Be supportive or forever zip it....

When someone is in pursuit of something, but calling all the wrong shots, and you know it, or perhaps heading in the direction of failure, or towards a certain disaster that you saw coming his way, as common a tendency as it is ayard, waiting until he fails, only to say "Hamohn na koh" (I knew it) is really eff'd up.

If you couldn't have spoken your piece when it was sufficiently early, the best is to be consoling or forever hold your peace; that's the most honourable thing to do under the circumstances, if you care that is. Sometimes it is better never than late to counsel people against their faults and oversights, especially when they're already sorrowful about what has been lost or done.

The painfully desirous colleague...

Then you have this overeager amateur of a colleague at work who tries to emulate everything you do. You're there thinking you're just being a role model, and that of course is a great thing.

You opened up to him, trying to make him the kind of guy he wants to be, but he took your mission for a competition, a secret rivalry that you don't even know about, and you probably wouldn't know until he stabs you in the back, anxious to please or impress the boss so much that he starts to usurp the things you should've done, and even those things that you wouldn't dare do.

If you find out and wondering what to do, do nothing; trust me, a little learning can be so dangerous for someone that is so desperate to learn the ropes. Let him find out how hard it is to step into your shoes by allowing him to fiddle with his newfound personality while he burns his feet.

Things take time...

"Everything in life just takes time. We got to wait on it..." See, even tattooed eye Alkaline can see that the most natural and lasting things happen in the fullness of time.

So screw all those "time is not on your side" forecasts, because times are still young, and so are you. Why are you in such a big hurry when you haven't even made all your mistakes yet? Haven't you heard "more haste, less speed"? That's right, haste makes waste. I don't mind you riding on the fast lane, but make sure you have a good dashboard. By that I mean be cautious when the pace of what you're dying to be is very rapid; it may grind to a halt.

Are you truly powerful?

Growing up, I thought strength was all about using physical force to impose or influence, up to the extent of depriving others of their exercise of free will. Like that intimidating Hercules looking unseemly neighbourhood gangster; one who can deliberately spank your girlfriend's behind just so he can whoop your arse and disgrace you.

Soon as I became older, and seeing how it usually ends up with such bullies, I realised that strength is just a thing of will, as in how well you're able to have control over your emotions, your desires, impulses and actions, despite the muscle and clout to do otherwise, knowing that nothing is nicer than not having everyone having a bone or two to pick with you.

In fact, I figured that if capability or influence was the ultimate result of physical strength, all of today's puny looking CEOs would've been nothing more than sycophantic followers, errand boys and menial task takers.

Lureky... a new word!

I think I may have coined another new word. Actually, a portmanteau of the verb ‘lure’ and the adjective ‘lucky.’

LUREKY

/l(j)ʊə ki/

To be attracted into a course of action, mostly pleasant and resulting from pure good luck; for instance: I had a lureky time last weekend. I was on the beach for a breath of fresh air, and this itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny polka-dotted-panty wearing empress asked me to help her rubdown her back with sun cream.

If you’re just following me, I can’t go back to my archives right now, but I guess my last new word was 'Yahademic' (Wolof word ‘yaha’ and the English word ‘academic’):

YAHADEMIC

/yahə’dɛmɪk/

A person who after all the money and sweat invested in his or her education is finally declared learned. And soon after all the excitement from family and friends, he or she chooses to return to regular mindset. You know, of everyone blaming everyone but doing nothing different from the same desperate hunt for convenience and distinction and in a conduct similar to what the Thirteenth Amendment abolished a long time ago

Be Grateful...Say Alhamdulillah (الحمد لله)!

Remember when the struggle was truly real, when you had to ride to class by hitching and jumping on the back of speeding trucks, when saving was more important to you than safety, especially when the school bus was gone and you were as broke as my fridge. Remember when you had to wear a pair of EWING 33s for two years, and you weren’t the first user. 

Remember those days when ‘lahass’ soup from the Berber’s Dibiterie (grilled meat joint) was the best treat you can get, when owning one of Nokia’s 3000 series mobile phones was the bomb. Remember when you became a hardship-induced Top Shotta, and said you had no interest in wheeling girls, because in your head, those chicks of your wet dreams won't give you the time of day.

Today you've gotten through all those unpleasant situations; you’re moneyed now. You got a high-paying job and lead an affluent lifestyle. You have an outdoor fireplace for weekend barbecues. You celebrate your birthdays in the club. I was even told that the Bimma you ride is somewhat customised? But you still think your level of economic productivity and sophistication is not enough to be grateful for?

Say: Alhamdulillah (الحمد لله)

There is no perfect relationship....

Your dream boo boo, call it Prince Charming or Cinderella, as in that handsome or beautiful and romantic person of your drool is just a fictional character. You can only see him or her in your mind's eye as that perfect partner for you, but he or she will always be out of your reach because Prince Charming and Cinderella do not exist.

Sometimes you need to understand that you cannot change a person by denying his or her defects. You just have to accept the one you have, with all his or her flaws and oddness, just as you'll love to be accepted with all your weaknesses, knowing that at the end of the day, what matters is how euphoric you’re made to feel. 

A perfect relationship will require two flawless individuals, and flawlessness in reality is not a familiar territory for humans. So all you need is a normal relationship, one in which you’ll argue, fight and even stop talking to each other, but you’ll always be able go out there and put of a cosmetic act like normal couples do.