The Audacity of Dependence

Do you really have to worry yourself too much when you know fully well that you will definitely not live this world alive? There was the case of two bosom friends who were travelling in a tiny Honda television of a car. The car was called television because it actually looked like an oversized television screen. They had just passed Four Mile on the highway to Freetown. The one who was driving watched through the driving mirror and saw a heavy duty 12 tires Toyota monster speeding down hill towards their way. The driving guy got real scared and adviced that they park the car by the road side and go into the bush to a safer place. They did but at the end the Toyota actually killed them in the bush, sparing their car. There is also the case of the guy at Fourah Bay Road who was killed by a container truck which lost its way while negotiating a sharp bend. There are so many other stories. You see you can actually break your own leg while walking inside your own house built by your own very cash.
These things happen everyday and it does not really matter how careful you can be. Sometimes it does not really pay off to be too careful. I used to draw a line on my book case and place the books along it. That way when anybody removed any of the books I will know even if replaced, it will not be done along the drawn line. That was how I caused people living with me to stop using my books. I was about half of my current age and I do sincerely regret it. Now I really sometimes create my own disorder so that I can miss orderliness. You see you can only know disorder when you have experienced some order in your life. If everybody were of the same height in the world the concepts of short and tall could have been lost on us. You know that you are short because there is another guy around you whose height is numerically beyond you.
I am gradually growing to believe that as President Obama continues to stay in the limelight for the best reasons so one thinks that our world will never be itself again. For those who doubt why President Obama should be given a Nobel Prize for Peace just compare the various speeches of former President Bush and those of Obama. Listen to this: “My job is to inspire people to take ownership of this country. Politics is not business. It is a mission. It’s about making people’s lives better.” Can you compare this to the belligerent speeches of Papa Bush of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ fame? Cold shivers always run down my spine when ever daddy Bush starts to talk about Axis of Evil, calling countries that have links with al-Qaeda and by extension had made enemies with the Great US of A. For my Small Sierra Leone which is even too small for one war head cannot afford to fall into that so-called axis of evil. Look I was never excited about Mr. Obama’s bid for the American Presidency because he is black… I don’t play the path of racism. Some people are saying that President Obama was given the Nobel Prize for his speeches  whatever – they may go to the best part of hell, as heaven must be full by now.  Do you know the cemetery in Jerusalem got full a long time ago? They say all those buried there go to heaven. Can you blame me for secretly writing my name on one of the graves when I had the opportunity a year ago? You sidom me dae heaven oh! There is this thing that moves people… good speeches, moving ones. Why do you think the great Robin White liked interviewing the likes of Charles Taylor and Jerry Rawlings? Great men are best remembered by their speeches, much more perhaps than what they do.
At least Obama has started to do what he says. See the efforts at Health Reforms, foreign policy and nuclear control. Why do we as a world need to spend billions of dollars to strengthen our military when there are millions of children dying of malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa?
I almost forgot, I am thinking of grabbing and reading President Obama’s Book… “The Audacity of hope’. When I read it I may think of writing a book called ‘The Audacity of Dependence’. Do you now see where I am coming from?
I simply got the title of the piece from Uncle Obama’s Book I saw the other day in the internet. Why is it that dependence appears so inevitable even in this electronic age? Is dependence not God’s creation? Why do we have all the opposites in this godamn world – simply because there is this pervading audacity of dependence. We all need each other. Even Great America through President Obama has woken up suddenly to realize that The US of A needs concerted efforts to stamp out terrorism. Interestingly President Obama seems poised to fight terrorism but terrorists. We shall now fight terrorism by fighting those who promote terrorism. You see vulnerability is not necessarily planted in the domain of the poor. For me the more affluent you are the more vulnerable you probably could become. Remember they say the higher the monkey climbs, the more it exposes its backside. Quite succinct eh?
The concept of civil society becomes more fashionable the more undemocratic a country becomes and it thrives well in countries where human rights are yet considered endangered foreign bodies. The civil society remains perhaps one last hope. When governments play along the democratic path then civil society appears less affirmative and robust. Any country in which the civil society becomes strange bed fellows with their government they know that government may still need work to do or conversely it could also mean the civil society is weak or gagged to silence by a dictatorial regime. So thank God our civil society in Sierra Leone is partnering with Government and the two are finding ways of working together for the general good of the country. Why not there is this audacity of dependence. I am yet to see the man born of woman who does not depend on other people for so many things. Let us take the art of cooking. The rich man and the poor man need the simple market woman who places her vegetables on the tables for sale.
I have never heard of a rich man whose cook does not go to the market. Today China is being recognized as a fast growing country but some 30 to 40 years ago it was considered as having a closed door policy. If you travel on western airlines today you find a lot of the passengers to be Chinese or Asians. There is so much fun and good in travelling to other countries. Housewives or women in general believe so much in interdependence that they sometimes even borrow what they have, if only to know what and what the other person has. Wait; do not get me wrong, always going to the next door neighbor asking for this and that becomes unacceptable. It’s like a young lady wanting to impress people at a party borrows the dress, shoes and makeup from the same person stands the risk of being mistaken for the rightful owner.
One set of people we can hardly do without are barbers. They actually control everybody’s head including that of the Head of State. Do you know some barbers can be really rough? They will jerk your head as if they want to wring it off for you or as if they are quarrelling with you. The barbing shop is one place you can never be independent. You must share a little bit of the other person’s hair chemistry. The truth is you cannot take your own scissors or clippers along; neither can you take along all the things that it takes to give you the hair cut. Nature keeps its balance with people.
The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. The pursuance of happiness is the chase of a life time. It is never too late to become what you might have become. Sometimes we are so caught up in who’s right and who’s wrong that we forget what is right or wrong.
Congrats President Obama for the Nobel Peace prize… you have achieved laurels in less than a year what older Presidents could not achieve in two terms in office. One thing no one can recycle is wasted time. You see the Americans are so generous and open minded that their computer rejects the name Obama but accepts the loathed name of Osama… can it be out of reconciliation?
By S. Beny SAM.