It's been an eventful two weeks for me personally and the world in general. Nipsey Hussle was gunned down and as a result the good works that he has done have elevated him to an icon. (I was gonna make a pun about an icon (not) living but it's too soon, right?)
Anyway, so first thing I learned that I didn't know before is that he was Eritrean-American. And of course my extremely biased ass was like, "Hmm, that explains it."
And when I say it explains "It" I'm not trying to perpetuate the narrative that Africans are better than African Americans that somehow proliferates on twitter - and I think is a product of the same insecurity I am about to talk about - I simply mean that it makes a difference when you know who you are.
I'm not just pulling facts out of my ass you know? According to his bio, when he went to Eritrea, he came back a changed man; because he went home. Where he wasn't less than or different or to be feared. He was just one of the whole. He stepped his feet in the soil of his homeland, and he looked around and probably thought, "Oh, so that's where I get that." or "Damn, these people actually feel invested in their own well-being and development from the highest level of government."
It gave me a glimpse maybe of why so many disenfranchised join gangs. It's because gangs are their governments, their structure of society. Gangs are the thing which are supposed to ensure their well-being and development. If you don't belong in a gang, you're out here alone and the biggest gang in the world - the police - has a target on your back.
It sounds so dramatic and yet it's people's daily reality.
Imagine a man dying bringing so much understanding to some random human miles and miles away from them. Isn't that amazing?
When Lauren London's kid said at the funeral that Ermias came to him in a dream and showed him paradise, I felt that, I was triggered, I remembered when my mother came to me, and my sister. When my cousin came to my sister. Always with the same subliminal message. "All is well. Be happy."
Other bad things that brought good realizations to me, personally was the death of a medical student in Eldoret, Kenya. She was coming out of the hospital where she was interning when a man who she had known since childhood and who had been stalking her, cut her with an ax.
Immediately, the Kenyan men brigade known as mafisi (hyenas) were out in full defense of the guy with all sorts of rumors like she infected him with HIV.
Now even though that is CATEGORICALLY NOT TRUE, it would not have mattered if it was because there is no excuse for murder. It just makes me so sad that that has to be stated. I personally have heard so many stories of men infecting their partners (both male and female) with HIV, knowingly, and still expecting especially the women to not only stay with them, but when they get sick, this woman is supposed to look after them.
No one sees a problem with that.
But God forbid that a woman infects a man with HIV, why, that's an absolutely legitimate excuse to murder them! I don't know what level of self-absorption this is but its super mind-blowing to me. However, there were a lot of men who pushed back and said "shut up and sit down, yes we are trash. We are trash because we immediately defend such behavior instead of condemning it."
And so for once, it was possible to separate wheat from chaff just by reading these views. I was happy to see that all the men on my twitter timeline were on the right side of history, however I need to unfriend a few people on Facebook.
My phone got stolen two days ago. Not my smartphone, the other one I use for mpesa and bank SIM. I was kind of not sad because I hated that phone but it was basically my wallet so yeah, panic. On one hand I was like, if they stole that basic phone they must really have needed either money or a phone. I don't see that they can resell it for much so I assume they really needed a phone. So I was like, godspeed to them if they do. (yes that thought boggled me with it's generosity too) but of course I immediately called customer care to block my SIM and then went to bed in despair because I knew that I would need to leave the house during the day (it's hot AF) so I could go to the bank, cancel my bank SIM, get a new SIM card and possibly a new phone. FOR ONCE, I actually had a little cash money on me, enough to get me to the bank. Which was the first great thing.
Next great thing, money had matured from a job so I was actually flush with cash. Only I could not send it to myself until 1. I got a new SIM card and/or 2. I blocked my bank SIM so that if someone was trying to break into my bank account, they would not be able to withdraw the money.
So, I actually sat at my writing desk for ten minutes, debating whether or not to carry my rather heavy laptop with me to the bank or just pray that I had enough in my account to cover the cost of everything including a new phone or...my head was going round in circles.
In the end I decided to leave it.
As I'm getting my handbag, my hand goes to the big one in which the laptop can fit and picks up the laptop and puts it in the bag.
I'm like, "Oh. So I
am carrying the laptop?"
I decided that since instinct wanted to take over I was going to sit back and not try to influence any decisions. I ended up having such a smooth day. I felt so free and floaty just following my instinct on everything, no conscious thought, one thing just led to another. I ended up at the cinema watching Captain Marvel instead of Us like I've been planning to for three weeks. Imagine my delight at realizing my fave supermarket had moved into the same mall as the movie theatre.
Basically it was a capital day. And I think I'm gonna live like that from now on. No forcing things, just going with the flow. Will Smith enforced the message by talking about the conscious decision to stop being militant and let things happen when they will. I was like "Yaas brother, preach it!"
There really is always a silver lining guys. Stay woke.
Today my neighbor told me a story about a girl who committed suicide. She lives on a close by lane and had been having trouble with college. Well, when she came home and was withdrawn, her parents decided to have a pastor pray for her computer and her....
You know because
obviously that is going to improve her grades.+
So by Tuesday she was not answering her phone and by Thursday her mother was worried and sent people to check on her. She had hanged herself in her dwelling.
Guys?
Can the silver lining of this story be that you cannot pray away depression? Can we internalize that? We are experiencing an epidemic of suicide because we don't take depression seriously.
As a result of this story of course I called my son right away to make sure he's still depression-free and he gave me an update on a girl friend of his who had threatened suicide last week because her boyfriend was not willing to take responsibility for her pregnancy. While he hasn't set eyes on her for a few days he says he's sure she's still alive because she moved in with said boyfriend. So he's still coming to college...but she's not. I'm betting her parents don't know squat.
So the silver lining for this part of the story is; be present in your children's lives please whether they are living in your house or not. So many parents have no clue about the inner life of their children.
