Category: The People’s Voice

Voice of the people

I know what Substance Abuse is

Substance Abuse1

Conquering SUSBSTANCE ABUSE – The Story of Mr. Kasise Ricky Peprah

Substance Abuse is intricate, however, I am duty bound to be here, for there is none other I know who can give a first-hand, intimate and personal account of alcoholism, drug abuse and irresponsible youth life.

Most of my fellow sufferers are either too involved with our disease, to be invited or, if even invited, to bother to accept your invitation. The rest are dead. Those in-betweens are too weakened to offer anything useful on this occasion. Since my breed is rare, survivors I mean, I crave your indulgence to spare a few minutes for my account of my personal knowledge of these all- too-real tragic phenomena that are laying to waste too many brilliant and talented people.

The Struggle to understand and define Substance Abuse

In my experience, I find that dictionaries almost never offer the definitions you need when you need them. Last night was no exception as I tried to no avail to find the definitions of “alcoholism”, of “drug abuse” or of “irresponsible youth life”. I have therefore elected to provide working definitions for the three phenomena.

For our purpose today, I dare to define “alcoholism” as “the continuous excessive use of and consequent dependence on alcohol, to the extent that it alters behaviour, warps reality and endangers one’s life and/or that of others”. “Drug abuse, I plead to define as “the continuous and persistent misuse and use of medication and drugs, prescription and illicit, to induce temporary euphoric effects (a high), which use subsequently has to be maintained or increased, over time, in order to attain said hallucinatory effects”.

Finally, let us agree to define “irresponsible youth life” as “any behaviour that is inconsistent with social mores and expectation”. Ladies and gentlemen, if no one is begrudging my operational definitions shall I then quickly move on to attempt to discuss their causes. Like many phenomena, the causes are many, diverse and varied.

Abusing Alcohol – Substance Abuse in a Bottle

“Alcoholism may be caused by peer pressure, acquiesced-to by apparent social acceptability or indifference and may be ignited by a misguided but widely held belief that it provides relief albeit temporary from nagging problems. There is also no accounting for the role of pure and naked puerile and youthful adventurism, normally starting with casual and occasional drinking euphemized as ‘social drinking’ and finally leading into full-fledged alcoholism. Same can be said of drug abuse. It starts as just a try, then another and soon turns into a craving and finally dependence, maybe not in that order.

Irresponsible youth life can be caused by any of the aforementioned or by pure truancy or delinquency. It may also emanate from maladjustment, personality disorder or simple rebellion. However, let it be said that some people are misfits, maybe even genetically programmed miscreants, plain and simple.

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I am just a layman not an Authority on Substance Abuse – Mr. Kasise

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to state categorically that I have received NO formal education in these matters. I am neither a psychiatrist nor clinical psychologist. I am not a sociologist and definitely not an anthropologist. I am simply a recovering alcoholic, literate enough and sufficiently desperate to read the available literature. Since I am also lucky to still have a fair amount of my brain intact and recovering, I have, on occasion, consciously and otherwise engaged in analytical thought of these issues. Personally, I have been guilty, not of one or two but of all three of the cankers that we are attempting to understand today.

Ladies and gentlemen, the effects of these three maladies are plenty and varied BUT all unanimously negative. Their effect, negative of course, go from threats to your profession and professionalism, impediments to your smooth study, trouble in family life and marriage and finally causes extensive ill health.

Be warned that when one of the three makes an entry into your life, progress walks out of your life. One comes in and your sanity is threatened, One comes in and your studies, job or profession is in jeopardy. Their beginning in your life is the end of everything good in it. What then is the way forward? I have said on other occasions and repeat here today that the best way to prevent alcoholism, drug abuse and the resultant irresponsible youth life is NOT to even start trying out with these substances.

DO NOT BEGIN IF YOU HAVEN’T YET.

STOP IF YOU HAVE BEGUN.

And SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP IF YOU CAN NOT STOP.

I want to end with the words of LEO BUSCAGLIA; ’your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God’ THANK YOU.

An end to Substance Abuse is the start of a new journey towards growth.

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Prioritising a grand emancipation 101 – What Africans need

We seek a grand emancipation because who we have become, and who we should be doesn’t appear to be the reality we must live.

Why Seek the Grand Emancipation?

The souls of our fathers’ wallow in pain and shame.

Their graves have become tombstones of intense heat.

They died and were proclaimed famous, famous for a reason that we must beat.

But the very generations they laid their lives down for have rather turned that fame to shame.

Builsa Warriors In Accra

The African or the African’t?

The land we occupy as an African people has proven to be the most blessed when it comes to natural resources.

Yet, what do we see?

Hunger, ill-accomplishment, negativity, inferiority and constant backward movement.

This we cry each day to abolish, to overcome and to turn around.

Each day an educated African comes up with a new policy and the brain behind that policy is obviously a westerner.

Can’t we as an African people do unto us as we wish them westerners to do unto us?

Do we throw our resources to the western man and ask him to help make the most out of it?

Need a Copy?

The Grand Emancipation is a Must

Until me and my brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, fathers, mothers and grandparents at home are fully emancipated, we shall want more of the west that will keep asking for our souls as an inferior race and our forefathers would have been disgraced by our actions.

It must start with:

Knowing our roots.

Knowing the resources available to us.

Knowing our needs as an African people.

Knowing the world’s technology.

Recognizing the talents available to us.

Africa can fix our own problems.

Africa can feed itself.

Africa can have its own technologies.

Africa can cure its own ailments.

Africa can be a MAN WITH ENOUGH BALLS TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD.

THE TIME IS NOW…Time for the Grand Emancipation.

Do you want to know the other truth?

Humans have thrived across varied geographic locations for only one reason, ‘The Other Truth”.

Sometimes we need people to remind us of beauty, the beauty of our traditions and the fact that our ethnographic belonging is not by mere coincidence or a grand plot by nature to render us poor or lesser citizens of the world.

THE OTHER TRUTH

What Influences the Other Truth

Our being a part of a society, which seems damned because of the comparisons often carried out by our minds based on what the media portrays as the ideal society in a modern world continues to harm our progress as a people belonging to an ethnic minority.

Technological advancement may have a role to play in our ill appreciation of our world, yet a careful look will suggest our appreciation of technology is also based on a rather pathetic look at the sophisticated societies with sophisticated problems. Technology is to make us improve on our traditional ways of doing things and not necessarily take us away from “who we are” and make us “who they are”.

I have often bemoaned the seeming stagnant state of our development as a people; this seemed true until a lady by name Barbara pointed out some of the other truth to me.  I say the other truth because most of what we pitifully moan about is also a form of truth. The challenges we as a people from a presumably minor ethnic group face is presumably vast.

All the sectors that drive the economy of our nation averagely do not consider our input as significant. It may be true, but the truth or false aspect of it lies in our point of view as per who we are and what we have.

The Consequences of Our Thoughts

Many of us dwell on the problems/challenges we face in savanna and hardly ever consider the beauty/opportunities we as people are blessed with. God/Nature has never planted people in an area that can’t be used as a transformational tool in our pursuit of progress.

The Other Truth

We are rich yet we do not see, we have rich cultural practices, yet we prefer a foreign culture, we live in Fumbisi and still think we should live somewhere else to make us accepted.

Reflecting on the other truth in Sandema

The past 2 months in Sandema gave me an opportunity to reflect on the words of Barbara Meier, which suggests we should make the most of our ethnographical location.

As I spent hours running around Buluk I began to appreciate it more and more. As I saw the green fields with men and women busy tilling the soil in anticipation of a successful harvest season. I realized what we often refer to as peasant farming is a proof of potential large-scale farming and can therefore be improved.

Our unique and tenacious spirit

As I saw boys aged 13-display great knowledge of animal husbandry, I realized the natural intelligence of our “village folk”.

The distances young boys and girls have to travel to attend schools in some of the villages after a whole lot of house chores in the morning suggested how industrious, ambitious and determined we are and can be. 

Despite the unavailability of electricity in some of the towns and villages one can only imagine how/why that is not used as an excuse to study yet determined pupils and students can be found busily studying with the aid of lanterns.

The preserved cultures/traditions can’t be left out, people greeting you and being concerned about your day obviously is a show of love from a fellow man. People’s willingness to help you get to your destination without asking for anything in return is so awesome.  The communal spirit can still be seen when people gather to plow the lands of their neighbors, which is simply amazing.

The beautiful scenery that greet us in almost every town/village and the freshness of the air we breath, the rock formations with beautiful shade from trees all over Buluk make an ideal destination for campers and picnics. The beautiful view of the stars not forgetting the moon, that lying on a “gbung” gives you can only be experienced and not imagined.

The Other Truth in Builsaland (Buluk)

There is so much that can be said about Buluk positively, yet we do not seek to utilize those positives to improve our society. We rather dwell on the negatives which can be attributed to the corruption of our minds by the “powers that be” (media and the few citizens who have spent some time in other parts of the country or world).

All the above when carefully analysed can be transformed into viable economic and cultural gain. But we assume it is too much work. Policy makers have constantly made us think, it will take the policies of other parts of the world or of the country to make us a “better” people.

How can we make us better without building on the positives of our society, shall we continue to presume everything about us is substandard? I will say a big NO, but it’s beyond an individual. It will take all of us to build a better society in all aspects of our lives.

My commitment is to use what we have to the best advantage of Buluk, what is yours?

There are varied truths and depending on which we accept, the journey to a “better” Buluk and savanna either becomes shorter and fun or a sophisticated set of trial and errors.

The choice is ours. The Other Truth can be created.

Long live Ghana, long live the Savanna.

A Free Bank for all Entrepreneurs

If you want to succeed, read the Relationship goodie-bag

The Relationship Goodie-Bag is an entrepreneur’s bank

2018 is here; with a rejuvenated spirit many are frantically making resolutions towards a better life. However, we are often too busy to realize our successes are closely tied to things regarded as trivial. Our inter-personal relations will always have a bearing on our success stories. The relationship goodie-bag is an asset we all have. How then do we maximize gain by accessing our relationship goodie-bag?

How then do we maximize gain by accessing our relationship goodie-bag?

I come from a background where “useless” doesn’t exist. Because inherently each person has something unique that when tabled can bring about change. Since humanity is a wild composition of relationships, our successes, to a large extent hinges on extracting all we can from our relationships to inch closer to success. Each relationship presents a different set of opportunities. Identifying the contents of your contact base, relationships and the value it can potentially add to your story is the first step to success.

Identifying your contact base, relationships and the value:

Primarily we each have 4 types of relationships we may be in i.e.

Family, Friendships, Romantic relationships & Professional relationships. Each of the listed, presents other forms of relationships that can affect us positively in the pursuit of entrepreneurial success. However, the egoistic part of humanity becomes a borderline that MUST be crossed to attain success. Relationships and emotions are a wild blend.

Relationship Goodie-Bag

Relationships and emotions are a wild blend.

How we feel(intuition), what we hear, what we know, appears to drive our relationships. However, I want to challenge you to think success by prioritizing your goals. I am not suggesting cutting links and becoming a loner. I mean ask yourself “WHAT ARE MY GOALS, IF I WANT TO SUCCEED”. Remember success is relative and can be in several ways but it must gratify you. The beautiful thing about a goal is that you can always re-adjust, re-order or change completely if they don’t lead to success.  Goals & Relationships are bedfellows.

Goals & Relationships are bedfellows.

Meetings, brainstorming, proposals, designs, business plans; define the preparedness for success. However, we need to ensure the content of the above are rich enough to truly radiate success.  Our goals are meant to help attain success, so in building the content of the aforementioned, we dip our hands into the relationship goodie-bag. In that bag, you have friends, family, lovers, and Professional relationships. Within the four types of relationships you will find Mentors, Entrepreneurs & Professionals. You might even have fixers & investors in there.  That is where you think strategically for gain.

Think STRATEGICALLY for GAIN.

How many of us will ever receive a blank cheque?

How many of us have the financial muscle to implement all aspects of what would culminate in success? Very few.

So, your bank is your relationship goodie-bag. Remember, all you need to succeed is within reach, but you can only see it when you carefully search. The search should start with the relationship-goodie bag. How do you search the bag?

How do you search the relationship goodie-bag?

  • Identify the individuals in your relationship-goodie bag.
  • Categorize them according to your needs.
  • Analyse your relationship with each person.
  • Gather as much knowledge on what you intend to do.
  • Be sure your endeavour is realistic and not just an over-ambition.
  • Make initial contact on the subject matter.

Your initial contact regarding what you seek is typically the game-changer, even though you may not get to discuss your goals and dreams in full, treat it as a pitch. This interaction should be one you pay rapt attention to, because the demeanour & language will give you indicators on your next step. However, NEVER assume based on the demeanour UNTIL it’s a categorical NO. (There’s a way to deal with Categorical NO but we’ll look at it some other time). A categorical NO can be received with more questions as to why the NO, you’ll be surprised how much you will learn from the response. Also, remember to thank the person for the time spent with you.

The relationship-goodie bag is available for everyone, but many hit a snag at the initial contact stage. Advice: NEVER allow your ego/emotions to cloud your analysis of encounters with people you brought out from your relationship goodie-bag. That’s a first step towards failure. You need to understand, whilst there’s an existing relationship with the person, they are not obliged to assist you.

So, meet them knowing that.

  • People have challenges of their own.
  • They will dictate times to meet etc.
  • They will decide what aspect of your plan to fit in.
  • They can pull out at any time.
  • They may even refer you to others you don’t know from their relationship goodie-bag.
  • They may offer to help for a fee.

Knowing all the above, you will need to REMIND YOURSELF, at every stage, that YOU NEED THEM, they may not need you beyond the already existing relationship. So, when you decide not to CALL AGAIN, it is your loss.

When you decide to brand the relationship goodie-bag content as UNWILLING TO HELP, it is your loss.

The line between success and failure can be your assumption.

Seek assistance but don’t be intrusive because everyone has a role in our lives.

Let 2018 be a year of success…The relationship goodie-bag is an insurance

HAS THE AFRICAN A GOD? – An insidious effect of influences

HAS THE AFRICAN A GOD

Has the African a God?

I often find myself asking, “has the African a God?”. A question that is informed by the religious nature of Africans, our unique beliefs and the proliferation of beliefs centred on other faiths.

The typical African is drunk with too much religious indoctrination and the unfounded belief that questioning religion is outright blasphemy. Christianity and Islam are the two most populous religions on the African continent. The doctrines of these two religions have been wholly assimilated into the African at the neglect of our very own traditional identity, culture and religion.

Africa in Foreign Faiths

The African has been Anglicized, if you like “Westernized”, in the case of the Muslims the African Muslim has been turned “Arabian”, as if the African knows nothing about “a God”. All accounts of creation stories throughout the three thousand three hundred and fifteen ethnic groups in Africa attribute great reverence to a Supreme Creator, being referred to as; “Oboade” and “Oborebore” in Akan, “Olurun” in the Yoruba version of the creation story and “Dondaari” in the Fulani account of the creation story among others.

The Holy Bible, a very formidable tool in the history of the world and the constitution of Christianity refers to Africa in several verses of the Old Testament, it is referred to as; Kemet, Libya, Ortega, Ethiopia, Hesperia and Ta-marry. The name “Africa” according to history was given by the Romans, the ancient name of Africa being Akebu-Lan (mother of Mankind).

In his book “The Africans who wrote the Bible” Mr. Alex Darkwa writes, “the word Israel is an Akan word”, he points to the story of Jacob in Genesis 32:24-29, where an angel renames Jacob calling him Asrae or the European version Israel. According to Darkwa the name “Asrae” is not a nation rather it means “the first one who visited”. 

An even more profound revelation is made in the May 9, 1999, edition of the New York Times, Nicholas Wade writes about a Southern African tribe, the Lemba, having not just the same traditions but also the same DNA sequence distinctive of the Cohanim, the Jewish priest believed to be descendants of Aaron.

A cursory look at the historic background of the Romans reveals their staunch belief in the multiplicity of gods, they believed in various deities to whom sacrifices were offered, notable among these were Zeus, Mars, Jupiter, Vesta, and Apollo. These beliefs seem to have been transferred and infused into Christianity. Romans played a very crucial role in the spread of Christianity, despite their belief that the Almighty God is One, they still maintain that HE is three-a Father, a Holy Spirit and a Son.

It is not strange to think so especially if you are well endowed with their historic background. These supposed deities who were believed to be gods, had affairs with some humans and gave birth to demi-gods, little wonder the Roman Catholic Church holds fast to the belief that Almighty God has a human mother, “holy Mary mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death”. All these have been swallowed hook, line and sinker by the African and are warned that any attempt question religion is blasphemous.

Foreign Faiths penetrate African

The religion of Islam entered Africa through the North of the continent. With similar emotive characteristics, Islam admonishes Muslims to assimilate the Mohammedan culture wholly. As part of the indoctrination, one has to adopt an Arabic name which is considered Islamic, so it not strange to hear names like Abdul-Rahim Kwame Adjei that is like having “Kwaku Ayigbe Frafra” for a name, very weird, yet that is the veracity of the situation at hand.

Islamic religion in Ghana has been laced with Hausa culture, as if it was through Hausa traders that Islam reached the country. Today, naming and marriage ceremonies in a typical Islamic community are nothing Ghanaian but a gross exhibition of a complete alien tradition not even reminiscent of the provisions of the Islamic doctrine.

One is even advised not to ask too many disputed questions in religious matters as it weakens one’s faith (Sahih Al-Buhkari volume2, book24 number 555), and any other form of worship apart from Islam will suffer the pangs of Jahanam on the day of Recompense (may Allah guide us all on the right part). The form which religion in today’s world has taken is highly reminiscent of the infamous “French Policy of Assimilation”

As Africans, even before John-Wycliffe took the initiative to translate the Bible, and Sayyiddina Abu-Bakr could call for compilation of the Quran, our ancestry was well endowed with what is today Biblical and Quranic laws.

Among foods, our ancestry was selective of holistic foods preferring lawful to unlawful ones. There were well established Political Systems that instilled discipline, a great sense of nationalism and brotherliness in the African.

The African also had an even accurate system for calculating dates, times and seasons. Our African tradition posits that every woman is a mother to every child, the upbringing of a child within a community is the essential responsibility of every member of the community and not restricted to one’s immediate family.

Indeed, the African has a God

We may wonder further, has the African a God? However, contrary to what the world has been made to believe, the African has a God. In communicating with our God we offer wine, alas! The world’s religions condemn intake of wine and pouring of libation, but the first miracle Jesus Christ the Messiah performed was turning water into wine. It has been said time and again that the Messiah is not as white has been portrayed rather he was black as an African, and that points out the mystery of the “Black Madonna”.

I harbour a strong conviction that if legends like the great Okomfo Anokye had appeared somewhere in the East or West round the same time, his name would have been in the Bible or even the Quran or Hadith or better still a Saint, and special prayers will be offered to him on special dates. Okomfo Anokye performed many miracles; he walked in the air, planted a palm-tree, watered it and watched it grow that very minute, he planted a sword into the earth which has not been removed till date and even brought down the Golden Stool. “Who sent down the Golden Stool?”

Another great legend worthy of Prophet-hood is Togbe Tsali, he was tied to boulders and drowned, he resurrected on the third day riding in the back of crocodile, is that not miracle enough? Or How should that be classified; Voodoo, Black magic or Miracle?

Agya Ahor, another great gem. Just as the Christ, Agya Ahor sacrificed himself for the love of his people.

The African traditional religion which has over the decades been described as pagan and un-Godly proves otherwise, the ecclesiastic Roman named the various months of the year and days of the week after their pagan idols and gods, like “Sunday” the day reserved for the worship of the “sun god” and “March” being named after the roman god “Mars”, the planet Jupiter is clearly named after the Roman idol.

Unlike the pagan roman African festive celebrations show signs of Biblical and ancient historic tradition, the Creator, according to the book of Exodus appeared to Moses in the form of fire, the Bible also reads in the book of Hebrews chapter 12:29 “for our God is a consuming fire” so it is ecclesiastical if the Dagomba ethnic group celebrates the “Bugum Chugu”-fire festival,   “Cleanliness they say is godliness”, Adae is an Akan festival of Cleanliness.

So in earnest, Has the African a God?

Writer: Godwin Abanga (Student journalist)

A TRUE-LIFE STORY – LOVE IN WORD OR LOVE IN DEED?

Ever wondered what love truly means? in expressing love, we can sometimes be found wanting. My question of Love in word or love in deed is from an experience, one that left question marks on what love truly should be.

Love in word or love in deed

Love in Word or love in deed – the encounter

We sat face to face, chatting, giggling and occasionally gazing intently into each other’s eyeballs, the conversation filled with “sweet nothing” kept on flowing effortlessly in what seemed sweet melodious and sleek tones.

Her romantic tone waxed so well with my manly coarse tone, and we sounded like the Soweto choir. We were completely immersed in the conversation and absolutely lost in the moment.

The moment was inundated with an air of benign affability. Every single word uttered either triggered an emotion or tickled pink. In either case it was responded to with an equal measure of emotion, and for the first time I felt Newton’s third law of motion in its practical terms–to every action there is an equal but opposite reaction.

Her smooth long legs which protruded from her shorts (hot pants) were bent at right angles (90) so that one bent knee could fit exactly in between my short-bent legs which stood astride. The sitting pattern was such that I had a bent knee in between her thighs, and she also had hers in between mine, but she had to do so cautiously because her knee was not very far from my balls of life.

love in word or love in deed?

The vertices from the top of my head to her eyes, to the top of her head could be connected to form an isosceles triangle with the odd angle on my head. She was obviously taller so would have to tilt my head upwards at an appreciable level so that our eyes could be fixed on a straight line.

We looked very well saddled and huddled together but I can bet that this was never a planned thing. We just had to manage comfortable postures in the little space that served as an office cum warehouse. We cared less about the pungency of paint, ink, old paper, grease, kerosene and petrol that engulfed the little space in the printing press.

From a distance one would think of us as some new snuggle bunnies who couldn’t wait to have a one-night stand, because the scene was more erotic than a mere romance-charged atmosphere. However, there existed nothing more than acquaintanceship. Even if there was, then it was still in the pipeline.

The reality of our meeting – love in word or love in deed.

We had just met for the second time, and we seemed to be getting along real fast. We got along so well that it seemed we knew ourselves from birth–the connection was like that of a Bluetooth connection, the bond like that of a covalent bond, and the telepathy between us was simply amazing.

The talkative persons we both are, made it easier for us to veer from one topic to another and very difficult for us to agree on one thing, so we veered from argument to argument. She was one person who would never give in to anyone’s opinion. She had an opinion on every topic, even topics about the life of the dead. Her opinions were always different from everyone else’s. Even if her opinion coincidentally falls in congruent with some else’s she would find a way of adding or subtracting something so that she could be on her own lane of thought.

Our conversations were boundless: love, sex, media, school, abroad, career and the list go on and on. Most of what we discussed were however media related because apparently, we were both in one way or the other connected to media. Unsolicited, she told me about herself and the independent life she lives in her parents’ house: ironic right? She told me about her associates and various squads. Ironically her associates and squads, and that of mine have a Shatta – Samini kind of relationship–little wonder we never agreed on anything.

Hearing her speak, one got the impression that she was some sort of a celebrity or one in the making. She spoke very good English and blended it so well with fine Twi (never mind that I don’t understand Twi very well). Blinded by so much, yet focused on my question, love in word or love in deed?

Her accent was neither British nor American, and it wasn’t Ghanaian too. I heard she lived abroad for a while (a little above 5 months) but I couldn’t readily pin her accent down on any particular country. It was somehow close to an American accent but very much older than the few months she was said to have lived abroad so I convinced myself that she probably acquired some of it in America and acquired the rest through distance learning: that’s if we don’t want to say her accent was a Locally Acquired Foreign Accent (LAFA).

Our conversation got deeper and deeper until intimacy dawned….

Read part 2 of Love in word or love in deed Here.

Story By: P.D Wedam/thesavannaonline.com

LOVE IN WORD OR LOVE IN DEED 2

In Part 1 of Love in word or love in deed, I took you through an encounter with a woman that got me wondering wild. Here is Love in word or love in deed 2.

Love in word or love in deed 2 – Escaping temptation

Our conversation got deeper and deeper until it eventually turned intimate, and she started recounting to me her previous relationships. The sweeter the conversation got, the darker the day got. It was getting late, and the “independent” lady was panicking, trying to cook up an explanation for her mom so that she wouldn’t lock the gate. Worst of all, we were in somebody’s office whose closing time had passed.

I couldn’t afford to miss the most interesting part of the conversation. Missing it would have been like enjoying all the foreplay and at the point of penetration somebody bumps on you or working your way all through only to be distracted at the point of orgasm. I wasn’t just prepared for such a feeling at all, so the religious guy in me started to pray silently while the naughty part of me had my eyes fixed deep into hers. I could literarily see my whole face in her pupils–the level of concentration was exponentially high.

Just before I could say “amen” to end my silent prayer, the owner of the printing press yanked open the door and called out my name simultaneously.

Love in word or love in deed 2

Love in word or love in deed 2 – The Disruption

“Damn it!!! It is finished,” I bemoaned in my head while forcing a smile to accompany the response. The result was a funny look on my face like the confused emoticon on WhatsApp and a very scratchy response.

“I dey go meet my paddy come so make you guys watch de place give me…….I dey go come …..”, he added.

As impatient as I was, I wouldn’t even let him finish before I already burst out a consenting response, “no p…we dey…we go dey…no worries”.

By this time I had heaved a sigh of relief, which got me repeating my response unnecessarily. She gave me a fairly gentle push on my forehead as a form of resentment and started complaining about the tendency of being locked outside.

How I managed to get her to stay and continue the conversation is however history.

Love in word or love in deed

The needless conversation – Love in word or love in deed 2

Fast forward, we were back to our hearty chitchat, and she was obliged to continue from where she left off. She is one person who wouldn’t entertain any form of distraction when talking. She would suggestively demand an undivided attention.

Her latest relationship was the one with Kobby (real name withheld). Kobby, she said was a gentle sweet soul, a darling and a very good guy (as they put it in typical Ghanaian parlance). She had met Kobby way back and they have since been hanging out as friends for quite a long time but nothing official seemed to have happened (at least that was what she said, you and I were not there).

Anytime they went out for a public gathering and her chatty personality got her interacting with the opposite sex Kobby always demonstrated traits of jealousy. She said Kobby always introduced her as his girlfriend to his friends, workmates and family. She explained how romantic their playfulness will turn anytime she visited Kobby at home and how happy she always was in the company of Kobby.

Apparently, she was the only girl who could get close to Kobby because he was a very reserved person who hardly associated with peers, not even his own squad mates (clique). She confessed Kobby had everything that she ever desired in a man. He was the exact definition of her ideal man, but she seemed to have a problem with Kobby.

At this point I was stunned. I could neither breathe in nor breath out. My blood circulation too came to a standstill. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore. They were numb.

I started blinking my eyes at a pace and irregular interval to help gain consciousness. All this while she had paused and was trying to send her mum a text.

Everything in the atmosphere sublimed into suspense.

The only noise that could be heard was the oscillating ceiling fan, the tick-tock of the wall clock, and our own breath. She eventually took a deep breath, cleared her throat, stole a flirty glance at me and tore the silence in the atmosphere:

“Denis, ………….. I felt Kobby was merely wasting my time and warding off my suitors. All that while Kobby had not been “man enough” to propose love to me, even though from his actions I knew he loved me”. “How could a guy be so mean”?, she emotionally quizzed.

“Mean, you say? I interjected sharply with an interrogative exclamation. She held her breath, at the same time thinking of an explanation. When she burst out her response, she missed her first word, the second and the third. No identifiable word was uttered. All that was heard was errrm….errrm….errm…She realized she didn’t make sense and had to explain better so she handcuffed me, pulled me closer to her and looked deep into my eyes hoping that I could see her pain.

Love wins, however, is it love in word or love in deed?

For a moment she agreed actions speak louder than words so she would rather explain in actions than in words. Unfortunately, I was too occupied with her presence than to see or feel her pain. I could only see a teasingly tempting gorgeous figure who was rather too idealistic for this century and that in itself was pain enough. In that compromising position, only one thing was most likely, and man had to be strong so I ………………to be continued.

Human Predicament 1- A Keen Reflection on Human Life

Defining Humanity

The Reflections of a Human

The human person is the most marvellous and most complex being in the universe. The marvels of the human person by far surpass those of the physical universe.  The brevity of human life, the vicissitudes of life, man’s power and weakness, his dignity and misery, his joys and sorrows, his finitude, his experience of suffering, sickness, disease, death and decay, his anxieties, fears and worries, are all starting points for reflection and deep thinking.

Buddha’s philosophy for instance arose from his reflection on human suffering – old age, disease, death and decay. Reflection on these phenomena of human life gives rise to some fundamental questions about the nature, purpose and meaning of human life on this earth.

Who is human?

What is man? He is so strong, yet so fragile, so powerful, yet so weak, so great, yet so miserable. He is so curious to know, and knows so much about the physical universe, yet he is so ignorant about himself. He is in fact a problem to himself, a mystery beyond his comprehension; he cannot answer his own questions about himself. From time immemorial, man has been preoccupied with questions about his origin, nature and destiny.

What am I? Why do I live? What is the meaning of my life? What, in the final analysis, is the ultimate value of my life? Where do I go from here? Am I heading for nothingness? There are of course many people who do not bother asking themselves such questions about the meaning and purpose of their lives.

They just go on from day to day living unexamined lives. They work, eat, drink, struggle for money and wealth, marry and beget children among other desires. They just want to be like ‘others’ and they are submerged in their daily routine, without ever asking themselves what it all means in the final analysis. Man is a being who does not understand himself; and puts his own very being into question.

The Cravings of the mankind

Man has natural desire for continued existence; his strongest instinct is that of self-preservation and self-perpetuation in existence. Yet his life span is brief and is often terminated contrary to his deepest desire. All his efforts to resist the imposed termination of his life are futile – off he goes whether he likes it or not. He is forced out of this world without even knowing where he is going. He did not choose to come to this world. He simply finds himself in this world without knowing why and sooner or later he will be forced out of it.

What then is the ultimate meaning of man’s existence? What is the ultimate value of man’s life? What is he living for? Has his life any ultimate meaning? We all know that we eat to live, but what do we live to do? Why do we live?

Albert Camus, a renowned French philosopher tells us that there is only one truly serious philosophical question, and that is, is human life meaningful or meaningless? This is also the most serious problem about human life. Albert Camus is quite right. Many people do commit suicide because they find life meaningless. They feel that a meaningless life is not worth living. They therefore terminate it.

Credit: Inusah Awuni – MPhil, MA, BA (Lecturer – AUCC & DUC)

Email: agolgoti@yahoo.com

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