Random Quote

I was walking past a few men huddled in a corner when i heard one of them say:

…Try to find the good even in the bad

My ears caught it and it never left me from that day on. On the way home, it was all I thought about – how could you find good in the bad. If it is already bad, how could something possess some goodness?

But then upon closer scrutiny one realizes that there might be a good in the bad – as the terms “good” and “bad” only signify goodness and badness of something based upon the perception of the person who deems it good or bad. Another person might perceive differently, of course, and see some good in the bad and some bad in the good or negate both. Does this make sense? It’s like the word “beautiful” – what might be beautiful to one might be ugly to another and vice versa! it is only relative in what context it is said in and the sentiments – how passionate the person feels about the object of his perception.

Have you come across certain words that you’ve heard quite randomly, yet made you think though they did not concern you at all?

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Right & Wrong

As the children went to assembly, I retained D, a young black child, behind to help him with his Maths as he was struggling a bit with it. On the course of the 15-minute session, as we went through multiplication by chunking, we discussed a whole range of topics from his favourite football team, to his favourite film, to what he did on the weekend, to cartoons, etc. And then an unusual subject cropped up:

“I’ll get you a DVD, Mr Said, what film do you want? He said.
“Isn’t it a little expensive, D? I replied thinking how he could get hold of one.
“No, I’ll get you a pirate one,” came back a casual answer
“You watch Pirate DVD’s? You know it’s illegal right D?

He laughs.
Pause.
Laughs again.

“I once stole a DVD from the China-man,” he says with a smile
“You stole a DVD? How?”
“I was looking at it and the Police came after him, so I put it in my bag”
“And you went home and watched it?”
“Yeah”
“What did your mom say? Would she allow you to watch it if she knew you stole it from the China-man?”
“She knows I stole it. She helped me steal it”
“What? I say surprised, “your mom helped you steal a DVD?”
“Yeah, we ran and the bus was there and we pretended to be running for the bus and we went home”
“So you think it’s alright to steal, D?”
He shrugs his shoulders, turns towards me, and smiles
“I don’t know”

He is right. How could he, at 9 years old, contradict his mother decision and discern that the actions she approves of are wrong? And could I tell him that stealing is wrong?

A mother is the child’s first teacher, his first insitution where he learns almost everything there is to learn about life. He soon will start to imitate her actions and this lays a rigid foundation for everything he undertakes later on in life. Would he take it from me then, when, at home, his parents consent to such behaviour? Most black parents are very strict with their children and teach them enough discipline to distinguish whats right from wrong from an early age, but the few that condone such beahviour tarnish the reputation for many good black parents.

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British Media: The Politics of Skin Colour

I attended the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Black Members Council (BMC) conference today and learnt of some staggering issues regarding the Media. For all those Black and Ethnic Minority Journalism hopefuls, be warned, a bumpy ride awaits you my friends, so be ready!

There is no one Black person that manages or has a senior position in any of the national newspapers and Television in the UK – even the BBC, which seems to be the best portrayal of Ethnic Minority in the Media. Most of these companies are owned by middle-ages white men with very rigid ideas as to what they want to see on their TV and whom they want to be represented by.

Today, you are more likely to see black people on National Television (as news reporters, presenters, etc) than ten years ago, but have you thought why? Traditionally, black people were in the backroom. For example, if you go to a hotel, you will always find a beautiful white woman sitting at the reception to welcome the visitors, and where are the black people – always in the kitchen. So why has this changed now? Why are black people all of a sudden appearing on National Television screens as the faces of major news channels despite the fact that they hold no managerial positions? The answer is simple – Because they are there simply for decoration purposes.

Black people, after coming across hundreds of hurdles, rigorous job interviews, and endless hours of fetching tea and biscuits for their senior white editors, might faintly have a chance of being employed by a National newspaper (if they are lucky). And once employed by a newspaper or a Television, retention rates are very, very low and there is absolutely no chance for progression. Management is always the specialty of a White, Middle-class, Oxbridge-educated male. You won’t find black people in roles where decision making is required or to represent a National Newspaper! They don’t mind having black people as long as they are not too many and are doing subordinate roles.

The prime reason the Media employ black and Ethnic Minority journalists is solely to ‘show’ the powers that be that they are recruiting on fair grounds and are fully aware of the Discrimination Laws, and, of course, to re-assure the Ethnic Minority that there is a voice for them in the Media. However, whether the black people in the media represent the voice of the Ethnic Minority groups they were born into or not is still a bone for contention.

Which left me wondering, is it that Black people are not “British enough” to represent or manage a British newspaper, for I have nothing else to think of that could be deemed rational in the light of these findings. But whatever the reasons are for such domination of the Media by the white-middle-class-males, it is not something that will be easily ended soon I believe!

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Mogadishu Massacres

As Somalia plunges further into an abyss of darkness with the spate of daily mortar attacks and shelling, one can only question what the “government”, that was established with the support of Ethiopian and US forces, has done to stabilize, reconcile the differences of the people and exhume the country from the grave.

With more and more rockets pounding the capital, the cause of this deadly violence is pretty clear – at least to us, if not to the world that chooses to close its eyes over this obvious transgression. It is not because of remnants of the Union of Islamic Courts why Mogadishu is in such a debacle, it is the Ethiopia soldiers who keep carrying out their indiscriminate attacks on largely civilian populated areas of the capital and the lackeys who carry the banner for them.

So where are the vassals that we have for a government and what have they done so far? A Government should have the power to make and enforce laws and administrate over an area, can they honestly say that they have an authority anywhere in Somalia? With little power (due to the presence of Ethiopian artillery) and no support at all, the Transitional Federal government is now simply a transitional government and many people are just waiting to see the back of it, for they doubt that it will last long.

The UN and US can instil their lackeys as government figures and support them endlessly with their money and weapons, but will they be accepted by the Somalis?

With the peacekeeping forces on their way, as authorized by the UN, the Somalia that the world envisages is significantly dissimilar to the one Somalis have in mind – based on the appearance of the situation, a bumpy road lies ahead as far as the eye can see!

As for the UN, the famous Abwaan Yamyam, May Allah rest his soul in peace, once said:

Waxa faqriga keena UNka
Waxay jecelyihiin colka
Waxay necebyihiin khayrka
Waxay abaabulaan shirarka
Waxay dabraan heshiiska
Waxayna rabaan khilaafka
Wax dan ah kama laha xishoodka
Afkoodu ka weyn duleelka
Dhurwaa liqi kara dameerka!

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Intelligence

We often hear ourselves say, “oh, he is really intelligent” when they get better marks than the rest of their classmates. But are they really intelligent or simply revised more? What is intelligence anyways? We often hear people mention it everyday, yet very few have a precise meaning as to what it is?

If intelligence is knowledge and the ability with which to learn this knowledge and comprehend it, then every human being has the capacity of becoming an intelligent individual

If intelligence is the ability to comprehend and learn from one’s experience, then since every human being, at one point in their lifetime or another, face unfavourable experiences or something negative, and learns from his experience then by all means we can say that every human being is intelligent. They have learned from their experience

If intelligence is simply a matter of great thinking skill, then this too can be acquired with a little practice

If intelligence is the ability to cram books into ones head and produce them with great accuracy from the memory, then this too can be done without much hassle and a few sleepless nights

If intelligence is the ability to cope with different situations in life’s and adapt to them with vigilance and astuteness, then again this is to do with life’s experiences and one can learn from them. The more he experiences, the more he learns

So why do we say that some people are intelligent whilst others aren’t?

To hell with the intellectuals, everyone is intelligent – we just need to utilise our brain more efficiently that’s all! The more you take what life throws at you, the more you learn from the experiences, the more intelligent you becomes. Simple!

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On Smells

I was reading a selection of Montaigne’s work extracted from The Complete Essays and stumbled upon the subject of Smell

The best characteristics we can hope for is to smell of nothing. The sweetness of the purest breath consists in nothing more excellent than to be without any offensive smell, as the breath of healthy children. That is why Plautus said

Mulier tum bene olet, ubi nihil olet.
A woman smells nice, when she of nothing smells.

And when people give off nice odours which are not their own we may rightly suspect them, and conclude that they use them to smother some natural stench. That is what gives rise to those adages of the encient poets which claim that a man who smells nice in fact stinks:

Rides nos, Coracine, nil olentes,
Malo quam bene olere, nil oleres.
You laugh at us Coracinus, because we emit no smell: I would rather smell of nothing than smell sweetly.

And again:

Posthume, non bene olet, qui bene semper olet.
A man who always smells nice, Posthumus, actually stinks.

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Ephemeral Pleasures

Though soothing a sight the sunsets may be
And the ocean’s silence – a solace for the sore sight
Slumberous, still, and wading birds waddle with delight
As calm waves kiss the sandy shores and leave their trail
But soon that turns to turmoil, come the tempest overnight

Though magnificent the moon may be
Dazzling In the distant enchanted land
A visual feast, so hypnotic and grand
As the Nightingale its mesmeric melody sings
But all soon wanes once the sun takes command

Though delighted once a person may be
Possessed by the gaiety that fills his air
Without much dread and less for care
But when it comes the time to grieve
Soon all his efforts turn into despair

Though now willowy, at the peak of your prime
And many marvel at your graceful manoeuvre
And pompous gait and gloat, too busy to discover
That covertly it creeps and calamity will befall
Alas! The infamy of age and all will be over

Though steadily fleeting with time,
Your profound beauty remains
As pure as white, as heaven ordains
Like a Lilly that gently floats
Atop the placid pond it reigns

Though in its full blossom and ripeness
Your sight is but a pleasure the eye
Even to the larks that twitter in the sky
But like an ocean of bluebells in May
Soon that fades come the month of July

So bask yourself in its rays while it lasts
And live and laugh at your life’s height
For even one kissed by the summer’s light
Though becomes merry for a time prescribed
Surely awaits seasons of mist and wintery a night

Go ahead, my dear, and rejoice while you can
And fragrant wreaths and garlands make
For even the flowers that opened at daybreak
Too become dreary and dull at the dawn of dusk
As darkness from their petals all glory does shake

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Peacekeeping mission

The African union peace keeping initiative is underway. In a few weeks’ time, on a peace-keeping mission. Ugandan troops will be entering Somalia

The 1,500 Ugandan troops are to be deployed in the capital city only, where they believe they can secure it and stand their ground. They are fully prepared for this mission they say, but I doubt they will make much of difference. For all their worth, they will start violent clashes with the residents and use heavy artillery. And for an army that
uses Helicopter gunships to annihilate their herdsmen tribes and isndiscriminately kill women and children, this possibility is very likely.

And that’s chiefly why I believe that the AU peacekeeping initiative is likely to backfire. Brute force will never solve anything. Furthermore, those oppossed to the Transitional federal Government will see the deployment of African troops as an external force, rather than a peacekeeping force. And with so many Somalis oppossed to the TFG, a greater form of violence will be witnessed in the capital, than previously seen.

For the past weeks there have been daily mortar attacks and bloodshed in the capital, further debilitating the weak government. Other countries that have also pledged troops include Nigeria, Burundi, Ghana and Malawi, but whether their troops will be sent or not is another matter.

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Understanding women

I once fell out with a good friend of mine because I called her stupid. That’s it, stupid. I found it somewhat ridiculous that anyone would be upset by such a word, which is used very loosely. I was baffled and resorted to the usual “such is a woman’s heightened level of sensitivity” attitude, but I believe that it was more than just the word that annoyed her.

It was I perhaps, and the word stupid, which I uttered carelessly as I often do, was used as a mechanism to “instigate” a squabble. I couldn’t understand it and dismissed it at the time as something insignificant, but later I tried hard to figure out why and how it came to such a situation after several years of friendship and couldn’t. All I was left with was that I believed it to be an intense emotional need for drama – nothing else. It has happened on several occasions after that too, quarrelling about trivial things such as “why didn’t you return my calls?” “Your just like every other man”, and so on and so forth. This led me to question, are women in constant need for such drama in their lives, or am I misjudging things here?

To be honest I do not worry my mind trying to figure out why women do certain things at times, because I believe would be of no benefit to me and to them. Many times, though, I tried to offer advice to several female friends of mine who at the time sought it, and in most cases all I could do was have some sort of sympathy towards them but nothing more. How could you empathize with someone when you don’t understand their problems and are not au fait with their habits. And then they become upset and say ridiculous things such as “You don’t care do you?” I even sometimes think that women perceive things somewhat differently than they originally see them and even process them in another way in their minds.

Probably they are not even looking for any advice but merely need someone to share their melancholic tales with, or perhaps they just feel obliged to get the weight off their chest, or maybe they don’t even need to solve the problem but need to experience it once again by invoking it, I don’t know! Though I do show sympathy to their feelings, and reassure them, I cannot say I understand them, nor am I trying to. But I love observing them. It always gives me great pleasure to see how they react to different situations. I often utter ridiculous words myself at times and come up with absurd theories as to why women behave this way – just to see how they react! Priceless pleasure, I say

On a lighter note, a joke I read somewhere stated “there was only one man who finally understood women, but he died laughing before he could tell anyone” ;)

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The Soaring gun crime

Though the government says it has spent quite a bit of money on its regeneration, the old reputation of Peckham still seems to exist – a dangerous area known for its gang-related shootings and violence.

Before Peckham, Brixton was considered the crime hotspot in London but that notion is now outdated and South East London seems to be in people’s minds when speaking of crime. Children as young as 14 are being charged with murder and the number of gun-crime is soaring.

Most people will remember the death of Damilola Taylor, seven years ago, upon hearing the name Peckham. And many will even recall the poignant image of the mother who was shot dead whilst clutching her baby in her hands. Then a string of gun related incidents, and then, a few days ago, there was the 15-year old shot dead while he slept soundly in his bed. Another man was stabbed a few blocks away. What is London coming to?

With the soaring number of gun crimes, usually Black-on-Black, am we justified in saying that the Met’s Operation Trident is utterly futile and hopeless?

Also on Crime:
I was listening to the news this morning when they mentioned that the Met Police were searching for a 5-year old girl who, along with two other girls, mugged a 95-year old woman!

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Cognitive Dissonance

Society is based on countless limits. There are limits to what one can and cannot do, limits to how one must or must not carry oneself in public, limits to what one must or must not say, limits to how one must dress, walk, etc… life is full of limitations. And as humans, we secretly covet what’s forbidden, what we cannot have, and our mind’s might is suddenly invoked when restrictions are put on to things. And, when limits are imposed on the things that we cherish most, petulance gets the best of us when we are not rewarded with what we wanted or so severely sough after. Its human nature, isn’t it?

These myriad recollections and constant anxiety are all triggered by the flood of ambivalent emotions suddenly registering in the conscious mind at her thought. Anything that is elusive in some ways, crafts an aura of desirability and soon becomes seductive and, in ways indiscernible, provocative. But these, though not very frequent, sudden gushes of emotion perturb me in a peculiarly delightful way. I am rendered impulsive at times and with each day that passes, though I wouldn’t want to admit it to myself, in my innermost part, I feel closer to her than the day before and the conviction of the two of us becomes more affirmed. I see a possibility of marriage looming nearer and nearer.

But in spite of this momentary bliss, such fondness and affection tends to promise, it never seems to materialize, for on the other hand there is turmoil, distress and impatience. There seems to be something I dislike about her and cannot pinpoint it. And now the possibility of marriage is but a mirage. I think I have become temporarily insane. Can these two contradictory sentiments co-exist simultaneously?

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Somali music

Boqoradii – Khadra Daahir
Guriga rara baad tiraah, hadana roga baad tiraah
Ma riyaan soo jeedi kadhigan, ma dhib baan raaxa moodayaa – Classic!

Sida Ayra geelo – Nimco Maxamad

The great Kabanist – Cumar Dhuule with Saluugla
Just listen to the instrument!

Cashaqu ogeysiis ma leeyahay – i watched this Riwaayad (xishood iyo Jacayl) some time ago – loved it.

Axmad Cali Cigaal – Waa laysu soo Noqone
I love it when he says “Anigiyo nasiibkuba naftaadan u maqanahaye, Naso oo hurdada gama’”

Bint Gacal – Baxsanow
hadaan bogsadoon ka raysto, sidaan uga boodey caashaqa, jacaylba hadaan u booyo…

Caqaarta – Kinsi xaaji Aadan
anna laanta ubaxa, adaan kuu lulayaa

These are some of my favourites. I couldn’t find any videos of the others such as Tubeec, Salaad darbi, Beerdilaacshe, Mooge brothers, Sahra Axmad, Magool etc… Who are your favourite?

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Traditional thinking habits

I was tidying my room this morning when my little nephew came. He is eleven years of age.

“Abti!” he said alarmed, “ what are you doing?”
“Am cleaning my room abti, as you can see.” I replied.
“ugh! Come off it abti, you are a disgrace!” he said
“Why is that abti?”
“Come on abti, boys are not supposed to do that!”
“Not supposed to do what?” i asked surprised. Did i hear him say that?
“Clean!” he replied casually
“What? Who is supposed to do it then?” I was speechless at this point
“The girls”
“So what would you say if I cleaned the kitchen?”
“Nah abti, don’t do that. You will be an embarrassment to the Somali boys”
“Somali boys?” and wondered who had said these things to him
“Yes, abti, boys are not supposed to do that?”
“What if there were no girls to do it?”
“Get someone to do it”
“someone like who?”
“I don’t know – just someone!”
“What are boys supposed to do then?”
“Work and bring money”

Do you see something common here in the young chap, or is he just an odd one?
The thing is, at such a tender age, common inherent mentality and thinking habits are evident in him and I am starting to wonder is this how most young Somali boys see themselves – bread-winners and girls as the home-makers? how is this tradition passed down, for i am sure he hasn’t picked it up verbally?

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