I have to say that I have had deep suspicion about wishing my friends a happy new year. I wished very few, if any, happy holidays or happy new year this year. Not that I wish anyone any harm, disappointment or sadness. But as I grow old, I am experiencing an overwhelming desire to live an honest life.
Having done my fair share of living lies, travelling and reading, I have come to the conclusion that as an African man, I have about four major options I can take.
One of the most common and attractive is to be a dreamer. This option is closely related to the religious path. You believe not in the things as you wish them to be. You take the angle that even though bad things are happening all around you, those conditions are ephemeral. You see yourself as transcending that reality and on your way to greater things. You get so sucked into the unreal that it affects everything you do. You even demand that others recognize and respect your imagined reality. It is even possible to feel pity on others who fail to join you in your imagined reality. As more and more people join that imagined reality that benefits just a few, the force that trumps reality over imagined reality tends to be the norm.
The second option is join the dysfunctional, dehumanizing and exploitative system at a small cost of selling your soul. That means that you follow the simple goal of maximizing your profits regardless of what damage you cause to the community, environment or political system. You attend the recommended school and engage your time in the preferred studies that an exploitative system needs to survive. You are handsomely rewarded, even as your work continues to destabilise mankind. You are now in a position to buy a lot of useless toys that soothes your conscience for the harm you causes.
The third option is to be addicted to the substances that the sick system produces to keep the matrix going. From fashion to alcohol , music, to drugs and sports. All the above are distractions
The fourth is to fight for what is our true nature: freedom. You learn that there are no shortcuts in life. Each of the ways above comes at cost. Running away from the truth means running for life. The only sure way is fighting for what is real, whatever the cost.
Please save the praise and worship stories here. I am not looking for a blessing, you can't write me a check if you have no money in the bank.
It's for that reason I ask my friends not to wish blessing on me, that comes only from your parents. Any other blessing has to be something tangible. Bless me with a book, money, food or truth. But not by promising me that some higher force will act upon your command and do your bidding to solve my problems. That higher force must be very mediocre to have allowed me to suffer just because your important self had not showed up to put the final signature so that my blessings can be released.
The above scam has been played on human beings long than I care to remember. A being that loves a cheerful giver, yet that deity owns everything in this world and beyond. I am reminded here of the lord's storehouse with is overflowing with goodies. This not particularly an attractive preposition in light of all the suffering around me. But again, maybe I live in the wrong side of town where the good master just hasn't had time to attend to.
That deal or arrangement is too one sided. Whichever jury or council that agreed to that arrangement must have been high of some holy shit. Who can sign on to warped deal like that?
I give at least ten percent for what? An SGR rail built by the Chinese is the most expensive project and even that did not cost that much. What I received during my days of tithing was, well, what I already had. I continue to receive it in abundance even after I directed that portion of my income to earthly endeavours. The tithes therefore was just like a goodwill or bribe for a nonexistent business.
What is worth remembering is that I have to be out of my mind to think that a group of people can be dehumanised for over a thousand years from Arab slavery, to European slavery, colonialism, neo colonialism and neoliberalism and still be normal. No apologies, no reparations and debriefing.
If in doubt, read about the Dutch winter Hunger. It explains what starving pregnant Dutch in their third trimester by Nazi soldiers affected the rates of obesity of their children 50 years later. If three months starvation by mothers was enough to change the brains of the children fifty years later, what about Africans?
You can pay 10% of your income to run away from your demons or you can pay yourself to learn and slay the demons.
This is my reality and yours, it know no new day or blessed day. I matter not if it's your birthday or that of anyone else.
Accept your reality. I have accepted mine and work according to change what I can. In the meantime, eat well, free your time and do your best to know what is in your best interest. Those interests are the causes of war in the world. Jump off the donkey of ignorance, even if you have to fall and bruise your body. I can tell you that it's far better to walk to Freedom than to ride a stupid donkey to mental slavery.
And that is what I wish each and everyone not only on this day but every single day.