Chisha Sinyangwe & Lauretta Twea

Chisha Sinyangwe

HOW AN HIV+ PERSON LOOKS

How on earth does an HIV+ person look like? Are they all sickly looking with all the tell-tale signs of death painted all over their faces? If for example, people were put on an ID parade like they do in police stations and you were asked to point out the guilty, would you know by casually glancing up & down the line?

CHECK OUT HOW AN HIV+ POSITIVE PERSON LOOKS LIKE

An HIV positive person looks like the guy seated next to you on a bus, he's just another nondescript brother going through the rigours of life and sero-conversion  just happens to be, well, another challenge.
An HIV positive person looks exactly like your child's teacher. The teaching profession has taken one of the severest knockings from this epidemic. Your child's teacher could be one of the millions of people who are living with HIV/AIDS.
An HIV positive person looks like your pastor. And don't give me those raised eyebrows. It's not like your person of God is indispensable as far as carnal matters are concerned. HIV corners folks in all sorts of places & I believe that it is hard for an HIV positive pastor to share his/her experience. That's why they keep their HIV status under wraps.
An HIV positive person looks like your father. You know deep down in your heart that he's the strongest man in the world-but unbeknown to you , an unseen foe has hit his weakest link. But he's still strong isn't he?
An HIV positive person looks like your caring mother. She's stuck with dad through good times & bad. Your old man is dying or dead; your folks are nowhere to be seen, but don't count mama out yet, not even when you think the bell is gone.
An HIV positive person looks like the clinical officer in your local dispensary. She is the first person the community runs to when one of their own is one degree under, now she is silently asking,"who will nurse this nurse?"
An HIV positive person looks like the celebrity who seems to have all the money in the world & not a single worry. She is your idol and idols aren't supposed to get infected, or are they?
An HIV positive person looks like the farmer in the remotest part of Malawi whose only source of livelihood is a hoe and the red earth. You see him in a documentary & go,"HIV can't travel to what's-the-name-of-that-godforsaken place?"
An HIV positive person looks like your sibling. You love her to bits. She can't be...(you can't even finish the sentence). Your sibling? HIV positive? Are you out of your mind or you smoked a lil' some'-some'?
An HIV positive person looks like the thoughtful person who sits on the sixth chair, on the 3rd row, next to the huge mounted speaker in church.
An HIV positive person looks like the we- behind-the-ears Form Two student who seems to know nothing about sex.
An HIV positive person looks like the person you have secretly admired for years and would sleep with if they as much as coughed at you.
An HIiV positive person looks like your ex-lover. Yeah the one you had all the plans with of living happily ever after until you realised that life is not a fairy tale.
What I'm trying to say is that we come across scores of  been there done that HIV positive people everyday, it's only that they don't have T-shirts on to proclaim their sero-conversion. They go on with their lives; they rise and fall, they deny and accept, they have fears & faith.

Remember an HIV positive person is born like, lives like, feels like, dreams like, loves like, laughs like, hates like, makes love like, cries like, dies like an HIV negative person.
Get tested, stick to one partner or use a condom for goodness sake!

POEM GORDON READS AT WAYNES FUNERAL

I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss and I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous & happy.  I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts and in the hearts of their descendants and generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done and is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.

COMMUNICATION

Speaking is not indispensable. It is communicating that is.

You see, many millennia ago, before people learned to speak, they could communicate.

A language is merely a medium of communication. It is not the language that is important.

It is what the language conveys that matters.

For purposes of this paper, by language is meant that medium of communication that relies on phonation.

You see, dear reader, not all people can speak. On the other hand, all people can communicate.

This reality clearly captures the folly of laying too much emphasis on the ability to speak, to literally lend voice to one’s thoughts.

In future, Zambia should elect a president who cannot speak English, or better still, one that cannot speak at all.

It is difficult to imagine this, yet allow it, but it should be permitted because it is not the speech of a person that we should focus upon, it is the content of his mind that we must decipher and understand.

From the outset, let me state that this paper does not present an argument against language or speaking.

This paper merely argues against the exaggerated emphasis that human societies have placed on language.

This paper argues for letting all people communicate.

You see, dear reader, language can indeed be a barrier to communication.

Let me illustrate.

Take Zambia for instance. Zambia has adopted English as its official language.

Now, dear reader, how many Zambians today, in April of 2011, can speak in English let alone understand it well?

The answer to this question ought to worry every advocate of communication.

The answer is that only a small fraction of the 13 million Zambians can articulate their thoughts fluently in English or understand thoughts articulated to them fluently in English.

From the foregoing, you will then see that when emphasis is placed on the expression of one’s thoughts in one language this then becomes a veritable barrier not only to communication but to the participation by people in matters dear to their own welfare.

Lamentably, sometimes such emphasis, a veritable form of segregation is legislated for and enforced by law.

Through such fallible legislation, many people, people that have something of value to ‘say’ or communicate are not allowed to do so and by such exclusion, many human societies are denied the indispensable contribution to human advancement from many.

In Zambia, if a person cannot speak in English or understand what is being said in English, such a person is often viewed as possessing a lower standing in society.

Such a person is treated askance, frowned upon and shunned as if with a disgusting disease.

People that are so discriminated against are often viewed as inferior in intelligence or backward.

This is wrong.

Though it truly reflects intelligence, the ability to speak a language, be it English or any other, is not a direct or reliable or sole measure of an individual’s intelligence.

There are many people in the world today that simply cannot speak and yet they are intelligent, knowledgeable and wise.

Note that.

You see dear reader, there should come a time in the life of Zambia as a nation when one should be allowed to become Republican president without placing one’s language as a pre-condition, without insisting that such a person should be able to speak at all or speak in a particular language such as English.

It is not the language that one uses that is important. It is what they have to communicate that we must place the premium on.

Besides, should interpretation be called for when one wishes to communicate, let the services of one so coached in such ways be engaged for purposes of ensuring that the audience receives the message from the one sending it.

Media of communication are many.

Dear reader, observe that in human life, there is both verbal and non-verbal communication. And fluency in both these ways of communicating can indeed be attained.

It is not that we should let the people speak; it is that we should let the people communicate.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a Republican president expressing his or her thoughts in Chitonga, Chichewa, Icibemba or Kikaonde.

Such an approach to communication would broaden the field for people to participate in their own governance without the now extant subtle yet real exclusive practice.

In addition, such an approach would enable all to benefit from the thoughts of many.

At present, only a few exposed citizens have the opportunity to undertake national activities for the sole reason that they can express themselves well in English, albeit itself a foreign language.

The shameful thing is that the excluded many are very knowledgeable people, are profoundly intelligent and are admirably wise.

Usual are the moments when out of courtesy people do not protest when their leader addresses them in English.

Despite their not understanding what their leader is saying, they remain quiet based on the fear of being found out that they cannot understand him or her or merely because of sheer politeness.

In times like these, communication then fails.

The leader then goes away mistakenly thinking he passed on the message, and the audience leaves quietly disgruntled and muttering under their breath their anger at the arrogance that seemingly educated people tend to exhibit. Discord remains.

Dear reader, there should come a time in Zambia when fluent in Chikunda, a Republican president will articulate in that language the contents of a National Development Plan (NDP) to the country’s citizens.

An interpreter or interpreters will then play their part to make the message understandable to the rest of the citizens that are Chikunda-naive.

Such a level of national tolerance and acceptance shall veritably reflect a higher state of being for the country.

The argument in this paper is that the deaf and dumb are not idiots.

An idiot is here defined as a person whose mental capacity is so rudimentary as to render such a person non-functional.

The deaf and dumb, you see, are truly not idiots.

Many of them, if not all, are highly intelligent people, people that possess knowledge and wisdom, who merely suffered the misfortune of losing the ability to speak and hear either from birth or afterwards.

Now, dear reader, here is the million dollar question. Would you allow a deaf and dumb person to become your Republican president?

Chances are, because you are so bigoted, you would not allow it and yet it is perfectly in order that such a person should be offered an equal chance at such leadership.

The probability of a deaf and dumb person becoming Republican president anywhere in the world is a slim one if at all extant.

This is so not because such people cannot lead. It is because society is so mistakenly prejudiced. It is because we do not exist in a barrier-free environment.

Though Nature provides for such people to lead, on the other hand, man has mistakenly erected huge barriers such as language which preclude the participation of such people in national leadership as exemplified above.

Dear reader, note that a ‘deaf and dumb’ person is here used metaphorically as well as literally.

A deaf and dumb person is in this paper illustrated as a proxy for someone who cannot speak.

After all, as an example, if you cannot speak Kikaonde or French, aren’t you really deaf and dumb in as far as that language is concerned?

You see, the use of language is a veritable exaggerated fixture in the lives of human beings.

When emphasis is placed on speaking one particular language for communication in a nation, this then represents a clear barrier that excludes the participation of many in their own affairs.

Barriers can be a good thing. Naturally, barriers define what should be done and what should not.

For instance, in Nature, barriers prescribe the boundaries of what is evil and what is not. Nonetheless, barriers to human survival and prosperity ought to be eliminated.

Dear reader, English in Zambia is a veritable barrier to the progress of many.

Though its use should not be abolished but encouraged instead, the use of other languages, languages that Zambians are comfortable with and fluent in should also be legislated for, encouraged and reach wide acceptance.

Knowledge, intelligence and wisdom are not expressed in one language.

These are universal to all human beings.

Yes, let the people speak, but more importantly, let the people communicate.

You see, a visit to the lion’s den teaches one a lot about the lion.

Similarly, your habitat says a lot about you, dear reader.

REASONS I DON'T LIKE VISITING RICH PEOPLE.

Question: "what would you like to drink...coffee, tea, fruit juice, milo, hot chocolate or soda?
A. Tea please

Q. Ceylon tea, herbal tea, bush tea,honey bush tea,ice tea or green tea?
A. Ceylon tea please.
Q. How would you like it? Black or white?
A. White please.
Q. Milk, whitener or condensed milk?
A. Milk please.
Q. Milk from freezeland, or Afrikaaner cow?
A. Afrikaaner cow please.
Q. Warm or cold?
A. Warm please.
Q. Full cream, low fat or fat-free?
A. Ummmm..you know what, I'll rather take it black.
Q. Would you like it with sweetener, sugar or honey?
A. Sugar please.
Q. Beet sugar or cane sugar?
A. Cane sugar please.
Q. White, brown or yellow sugar?
A. Ok, just forget about the tea, I'll just have a glass of water instead.
Q. Mineral or still water?
A. Mineral water please.
Q. Flavored, non-flavored or spakling?
A. Hey, voetsek man, just get me water from the river...I don't wanna' know which river...and stop asking so many damn questions!!!

LIFE ADVICE- CAN PEOPLE IN A RELATIONSHIP HAVE OPPOSITE SEX FRIENDS?

By the time we spend countless hours at work or school, along with other activities with friends of the opposite sex, we often end up associating with our "friends" more than we interact with our partner. Not to mention, how easily technology and social media have created new platforms for friendships with the opposite sex—yet, again, not with our own spouse. As society becomes increasingly more integrated among gender lines, the age-old question remains: "Can men and women really just be friends?" While many people think that platonic friendships can indeed exist, the answer often differs from those who are single and those who are in a relationship. The idea of meeting an opposite-sex friend for coffee or a movie seems fraught with the possibility for misinterpretation and hurt feelings with our significant others.Over the years I have asked a few of my friends and received mixed answers. Most were totally against opposite sex friends while others found nothing wrong with the idea. Responses ranged from, "My man and I made a deal early on to not have opposite-sex friendships. I think relationships are hard enough without adding that stress to it". "I trust my g/f and feel certain she would never act inappropriately outside of our relationship." Some manage to maintain opposite-sex friendships. If both partners agree, the friendship can shift to a group dynamic, with each friend bringing their respective partners into the mix. Not all opposite-sex friendships are  well received. I'll give you a story: Jane’s b/f was training for a marathon with a group of women and men. However, Jane became extremely uncomfortable when she learned that her b/f was running the long runs solely with another woman. "He has never given me reason to worry, but I still didn’t like the thought of just the two of them spending so much time alone," says Jane. She told her b/f about her feelings and after reassuring Jane that there was no attraction, he eventually agreed to stop running alone with the woman when he started getting mixed signals from the other woman. Here are a few tips to ponder: 1. Listen to your intuition. If you feel deep down that your friend has romantic feelings for you, do not pursue the platonic friendship. 2. Keep personal space and physical touch in check. Although the relationship may be more relaxed than a workmate, schoolmate or client, keep the same amount of distance and space you would with your friends g/f or b/f. Close proximity and intimate touch is reserved for your partner alone. 3. Don't discuss your partner's flaws with your friend. Even if you consider yourself very close friends, it's a form of betrayal to vent to your friend about your partner's shortcomings, especially without addressing it with your b/f or g/f first. 4. Meet in public places at appropriate times of day. Just like mom used to say, "Nothing good happens after 1:00 a.m.," the same holds true with your friend. Time and place is a consideration when meeting with your friend of the opposite gender. 5. Include your b/f or g/f in your plans. If it's only platonic, there should be no problem with one more person tagging along. 6. Your partner always comes first. If your relationship with your friend is causing problems in your relationship, your first consideration should always be your partner. While there is no clear-cut answer to that age-old question of whether men and women can truly be just friends, for people in relationships, the message is clear: tread carefully and keep your relationship with your partner above all others. No matter how successfully you think you’re managing your relationship and your opposite-sex friendship, if your partner thinks it’s a problem, then it is indeed a problem. PS: It's difficult to not create relationships with the opposite sex if they are your co workers or school mates

Chisha Sinyangwe & Lauretta Twea

The Old Man, The Boy and The Donkey

An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode and the old man walked. As they went along people remarked that it was a shame that the old man was walking. The man and the boy thought maybe the critics were right so they changed positions.

Later they passed more people who remarked "What a shame he makes the little boy walk." So they both walked.

The next group they passed remarked how foolish they were to walk when they had a donkey. So they both rode the donkey.

The fourth group from PETA were upset about the overloaded donkey. So they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the river, they lost their grip and dropped the donkey to it’s death.

Moral of the story: If you try to please everyone you may as well kiss your ass goodbye.

When you teach or learn new ideas you’re never gonna make everyone happy.

When you change your mind you’re gonna piss people off.

The limitations of man

The resources that earth, which is only a fraction of nature, has are vast. Nature is endowed with resources so staggeringly abundant that man is yet to fully comprehend their full extent.

With good thinking on his part inspiring judicious usage, man, as a collective, should surely have a good life for an indefinite period of time.

Dear reader, many of the definitions and categorisations that presently exist and upon which your everyday life and understanding of your environment are based are false.

You have heard of the classification of substances into poisonous and non-poisonous ones. You have been told that there are bad and good things on earth. As an attempt at guiding people on earth, such categorisations ought to be respected and whoever came up with them should truly and sincerely be commended.

Nonetheless, the fact is, these categorisations are grossly misleading. They are not a reflection of the whole truth.
Dear reader, to stretch your mind a little, be informed that there is no such thing as a poison. This is the truth.

Granted, to say that a given substance can terminate life or kill is correct. On the other hand, to label a substance a poison is not good human practice. It is that kind of behaviour that should be discouraged. It is misleading.

Note that a given substance is a poison only because we say so not because it is. Further, take note that it is the utility, the utilisation or mal-utilisation of a given substance that makes it a poison or not. It is not that the thing is poisonous; it is its utility that makes it so.
Worth noting is that the same substance which can kill, under different circumstances, can also cause life to be preserved.

Interestingly, water too can be poisonous!
Dear reader, I want you to know that I do not smoke. I do not smoke cigarettes or anything. This is important for you might misunderstand what I am about to tell you if I do not say so.
Now listen to this. It might surprise you.

There is nothing wrong with marijuana. In addition, there is nothing wrong with tobacco. This, dear reader, is the immutable truth. Think about it for a while.
That the two plants form part of the whole gamut of the resources that earth is replete with is not at all in dispute.

You see, way before marijuana was banned, in primeval times, it was beneficially being used in the everyday lives of the people that had access to it then. Whether they used it properly or not is a moot point.

The banning of the smoking of marijuana by many countries is understandable. One empathises with the authorities behind these bans because their action, though not fully informed by the whole truth, is indeed cautionary. The authorities behind these bans really mean well, you see.

Nonetheless, these bans are a veritable reflection of our limitations as people. Banning the use or smoking of marijuana is an action founded on fear inspired by ignorance. Though such action is supposed to protect people it does not, in the long run, advance human development and neither does it help humanity in the end. Such bans have only phasal benefits.

Banning marijuana is not sustainable. Arresting those that possess or smoke it is yet another of those fallacious and ridiculous acts of man. It clearly depicts the folly of law; the criminalisation of the innocent.

You see, in the coming years, growing marijuana, possession of marijuana or smoking it will not be a crime. This development is indeed coming. It is inevitable. The inevitability of this development is ensured by the inevitability of enlightenment.

Similarly, banning tobacco smoking is understandable. Nonetheless, it is still only a pathetic attempt at protecting people. It too, is neither practicable nor sustainable for there is indeed nothing wrong with tobacco. Tobacco is useful.

Granted, the current use of tobacco leads to the development of many diseases but that is not the same as saying that tobacco causes disease or that it is bad. Tobacco itself, you see, does not cause disease. It is the use, or rather misuse or abuse, of tobacco that does that.
It might shock you, dear reader, that the current way of consuming tobacco, via cigarettes such as Guards, Peter Stuyvesant or Consulate is wrong. Present cigarettes are only a poor approximation of what ought to be the right way to consume tobacco but which way has not yet been invented or discovered.

What ought to happen is that tobacco smoking needs to be made safe. Similarly, marijuana processed in the right way can be of immense value to human health.

The banning of the smoking of tobacco or marijuana if it was intended to lead to the manufacture of better products or use would be welcome but it does not presently do that. In so far as it serves the interests of public health, it is welcome but note that a ban that does not lead to heightened research aimed at finding better ways of using tobacco or marijuana lamentably fails to advance the case for human development.

Truly, such a ban shall repeatedly be flouted.
Truth be told, in future, people will be able to use tobacco without developing cancer or hypertension in the process. It might even be used for the reversal of these conditions.

For example, that tobacco smoking today predisposes to the development of many diseases is a clear reflection of the limitations of man. It simply means that man has not yet understood the full value intrinsic to the tobacco leaf. The value of tobacco to his wellbeing is yet to be fully harnessed by man.
Fact: Tobacco is a valuable resource for the well being of humanity.
Fact: Marijuana is a valuable resource for the wellbeing of humanity.

It is the un-informed or poor utilisation of earth's substances which gives rise to the classifications of these substances into poisonous ones and non-poisonous ones, lethal and non-lethal ones.
The truth is that any substance that is said to be poisonous, at the right dose or taken in the right quantities and in the right way, that same substance, could save lives.
Further, note that substances that enhance human life can be taken through the skin, mouth, lungs, anally and so on.
Yes, as the title of this paper says ‘The Transient Limitations of Man,' are indeed transient because, in time, and inevitably, knowledge shall dawn on man, and with this eventual lifting of the cloak of ignorance off him, he shall then begin to cherish and treasure the very things that he today bans and treats as poisonous or dangerous.

Indeed that man has limitations ought to make him humble. This realisation ought to make man less willing to exact untold punishments on fellow man under the guise of doing the right thing.
Today's wrongs will be tomorrow's rights. That this is going to happen is supported by history. History is replete with examples of such changes.

The tobacco industry is a multibillion, cutthroat one. However, in its current form it is veritably a sorry fixture that peddles danger. This industry requires urgent reforms that should be occasioned by research. Its present complacency is inimical to the wellbeing of humanity.

Nicotine gums or patches, albeit marginal, are a good effort at change. Cigarettes too can be made safe. The industry can do better!

Presently, the transient limitations of man are a veritable source of unmerited torture for many that are sanctioned and they represent a clear and dangerous barrier to human advancement.

Dear reader, begin to re-wire your understanding of things. Retain an open mind. What you presently steadfastly hang on to as the truth may indeed be a lie, a half-truth or simply false.
Nonetheless, the journey in pursuit of truth continues.

LIMITS OF LOVE

It is not always that when you smile at someone he or she will smile back at you. Most of the time, they will, but sometimes this will not happen. Nonetheless, never stop smiling. There is profound gain in doing good.

Note that when one departs from life-giving principles one then dies.

The law of reciprocity dictates that to every cause there is a definite effect. On the other hand, face it, dear reader, not every stimulus produces the expected reaction. That this is the case may not really be your fault. Note that. The recipient or target of your attention may just be unable to predictably respond, he or she may just be damaged
.
Love is strange. Love is not easy. Love hurts. Love is so powerful.

It is because of such characteristics of love that few people truly love and that when true love manifests itself in their midst many fail to recognise it, instead it shocks them.

Mary was living with HIV. Even before Chansa married her, Chansa knew that this was the case. Despite his knowledge of his fiancée's sero-status, Chansa went ahead and married Mary. The whole community was incensed. Chansa wasn't deterred though. He knew what he was doing. He was negative himself.

‘Ayitaya,' that was the loud gossip that did its rounds in the community and never went away and kept them giggling. Just like it is common in every community, it was a clear case of widespread schadenfreude.

Mary and Chansa now have three children, all without HIV.

What is grossly amazing and thoroughly annoying for Chansa's relatives is that Mary seems to be an ass. To them, her quality as a wife is questionable. Her home management is bedeviled with many flaws; Mary could surely do with additional training in the roles of a kitchen in a house; repeatedly, meals that have come from her kitchen have been nauseating, they have been heard to complain.

Well, some of it is indeed true. Sometimes, Mary treats Chansa not with the amount of respect that is required of a cultured wife. Sometimes, she disagrees with him in public, an attitude of hers which often has been a source of discomfort for Chansa.

In a nutshell, it is true that Mary does not really appear to love Chansa. She does not suit him, many have openly said.

Despite the flawed character of Mary's, Chansa has steadfastly remained by Mary's side. When people, including his relatives and friends, ask him why he has kept such a ‘cheap woman' as his wife, why he suffers her uncouthness when he can easily do better, all he says is that he loves her.

No one understands him. Some people even think that Chansa was ‘worked on', that he is bewitched, that his conduct is a result of an altered mind, a consequence of juju. The truth, however, is that there is no juju at work in Chansa's life. It is only that Chansa truly loves his ‘sorry, aberrant, poor and diseased,' wife dearly.

Love, you see, is truly blind. It does not segregate.

Love is an unshakeable attitude of mind. Love is the firmly held conviction that what gives life meaning is to unconditionally spend it founded on the service of others. Love is the courage to live one's life rooted in principles that place the interests of others on the same platform as those of the self.

Love allows us to see that other people matter just as we do.

When you truly love someone, you will do anything to ensure or safeguard their welfare, knowing that in the process you may also be safeguarding your own. When you love someone, it hurts so bad to see them fail to appreciate your disposition towards them, but then, the pain quickly passes for you know that their lack of appreciation is not your fault, and you quickly forgive.

He loved people. He knew they were lost, that their way of life then, their culture, was not in keeping with the dictates of fairness, commonwealth and survival. It was a segregative society, a society riddled with iniquities and poverty. There was oppression and there was slavery.

After carefully studying the culture of his community, he was convinced that there was need for change, change for the better.

Dear reader, note that all people that truly love will be badly hurt someday. Love has its limits. Love does not shield anyone from pain. People that truly love are ready, for the advancement of the cause of life, to suffer pain on behalf of others. Just like a car has shock absorbers, people that love are the absorbers of the pain that is generated by the world's ignorance and idiocy. They are sublime, and they are rare!

Mary had one such person and she didn't even know it!

In time, this man embarked on a mission to effect the change that was required. His main message was that people should love one anther just the way they love themselves. His was a ferocious campaign.

However, his mission for change caused concern in greedy and self-seeking religious and political circles of the day. His conduct was even viewed as treasonous. That is how his elimination was deemed as necessary and sealed.

Here was a man that had dedicated his whole life to the betterment of society and yet the same people that he was seeking to improve, inspired by his deep love for them, plotted his assassination.

In excruciating pain and dying, despite it all, he retained a clear presence of his mind and with his realisation that love is the ultimate redeemer, and that there was no other truth than that, he forgave all of them, knowing that their actions were devoid of truth and knowledge.

In life, up-to-now, there is no other example of sublimeness, of magnificence, of the sanctity of sacrifice, of the way we all ought to live than that. Nothing at all beats that!

Very few lead such a life. Nonetheless, that few live this way does not mean it is not possible. It is and all people need to tailor their lives on this example. Even politics and economics need to be inspired by such a principle.

Love is superior to all things. Anyone that knows and practises this truth shall suffer pain in his or her life but he or she shall live a full life nonetheless, and even in those stormy times that shall come his way in his life, he or she shall know deep peace. Should he or she die, he or she shall die without a bother, in peace and with the knowledge that, in time, some people, many people, shall realise the profound meaning of his or her actions, just how ignorant they had earlier been about his or her goodness.

Dear reader, next time you flip a switch to turn something on and it doesn't go on, yes you may suffer some inconvenience, but please do not blame yourself. Just examine the switch carefully and you just might discover that there is a loose wire somewhere, that it is damaged.
Yes, sometimes we shall smile and people will not smile back at us.

Yes, sometimes a particular cause does not correspond to the observed effect. Yes, though this law of reciprocity is sacrosanct, it operates under the assumption that the environment within which it is operational is without disruptive factors, an environment that conduces to the equation working out the way it should.

For no fault of your own, there will be days, my dear reader, when you will not be appreciated for all your good, even divine works. Never stop! You may even be killed for them. But then there is truly no better death than the one that comes as a result of standing up for good, for life, for the wellbeing of others.

Never give up on a good thing, a good principle.

Love is not judgmental. Love is considerate. Love is brave. Love never dies. Love is the very spirit of life.

When betrayed by someone you love, the degree of the pain that comes corresponds closely to the depth of the love for them. The more you love the more painful the betrayal. But what is amazing is that regardless of how intense the pain of the betrayal may be, forgiveness quickly comes and peace reigns.

After eleven years, Chansa and Mary are still together today. They are expecting another child. The last time they were seen together they had hearty smiles on their faces. No one is laughing at them anymore! The community has learned its lesson.

Truly blessed are those that shall found their lives on love. It is they that shall know true freedom and, through such magnificence, shall elevate themselves to the status of God. And few shall initially understand them but many shall eventually follow them.

Follow your soul.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other peoples opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

The Negro

This article is dedicated to or is about the Negro. It is a paper that argues against ‘racism.’
By Negro here is meant that person said to be black, that person said to be indigenous to Africa, the ‘black man.’
For many years, black people have lived as part human, not recognized as equal to the other racial groups. What should not be lost on anyone is that all through this time, black people have indeed been full and equal human beings. They never ceased, not for a fraction of a second, to be human.
It is important that black people, wherever they happen to be, must never forget this. That over the years black people have been disparaged and scorned is now an immutable historical fact. It is a curious fixture of the present that discrimination against them, to a lesser degree, continues to happen today.
On the other hand, that this happened is beneficial. It is because of this very pressure that black people have suffered that there shall emerge amongst them the finest of world citizens.
The seed for such production has already been planted. It is irreversible now. Global leadership order is changing. In the coming years, black people shall continue to play a more visible and dominant role in global leadership.

Black people themselves, and the rest of the world, shall continue to be amazed at what the future shall produce from amongst black people.

In the not so distant future, black people shall guide the world. For the experience that they have undergone, they possess the best education for global leadership on human relations, and through it, global well being.

Blacks are the ones best placed not to commit the terrible atrocities that have been perpetrated against them. Call it the ‘Nelson Mandela Phenomenon.’ Note why Nelson Mandela is now revered; when, as a reaction, you take the aggressor’s eye when he has removed yours, you lower yourself to his contemptible level, you become just as base as he, and note that no one is deified for such behaviour.

Black people, as a collective, are not innately stupid. Yes, granted, there does exist imbeciles amongst them, just like such idiots are found amongst other racial groups, but such an occurrence does not make the whole race despicable or inferior.

Black people have beneficial mental abilities. They are intelligent. Black people have beneficial and admirable artistic talents. They can stupefy. Black people have beneficial and admirable physical qualities. They possess remarkable physical strength and fascinating beauty.

Yes, they can fly (Bessie Coleman). Yes, they can run (Jesse Owens). Yes, they can box (Cassius Clay). Yes, they can talk (Oprah Winfrey). Yes, the can sing (Michael Jackson). Yes, they can lead (Nelson Mandela). Yes, they can survive (like the rest of us).

The list is indeed long.
What has been written above about the qualities of black people is also true of people belonging to other racial groups. Beneficial and admirable mental, physical and artistic attributes are not a preserve of black people only nor are they a preserve of any single racial group of people. They are the preserve of all healthy human beings.

Nonetheless, education was earlier denied to black people so that they could be ‘kept in their place.’ To denigrate their beauty, black people were deliberately and repeatedly portrayed as promiscuous even when statistics argued to the converse.Further, to belittle their achievements in arts, their excellence is laughed at by stating that these are the fields reserved for minorities, people with limited opportunities or cognitive abilities, like them.This mischaracterisation will change. It has been changing for some time.
For example, that today Barack Obama, a black man, is president of the United States of America is very important for people all over the world. That there now exists such a vivid visual example of achievement at the highest level of national, even global leadership by a man of colour ministers to the very core of humanity about human potential in general.

That such talent should be reposed in one as black is indeed revealing and inspiring.
This is a clear example of what the Reverend Martin Luther King dreamt of when he referred to the ‘content of one’s character’ as the right yardstick for judging people and not the colour of their skin.
Barack Obama was not an accident. Barack Obama did not become President of the United States by chance. That Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America today is a product of the seed that many black people hundreds of years before him planted.

Many black people died for Barack Obama to be where he is today. It was not easy. It was a battle, a painful and bloody battle. This must never be forgotten.

This is why just being President of the United States of America, the mere fact itself, is so important for black people the world over. What happens after his coronation, during his presidency, is secondary and of limited significance. What happened when he won is legendary. That is a good enough lesson for all humanity.

His becoming President was an event of such historical significance that it shall remain a key lesson in human relations for millennia to come. What many black people could, in the past only dream of, is now reality. The mere importance of the event produced sincere tears in the eyes of many discerning historians. What could not, became. The unthinkable happened! The slave had now become master, the symbolism all so real and touching, utterly inspirational and divine. Like Jesus, we wept!

The victory for black people through the victory of Barack Obama lies in the victory itself. His mere ascendancy to the highest political office on Earth is of such significance to black people and all humanity that it should not be lost on anyone. It is symbolic.

Further, never has the fight for human dignity been so vividly highlighted as it has been through the terrible injustice occasioned on black people. That the restoration of human dignity is occurring and shall continue to occur through black people is a poignant lesson for all humanity. In the order of life, where ignorance is rife, a chosen people had to suffer this. This was the Negro’s cross to bear on behalf of the rest of humanity, sort of, attainment of global enlightenment through the persecution of the Negro.

No one ever succeeded or will ever succeed to forever denigrate God’s creation.
Though it was in 1990 that the last formal chains of segregation against the black man were broken in South Africa, segregation against black people still occurs. It is still part of the culture of people in many parts of the world today.

You see, legislation can change overnight but human behaviour does not. It takes time. It is only with the passage of time, with the requisite investment aimed at a change in the orientation of children that lasting change will take place.

Nonetheless, black people will eventually thank God for what has, over the years, happened to them, for their suffering. The revelation of the reason for the preparation that black people have undergone, so painfully for so many years, shall soon dawn on them, and all in the world.

The world shall become a better place for the experience of the Negro.

That many black people today are bitter because of how badly treated they have been over the years (through slavery, colonialism, apartheid, imperialism, etc.) is understandable. This bitterness only reflects their normalcy. It is vital that they should be bitter for it is through the full appreciation of this bitterness/pain that the lesson shall be fully learnt, the preparation thorough and complete. Their persecution is a resource for global well being. It has its purpose.

Dear reader, note that without adversity, the world would be without heroes.

It will not be easy, it has not been. Nonetheless, blacks shall, for a period of time when their lesson stays relevant and before the cycle moves on, lead the world. Then the magnificence of God shall be reasserted in all its glory. This lesson now awaits the world. The hour is coming.

The degree of the suffering that black people have endured from other racial groups shall determine the degree to which they are refined. That they have been so debased shall produce in them the very best of human beings that the world has ever seen.

Suffering has its purpose. It is a key resource for survival. Peace follows suffering. Everything has meaning.

In unprecedented numbers, the world shall witness the emergence of a crop of the finest human beings that it has never before seen. Most of these people shall be black. It is these people that have now earned the moral authority on the dignity of human beings, no one else.

Carbon is now indeed becoming diamond!
In 1957, discussing the topic ‘The New Negro’ on an NBC Television programme called The Open Mind these were the closing words of Reverend Martin Luther King: ‘Well I...when I think of the question of progress in the area of race relations, I prefer to be realistic, and when I say that I mean I try to look at it not from the pessimistic point of view or optimistic but rather from the realistic point of view. I think we have come a long, long way but we have a long, long way to go. But it seems to me that if we would press on with determination, moral courage, and yet wise restraint and calm reasonableness, in a few years we will reach the goal. I, I have a great deal of faith in the future, and the outcome, I am not despairing.’

In closing the program, the host Richard D. Heffner, author and historian, said: ‘And, as long as we have men like you, we can all have faith.’

Men like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. will always be there on Earth. Richard D. Heffner needn’t worry. They occur in all races.

Hope is. Have faith. Always look on the bright side, dear reader.
The ability for the world to right itself is within its blueprint. It is our trump card. In time, this always happens. It is God’s secret.

CHANGE

Change now and change your future, stay the same and continue to gain the same things you have been getting until now!

THE LIMITS OF LANGUAGE

Speaking is not indispensable. It is communicating that is.

You see, many years ago, before people learned to speak, they could communicate.

A language is merely a medium of communication. It is not the language that is important.

It is what the language conveys that matters.

For purposes of this article, by language is meant that medium of communication that relies on phonation.

You see, dear reader, not all people can speak. On the other hand, all people can communicate.

This reality clearly captures the folly of laying too much emphasis on the ability to speak, to literally lend voice to one’s thoughts.

In future, Zambia should elect a president who cannot speak English, or better still, one that cannot speak at all.

It is difficult to imagine this, yet allow it, but it should be permitted because it is not the speech of a person that we should focus upon, it is the content of his mind that we must decipher and understand.

From the outset, let me state that this article does not present an argument against language or speaking.

This paper merely argues against the exaggerated emphasis that human societies have placed on language.

This paper argues for letting all people communicate.

You see, dear reader, language can indeed be a barrier to communication.

Let me illustrate.

Take Zambia for instance. Zambia has adopted English as its official language.

Now, dear reader, how many Zambians today, in April of 2011, can speak in English let alone understand it well?

The answer to this question ought to worry every advocate of communication.

The answer is that only a small fraction of the 13 million Zambians can articulate their thoughts fluently in English or understand thoughts articulated to them fluently in English.

From the foregoing, you will then see that when emphasis is placed on the expression of one’s thoughts in one language this then becomes a veritable barrier not only to communication but to the participation by people in matters dear to their own welfare.

Lamentably, sometimes such emphasis, a veritable form of segregation is legislated for and enforced by law.

Through such fallible legislation, many people, people that have something of value to ‘say’ or communicate are not allowed to do so and by such exclusion, many human societies are denied the indispensable contribution to human advancement from many.

In Zambia, if a person cannot speak in English or understand what is being said in English, such a person is often viewed as possessing a lower standing in society.

Such a person is treated askance, frowned upon and shunned as if with a disgusting disease.

People that are so discriminated against are often viewed as inferior in intelligence or backward.

This is wrong.

Though it truly reflects intelligence, the ability to speak a language, be it English or any other, is not a direct or reliable or sole measure of an individual’s intelligence.

There are many people in the world today that simply cannot speak and yet they are intelligent, knowledgeable and wise.

Note that.

You see dear reader, there should come a time in the life of Zambia as a nation when one should be allowed to become Republican president without placing one’s language as a precondition, without insisting that such a person should be able to speak at all or speak in a particular language such as English.

It is not the language that one uses that is important. It is what they have to communicate that we must place the premium on.

Besides, should interpretation be called for when one wishes to communicate, let the services of one so coached in such ways be engaged for purposes of ensuring that the audience receives the message from the one sending it.

Media of communication are many.

Dear reader, observe that in human life, there is both verbal and non-verbal communication. And fluency in both these ways of communicating can indeed be attained.

It is not that we should let the people speak; it is that we should let the people communicate.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a Republican president expressing his or her thoughts in Chitonga, Chichewa, Icibemba or Kikaonde.

Such an approach to communication would broaden the field for people to participate in their own governance without the now extant subtle yet real exclusive practice.

In addition, such an approach would enable all to benefit from the thoughts of many.

At present, only a few exposed citizens have the opportunity to undertake national activities for the sole reason that they can express themselves well in English, althogh itself a foreign language.

The shameful thing is that the excluded many are very knowledgeable people, are profoundly intelligent and are admirably wise.

Usual are the moments when out of courtesy people do not protest when their leader addresses them in English.

Despite their not understanding what their leader is saying, they remain quiet based on the fear of being found out that they cannot understand him or her or merely because of sheer politeness.

In times like these, communication then fails.

The leader then goes away mistakenly thinking he passed on the message, and the audience leaves quietly disgruntled and muttering under their breath their anger at the arrogance that seemingly educated people tend to exhibit. Discord remains.

Dear reader, there should come a time in Zambia when fluent in Chikunda, a Republican president will articulate in that language the contents of a National Development Plan (NDP) to the country’s citizens.

An interpreter or interpreters will then play their part to make the message understandable to the rest of the citizens that are Chikunda-naive.

Such a level of national tolerance and acceptance shall veritably reflect a higher state of being for the country.

The argument in this article is that the deaf and dumb are not idiots.

An idiot is here defined as a person whose mental capacity is so rudimentary as to render such a person non-functional.

The deaf and dumb, you see, are truly not idiots.

Many of them, if not all, are highly intelligent people, people that possess knowledge and wisdom, who merely suffered the misfortune of losing the ability to speak and hear either from birth or afterwards.

Now, dear reader, here is the million dollar question. Would you allow a deaf and dumb person to become your Republican president?

Chances are, because you are so bigoted, you would not allow it and yet it is perfectly in order that such a person should be offered an equal chance at such leadership.

The probability of a deaf and dumb person becoming Republican president anywhere in the world is a slim one if at all extant.

This is so not because such people cannot lead. It is because society is so mistakenly prejudiced. It is because we do not exist in a barrier-free environment.

Though Nature provides for such people to lead, on the other hand, man has mistakenly erected huge barriers such as language which preclude the participation of such people in national leadership as exemplified above.

Dear reader, note that a ‘deaf and dumb’ person is here used metaphorically as well as literally.

A deaf and dumb person is in this paper illustrated as a proxy for someone who cannot speak.

After all, as an example, if you cannot speak Chichewa or French, aren’t you really deaf and dumb in as far as that language is concerned? I know I am although I'm trying to learn as much Chichewa as I can & my girlfriends been very supportive, when it comes to French let's not even go there.

You see, the use of language is a veritable exaggerated fixture in the lives of human beings.

When emphasis is placed on speaking one particular language for communication in a nation, this then represents a clear barrier that excludes the participation of many in their own affairs.

Barriers can be a good thing. Naturally, barriers define what should be done and what should not.

For instance, in Nature, barriers prescribe the boundaries of what is evil and what is not. Nonetheless, barriers to human survival and prosperity ought to be eliminated.

Dear reader, English in Zambia is a veritable barrier to the progress of many.

Though its use should not be abolished but encouraged instead, the use of other languages, languages that Zambians are comfortable with and fluent in should also be legislated for, encouraged and reach wide acceptance.

Knowledge, intelligence and wisdom are not expressed in one language.

These are universal to all human beings.

Yes, let the people speak, but more importantly, let the people communicate.

You see, a visit to the lion’s den teaches one a lot about the lion.

Similarly, your habitat says a lot about you, dear reader.

HOW MANY WORDS CAN A DOG UNDERSTAND?

"I'll teach my dog 100 words," says the boy in the children's story of the same name. But can he really? Dog owners love to gush about canine intelligence. So it would come as no surprise to them that research supports their beliefs that dogs have a profound mental capacity. But how much of our language do dogs really understand? It turns out that the language comprehension of some dogs rivals that of apes and parrots, not to mention the average 3-year-old!!
Since at least the 1970s, when researchers successfully trained chimpanzees to use and read words in sign language we have known that language, in a loose sense of the term, is not unique to humans. Animals have the brain power to understand human language and use their own languages in surprisingly profound ways. We all know parrots can be trained to speak human words. And dogs will react to the word "walk" with a knowing, tail-wagging enthusiasm.
How deep is the dog's bank of human words?
After being featured on a t.v show for his ability to understand 200 words, a border collie named Rico intrigued some researchers at the Max Planck institute. These researchers asked if they could bring Rico in to perform some experiments to find out just how far they could stretch the dogs language ability. The answer: surprisingly far.
At first, the researchers wanted to verify in a controlled setting whether Rico really knew 200 words. To do this, they collected 10 items with which Rico was familiar. At the verbal command of his owner, they had him fetch a specific item from a separate room. Rico performed very well at this task, but the researchers wanted to challenge him further. Next, they chose a new item -- one that Rico had never seen in his life -- and placed it in the room among the familiar items. The owner requested that new item by name and, lo and behold, Rico brought back the new item.
Researchers performed this test several times, each time with another new item, and found that Rico brought back the correct item an impressive 70 percent of the time. This demonstrated not only that the dog had a large vocabulary, but also that he knew how to use the process of elimination.
Impressed as they were, researchers pushed Rico further with an even more difficult task. They wanted to find out whether Rico could remember the items that he learned in the experiment after only one exposure, a process called fast-mapping, which children can do. One month after Rico proved his language abilities in the lab, researchers brought him back in. This time, they put one of the new items that Rico correctly fetched a month earlier in a room with four familiar and four unfamiliar items. When his owner requested it, Rico was able to correctly fetch the item he had learned a month previous as much as 50 percent of the time. Though that might not seem remarkable, it was to the researchers, because this success rate compares with that of 3-year-old children.
However, whether a dog's "understanding" of a word compares to a child's is another matter.

Sex in todays world precedes marriage

Before marriage comes sex. For purposes of the case that is made in this article, marriage refers to that human construct which defines a relationship between a man and a woman and which relationship is reinforced either by law or custom.

Also note that the definition of marriage, still between man and woman, rightly differs from one human community to another.

My friend marriage is a product of a powerful and inescapable primordial urge to proliferate our species. It is founded on immutable human instincts. Marriage is a framework under which order is established for a man to sexually relate with a woman and vice versa.

Worth mentioning is that what is integrally implicit in any marriage is sex. However, note that sex predates marriage.

For reasons of maintaining societal order and the promotion of human survival, sex before marriage is outlawed in many human communities.

Nonetheless, note that between two mature or naturally ripe individuals, male and female, and in an environment that is devoid of harm, sex is without wrong.
What makes the act of sex wrong is when it is done recklessly, when it is done without due regard for the safety of the persons involved in it.

For example, when one individual has signed a binding contract with another to have sex only with that person and this contract is flouted by one without the consent of the two, it is then that sex becomes inimical to survival and is wrong.

Further, when the one that indulges in sex is not aware of the consequences of the act, beneficial or not or carelessly ignores the harmful effects of such indulgence, that is when wrongness occurs.

you should note that whether marriage exists or not, people will always have sex, people will mate. Again this assertion about mating refers to that act of sex between a man and a woman. That this is the case is as a result of a primeval dictate of nature. This has always been the case from the beginning of the existence of man. It is an irresistible compulsion.

Now take the interesting case of what is referred to as an ‘early marriage.’
What, truly, is an early marriage, dear reader? What really is this thing?

Many human communities recognise this phenomenon called ‘early marriage.’ These communities have even gone further to mount campaigns against this perceived retrogressive reality amongst them. But then what is the truth?

The truth dear reader is that there is no such thing as an ‘early marriage.’
‘Early marriages’ only exist against a backdrop of human concerns/constructs.

What renders ‘early marriages’ extant is the human desire for a person, either male or female, but mostly female to follow a selected path of life, a path chosen by society for its perceived beneficial value.

Noteworthy is that this selected path is said to be normal merely for the numbers of people that follow it. This is referred to as numerical/statistical normality. For the reason that many people do something then that particular thing becomes everyday, it becomes normal. Worth mentioning is that this normalcy is regardless of that done thing being misleading or wrong.

For example, society expects the girl child to complete what is called ‘formal education’ before such a child marries. So if the girl child marries before completion of ‘school’ then her marriage is deemed early. Note the here ‘early’ also denotes undesirable.

However, dear reader, note that not all that is undesirable by man is wrong.
Earlier in this article I made a startling assertion that there is no such thing as an ‘early marriage.’ Now listen.

You see, adolescence is a natural period that refers to that time in the life of a child when he or she becomes sexually mature. It is a dictate of Nature.

It is not uncommon to find many sexually mature people in many countries that are legally still classified as minors. This is anomalous and misleading. This anomaly is established because there is a lack of harmony between the law of man and that of Nature. There is discord between the two.

Adolescence usually and normally occurs in the teenage years. From the age, say of about thirteen, sexual maturity dawns on the human person. Note that sexual maturity or maturity for the purpose of human survival in general, occurs earlier in the female than in the male.

On the other hand, take Zambia for instance, anyone aged sixteen and below is, by law, a minor. And it is illegal in Zambia for anyone falling in the mentioned age category to have sex. This causes an existential problem. It is not sustainable.

You see, when sexual maturity dawns in a human being, the urge to have sex is so powerful that it is very difficult to resist it. In fact, such resistance can be said to be inimical to the health of a human being. To wholly resist it might lead to both mental and physical diseases.

Today, this maturity manifests itself as what is erroneously referred to as the ‘rebelliousness of adolescents.’

In addition, the high rates of masturbation amongst persons that sexually mature but are outlawed by society to freely have sex are partly explained by the felt and healthy need for sexual release in this group of human beings.

A cautionary word though is that freely giving in to the pubertal sexual urge does not mean sexual control has no place in human life. It has.

Now if one is sexually mature, why should it be said to be wrong for that person to marry? Why should the marriage involving such a sexually mature ‘minor’ be said to an early one and hence undesirable?

If  Nature certifies one ready to procreate, why should man disagree?

The argument that such procreational-urge products (marriages), anytime that Nature dictates that they occur, are at variance with the social growth and development path of a person is a false construct. It is a misleading case because it is only made valid by the insistence by man that we all ought to conform to what man creates as the desirable life path such as the existing educational systems which are blind to human biological progression and development.

Shouldn’t efforts be made to conform our human behavioral practices such as the said formal education systems to the dictates of Nature? Why shouldn’t such people be allowed to marry and simultaneously also be allowed to continue with their education? Is there a conflict between marriage and education? Fact is, formal human learning structures are only slow and mal-adjusted.

Further, note that there is scientific evidence that having children late is not the right conduct for women. When women have children late it is not uncommon for them to have life-threatening difficulties or for the children to suffer genetic aberrations.

My friend shouldn’t the discord that exists between human law or human societal customs and the dictates of Nature be eliminated and harmony restored?
Truly there is no such thing as an ‘early marriage.’ What has given rise to this phenomenon is man’s own failure to acknowledge and conform to his own natural growth and development pattern. What actually occurs in rural and traditional societies, where ‘early marriages are said to be rife, is in fact closer to the expected normal conduct of human beings.
This discord in our existential circumstances is inimical to societal wellbeing in the long run. It creates wrongness where there is none. It creates stigma where there ought to be none. It is a veritable reflection of the ignorance that still bedevils man. It is an anachronism.

Man or woman will have sex when his or her condition compels him or her to. Note that. And when this occurs between mature persons of the opposite sex and the environment under which this is done is devoid of circumstances inimical to the survival and wellbeing of those involved there is nothing wrong with their indulgence whatsoever. Strange stuff, isn’t it? Yet true!

The foregoing argument is akin to the predicament that Catholic priests find themselves in, and for as long as the Church insists on their celibacy, their having sex, a dictate of Nature shall always be viewed as wrong when, in fact, it is merely a reflection of their natural constitution.

Guys life continues. The age of enlightenment is not over. Indeed each day we live and learn.

Existential variances as highlighted in this article will stun when revealed but, in due course, the requisite order for human existence, survival and prosperity shall force itself upon us and all shock will wear off and we shall all be better for the change that shall be occasioned.

Note that all that we do, by way of law or custom, must necessarily be in the interests of human survival and prosperity.

Nevertheless, observe that instincts are more powerful than reason!