Yes I admit it - I AM A SOCCERHOLIC. I take in everything there is about soccer, especially about the teams and people that intrigue me to the point I think I will DIE because of soccer.
Earlier in the week, rather on Wednesday morning after my team was humiliatingly defeated at home by our arch nemesis (hereinafter They Who Shall Not Be Named), I had sworn off football. I threatened to start watching basketball, and even more, not to pledge allegiance to a team, but to a player - specifically LeBron James. I also had alternative sports in mind, as per what the sports channels have decided are important to show: Golf (???), Tennis (maybe), Boxing (maybe) - so many to select. I promised myself that if Barcelona were to be beaten by Chelsea, I was definately going to switch off. But, let me be a bit pragmatic here and offer some truths - some very hard to admit, but truth's anyway.
1) Can I SWITCH OFF SOCCER? Never ever. Its in my blood. They would have to drain my system and infuse new blood. Soccer has always been a part of me right from them days of Football Made in Germany on VoK. My Dad used to take us to watch AFC at the stadium, and it was always thrilling to be in that ambience: the singing, dancing, shouting, highs, lows - the sweetest being of course the feverish highs. So people, soccer for life - in whatever format it comes in: pedestrian Kenyan football, World Cups, UEFA, FIFA, etc, i'm still there.
2) Can I SWITCH TEAMS? No, thought I could, but I seem to have created a bond with the Gunners for life. Lakini, Mr. Arsene Wenger and co - the drought has been too much. Surely there has to be some rain/reign? We need some silverware. Stop with the experimenting and give us the results. We invest quite a bit to be arsenal supporters - buying merchandise (even if it's not genuine, at least we advertise on your behalf somewhat), WAKING UP AT 1AM to watch matches, celebrating the wins (and rueing the losses as well). But, we love Arsenal (for arsenal supporters so don't start sending me unnecessary comments), we love the flair of the team, the youth of the team, BUT WE ARE LONG OVERDUE FOR SOME SILVERWARE! Anyone with Arsene's wife's number - maybe she can join the sex boycott.
3) Drogba, Seriously? Seriously? I promised that I wouldn't dig into them, but Seriously? Did he think that shouting at and almost assaulting that poor ref would help in any way at that point? I hear hollywood calling - maybe Spike Lee or Guy Ritchie have something in mind for him?
4) THOSE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED: are they the best team? Painfully, and very painfully YES. Physically, mentally and tactically, they truly are the best team at the moment (in my opinion), made possible by a GREAT Manager. He is the team and the team is him - I wonder though, is that sustainable? When he retires to his Wilmslow house or to Scotland, is there anyone who can step up to the challenge? Can there be an equal or better manager for you? Despite my admition, for the final, i'm going with Barca - I believe they can still pull a rabbit out of the hat on the day.
So, that's my day - a pragmatic one where I have painfully admitted that: 1) I'm a soccerholic; 2) Im sticking with the Gunners; and 3) Those Who Shall Not Be Named are truly dominant this season.
Cheers and see you in Rome next week and I will be soo glad when its all over and I can enjoy my full night's sleep.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
An old blog - Of Values and Volunteerism
Last night I had one of my now infamous “Sleepless in Vientiane” nights, which are becoming one too many for my liking. The reason for this episode is someone had decided to entertain themselves way into the night, way past the recommended 12pm hour. The beats of the music were so loud and I got up wondering why the hell someone would be having a party on a Sunday, which quickly turned into: hmmm, which song is that – sounds familiar.
So now that I was awake, I had to do something while waiting for the party people/person to switch off the music. So I got to thinking about how upset I was that my team, as of the last check, was three goals down. I didn’t even have the patience to wait and see if they could redeem themselves!
That thought finished, something else came up. VOLUNTEERISM. Don’t worry; I’m just as confused as you are – loud music, “my team” and then now volunteerism? But this topic has been in my head for a very long time and it surfaced again recently.
My Longman Advanced American Dictionary tells me that to Volunteer is to: offer to do something without expecting any reward, often something that other people do not want to do. In its noun format, it’s a person who is willing to offer to help someone. That definition then connotes that a Volunteer is a person – who likes people and thinks they are of importance. The volunteer surely must have such values as: truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence in them. Therein comes another word VALUES. The same reliable dictionary tells me that values are: principles about what is right and wrong, or your ideas about what is important in life. Values call for people to be self-less, dependable, respectful, responsible, serving, calm, disciplined, humble, caring, compassionate, generous, helpful, considerate, kind, brotherly, having citizenship, universal love, etc etc.
I remember in 1998 when there was the bombing of Co-op Bank in Nairobi. I was a “chick” in colle (as Kenyans would say), bored to death of my typewriting and shorthand when our teacher walked in and told us that we were to go home, but to avoid the area near Haile Selassie avenue. We were all in a panic because it wasn’t clear what was going on. So we jumped into our mathrees (Matatus) and I headed into town. In the matatu, there was excited banter about what could have happened and by the time we were getting to University Way roundabout, it became abundantly clear that movement around town was going to be an exercise in futility. But, leave it to the mathrees to weave their way in and out of the city streets and we found ourselves at the “stage”. Now, going by today’s standards, I think I was absolutely MAD to do so. You see my house was within the same geographical area as my college (Loreto College Msongari). I just needed to take a 48 from the road outside my school and drop off in Lavington, and then take the 20 or so minute walk and I’d have been home, safe and sound. But no, curiosity got the better of me and I headed in the opposite direction.
The commotion around the city center was too much – and now the concern was trying to find out whether family and friends were alright and thankfully they were. Then my cousin suggested that we must do something – anything to help. So we decided to go to a hospital and just wait until our help was needed (donate blood, call up people’s relatives, comfort each other, etc). By now the sketchy details of what had happened were coming more frequently and we were managing to patch up the story. After a couple of hours and late into the night, we opted to head home and watch the news to be in the know. We saw selfless acts of humanity – people assisting strangers. At that point, there was no tribal issues, no rich, no poor – just Kenyans caught up in a fight that had nothing to do with us. There were people carrying the wounded to safety; others comforting the confused and disoriented; others, sifting through the rubble without safety equipment, trying to lend a hand in saving lives. Then, the Israeli’s sent over a team to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts. Key themes here: VOLUNTEERISM; VALUES; SELF-LESS ACTS OF KINDNESS.
It doesn’t mean that such acts as the ones above are the definition of Volunteerism/Values - in one way or another, we all somehow do self-less acts of humanity: when you baby sit your brother or sister’s kids, or a friend’s kids; sit in for a colleague at work; tutor a struggling student, work with disadvantaged groups (street kids, disabled, orphans, etc).
Some people say that for me to be a good human being, I have to have VALUES – a sense of right and wrong. Many of us believe we are people of value (not the monetary one). But, when it comes to some things we tend to forget that we advocate for values.
The point of my whole composition here is: is it moral for us to say that we can only volunteer as long as our safety is guaranteed? Only when we are assured that our life would not be endangered? If we all look at things that way, then who is left to help? And, what happens when it’s you that needs the help and somebody else said that it would be too risky to help? Maybe its time we took a long hard look at ourselves and what we consider to be our values.
If you got to the end of this composition, thank you for volunteering your time and sanity. And in case you're interested, I never did manage to get my sleep at all. It turns out the music was coming from my neighbour's apartment. I went over and knocked, but he didn't hear - CLEARLY. I figured that they were either out of the house or DEAD. Shock on you: one was out and only returned at 6am, but the other was in, ASLEEP! That music was so loud you would have had to have been DEAD not to have been bothered by it!
So now that I was awake, I had to do something while waiting for the party people/person to switch off the music. So I got to thinking about how upset I was that my team, as of the last check, was three goals down. I didn’t even have the patience to wait and see if they could redeem themselves!
That thought finished, something else came up. VOLUNTEERISM. Don’t worry; I’m just as confused as you are – loud music, “my team” and then now volunteerism? But this topic has been in my head for a very long time and it surfaced again recently.
My Longman Advanced American Dictionary tells me that to Volunteer is to: offer to do something without expecting any reward, often something that other people do not want to do. In its noun format, it’s a person who is willing to offer to help someone. That definition then connotes that a Volunteer is a person – who likes people and thinks they are of importance. The volunteer surely must have such values as: truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence in them. Therein comes another word VALUES. The same reliable dictionary tells me that values are: principles about what is right and wrong, or your ideas about what is important in life. Values call for people to be self-less, dependable, respectful, responsible, serving, calm, disciplined, humble, caring, compassionate, generous, helpful, considerate, kind, brotherly, having citizenship, universal love, etc etc.
I remember in 1998 when there was the bombing of Co-op Bank in Nairobi. I was a “chick” in colle (as Kenyans would say), bored to death of my typewriting and shorthand when our teacher walked in and told us that we were to go home, but to avoid the area near Haile Selassie avenue. We were all in a panic because it wasn’t clear what was going on. So we jumped into our mathrees (Matatus) and I headed into town. In the matatu, there was excited banter about what could have happened and by the time we were getting to University Way roundabout, it became abundantly clear that movement around town was going to be an exercise in futility. But, leave it to the mathrees to weave their way in and out of the city streets and we found ourselves at the “stage”. Now, going by today’s standards, I think I was absolutely MAD to do so. You see my house was within the same geographical area as my college (Loreto College Msongari). I just needed to take a 48 from the road outside my school and drop off in Lavington, and then take the 20 or so minute walk and I’d have been home, safe and sound. But no, curiosity got the better of me and I headed in the opposite direction.
The commotion around the city center was too much – and now the concern was trying to find out whether family and friends were alright and thankfully they were. Then my cousin suggested that we must do something – anything to help. So we decided to go to a hospital and just wait until our help was needed (donate blood, call up people’s relatives, comfort each other, etc). By now the sketchy details of what had happened were coming more frequently and we were managing to patch up the story. After a couple of hours and late into the night, we opted to head home and watch the news to be in the know. We saw selfless acts of humanity – people assisting strangers. At that point, there was no tribal issues, no rich, no poor – just Kenyans caught up in a fight that had nothing to do with us. There were people carrying the wounded to safety; others comforting the confused and disoriented; others, sifting through the rubble without safety equipment, trying to lend a hand in saving lives. Then, the Israeli’s sent over a team to assist in the rescue and recovery efforts. Key themes here: VOLUNTEERISM; VALUES; SELF-LESS ACTS OF KINDNESS.
It doesn’t mean that such acts as the ones above are the definition of Volunteerism/Values - in one way or another, we all somehow do self-less acts of humanity: when you baby sit your brother or sister’s kids, or a friend’s kids; sit in for a colleague at work; tutor a struggling student, work with disadvantaged groups (street kids, disabled, orphans, etc).
Some people say that for me to be a good human being, I have to have VALUES – a sense of right and wrong. Many of us believe we are people of value (not the monetary one). But, when it comes to some things we tend to forget that we advocate for values.
The point of my whole composition here is: is it moral for us to say that we can only volunteer as long as our safety is guaranteed? Only when we are assured that our life would not be endangered? If we all look at things that way, then who is left to help? And, what happens when it’s you that needs the help and somebody else said that it would be too risky to help? Maybe its time we took a long hard look at ourselves and what we consider to be our values.
If you got to the end of this composition, thank you for volunteering your time and sanity. And in case you're interested, I never did manage to get my sleep at all. It turns out the music was coming from my neighbour's apartment. I went over and knocked, but he didn't hear - CLEARLY. I figured that they were either out of the house or DEAD. Shock on you: one was out and only returned at 6am, but the other was in, ASLEEP! That music was so loud you would have had to have been DEAD not to have been bothered by it!
Once upon a time, a grand old lecturer of mine boldly announced in class one day: “you(we) are all prostitutes”…well, how’s that as a way to grab the attention of a class of hoodlums that wasn’t attentive at all?
Back to the prostitution. Now, our understanding of the word “prostitute” is similar – i.e a person (usually a woman) who earns money by having sex with other people. So, we were all Miffed! Insulted! Transmogrified even that this grand old Professor man had decided to tell us quite casually, that we are “prostitutes”…But, in his defence (today, but back then I wouldn’t have tried to take his explanation), I came to discover another non-sexual way in which that term could be applied.
1) Somebody who degrades talent for money – somebody who uses a skill or ability in a way that is considered unworthy, usually for financial gain.
2) The word "prostitution" can also be used metaphorically to mean debasement or working towards an unworthy cause
Professor X’s explanation was simply that – we are all selling something, in order to gain something – and that in itself is a kind of prostitution if we go by the non-sexual definition of the word. Back then, his statement and explanation didn’t make sense. But 2 years or so ago, an old trend re-emerged. Clearly, he must have been a good teacher since this is one of the things that I remember soo clearly. He explained that he too was selling his expertise and at the end getting a salary. We in turn will pay him to give us knowledge – which we would in turn sell to some big corporation or agency in order to earn money.
Now, this money is a very scarce commodity – well, it’s always been scarce, but the situation seems much worse today. Very few have it and very many more need it (even desire it) – so…forcing people to engage in behaviours that can be defined as “prostitution”…
- want to get out of paying a fine – you bribe someone
- want to misuse your authority for the sake of it – you ask for a bribe
- want to get some money to fund your activities – hell, “bribe” by employing the donors friends, relatives, country people… and place them in position of authority as well so that you can appease them
- want to get your policies adopted by someone – then go along and hire their sister, or brother or daughter – or country person and place them in position of authority as well so that you can smooth things over to gain what you want. Etc etc…you get my drift.
But what’s trending now? We are blatantly employing and relating with people based on how we can gain financially while also touting the principles of Human rights and equality – and it really sickens me. So one’s father is not a bigshot somewhere and neither are they related to or knowing someone big somewhere or, their country is not a DEVELOPMENT PARTNER….does that mean that the other person - who’s parent is CEO of some Fortune 500 company or who’s husband is some gazillionaire or who’s country has billions of dollars to spare is better than the one who’s not? Even with friendships – we also seek out friendships that will bear fruit – mostly money..that when we are in a fix, our “friends” should be financially able to step in and help out; same thing with relationships – we want spouses that are “financially stable” – gone is the “we will grow together and build each other up”…lovey dovey stuff.
Eff it! We are all soooo prostituting!
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