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Venting out

I had a hectic but rewarding week. Phew! I am glad that the dust is nearly settling. Question then is: what happens next? As I got told yesterday, the paranoia phase is next!

But is it really paranoia when one happens to believe that the war is not over? In my books that makes me a realist but if others label it as paranoia, so be it! Yes I may be young but not as young as I was yesterday. Therefore, I can’t also be labeled as myopic! I know the change that I so desire might not happen in my life time, but this can’t be an excuse for me to assume that the war is over!

The war is still on and action is needed to sustain the momentum of change! For me, to fail to take action is to deny my own humanity. I refuse to standby and watch others suffer and say it is not my business or I know not the person suffering. I refuse because I do understand that it might be me tomorrow suffering; and frankly I wouldn’t want people to pass by and say: ag shame! Yes, I do appreciate that taking action means I might discover that I was wrong. But I believe for me that would simply be a case of being right even when I am wrong –because while the action could have been wrong, it would have been right for me to act.

So despite and inspite standing the chance of being wrong, I will act according to my own convictions because as one of my late uncles once said: “Motho oa ‘ne a hate masepa a ntse a shebile”! Translated, a person can step on sh@t whilst looking!

Therefore, all I can ever pray for is to remember why it is the meek who stand to inherit the world, so that when I do act, my action will allow me to see the next day. And who knows? That could be the day I declare change of heart or actually inherit the earth!

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All that I am

Church yesterday was filled (not to capacity) with young men from St Andrews’ College. It was truly a treat! One hymn that still plays in my mind this morning is ‘all that I am’. I think I was taken to another level of worship that made me believe that all the twenty tenors due to perform as part of the world cup festivities were in church… the singing was really that good and of course the lyrics themselves were profound. I cannot capture the voices in writing but the lyrics I can! Here are the lyrics:

ALL THAT I AM I lay before You;
All I possess, Lord, I confess
Is nothing without You.
Saviour and King, I now enthrone You;
Take my life, my living sacrifice to You.

Lord, be the strength within my weakness;
Be the supply in every need,
That I may prove Your promises to me,
Faithful and true in word and deed.

Into Your hands I place the future;
The past is nailed to Calvary,
That I may live in resurrection power,
No longer I but Christ in me.

James Wright
Copyright © 1994 Thankyou Music

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Cancer blessing or curse

Today I ask myself whether being predisposed to having cancer is a blessing or a curse? Personally, I think it is a blessing but I have those who disagree with this point of view. The side-effects of treatment can be cruelling that much I agree on! But there is also the rallying together of family and friends; the opportunity to reflect on the important things in life; and the unexpected smile or laughter that may come even seconds after shedding a tear. All these to me are the cancer blessings!

One of my aunts got a cancer scare and while some were devastated. I wasn’t because I remembered all the blessings that came with the journey. I remembered for example laughing so hard after my mother finally woke up after her mastectomy. An hour long surgery that lasted over 4 hours because it was not possible to wake her up. Once she woke up, she claimed she had hopose (hops) ! Now that made me laugh and in just that one laugh, all else didn’t matter – the tears shed or whatever else that was happening around me. In just that moment I appreciated the gift of laughter and smiling.

And I guess in that moment of appreciation I began to realise that blessings indeed exist in every situation. The trick however is to learn how to notice them. I know this is not easy but I hope with each day we make it a point to count our blessings. Blessings to all!

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Happy Moshoeshoe’s Day!

Given that Moshoeshoe’s day commemorates death, it may sound a little strange when I say: happy Moshoeshoes’ day! The truth however is that for Moshoeshoe I, death was like a gift. As I have suggested before (in this post), Moshoeshoe I understood that it is in death that he will be able to finally meet and thank his Creator and his ancestors (Molimo le balimo ba hae, as Basotho would put it ;-)) for guiding him in his journey. A journey in which he became the great leader that he yearned to be as a young man! For this reason, death was truly a gift to him, for his dreams did come true and all he needed was to express his gratitude.

I suppose when one fails to view life as a gift, it may be a bit difficult to see why death itself is a gift. Today as we celebrate Moshoeshoe’s day, it is therefore my wish that all will be inspired to live a life in which in death one will find joy and celebrate the transition to the next life. So, happy Moshoeshoe’s day! And lets remember that one day we too shall die — memento mori, memento mori!

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Last Steps of the Journey: Part III

I realise that other bits of the journey have been left out but it doesn’t really mean that they didn’t happen! I am still trying to tie loose ends in writing everything down. This part of the journey is comparable to surfing except sometimes it doesn’t feel like one is on water. It feels like one is surfing on land and at other times on fire! It is truly an incredible experience with rewarding and less rewarding days…but I guess it is all part of the journey.

Now let me return to the reading, writing and deleting of things 🙂 .

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Oozing gratitude from the shavathon event

The Hamilton building united together to raise funds for the Cancer Association of South Africa. A good day to remember that there are so many good causes out there for which we can all make a difference. And also a good day for one to remember to be grateful about ones health and all other blessings bestowed upon them.

Personally, I am thankful in that I am born without any disabilities from a family of ‘substantial’ intellect (in a sense that many in my family have a university degree and believe with great conviction that education is the key to opening many doors of opportunity). As a result, I am what one would call middle class and I am fortunate to not know how it feels to worry about the next meal. For this, I am grateful because we have many people dying of poverty and many of us in the middle class category often forget to acknowledge how blessed we are. Yes we might not have the wealth of the few in the rich category class but we in the middle class are in a good position to be generous! And this is what today was about in Hamilton, we remembered that we were blessed and can contribute something for a good cause. So we made donations and shaved our heads and/or sprayed our hair in fun colours.

I am too attached to my hair to shave it but I did participate in the fun! I went all white and I am loving it 😉 . I thought I would feel self-conscious and uncomfortable but as I walk the streets I feel totally inspired! In part because I know I am going to look HOT in grey one day!

Ok, I derailed a bit but to finish off this posting, I would like to quote Eric Hoffer who said:

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

I have started counting mine … hope you all start counting yours in order to gain perspective and be grateful about whatever blessings you may have .

Peace and love to all!

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A measure for functional illiteracy

I always marvel at how many literate people actually qualify as functionally illiterate in my books. After marvelling for a long time, I think I have finally found a litmus test for determining who qualifies as functionally illiterate in South Africa.

My test is very simple! But to many organisations that understand the value of having front-end staff that is literate enough to understand that first impressions last and contribute to the overall reputation of the organisation, the test can prove to be as good as sliced bread.

This simple test is about spelling my name. If I tell a person that my name is Mathematics without the matics and my surname is Malema without the l and the person still requires me to spell my full name out, then my conclusion is the person is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (fill in the missing word or phrases 😉 .)

To all who may be interested in me helping them to weed out such people in their organisations, just ask me to call your office and leave a message for you. There will only be a small fee attached to it but consider it an investment of sort. First you get to know a little bit more about the person who would have answered the call. Secondly, you get to help cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit of a young beautiful person, named: Mathe Maema !

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Reacquinted with David Bullard

Well I suppose my rants are not in vain 🙂 . Got an sms from a friend with a link to a website called Richmark Sentinel. There I got reacquainted with David Bullard. So much entertainment for me…yeah for Mathe!!!

If anyone is a fan of entertaining writing that occasionally makes ones blood boil (with excitement, anger, etc.) visit the website. Further, feel free to consider yourself a person I can dine and wine with, anytime and anywhere 😉 !

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