down slowly

The sun is not yet out but it’s brighter than it’s been all night so I know that it is just around the corner

And as the sun lazily rises and bursts brightness onto the mellow scene, it’s the gift of a new day, to do with as I choose

It’s another day! Yesterday doesn’t matter so much anymore, unless I want it to and refuse (consciously or unconsciously) to move on. 

Today, I can take a step closer to my dream, or a step further away from it.

I can read a book, write, have intelligent discussions and advance my existing knowledge

I could discover the cure for cancer or AIDS

I could also do nothing, add no value whatsoever to my life or the world.

Or even subtract…

And that’s why I love this time of day; the endless possibilities…

And knowing that if I get to see this time of day tomorrow, I’ll want to be wiser and stronger. 
I'll want to feel good about my use of yesterday, which is today...
And so I am inspired to go out and make something of today


What is your favourite time of the day?

Anything but Usual...

Today is Saturday
The Sun is shining
It's 11am 
People are;
doing laundry
having brunch
getting ready to go to the mall
The usual?
Well, Sarah is being buried 
today
at 25...


She was my mate in High School. Bunked next to me in Form One. My mum never ceased asking of her especially after my cousin passed from sickle cell because Sarah had it too.
She fought valiantly and had a smile even in her pain that re-assured you when she was the one in pain.
Against the odds, 
She finished high school
finished Uni
seemed to be getting stronger each day
took ill
gone
at 25...

She has probably been buried already, time difference and all

I’m sitting here looking out my window, beautiful day. People going about their usual business. And yet it’s anything but usual for the people who have to bury or lose their loves ones today.

More importantly, It’s anything but usual for those who never got to see today. RIP Sarah!