The Online Samurai

I find it unnerving when society confounds intelligence with career. The idea that doctors are smarter than teachers. Or Lawyers more intelligent than bus conductors. I know this is what 8-4-4 teaches, but it is faulty. Who you become is shaped by opportunity & preparedness. A bus conductor with the lawyer's experiences WOULD make a lawyer. A man with the bus conductor's experiences and limitations WOULD make a bus conductor. This implies that the potential is not immutable. And that there has to be a positive foundation for impact to be realized. Take me for example, I love and enjoy reading. But when you trace my background, I had the opportunity & preparedness for it. I had a mother who was about to complete her diploma at Mombasa Polytechnic, & she would take me to their library thus I had easy access to the library. So when my introversion needed an escape, it was readily available to me in the form of library. Now, a child with my character in Kathonzweni migh...

Knowing how to live with depression is important for many of us — with more than 300 million people across the globe living with chronic depression, it’s the leading cause of disability worldwide. It’s time to go beyond getting a diagnosis, into giving people actual coping mechanisms. Without coping mechanisms, we’re trapped in a downward spiral. Being depressed leads to falling behind; falling behind leads to more depression. 1. Be proactive. It’s a cliche because it’s true — the best defense is a vigorous offense. Do you know what you’ll do the next time you’re depressed?  In order to make a plan, you need to know two things: your symptoms of depression and the strategies that work for you, 2. Zoom in on what’s most important for you to accomplish. Urgency isn’t only about getting things done, It’s “also about being able to say no to non-essential tasks. Meeting your work deadline is essential; the church bake sale is non-essential. Don't say yes to everything. 3. Figure out the...

I remember when you were younger & your mother proudly introduced you to guests. Now she hides you from the world - when she is not hiding from you. Her cheeks, once succulent with hope, now hang precariously. You must quit Khat and Alcohol. You have caused enough pain.  Such was a time when your father laughed with you, and your sister laughed around you. Now, they dread your company. Your arrival triggers worrying glances and stern countenance. They had a son and a brother, now they have a burden to be kept at arm's length. It is time. I'm finally seeing what my father really is and he's finally seeing me for what I really am; Scared. It's harder to disappoint your father than to let him know he disappointed you.

Money is an object of strong attraction. He who finds his highest happiness in counting and recounting his treasures — will be likely to begin early to introduce the same craving desires into the mind of his offspring. The youth will be drilled in the arts of business. The associations of business and the chances of bargaining will regularly court his attention, and a great fortune will be represented as the ground of respectability, and the source of influence and pleasure. Under such a training, what wonder that in the mind of youth all other considerations, but the simple one of acquiring wealth, should be forgotten and obliterated. But there are other considerations; and as high as your hopes may rise, and as bright as may be your anticipations of lucre or renown — there are subjects of still higher import, objects which should more strongly attract the soul. Even, were the earthly object obtained — were the thing, coveted so eagerly, obtained, how soon must you relinquish it: ...

The aim of the scam is to encourage those who get a missed call to ring the number, after which they will be ripped off as the call will be re-routed to premium rate number overseas & will be subsequently billed exorbitant sums for listening to pre-recorded messages. What should you do if you get a suspected Wangiri call? If you receive calls like this, be assured that you haven’t been specifically targeted. It’s likely that the fraudster has generated a missed call to a whole range of mobile numbers that happens to include yours. We recommend that you don’t return calls to international numbers that you don’t recognise. Calls to Wangiri numbers will often result in a charge being incurred and encourage the fraudster to generate more missed calls to customers who choose to call back.If the worst happens and you return the Wangiri call, we encourage you to call your mobile service provider, explain the situation & help them block some of these numbers.

"We do not play chess to keep all your pieces alive and win with all your material intact. We trade, make sacrifices, with just one goal: checkmate! ".  If I could transfer all my wisdom into someone else's head and they received it all in an instant, I believe most would go utterly insane in an almost near instant from the barrage of dark and perverse poetry. That's what wisdom does; makes the weak insane, and the strong weird. Weirdness then is just knowing what the crazy people know without becoming unhinged and paranoid.Insanity = cannot handle the truths they've discovered, find themselves in existential crisis & nihilism prone Insanity = cannot handle the truths they've discovered, find themselves in existential crisis & nihilism.

I'm thankful for the gift of life. Earlier today I saw a tweet that said, "Ever since the pandemic started, I haven't lacked anything." I really felt that. I also watched the 7PM news and saw a story about a man who has been feeding via a tube/pipe for the last 12 years or so and suddenly it dawned on me how lucky I am.  It is simply God's grace that I am alive, healthy and safe. I won't take it for granted and certainly will try to be thankful for the 'little' blessings that the most High bestows upon my life. It's at this point in time that I remember the lyrics from a talented American RnB artist, Jordin Sparks who I actually wonder where she is nowadays; "One Step at a time, there's no need to rush...."