My Standpoint!

PEOPLE WITH NO CLUE

Have you ever met that one person who thinks that they know everything there is to know about you?

Like, they sit in their judgment seat with their legs crossed, place a hand beneath their chin and stare at you critically, sort of as if they have you all figured out.

I’ll bet when they stare at you like that, it gives you the creeps and gets your back up. Then when they actually come out and tell you that they know so much about you, you want to throw your head back and laugh really loudly in their faces, then get up in their face, stare them in the eyes and tell them, ‘you know absolutely nothing about me. You know nothing’.

Have you ever been that one person who always finds himself/herself in a tight corner? Like, it seems that every time, you are always stuck in the middle of some really nasty storm and it takes a lot of praying and yelling at God to get you out, barely alive. Way too much yelling, as far as you’re concerned. And then you think, why can’t life get just a little more bearable for me? You want to have it easier. Heck, you believe, you know in your heart of hearts that you deserve to have to have it way easier than you have it but it seems as if all the powerful forces around you are in disagreement with you on that.

I mean, what haven’t you done in the name of walking the straight and narrow path? You never look twice at bribes, much less receive them; you have never opened your mouth to say a scornful word to anyone, not even in jest. Heck, you have never even dreamt of sharing a juicy tidbit of gossip with the guys. You have never committed a single sexual sin. You pay your tithes and offerings and the holy bible is your sworn instruction manual for living…and YET! Yet nothing seems to ever go right for you.

You are just plain fed up and, face it, if you’re this person, you’ve most definitely wondered to yourself or to your pastor, “What’s the point in serving God anyway? It’s just one problem after the other for me!”

And as much as people try to encourage you, you find that you’re only encouraged for the moment because soon as you walk away, another challenge walks up to you and you forget everything that you previously heard about God having a purpose for everything. You forget about how gold comes out shinier after it has been passed through fire and you even scream out loud to anyone who cares to listen “I don’t wanna be gold! I think I’m fine like this. Just take this load off my neck Lord!”  You know, sorta like Job must have felt back then.

And then, to make your situation even ‘suckier’, there are these people – who by the way are also Christians – and their lives are always so rosy. You know, they seem to have it all together, not a single breeze seems to be blowing their hair out of place and these people are your Chief Encouragers. But what really sucks about these people encouraging you is this; they walk up to you, pat you softly on the back, probably offer you a hug even and then they start with the talk that Job had to deal with back then. They start by asking you if it’s possible that you’ve offended anyone. Maybe, they opine, that’s why your whole life sucks so much. And then they tell you it’s OK if you don’t want to talk about your sins with them but they absolutely think it would help if you confess your sins to God. Maybe then, He’ll forgive you and take off some of your burdens.

They think they have your life all figured out so they go ahead to give you some advise and as far as they know, they’re being really helpful, after all, they are so perfect and that’s why they never have to deal with any problems in life. So they sit you down, lecture you about the dangers of falling and give you helpful tips on how to make clean wealth. They don’t see you locked up in your closet, sweating buckets while screaming yourself hoarse on your knees in prayer to God. No, they don’t see you help that beggar with some change even when you barely have enough yourself. They only see you suffer and because their spiritual eyes have been taped shut, they try to rationalize it with their human understanding.

Whereas, it’s all spiritual! Deeply, intensely spiritual. It’s the deal that you’ve made with God where you hand your life over to Him and He tests you to see if you’ve really handed your life to Him. He tests you to see if His boast in you to the Enemy is well-placed. And so he permits the enemy to deal with you and because it’s not a pleasant experience for you, it seems to go on forever for you; you know how bad experiences seem to last for eternity. Whereas, to God, it’s just for a season! And He’s thinking; if only He could lift you up on His shoulders so you will be able to see the greater glory ahead in store for you…if you don’t stop persevering. 

Listen; how do I know you love me and believe in me if when things go wrong for you, you turn your back on me? Where, then is the trust that’s found in love?

The problems that people go through could sometimes be because they’ve offended some people somewhere but the one mistake you never want to make is place a wisdom wig on your head, hold a sledgehammer and set yourself up as judge over anyone! They already have enough problems on their plates and if you’re not interceding on their behalf before God, please, I beg you, you may want to tape your mouth shut and try not to get analytical about God's business.

That’s it. No heavy scriptures for you. Just a single word of advice. All that long note up there, was leading up to this. And if you’re that person going through a storm right now, brace up and feed yourself fat with the Word. God will see us through, I’m positive. He’s not a mean God.

*sigh* Only God knows what became of Job’s wife.

BEHOLD, THE MOTHER OF ALL RANTS!

I flipped the pages of the book.

I was eager to see how it would end. Heck, the suspense had me biting my lip expectantly. I checked to see how many chapters were left before it wrapped up.

Say what?! I was already on the last chapter! Alright, you probably think I'm being a little dramatic here but I had major cause for worry. I was this far into the book and I was yet to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. The tragedy still dragged on and I was so darn close to tearing out my hair in vexation. I remember I shed tears when I read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and then shed more tears when I saw the movie.

This book had better not end badly, I repeated to myself. It can't end badly. I was done shedding tears over fiction! If there was a name for a phobia of tragedies, dear friend, yours truly had a chronic case. 911! How soon can the ambulance get here?

What to do...

Had I been the author of this book, I would have woven the tale a heck of a lot differently. I know without a doubt I'd have my reading audience enthralled; held spellbound in the grip of the romantic tale I'd weave...or perhaps, have them in stitches, their faces wreathed in laughter as they flipped the pages, heading towards what was sure to end with the words '...and they lived happily ever after.'

Gah! You may be thinking...Talk about cliché.

Well, cliché it may be, but I'm sure we'd rather have that than be bawling into kerchiefs just because one author decided to weave some sad tragedy for some fictitious characters! These characters don't even exist and they have us blowing snot into tissues just because their lives suck! If you've ever wept over a sad fictitious tale, you'd understand my ire. I know for a fact that I can do without the emotional stress and baggage (I speak for myself alone!)

You have no idea how much I hate tragedies. My hatred for tragedies runs so deep that you wouldn’t see me at any newspaper stand purchasing the dailies...neither do I bother to stick around to hear the latest tale of woe that befell some person or other.

Call me a coward if you may...but it is what it is. And I'm sure some of you reading this can totally relate! You'd rather have your head buried in the sand of blissful ignorance than have to face sad, mind-numbing reality.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm an advocate for facing reality and not waiting for it to bite you in the arse and all that but I'd rather it not get shoved in my face.  What call does one omnipotent author have to sit behind his exalted plastic keyboard and spin fictitious words resulting in a tale of woe?

(That's a rhetorical question just in case you missed it.)

I'd rather have roses without thorns...a world where babies are born perfectly...a world where bombs are non-existent, a world where a genuine smile is pasted on every face...yada yada yada...***fades off into nothingness***

Pay me no mind.

In fact, cancel all of that. *waves magic wand*

It's crap. All of it.

Here's the moral to my semi-useless rant...

Will a sea remain a sea if it's never known a storm? Will a rose stand out amongst flowers if it had no thorns? Would diamonds be the most valued of gems if they randomly floated about in the air?

The beauty in the world about us is emphasized only because of the ugliness that surrounds and lives in it. I hope that makes sense to you. We can appreciate laughter only because we've had tears run down our cheeks...we can enjoy dancing only because we've once upon a time, shuffled our feet in sorrow.

Oh, just before I drop my pen, remember that book I was reading at the beginning of this rant? Well, it'd interest you to know that the end of it - pardon my French - royally sucked.

Weigh 'em Before You Speak 'em…

I’m just here thinking about how many people we have lost; how many destines have gotten ruined and how many lives have veered off course, because of this ‘PHENOMENON’ called WORDS.

Words are not just things that drop off your mouth and roll by as many like to think.

Words are great occurrences; they are memories engraved forever in the sands of time; a sort of record you make as life rolls by. And words come by via a process.

They start with a thought; the thought is created in your mind, and then it builds and builds…and keeps building till it sets in and blooms into a mindset; a way of thinking.

Along the line, due to lack of sieving those thoughts (if they ought to have been sieved), something happens and then the mindset starts to form the thinker. It settles and begins to mould the thinker’s character. Thoughts, by the way, are formed in the mind.

Now, after this successful formation has come through, the words that this thinker speaks reflect his peculiar mindset so that if he or she has developed a loser mindset or mentality, words such as “Damn, but this is just impossible” fall off their mouths more often than not; and if he has developed a lofty and proud mindset, words such as “You, unlike me, are a worthless nobody” can be frequently detected in their vocabulary.

I still believe that even the most terrible pagan sees words as being of utmost importance to the way things turn out. Words, as mentioned earlier, are a phenomenon, in my dictionary because they are formed by the mouth and sent out into the atmosphere to ‘happen’.

Now several of us may still not see the significance in this but hold on, the point is still being made!

Have you ever questioned yourself how a person may get arrested as a suspect just because he threatened another person who then got hurt later along the line?

It’s because even the legal body holds firmly to the belief that words are a product of your thoughts and mindset and intentions!

Here’s a picture of two people who are involved in a serious argument and then one of them suddenly blurts out; “I hate you! You suck!”, and then the other, astounded, says, “Well, you sure have kept it in for long!” he then receives a reply, “Oh yes! I can’t even stand to be with you. I could kill you now!”

Now, these words may have been spat out in the heat of the moment but then again, if the other person’s body is found in a ditch somewhere, a witness of their argument could put down a statement of the incriminating words he heard!

Voila! Now, this is just a slight digression from the main point.

I believe that every human should take heed what they hear, speak, see, bla and bla…because our thoughts processes are created as we see, hear and generally perceive. It has been this way from the beginning of time and man cannot do anything about it.

You slowly become who you think you are and your words are framed after this manner also.

“Yeah, just let me say this little hurtful statement to this utterly horrible person. I can take my words back right after I have said them!” said no man ever!

Once you release them - put them out there; they’re out for good. You can’t ever swallow them back because they go in front of you; into your future to happen and you are going to have to settle with the consequences. We have been properly warned after all by GOD in the Good Book about these things. Words are something that even the good GOD doesn’t play with. His Word is HIS law and there ain’t no joking with it! I mean, GOD even honors HIS word above HIS name, yet we are here throwing words about and not giving a fig!

As hurtful words act as missiles to people; sweet, encouraging words act as a balm to injured souls.

Ever noticed how a person’s face lights up just because you complimented their hat or fine mustache? Or have you ever tried giving yourself a lengthy lecture when you messed up at one point in your life and felt much better? Now tell me, who said little things don’t count? Of course they do!

“Oh my! I’m so dead!”

“My life is done in!”

“Why can’t my life just be over already?!”

“You are so worthless!”

“I’m such a failure!”

“But really, I feel so terrible, like I’m about to keel over!”

Now, in my experience, at one point in my life when I was quite ignorant, I don’t ever remember such words as these ever brightening up my day or anyone else’s! As I spoke negative words, my spirit went right along and sunk real low and then came depression. L

“Wow! I feel so beautiful!”

“I know that I can make it!”

“It is well with me.”

“I can’t be broke. I’m so rich!”

“You are so pretty. I totally dig those shoes”

“This sickness doesn’t belong in my body!”

Now, like my mom always says, we already know what the prevalent current situation is, but we don’t like it! For example, when you are flat broke, you already know it and you wish you had some more money to spend. Not liking it means you would be happier if things were the other way round, so why not speak what you want to see happening rather than agreeing with what is already happening? Why not mould the future beautifully with the natural mould you have been given by GOD – your mouth? It may seem like it’s not a big deal but do you remember what the Bible says?

“With the heart, man believes and with the mouth, confessions are made unto salvation”; “The words that I speak are spirit and life”

Words are not just words, they are spirits conjured up! I can’t emphasize it any better!!! GOD created this spectacularly beautiful world by words of mouth, and HE has created us after HIS image and likeness, so in short; Here's big news: You can create your world with your mouth! I want to yell from the rooftops and shout it out for everyone to hear me! When I think about all these, I can’t help but see a beautiful world formed by beautiful words from beautiful people. Who says you are not a miracle worker?

Not only will I advise you to speak positivity into your own life and into other people’s lives, DON’T EVER LET ANYONE SPEAK NEGATIVE WORDS TO YOU, EVEN IN JEST. If they speak it, cut them off and firmly rebuke them. You may seem like a stuck-up, overly-serious, overly-spiritual person but this is your life we are talking about man!

Now, we have been able to establish words as being important on different levels: on the ‘confession’ level; on the ‘encouragement’ level; on the ‘cautionary’ level.

Come on now, speak words of positivity today. They help you construct your tomorrow and make it more bearable and they help lift spirits that were once languishing in the pits of despair.

Love you, have a great day…but of course, GOD loves you more.

Cheers! Kisses…

The ‘Fantabulous’ Attitude

 Hello, 'Fantabulous' Readers! Hehehe!

It’s been a long while but, here I am. And I’m very fine…no broken bones; no injured head; no smashed fingers; no hungry belly; no dissatisfied spirit…and most importantly, no sad soul!

The reason I had to say all that is because I’ve been away for longer than usual and some dear hearts started to wonder if I was fine. 

I am fine. I was just taking care of other priorities…but you all are so important to me; having readers who read the stuff I write is important to me!

Yeah! Feels good to be back on track! I mean, not that I went off-track or anything but still I’m just glad to be here again and I…OK, I’m babbling. L

So here it is…

Today, I was eating fish (If you know how much I love fish, you’ll understand this) with so much enjoyment that I forgot myself.

Then the fish decided to make a wrong turn on its way down my throat…Oh, why evils?!!!

OK…this led to a series of throaty coughing and gasping, it was so intense that for a millisecond, I thought I was going to choke and then I started having this scary flashback of how my life has been so far: ‘have I yabbed/dissed anyone lately?’, ‘have I pulled a silly prank on someone?’ and all that.

Thankfully, God still has use for me on this earth and I recovered. Returning to my seat, I glared at the fish for betraying me and then a thought flashed in my head:

“Did you even pray over your food?”

And I went, “Uh huh! I didn’t. But then, just because I forgot to bless my food once, I get to almost choke to death?” I was angry.

Then the thought came again; Once is more than enough.

At that point, I was contrite.

Now, let me ask you.

How many stories have we heard about people who were always careful not to break the rules but the first time they did, they got nabbed and had to pay a big penalty?

And how many times has it happened to you, that you are always level-headed and sweet, but you decided to be real nasty one time and you got beat up for it?

Be honest!

It happens to me a lot! In fact, it’s like I was made to be sugary sweet all my life because if I decide to be sour once, I sort of regret it!

Yeah, then after that interesting dialogue, I heard: Develop the right behaviour.

Everything that you and I call our behaviour started with a habit we picked up. Then slowly, we got used to it and we conformed to it, hence making it our behaviour.

If it’s a good behaviour, we should develop it…if not, we should try to do something about it.

Now, it’s not that I hadn’t developed the habit of praying over my meals. It’s that I’d developed it but that singular oversight had its consequences.

This world is getting even more terrible with each passing day and I fear for the person who doesn’t think that being careful and prayerful is the way. True.

One wrong step has been known to lead to disastrous consequences. We’ve heard of several people who boarded a flight in place of someone else and lost their lives. Most of the time, those people who escaped death have been known to be either prayerful or have someone somewhere praying for them.

My point in this post is; the prayer attitude that you develop today acts as a covering for you tomorrow. There’s this Yoruba adage that says, “Pray that you may not pray”.

What that means is: Pray, now that trouble is absent, so that when trouble rears its head, you won’t have to start a prayer warring session. Pray every day, pray every moment; pray every blessed time. I never heard of prayer being too much, except we are talking about vain mutterings.

Stack up a roomful of prayers in Heaven so that you’ll be on the angels’ waiting list in time of need. Many of us Christians act like clowns at times. I can use this word ‘clown’ freely without fear of offending someone because we are expected to be mature already yet we act funny by choosing to stay kids.

We grumble and complain that God does not hear us when in actual fact, we don’t speak! How can I hear you when you’re not communicating with me?

C’mon! Let’s be understanding here!

This might sound dramatic to you but I know that it is my past prayers over my meals that helped me come through that wicked choking session today.

There are so many benefits in prayer and the power of prayer can’t ever be overrated.

At one point or other, you’ll be lazy and you’ll end up convincing yourself that you can go through one whole day without praying. Let me tell you something dear friend.

You can go through a whole year without praying…even several years! Yeah, atheists and agnostics don’t pray and they still live. In some cases, they even live longer than Christians!

But their lives are not trouble-free. Ask an atheist or an agnostic how they handle problems and you’d be stunned at the answers you’d get! Their approach to problems is not the same as a Christian’s approach to problems.

We face it from the God-perspective - through God’s eye-view and the problems look so small (probably because they are!); whereas, the unbeliever sees the problems take over every scrap of their peace of mind and it appears so huge and magnified, they can’t help but cave in.

Prayer works wonders…it also changes things.

Now, here’s to a discouraged reader out there: GOD LOVES YOU AND HE WANTS YOU FOR HIS OWN. GIVE IN TO HIM TODAY, DEAR.

Oh, and by the way, that fish I was eating? I got right back to it and finished it up! It deserved to be punished, right? 

Seeing Things His Way – Please, Don’t Sue Me! – Part 2

(This might be a little long but I did not want to make a PART 3, so please bear with me?)

He finished his corn and threw the cob into the gutter in front of the shop and leaned back on the bench. He had no choice in the matter anymore.

It wasn’t fun to know that your life was out of your control; that you had no say in how things went. He was at the mercy of the elements...and the government too.

Here he was, a dude with education, living on the streets. He hadn’t gotten full college education because he’d had to quit school when the bomb blast by the famous religious sect had claimed his whole family and their house. He’d had two years of schooling left but having no one to support him, he’d mournfully waved goodbye to what might have been a promising future.

His parents hadn’t been rich. In fact, they’d had to scrape to keep him in school and there hadn’t been much left in their accounts for him to go by after their passing.

When he’d decided to quit the self-pity and solicit help from old family friends and acquaintances, they’d adopted a sad countenance and proffered their sincere apologies on his loss. Then they had gone on to say how they themselves were just managing to get by.

“Life is hard o, my boy” one uncle had said in a deep-throated voice.

“I wish we could do something but...Wait, I think there’s this little change. Manage it, ehn?” an elderly cousin had said and had given him what used to be his weekly income, and even then, he had had to tighten his budget.

When he had gone to all his relatives and friends and hadn’t gotten much in the way of help; job-wise or money-wise, he’d taken to doing menial jobs and living in the garage with other guys who had stories similar to his.

And to think he used to judge these dudes when he had been more privileged. He let out a humorless laugh and placed an arm over his face to obstruct the sun’s quickening strength from his face.

                                    ****************************************

And the story goes on and on.

If you ask me, there are like a gazillion stories similar to this dude’s story in this state of ours.

There is not much that I have to say on the issue, and there’s not much that either of us can do either.

However, what little do we think can be done to help people like this?

I heard and even, came upon a rehabilitation center for people like this but the thing is, rehab centers are for lazy people, violent people and/or people with mental issues.

Suffice it to say that the government just might be prescribing the wrong medicine for the ailments that plague the under-privileged youths, though some of our governors are going out of their way to see to the issue of setting up businesses for these youths and sponsoring them through school.

Our politicians are quick to send out patrol teams to sweep the streets clean of what they call ‘grime’ and ‘mess’ – and these are people!

They find it easy to stand on their high pedestal of glory and seeming ‘purity and cleanness’ and wave their hands scornfully at those people who, mostly due to unfortunate circumstances have no choice but to make the streets their home.

Taking our friend above for a case study, he is a promising young man who, given the right opportunity and resources may be our next great inventor. However, the powers that be had to have their say and it all went downhill for him.

If you ask me, I’ll say there is a lot of work to be done. Until the roots are visited, the issue of ‘agbero’ and ‘omo-ita’ (rogues) will not stop.

Yes, we know that we may not be able to stop the unfortunate circumstances that befall these people and leave them in such conditions however we CAN help them out of their messy situations.

They don’t always choose this life…

Unlike many of us seem to think, these ‘rogues’ are not the curse of the society. Fine, a good number of them can be accused of violent acts and even murder, but at the risk of sounding like a supporter of the societal rogues, everyone has a story.

Trust me, you’d be shocked to hear the story of some of these people.

Can we just...just try not to be in a hurry to judge these people? It is very easy for us to reply them with curse words when they yell at us but then again, a frustrated person would do that. Uhmm, I have done my share of yelling back at them but after yelling, I didn't feel better.

I won’t ask us to put ourselves in their shoes...or, maybe I should?

OK...for a minute, in your mind, lose your privilege and place yourself on the streets. You have to eat what you can, not what you want. You are at the mercy of the elements and people more street-wise than you. You have to struggle. You have to constantly be on your guard. The ladies – as always – always get the short end of the stick in such situations. They have to put themselves out there and learn how to speak raucously so as not to get molested by lecherous men.

They have to live...so they have to fight.

They, unlike you and I, have to grow up fighting anyhow. They don’t have the weapon of education and fluent words that you and I have, so they resort to any means available. 

They live in a desperate world.

Circumstances have placed them there. They didn’t choose to be there.

They therefore, due to excessive fighting and the constant struggle to stay alive and also, retain some level of pride, have become ‘unattractive’ and ‘uncomely’.

Again, if you ask me, I think that we have become so vexed with these people and have successfully stereotyped them such that we do not consider them as people with feelings.

I type this piece, knowing that I stand the risk of getting comments that may not be favourable.

I know that I’m typing for an audience who has been shabbily treated by these ‘rogues’ and have barely come out alive. Many of us reading this piece have had our bags snatched or property stolen by them. Some have been beaten or abused by these people.

This is one of the most difficult pieces I have had to write. However, like I always say, I never write what we want to read. I write what we need to read. Maybe if we had a better understanding of these people and treated them a tad courteously, the way we’d treat our average colleagues, we wouldn’t get so many bad days #justSaying *dodges fiery darts, sticks and abusive words*

No, I am not making excuses for them. I am giving us a little insight on how they have to live.

But before we scroll to the bottom of the page and start to throw darts at me via the comment box, can we just take a moment to actually think how we’d feel if we were these people? Yeah, I know, God forbid, right?

They are people. They have feelings. If you go round asking them if they’d choose the same way of life in their second life, you can bet what their answer will be!

Now, we move on to the issue of ladies who have been raped by rogues. Just so you know, those are not ordinary rogues. Those are sick people with an acute mental disorder and they belong in a serious juvenile home for the retarded.

They should be dealt with the same way you deal with someone who has taken absolute leave of his senses.

Once again, I emphasize. I am not writing to make excuses for the actually bad people who just need an excuse to do bad things and feel the need to make others suffer for their misfortune.

This is totally beside the point but I just feel the need to touch this. When you leave your house, especially if you live in a rowdy and ‘ghettoish’ place, you need to prepare yourself for a lot of things...the rogues being one of them.

As an after-thought, here are a few tips to help you handle the issue of ‘rogues’ better:

• Keep your bag/briefcase as close to you as is possible and walk briskly.
• If you have to go out at night, or if you are out late at night, do not dawdle. Do not respond to calls from strangers (I guess we all know this).
•  Constantly, make a call or text those people who are waiting for you at home to let them know where you are and if you are being held up at the office or in traffic, let them know.
• As a lady, if you get cat-calls, choose to ignore them. They make cat-calls to get a rise out of you. Replying them will mean encouraging them and egging them on. Ignore them, please.
• Ermmm...ladies, dare I say that dressing seductively might count as a sort of invitation to the perverts among them? :/
• If the area you are going through is especially rowdy, take off your jewellery and put them in your bag/pockets.
• When walking on a reputably violent street, try not to make phone calls. They distract you and you may end up losing your phone to them. If you have to take/make the call, take permission from a shop owner and use their shelter.
• Drivers should be careful too. If possible, more careful than pedestrians because these ‘rogues’ know that you are more ‘packaged’ than the ‘leggers’.
• Ensure that your windows are wound up to a considerable height (if your air-conditioner isn’t functioning). They sometimes reach into cars and divest unsuspecting people of their jewellery, bags and valuables. Take it from a person who has had a personal experience L
• Always have a spare tire so that you don’t get stranded on a road-side – and learn how to fix it too! Be careful how you offer lifts to people – let your intuition speak. 

So this can hardly count as a few tips, right? 

BTW, these tips were not culled from any magazine, online article or newspaper.

They are all mine. I have had my share of personal experience too, you know 

So, summary of all I’ve said is, try to be nice…to everyone. When GOD instructed us to love all people, HE didn’t say “Love your neighbour, minus the rogues and under-privileged”. One random act of kindness has been known to save lives the world over.

Stay Loving! #Subulola 

Seeing Things His Way – Please Don’t Sue Me! – Part 1

“You must be foolish! Idiot somebody!!!”

He yelled so loudly and garrulously, everyone on the rowdy street turned to stare at him, all wearing varying expressions of curiosity and vexation but he really didn’t care what they thought about him. The person he was yelling at gave him the rude middle finger and he responded by spitting back at the man’s retreating figure. Yet everyone was staring at him and they all assumed he was in the wrong just because he looked...wrong.

This was his new culture...

Smelly, dirty...unkempt.

Street-wise.

Why should he care? They didn’t care about him either! So if he wanted to yell in the middle of the streets like a mad person, he would and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

That said, he threw everyone who still had their eyes on him a challenging look that said, “Do you have a problem with me?” and watched with great satisfaction as each and every one of them turned about quickly and hurried along on their way, not wanting to be disgraced by the likes of him. Some mothers even pointed their fingers at him and spoke to their children vehemently. He could tell that they were all warning their children to behave or else they would turn out like him.

A failure. That was what he was. Rejected and scoffed at.

He was a guy of the streets.

He had a story but he wouldn’t tell it anymore. He’d told it countless times and what difference had it made?

He still lived on the streets anyway.

He took a big bite of his roasted corn and blew the hot air out of his scalded mouth. Roasted corn was his meal anytime, hot or not; night or day. This was his brunch and nothing was going to disturb his meal again.

He located an unopened kiosk across the streets and crossed the road to sit on a bench that had been placed in front of it. He then set his sachet water beside him.

Still chewing and puffing out hot air at the same time, he remembered once when one nicely suited and beautiful news reporter had come to this side of town to do a short documentary on homeless people and the government’s role as pertaining to the issue and had asked him if he would allow her to interview him on live TV.

When he had bluntly asked her what was in it for him, she’d smiled at him sweetly and had said that as soon as his story got out, generous philanthropists would be sending in huge and hefty donations and the government too would contribute their own quota and sooner than later, he’d be off the streets.

He’d considered the offer for a total of ten seconds and had eagerly stood before the cameras and cited his story in nice and quite fluent English.

At the time, he had been new on the streets. Serious J.J.C. (Johnny Just Come).

His fellow street pals had laughed at him and had told him that he was wasting his time; that no good would come of it. But he had paid them no heed.

However now, he was ‘street-wise’ – so to speak.

He wouldn’t let anyone deceive or fool him. He’d swallowed his very dear pride and given that story to the media. Three years on, here he was, in the same position; minus naïveté.

Who said the government cared for people like him who were homeless, jobless and totally under-privileged?

BAH!!! Crap, all of it!

A scantily clad girl walked by in front of the shop and as she passed, he purposely threw her a lewd look and earned himself a dirty glare from her. Then she compounded the effect by raising a palm to her nose in a disgusted manner.

He smiled nonchalantly though the truth was, it hurt a lot.

He smelled and he knew it but he didn’t need a scantily-clad whore telling him that. She should try living under the bridge for two whole years and sleeping out in the cold every night and see if she wouldn’t smell worse than the gutters that lined the roadsides.

Besides, the streets had started to grow on him. He was becoming very rude and carefree, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. People treated him anyhow and he knew that he had to fight back.

The need to fight in order to survive and try to maintain a level of pride while fighting had been borne in him and he just couldn’t let it go.

The other day, he had passed the night in the shade of a food-sellers stall and she’d shocked him awake early the next day by dousing him with a bucket of dirty water and yelling loud curses at him like a fish-wife. One would have thought he had carried her shop away the way she had carried on that day.

He couldn’t even remember what the word ‘kindness’ stood for anymore.

For the record, he was done believing in people. He only had a little pride left and he was going to hold on to that. He feared to think what would happen to him if he let go of that little remaining pride.

He would be better off dead.

He wasn’t a trouble-maker. Not at all. He didn’t ever steal or pick pockets. Even though he’d been beaten up the other day when one of the commercial drivers falsely accused him of pilfering his gains, he’d still held on to his integrity and bits of self-respect, inexplicably so. In fact, he’d been responsible for settling a number of fights that had been started by the younger garage boys. 

He had earned his respects, and even though it wasn’t in the most respectable of places, respect was respect. (...to be continued. Stay tuned!) <3