Better Living

Adapted from Living Wisdom with His Holiness The Dalai Lama (Sounds True, 2006).

Here are beautiful guidelines from His Holiness The Dalai Lama for living an ethical life. At their heart is a way to keep ourselves from harming others and to cultivate a path of virtue in the world.

“Self-interest is at the root of any intention to harm others; it is not wholesome. Therefore, a bodhisattva (a follower of the Buddhist way of life) restrains the attitude of self-interest.

What does self-interest mean? We do not talk about completely forgetting ourselves, because in order to strive for buddahood, a bodhisattva must develop strong, determined self-confidence. But we have to clearly distinguish between this and an inferior kind of self-cherishing. This can be accomplished by following the Ten Virtuous Actions”—His Holiness The Dalai Lama

• Protecting and saving life.

• Giving and not taking what is not given.

• Treating your partner respectfully—respecting your marriage vows.

• Speaking honestly.

• Speaking with the goal to bring harmony among beings.

• Speaking gently.

• Refraining from gossip.

• Being happy for others’ accomplishments.

• Being loving toward all.

• Having a view that includes karma and understands the middle way between the two extreme views of eternalism and nihilism, accompanied by the two kinds of accumulations (of merit and wisdom).

Africa Liberation Day

Apparently, last Sunday(May 25^th) was Africa Liberation Day(ALD). Not that I had any idea, because sincerely speaking, my mind was quite out of focus. I happened to hear someone commenting about it on the radio in the morning and it raised my curiosity somewhat. Now, I bet there are quite a number of us who had no clue that ALD was yesterday.

A brief history lesson:

In years gone by, the Day used to be marked officially by several governments and unofficially celebrated by many groups in Africa and the Diaspora. Now there are only scattered activities by people who have not given up on the belief that “A different Africa is possible”. It is a day of solidarity with the various struggles of African peoples for justice, equality, human dignity, freedom, unity and liberation. It was founded in 1958 (April 15) and called Africa Freedom Day, as a result of the first All African People’s conferences called by the indomitable Kwame Nkrumah. I believe Nkrumah is the foremost Pan Africanist of all times, a fact remembered and honoured by Africans world wide who voted him Greatest African of the Millennium in a BBC poll in 2000.

When the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed in Addis, May 25 1963, Africa Freedom Day became AFRICA LIBERATION DAY (ALD) as a symbol of the resolve, commitment and support of all Africa for the total decolonisation of the continent.

Now, following this brief history, I can only assume that the spirit of the conception of the ALD was ideally to celebrate Africa; her struggle for Independence from the cruel and exploitive grip of colonialism and to usher in Pan africanism – celebrating our brotherhood and sisterhood as Africans; as one.

I must admit that even if I did know that Sunday was ALD, I probably wouldn’t have cared less. You can call me a washed-out non Pan africanist but I sincerely don’t see what there is to celebrate. Come on! Has anyone been paying attention to the news of late?

And if you decide to forget the news for a moment, what about the daily grind that our lives have come to be? Seriously, what is there to celebrate as Africans? I am damn well pissed at so much! I am disenfranchised, disillusioned and debilitated!

Let me break it down for all of you:

· While Africa has remained united against apartheid and colonialism, the same cannot be surmised anymore following recent events. Take the raging xenophobic attacks that have swept through South Africa’s main cities. I wont even go into the nitty gritty details; I assume you’re all aware of the situation there. Can we really say that the sceptre of apartheid is really dead and buried? What about the post-election clashes that are usually witnessed in most countries?

· Africa has been enjoying the pleasure of sovereignty for decades now. Our forefathers and founding fathers of Africa’s nations fought tirelessly and bitterly for our emancipation. But the leaders who followed them, were busy stifling the aspirations of their own peoples for real independence and an end to neo-colonial power relations; rather than continue supporting the Liberation of Africa. What is the end result years later? The political elite are maintaining power in the various artificial states bequeathed by colonialism. Increasingly, power struggles have characterised our politics and “democracy” as we know it has become nothing but a mere façade; a laughable ideology. Consequently Africa has became more vulnerable for the cold warriors, unequal international power relations, debt crisis, food and water crisis, disease infested and so on. Cause to celebrate?

· The majority of Africa’s people live in abject poverty. Hundreds of reports and statistics place us as among the most overworked, underpaid individuals on the planet. Living on less than a dollar a day and faced with high tax rates, poor public service delivery, transport crisis, fuel shortages, bad roads and so on. The list is so long that I fear I might take the whole day on this so I’ll stop. And the minority? Think politicians and parastatal heads; swimming in cash and enjoying life at the expense of you and me – the taxpayer. Call it the classic tale of the poor getting poorer while the rich keep reeling in the dough.

· Nkrumah’s famous dictum that the independence of Ghana is meaningless without the total liberation of Africa’s is still true today and even more relevant. Well then, why is it business as usual in most parts of the continent while our comrades in former Northern Rhodesia(now Zimbabwe) suffer under the draconian rule of the mercurial “Comrade Bob?” How do we allow such dictatorship to thrive while we are well aware of the dangers of such leadership to the dream of Pan africanism?

While I could continue “breaking It down,” I feel that my point has been made. Africa still has a long way to go before we can all really bring out the champagne and caviar, and play celebratory tunes on our drums and guitars.

I’m not in a celebratory mood yet. Africa to me is still hauling a great ball and chain around – its liberation hasn’t fully arrived yet.

Work Blues

Ok, so today is a whole Saturday - ok, hardly looks like one - and Im at WORK!! Bummer...
Anyway, I felt the need to come and build the nation but it doesnt seem to be working out quite as I anticipated.

Firstly, Im sleepier than a bat during the day, my eyes just cant seem to stay open...Im thinking my eyes look like one of KJ's(man, I miss the dude's cartoons) mchoros of some blacked-out chap in some nondescript pub...

Secondly, its a Saturday...for heaven's sake, why work on Saturday? Im not even in the Service Industry! Ok, granted, we all love it when the banks are open and the Customer Service(or lack of it) centres for Safcom and all are tending to our ffickle complaints...But me? What am i doing here on this dull, cold day when I should be catching zzs and enjoying La La land?

Thirdly, Im not in the best of moods....at least not after the Crisp Clean Bites that I had jana before I dozed off. :-

Anyway, I guess I can draw inspiration from the picture above...guess I neeed more than 1 pill..probably an entire bottle...

P.S: Atwoli should seriously consider this abolishment of the 6-day working week...need a petition? I'll get you a million signatures!

Not A Part Of My life…

Yeah, well…we all have dealt with this “phenomenon” at one time or another in our somewhat twisted lives.

Check it…you go to school(high school or primary, it doesn’t matter) or campus or college. You meet up with old friends and even make new ones. Now, the great thing about institutions(of learning), is that we somehow tend to coalesce into so-called groups/circles where we feel safer and/or more capable of handling the rigours of institutionalized life.

In simpler terms, we form cliques that help us move on with life in high school or campus. I know I was inculcated into one such group; trust me, it did me a lot of good while I was struggling with the culture shock that is campus life… And this explains, as an offshoot, how basically, sororities and fraternities came to be…

Well. The amazing thing here is that whereas we tend to become so tight with our so called “sistaz” and “boyz” while in these institutions, in a couple more years, everything changes. Yes, it does…and you know it.

I thought about this the other day, and realized that out of the battalion of friends I have made over the years, I can only confess to having retained roughly….ten or so friends. And I don’t mean the sort who only remember you when they’re broke or need your “expert career savvy opinions.” No, I’m talking about the real, honest-to-goodness friends. Just ten(or less).

Seriously, when do people cease to be a part of your life? Not because of some irreconcilable differences or anything of the sort; they just cease to be.

It may seem pretty trivial but the reality is that its more of a saddening scenario. A pain.

Because when you create bonds with people you’ve studied with and grown up with together for years, and then after your tenure with each other comes to an end, they simply vanish…it leaves a lot to be desired.

Gone are the days when friendships mattered. When friends looked out for each other and made an effort to be there through thick and thin.

I look at my phone book and sigh; there’s hardly enough persons there who I can actually confess to be really close to. I have even deleted some numbers…no sense in keeping them anyways coz after all, when will I ever use them?

This here attitude is what has degenerated the once vital gift of friendship. And its very easy to lose friends, I have realised. Harder even to get them back…

Technology has also not made it any easier. In this day and age of mobile telephony and the World Wide Web, its hardly necessary to see people personally, face-to-face. No! Why bother when you can always send a quick text, IM a few pals and send several emails?

Hell, we can go whole months without seeing our once “tighter than tight” buddies and feel nothing. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about – having friends; oodles of them, has ceased to be important. Why strain ourselves with the rigours of personal relationships when we can always make new online friends?

Oh yeah, and then there’s the ever-convenient excuse of being too busy. Our careers have held us hostage; we cant find time enough o hang out with our friends as we used to.

It really stinks; this whole scenario. And I dare say, its probably going to get worse with time. People have given up on relationships; I know I have. But I’m thinking its probably never too late to mend the ribbon now, is it?

Do I know where my high school buddies and campus clique are? Hardly; they have simply moved on. Perhaps a few who I still communicate with…but the majority? Well, they have ceased to be a part of my life. Did I have anything to do with it? Absolutely! Am I willing to reel them back in? Well, only time will tell for I’m still working on my issues…