CHOICES

I wonder whom among us knows how our choices influence our life's and those of others whether directly or indirectly.
From deciding which hospital we would have our kids, the school they attend, what we wear, the friends we make even to the lady we decide to buy the sachet water from.
Let's stop and think, what if I had made different decisions in life, if I had learned harder, made different friends, listened to my parents, helped that friend in need or taken that bold step?!.
Well, who can say we can only assume since we never did!
I have learnt 'Never dwell on the Past'! That is why it is past. All we can do is to learn from our mistakes and move on swiftly ensuring we are improving on our daily life's.
To some of us our hardest critiques are ourselves always wanting the best and not satisfied until we get there. At times we also measure our performance with what others think of us be it friends or family and undermining our own judgments.
Today I read about "Constant Truths for Changing Times". One of the messages given by the Prophet Thomas S. Monson at a general conference of the church. He spoke about many things that have currently changed significantly in our lives today.
Most particularly was the story he told of Sister Monson his wife.

"Several years ago we had a young paperboy who didn’t always deliver the paper in the manner intended. Instead of getting the paper on the porch, he sometimes accidentally threw it into the bushes or even close to the street. Some on his paper route decided to start a petition of complaint. One day a delegation came to our home and asked my wife, Frances, to sign the petition. She declined, saying, “Why, he’s just a little boy, and the papers are so heavy for him. I would never be critical of him, for he tries his best.” The petition, however, was signed by many of the others on the paper route and sent to the boy’s supervisors.

Not many days afterward, I came home from work and found Frances in tears. When she was finally able to talk, she told me that she had just learned that the body of the little paperboy had been found in his garage, where he had taken his own life. Apparently the criticism heaped upon him had been too much for him to bear. How grateful we were that we had not joined in that criticism. What a vivid lesson this has always been regarding the importance of being nonjudgmental and treating everyone with kindness." 

I am convinced that most of us will have diverse meanings to this experience. Although we do not know if Sister Monson stood up in anyway to the people in the neighborhood or had a talk with the family of the young boy or himself, we are put in a position to make our own conclusions.
However it just made me think of choices we have and what we make with them. Would the young boy have chosen a different path if someone had spoken to him kindly or just corrected the mistake he made?

Everyday no matter where we are we see a lot of 'paper boys". We are faced with the dilemma of whether to step up and say something or disagree and within and silently watch what the out come will be.
It's time we took a stand, made a right choice and saved a paperboy. The next victim could be you, your brother, sister or that bright child. Lets do our best to avoid judging others and always treat them as ourselves.

Take a minute to read the full talk @ Constant Truth for Changing Times

 

 

 

'TrotroSaga' ...Of Preaching in Public Vehicles

After walking in the hot sun, struggling to sit in a public transport, and hoping to get to your destination within minutes and when the vehicle suddenly moves with fresh air cooling your nerves, then a passenger slights stands up raises his voice which grabs your attention and starts preaching.

Do not get me wrong I am a Christian and not against preaching the word of God because everyone has to know about our Father in Heaven. However in these days the various ways where by people use to determine the little time some people will have peace and quiet is becoming rampant.
I boarded a public transport 'trotro' from the Kaneshi market to Madina the past week after a very hectic day. Honestly because the drive will be through the N1 motorway most passengers like myself engaged the conductor of the vehicle 'mate' to take our fares soon, so we can relax or doze off for some time.
Just when the vehicle hit the freeway and my eyes suddenly felt heavy, a middle aged man stood up from he first seat where he was sitting, faced the passengers and declared he was about to share the word. You could clearly see the frustrations on the face of other passengers including me who felt we needed some level of quiet in our life's. No one dared say anything for fear of being ridiculed as being a pegan or for reasons best known to them. Even though as he started he declared his message was short and simple it ended up being the opposite. He gave a lengthy message about how young men of today engage in all sorts of acts including preaching when all they did was to extort money from people.  I dozed off in between his message and woke up hearing him depicting extremely gore conditions of male homosexuals. For once I was confused why he kept repeating that these were all students of one of the known Universities in the country and explaining in detail how ill they were and every detail of their various awful sores they have in private parts. What I could not take was why he kept on repeating this as the rest of his message.
To say I wished I was out of the vehicle is an understatement. This gentleman even though was preaching on very real issues was making passengers uncomfortable, nauseous, and irked. Thankfully he ended as we drew nearer to our destination and asked for funds 'collection' to help in the Lords work. He then asked to alight and joined another vehicle going another way.
Silently we were relived to have some quiet. Another gentleman hoped in and filled his place and once again we were on our way. Just like a scene from a movie, this new young man stood to his feet and shouted "Praise the Lord". We just turned to each other in the vehicle and burst into laughter I felt sad for this young man who had no idea what we had endured for the past 30 minutes. His message was very short since we were almost at our destination and spared no time also asking for 'collection'. He wasn't as lucky as his predecessor since he had nothing not a single change to spare.

As a country should there be laws regulating these issues? Although we hit hard on our chest, proclaiming democracy and freedom of speech are we not aware our freedom ends when someone's rights begin? I think the issue of these 'preacher men' in our public places have become too rampant with most screaming on top voices without thinking about others.
We need law makers in our country who really go through what we do and generate ways to solve our problems and not theirs. I dare say our law makers must face what we do on a daily basis and see if they can survive.

That Scary Moment when.............

Do you ever wonder what the Bible meant when it sais "Spare the rod and spoil the child"?
Did it mean we should fashion rods or sticks(canes) to hit our children anytime they make a mistake, a wrong choice or do anything bad?

On my way home from work last night, a car pulled up beside me. It became scary since the whole place was dark however, I felt comforted when I heard the voices of children in the back seat.
Immediately the car pulled to a stop, the lady in the front seat whom I assumed was the mother, wasted no time in beating one of the children seated at the back so harshly............. the neighborhood was very quiet might I say hence this little child's screams were so piercing it would make your heart sink.
Why would a mother labor for 9 months go through pain to have a child then beat that infant with an object be it a hand or a cane when he went wrong. Do we stop to think what runs through the child's mind? Most people don't but I do!
We should all stop and think of the scars we leave on these little ones. These precious ones we are doing our best to bring up in the right way.
I wouldn't say I went through my childhood without a stroke of a rod. Copral punishment after all was thought the best way to correct a child in schools where I grew up. You should know that did only made me dislike the teacher who handed out the punishment more. I might be able to remember most teachers who did cain me unfairly although I recently met one who swore he did it with love to correct me.
What do we think of when we meet children with these scars both physical and emotional. To say the least  getting through it is very difficult.
Most days I do have these kids tell me what happens when they make a mistake or take a step too close to the line.
My heart breaks each day I see that little girl with a scar on her beautiful skin.
I dare not ask her parents she tells me because that will make things worse for her. I love to see the beautiful smile spread across her face, see her eager to learn a new word, taste a new pastry I just baked or just talk gibberish and it will not matter at all. For just a moment this precious moment I am thankful...... she is HAPPY.