It’s been ages since I wrote something. I guess my lazy just graduated to a whole new unfathomed level. Anyway happy New Year, am guessing you’ve heard a lot of that by now.
I was in Kisumu for the celebrations and boy is it hot there. You would wish you lived in bikini bottoms if you tasted the bitterness of that heat. That aside, Kisumu is an amazing place to be, few trees but you know, you get by. The sun is so ruthless, the dust so merciless, the lake breeze is so dry makes you wanna cry. The fish is good though, fish never disappoints. Sweat comes off without warning. So watery patches under armpits isn’t a shock. Selling cold water could really make one a fortune.
But in all that, still I was able to sit down with family, have a good laugh. Visit memories we naturally would want locked in the ‘embarrassment’ label box. We teased each other. It was all good, all healthy. Like the Christmas spirit would dictate.
In one of this reminisce moments is when it all happened. The sound. It was loud and shrill. Very sharp. It grew louder and louder. It became scary. And all of us went silent for a moment. Then I decided to check it out, I mean being the only one who has kicked major ass in Call of Duty, it was only right I went. Plus I already know aliens live among us, so fear was something not on my mind.
So I went and I got near. And when I got close enough, the goat stopped making the sound. It gave me this look of desperation. The kind of look Marcellus would give Claus just before he reaps his heart out. I strategically accessed the situation and took the appropriate action to… what am I saying!. I helped the goat off the stuck leg and it ran off. I don’t speak goat but if I did, am pretty sure I would have heard it say, thank you sir, you’re my hero. Point?
It’s been a week already into the new year and so far so good. People being creative as ever, making ridicule to the first month of the year. And here I am already getting my lessons handed to me. The goat was making sounds (am not gonna use the word bleat, great now I just did) because it was in pain, it was stuck, it needed help, it needed attention. Am so sure if I walked away, It would have continued making the noise and I would be so irritated and eventually pushed to give aid either way. The goat was going to get free no matter what, and that was its whole plan.
Now most us, unlike the goat keep quiet and suffer with silence. We hurt but don’t say. In our twisted mind we think it’s nobble not to cry for help. We think we are saints… am all about sainthood but suffering when you don’t have to? Doesn’t cut it.
The bible says ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find…, in that wisdom I say, cry out loud and you shall be assisted. Cry so much that if no one is willing to help you, annoyance forces them to do so.
I have his guy who I respect so much and frankly look up to. Both spiritually and even normally. In fact if I was asked the people I think would make heaven, he would top the list. This guy knows the bible so well I always believe he has read it all, even though he denies it. Now this guy, let’s call him Double A, he would watch you struggle, even suffer and he wouldn’t lay a finger. At first I thought he was the worst but I understood him.
It’s not his biblical stand but just a personal thing. Once I asked him, “Now why would you watch me struggle when you can help?” he said “You didn’t ask for my help”. That shut me up.
I believe in the power of asking, always. Be it asking from a fellow human being or even God. It’s not enough to assume that you will get something from someone by virtue of either this or that. Or worse still, to assume that someone wouldn’t dare help you no matter what. I say give someone the chance to at least say no to you, (something you should never accept!).
It doesn’t apply on hurt only. You might just need help anyhow. Or a favor, or consideration.
Ask that landlord to give you some time. Ask your boss to give to time off. Ask that matatu driver to take it easy on wheels. Ask your neighbor to turn the volume down or better, to share the Wi-Fi password. Ask that girl out on a date, she might just be into you after all. Ask your friends to buy you something for your birthday, not just posting ‘hbd’ or worse ‘happy born day’. Ask the waitress to give you ‘sauce’…ask away!
But most importantly ask wisely with reasonable wants. Have a good reason for asking. And if your pride is the size of an elephant to ask a fellow man, then ask God. Ask God for assistance. At least that way you don’t get to do it alone.
It’s not a crime nor a sin to ask.
With that, now I would like to ask you who is reading this….Please be nice this 2017. It doesn’t physically hurt.
Again, Happy new year.
Captain Babosa 