Tuesday, April 28, 2009

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole? The answer: you don’t! At least nobody in their right frame of mind would.

Well, in the metaphoric sense sometimes all we need to do is close our eyes and just let it all go (says the girl who’s afraid of the future). Things are always easier said than done, but life is about taking risks. That 100-foot pole is our challenge in life. I know that it is my challenge. You do remember that life is never easy? What would it be without a few twists and turns?

We obviously climbed to the top of the pole, all that’s left to do is take that very small step and leave everything up to chance. Besides, I bet the view is good from up there.

“I definitely need to use my chances when they come because definitely there won’t be many” Roger Federer. Just try to imagine if he didn’t take that small step.

Monday, April 27, 2009

We are what we do

Many countries are engaged in civil war, especially in Africa, and children grow up having bullets for breakfast, lunch and supper. They are educated in knowing nothing else but war. It is their first and only education.

I pity them. Most of them will never get a proper education. They are indoctrinated into believing certain things and we label them murderers, rapists and thieves. They are being defined by what they do, which I think is unfair. Think about it, is it fair to them to say ‘you are what you do’, when they don’t have a choice. Their lives are not their own.

I think that was a bit hectic for a blog, but the truth. I also know most of you won’t agree with me. However the point is, there are some instances in which we can define people by what they do and other times you simply cannot judge.

We are what we do, yes our actions define us, and ‘actions speak louder than words’. Many will agree with that. However our actions aren’t always our intentions.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

We are afraid of the wrong things

Not many people know this (and I am about to share this with the whole world, yikes!), one of my biggest fears is the dark, especially being alone in the dark. So many things come out during the blackness. Maybe I’ve just watched one too many horror flicks.

Seriously though, what should we be afraid of? Snakes and everything that crawls? Just thinking about it makes me quiver. How about the future? It is quite daunting; no matter how well we map it, nothing ever goes according to plan. Suppose that’s what they call ‘Murphy’s Law’.

My future is my fear. Is that the wrong thing to be afraid of? I think not. How many of us can say with absolute certainty that you are not afraid of what the future holds? We know what we want, we know how we’re going to achieve it, but will it actually happen, even if we work our asses off? The future will always be a mystery, but what I do know is that whatever I do now, in the present, will definitely impact my future.

What is the colour of the wind?

The wind has no colour. You can imagine the various colours the wind could have been if it were a colour. Would it have been aggressive, powerful and dangerous like the colour red? Or would it have been blue, tranquil, confident and loyal?

I think it would have been the latter, cool and calming. I imagine myself in an open green field, the smell of fresh grass in the air (the best smell in the world). The bright yellow sun is not too hot; it’s a dazzling spring day. All I feel on my skin is the cool, spring breeze. Now isn’t that just heavenly? The colour blue, tranquillity at it’s best.

Then again, I live in Cape Town. What would my great city be without the Cape Doctor; the fierce South-Easterly that blows all my troubles away? Aggressive and powerful.