Category: Musings

The Drive

I cannot seem to formulate a comment that adequately describes how this made me feel. Just read it and decide for yourself.

allmostrelevant

Last Friday, in one sitting, I drove from Orange County, California to Seattle, Washington, my old stomping grounds. I left at 6:00 am Friday and arrived at 2:00 am Saturday. This is a list of some of the things I saw:

-Pavement. Lots of pavement.

-The Horizon.

-The sunrise gradually warm the hazy skies over Los Angeles.

-A sprinkler spraying water over a dry field, but the water turned to mist in the heat and drifted away before it could hit the soil. When I drove past, it looked as though the sprinkler was tired of being a sprinkler, and wanted instead to be a rainbow machine.

-Miles of cows on a cattle farm. Typically I don’t measure livestock in units of distance, but here it was appropriate. I’m not sure what the proper unit to measure stench is, but let’s just say it was not mild.

-A cow carcass…

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On self-doubt

I enjoy a good pity-party as much as the next guy, but some days merely feeling sorry for myself simply don’t cut it. On those days I decide to step it up and start questioning my entire existence.

Today was one of those days. It started out quite well – hot filter coffee while watching the sun rise over the ocean (feeling jealous yet?) and I was all set to plant myself behind the computer and break that writing block that had been vexing me lately.

As they tend to do, some distractions got in the way, but I dealt with them and watched a movie. Then I finally warmed up the laptop (some days it’s like an old diesel engine – have to let it idle a bit before I can start working) and started to write…or tried to. Continue reading “On self-doubt” →

On Marriage

Hands with wedding rings They say there are three rings in marriage: the engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering. Four years ago today the wife and I exchanged the second of these rings. The third started much, much earlier, but that’s a post for another day.

I consider this an accomplishment for which we’ll welcome congratulations, as many people don’t even make it this far. In most of the Western world it is known that between forty and sixty percent of marriages end in divorce. I once read that a very high percentage (I cannot remember the exact figure) of these marriages that fail, fail within the first two years. That tells me the wife and I have already beaten some considerable odds to get where we are today.

And it hasn’t been easy. There have been days where neither of us have spoken a word to each other. There have been days when I stood at our fourth-storey window, not admiring the view, but measuring the distance to the ground and calculating whether it is high enough for a lethal fall or whether I should try and lure her onto the roof. I’m sure there have been days where both of us simply wanted to walk out. But we didn’t, and for that I am extremely grateful. Continue reading “On Marriage” →

Sharp, sharp, Vuyo

Today South Africa said goodbye to a broadcasting legend. To be honest, my experience of Vuyo Mbuli was rather limited – I used to listen to his afternoon talk show on the radio as a student and only seldom watched the breakfast news show where he was anchor. But there’s no doubt that he was one of the best and most beloved news men ever produced by our country. You only need to read this tribute to get a good idea how people felt about him.

I had been following him on twitter as well for the past few months. This morning, as I was reading the articles and tweets regarding his funeral, something made me search for his Twitter profile. I guess I was wondering whether it had been deleted or perhaps updated by a family member or something. Instead, I found the last tweet sent by Vuyo himself.

Continue reading “Sharp, sharp, Vuyo” →

Because I can

This morning I quickly popped into the hardware store for some wood sealant (new bookcase, yay!). While I was waiting for my payment to go through a sales rep came in and started chatting to the cashiers. Her arm was in a sling and it came out that she had been in an accident.

She was waiting for oncoming traffic before making a right-turn (we drive on the left in SA) into town when someone slammed into her from behind going 160km/h(100mph) – double the speed limit at that point. His car dragged hers for over 100 metres. Her car, as she told it, cracked in half from the impact, back to front. The spare tyre (in the boot) was compressed to the shape of a rugby ball. His excuse? He was in a hurry. He even had the audacity to flash his lights at her as he approached.

She was lucky to walk away from the accident with only a torn muscle in her arm. But she cannot drive, even if she had a car, so she cannot visit clients and cannot earn an income as her work is commission-based.

Walking home from the shop I thought of another incident I heard about this weekend. A journalist I follow on Twitter was held up at gunpoint in his home with his wife and daughters on Saturday while his house was ransacked (his word). Thankfully no one was hurt, at least not physically. But the emotional trauma and lost property is a fact they have to live with now.

Both these incidents occurred because someone was selfish. In both cases innocent people, just doing their jobs and trying to live their lives as best they could, contributing their bit to the world, were hurt because someone else did not care about fair play, or compassion, or respect, but simply took what they wanted because they could.

When did our world become like this? When did it become okay to harm others simply because you can?