When you're imbued with the spirit of giving, kindness, empathy, and so love, or you believe it's more honourable to give than to recieve, and you can part with your very last for a worthy cause, people, particularly the stingy (whose only gift is the gift of receiving) will think you're richer. Baakarr inducing yaakarr, I call it.
And since you don't go about holding a banner that reads: "wolahi, I'm also broke," we take advantage, hoping there's more where what you give's coming from. By God, you may not be as rich as one would expect from the literal sense of the word, but you're rich in spirit, and you'd very rarely run out of means, because in you, God sees a dependable medium, and so He blesses you evermore.
Monday, 11 December 2017
Our traffic, our attitude.
When you're new to a community and you want to know about the people, befriend the children for their bizarre honesty, the elderly for their communal memory, and observe the traffic for the conduct of the people. A traffic in perpetual disorder typifies an indisciplined society. Yeah dread, actions on the streets are all allusive references to how people live and treat each other real-life
Pay attention: where people want to drive without proper licenses and registrations yet blame law enforcement for avoidable confrontations, where drivers are so reckless they can shift from one lane to another anytime they want, where none is willing to give way, y'know, so heedless of traffic rules and signs, like they alone pay road taxes, where a passenger will see 23 people trying to enter a 14-seater van and still join in the 'boohanteh,' that's a typification of an unruly society, where anything goes, and people expect everybody to desire or despise on their behalf.
Can you see how that last sentence sounds a lot like our Gambian democracy? Are we allowing others to live as we want them to let us live? Wait, you remember how those taxi drivers at Westfield will peep all over the place for no apparent reason, perhaps for the love of the sound of their horns? See how we have amongst us those who even if they don't really have anything to say, go from post to post yapping and acting "oh, no you didn't" like shanaynay.. yuh zee mi? Jekhna tak!
Pay attention: where people want to drive without proper licenses and registrations yet blame law enforcement for avoidable confrontations, where drivers are so reckless they can shift from one lane to another anytime they want, where none is willing to give way, y'know, so heedless of traffic rules and signs, like they alone pay road taxes, where a passenger will see 23 people trying to enter a 14-seater van and still join in the 'boohanteh,' that's a typification of an unruly society, where anything goes, and people expect everybody to desire or despise on their behalf.
Can you see how that last sentence sounds a lot like our Gambian democracy? Are we allowing others to live as we want them to let us live? Wait, you remember how those taxi drivers at Westfield will peep all over the place for no apparent reason, perhaps for the love of the sound of their horns? See how we have amongst us those who even if they don't really have anything to say, go from post to post yapping and acting "oh, no you didn't" like shanaynay.. yuh zee mi? Jekhna tak!
#SenegambiaIsMine
BUT,
"Olof Njie neh bukki su yabbeh gaindeh sa dohin wa la." (If an hyena disrespects the lion, it's prob'ly because the lion wasn't evincive of his lion-like appearance, stateliness and dignity).
Same way, how the world sees Africa is up to Africa, to our self-esteem and composure. In one thought-provoking blog post that I read sometime ago, written by Malaka in January 2012, titled: "You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!" The white character referenced therein tried to illustrate why white people feel superior to the African and I take excerpt:
"The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff."
Man, perhaps because of the melanin overdose in me, I emotionalised the piece and I was so, so mad. But soon after I replaced "Lusaka" with "Senegambia" and "muzungu" with "toubab," I began to rationalise, and it all made sense.
"Olof Njie neh bukki su yabbeh gaindeh sa dohin wa la." (If an hyena disrespects the lion, it's prob'ly because the lion wasn't evincive of his lion-like appearance, stateliness and dignity).
Same way, how the world sees Africa is up to Africa, to our self-esteem and composure. In one thought-provoking blog post that I read sometime ago, written by Malaka in January 2012, titled: "You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!" The white character referenced therein tried to illustrate why white people feel superior to the African and I take excerpt:
"The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff."
Man, perhaps because of the melanin overdose in me, I emotionalised the piece and I was so, so mad. But soon after I replaced "Lusaka" with "Senegambia" and "muzungu" with "toubab," I began to rationalise, and it all made sense.
The Gambia and youth empowerment...
Granted, youth empowerment is an imperative. But the way I see some young people want to go about claiming it on social media, haral mahn ma start di save for my retirement wolahi. Ah, waw di! The 'na paayi step aside' kinda activism isn't only scary, but ruthless and mutinous.
Wye tamit ku forg neh we are going to converge somewhere in The Gambia for some 'Fongdingkeh Sembengtunyaa Bengo' (youth empowerment meeting), and perhaps have the president preside over the transference of everything (authority, control, power, and knowledge) from the elderly to the youth, you're in for a very rude awakening.
It doesn't work like that. The succession we seek is not one to be offered in a charter, nor handed on a platter, we must work towards it. And even when earned, the path will always require the wisdom of the elderly. Even Emmanuel Macron that created his and counteracted the odds has Brigitte Macron by his side, and he seeks elderly counsel.
Wye tamit ku forg neh we are going to converge somewhere in The Gambia for some 'Fongdingkeh Sembengtunyaa Bengo' (youth empowerment meeting), and perhaps have the president preside over the transference of everything (authority, control, power, and knowledge) from the elderly to the youth, you're in for a very rude awakening.
It doesn't work like that. The succession we seek is not one to be offered in a charter, nor handed on a platter, we must work towards it. And even when earned, the path will always require the wisdom of the elderly. Even Emmanuel Macron that created his and counteracted the odds has Brigitte Macron by his side, and he seeks elderly counsel.
Friday, 8 December 2017
Appreciate progress... no matter how little.
When and where something needs to be done about something and something is being done, qualitatively that is, even if that thing's not what you would've done or started with, it's only right to appreciate progress, knowing that not everything can be done at once.
'Olof Njie neh “Su don mahn”, dey yaha mbollow.' ("If it were me” destroys unison). Hold on! I'm not referring to offerors of genuine alternative propositions. I'm talking about those often logically crippled arguments that follow the typical "su don manh;" however good they may sound, I see them for what they usually are: specious, downright fallacies of relative privation.
See, if you want to dismiss my argument, Samba's complaint, or Buba's priority, it's not "by force" - you gotta come with logic, not just bringing up a case or existence of what you think is a more important thing than ours, or a problem you think's more problematic than Samba's and that's it, regardless of whether your preference is as feasible.
For instance: there were shoes to be donated, and I suggested that donating them to kids in Kunkumendy who trek eight miles to school would be awesome. And some pseudo-woke altruist was like, "hell no! Is it because you're from that region? In fact, you're talking about shoes... I'd rather we help that kid that returned from Libya a cripple after stepping on a landmine." I was like, grr...! I feel for the kid, prob'ly more than you do, but... it's shoes we're talking about. Does he need it?
'Olof Njie neh “Su don mahn”, dey yaha mbollow.' ("If it were me” destroys unison). Hold on! I'm not referring to offerors of genuine alternative propositions. I'm talking about those often logically crippled arguments that follow the typical "su don manh;" however good they may sound, I see them for what they usually are: specious, downright fallacies of relative privation.
See, if you want to dismiss my argument, Samba's complaint, or Buba's priority, it's not "by force" - you gotta come with logic, not just bringing up a case or existence of what you think is a more important thing than ours, or a problem you think's more problematic than Samba's and that's it, regardless of whether your preference is as feasible.
For instance: there were shoes to be donated, and I suggested that donating them to kids in Kunkumendy who trek eight miles to school would be awesome. And some pseudo-woke altruist was like, "hell no! Is it because you're from that region? In fact, you're talking about shoes... I'd rather we help that kid that returned from Libya a cripple after stepping on a landmine." I was like, grr...! I feel for the kid, prob'ly more than you do, but... it's shoes we're talking about. Does he need it?
Sunday, 3 December 2017
Illogical is so alluring these days...
Remember what I said about ours becoming a society where you wouldn't even make sense if you're not affluential? Scratch that!
Today, illogical is so alluring that an even easier way to catch attention than using logic or the gem of wisdom is to say what folks want to hear... however disingenuous and whatever the heck it is, let it just agree with their own reason and prejudices.
Imbecility regardless, keep your unflattering feedback to yourself and give (pseudo) kudos, and you'll be loved back, like: "aww, real wye nga!" "Belahi bro, ya bakh" - are they too being sincere? I don't know. Whether left or right-handed, 'ha' or 'hanni,' commendation has become a social obligation... and so the magnanimous animosity all over the place.
Today, illogical is so alluring that an even easier way to catch attention than using logic or the gem of wisdom is to say what folks want to hear... however disingenuous and whatever the heck it is, let it just agree with their own reason and prejudices.
Imbecility regardless, keep your unflattering feedback to yourself and give (pseudo) kudos, and you'll be loved back, like: "aww, real wye nga!" "Belahi bro, ya bakh" - are they too being sincere? I don't know. Whether left or right-handed, 'ha' or 'hanni,' commendation has become a social obligation... and so the magnanimous animosity all over the place.
December 2nd Anniversary...
Man, our president got swag, yo! It just felt kinda strange seeing a heavyweight in a lightweight shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap.
On a serious note, if we are going to continue celebrating the anniversary of every event leading to the New Gambia:
Y'know, from the December general election now known as "freedom day," to our ex-president's time-buying gimmickry dubbed the "impasse," Halifa's press conferences and celebrityship, to President Barrow's historic return from momentary-exile, Darboe and Co's release, et cetera, I suggest we identify a non-traffic non-peace disturbing venue.
God, I'm so allergic to disturbances. In fact, the only reason I'm putting up with traffic and not occupying Westfield in protest right now is the sight I behold: these ladies and their figure-flattering t-shirts, as if tailored to their body measurements, tucked into all these fine-arse ripped jeans like, Holy Moses, Gambians are beautiful!
On a serious note, if we are going to continue celebrating the anniversary of every event leading to the New Gambia:
Y'know, from the December general election now known as "freedom day," to our ex-president's time-buying gimmickry dubbed the "impasse," Halifa's press conferences and celebrityship, to President Barrow's historic return from momentary-exile, Darboe and Co's release, et cetera, I suggest we identify a non-traffic non-peace disturbing venue.
God, I'm so allergic to disturbances. In fact, the only reason I'm putting up with traffic and not occupying Westfield in protest right now is the sight I behold: these ladies and their figure-flattering t-shirts, as if tailored to their body measurements, tucked into all these fine-arse ripped jeans like, Holy Moses, Gambians are beautiful!
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