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I’m sure people would be wondering why I keep repeating the issue on maturity again and again but that is simply because we underestimate the importance of it in our lives. Maturity is the beginning of everything; positive thinking, living wisely and moderately, getting to our goals, having a focus, acquiring true happiness and much more. All our success in life depends on maturity.
According to the oxford dictionary, maturity is the quality of thinking and behaving in a sensible, adult manner. While the antonym to this is immaturity or what others would consider as childishness. What most fail to understand is that ‘immaturity’ and ‘childishness’ may have almost or same meaning but they do have a difference that is not all that distinct. During my research on this I came across the most convincing definitions that can at least show the difference.
Childishness: is being childlike, liking things that would appeal to children, being so-called “young at heart”. Most of the time, childishness is harmless.
Immaturity: is failure to mature and take the responsibilities of an adult, failure to behave like an adult, failure to control your emotions like an adult.
As much as these words could be similar or different, most of the times maturity, immaturity and childishness vary according to the context and the person’s own perspectives. When one person attacks another in public especially in front of an important audience like in a meeting or conference and start a fight with another, that may be considered as immaturity. When the other person who has been attacked decides to stay calm and not fight back, that’s what we’d call maturity. But to bring forth the difference
between immaturity and childishness can be quite tricky. For example, I may consider that a boy above twenty years who still wears conspicuously coloured clothes with funny hairstyles that can make you notice them at the furthest end of the road, as immaturity while some may consider this ‘swag’ as fashion. One may consider it childish when a married person still watches cartoon while someone else may consider that as mere fun.
You may meet a person at his job place. He may be so noisy and plays pranks at his mates and irritates them…they’d consider him to be childish but you may be surprised that that same person could be the best employee in the firm, he knows exactly what his responsibilities are and can act maturely when he sees fit. So its not strange at all to find a person who is considered childish yet they are mature enough.
As much as childishness is oftenly used in a disapproving manner it is still considered harmless or at least, less harmless than immaturity. The word ‘childlike’ is used in a more approving manner for example having a childlike imagination or fantasy.
Since I’ve always been over emotional about everything I’ve frequently been considered to be childish but its harmless! It doesnt make me immature or lack of responsibility.
Another example, when a student decides to go out for a party when they have an exam the next day that is immaturity while when a lady boss comes to work with a hello kitty top to work, that’s childishness. Starting to get the difference now?
Emotional maturity refers to your ability to understand, and manage, your emotions. It enables you to create the life you desire. A life filled with happiness and fulfilment. You define success in your own terms, not society’s, and you strive to achieve it.
Emotional maturity allows you to take charge of your life. You have your own vision for your life and your own ambition for success. Focusing on realising your vision, you can create a happy, healthy life where you respect yourself and others. When you develop emotional maturity, life becomes a joy rather than a chore. Your happiness and fulfilment are in your hands. Emotional maturity doesn’t evolve overnight. It takes effort, practice and patience. If you can improve a little every day, you will soon be living a happier, more fulfilled life.
According to psychologists, these are signs of emotional maturity
Each person has a different level of emotional maturity. It is something which you can consistently work on and improve over time. You can use the following signs of emotional maturity to gauge your own level:
1. Flexibility
You are able to see each situation as unique and you can adapt your style accordingly.
2. Responsibility
You take responsibility for your own life. You understand that your current circumstances are a result of the decisions you have taken up to now. When something goes wrong, you do not rush to blame others. You identify what you can do differently the next time and develop a plan to implement these changes.
3. You understand that vision trumps knowledge
You know that you do not need to have all the answers. As long as you can identify the problem, you can visualise a solution and research the best way to implement that solution.
4. Personal growth
Meeting the challenges of tomorrow requires learning and development today. You have a desire to learn and a thirst for knowledge. Learning and development activities form a key part of your schedule.
5. You seek alternative views
Knowing that the way things are done can always be improved, you willingly seek out the opinions and views of others. You do not feel threatened when people disagree with you. If you feel that their way is better, you are happy to run with it.
6. Non-judgemental
Variety makes the world a more beautiful place. Even when you disagree with people, you do not feel the need to criticise them. Instead, you respect their right to their beliefs.
7. Resilience
There will always be things that go wrong. There will always be setbacks and major disappointments. While you may initially be a little upset, emotional maturity allows you to express your feelings, identify the actions you can take, and move on.
8. A calm demeanour
It’s hard to be calm 100% of the time but you are able to remain calm the majority of the time.
9. Realistic optimism
You are not deluded. You know that success requires effort and patience. You do, though, have an optimistic disposition whereby you believe you can cope with whatever life throws at you. You also believe that there are opportunities out there for you, so you seek them out.
10. Approachability
You are usually easy to get along with and people feel comfortable approaching you. Building relationships is never contrived; it comes easy to you.
11. Self-belief
You appreciate when others praise or compliment you. It feels good when they approve. However, you know that there will always be people who disapprove but you are confident in who you are and what you do. If you believe that a particular course of action is right for you, you will do it, whether they approve or not.
12. Humour
You don’t take yourself too seriously. You are able to enjoy a good laugh with friends and colleagues, even when you are the butt of the joke.
Other qualities of a matured person as per psychologists are as follows.
1. A mature person is able to keep long-term commitments.
One key signal of maturity is the ability to delay gratification. Part of this means a student is able to keep commitments even when they are no longer new or novel. They can commit to continue doing what is right even when they don’t feel like it.
2. A mature person is unshaken by flattery or criticism.
As people mature, they sooner or later understand that nothing is as good as it seems and nothing is as bad as it seems. Mature people can receive compliments or criticism without letting it ruin them or sway them into a distorted view of themselves. They are secure in their identity.
3. A mature person possesses a spirit of humility.
Humility parallels maturity. Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less. Mature people aren’t consumed with drawing attention to themselves. They see how others have contributed to their success and can even sincerely give honor to their Creator who gave them the talent. This is the opposite of arrogance.
4. A mature person’s decisions are based on character not feelings.
Mature people—students or adults—live by values. They have principles that guide their decisions. They are able to progress beyond merely reacting to life’s options, and be proactive as they live their life. Their character is master over their emotions.
5. A mature person expresses gratitude consistently.
Mature people see the big picture and realize how good they have it, compared to most of the world’s population.
6. A mature person knows how to prioritize others before themselves.
A wise man once said: A mature person is one whose agenda revolves around others, not self. Certainly this can go to an extreme and be unhealthy, but I believe a pathway out of childishness is getting past your own desires and beginning to live to meet the needs of others less fortunate.
7. A mature person seeks wisdom before acting.
Finally, a mature person is teachable. They don’t presume they have all the answers. The wiser they get the more they realize they need more wisdom. They’re not ashamed of seeking counsel from adults (teachers, parents, coaches) or from other sources. Only the wise seek wisdom.
I hope the insights by the different psychologists will help you develop into a better person; a matured leader of tomorrow.
MY SMALL CUBICLE
By Lubnah Abdulhalim
Photo Courtesy: Salem_Beliegraphy
My life has always been like a small cubicle office with different frequent visits from different people. My mum always saw me having new visitors at home or laughing on a phone call from someone new and she’d always ask ‘who is it this time? A friend from school?’ And my answer was mostly a no because I rarely had friends but I had a friend of my friend, the neighbour to my friend, the classmate of my friend, the cousin to my friend, my sister’s friend etc etc
My mum came to barely remember any names or even faces because people quickly came into my small cubicle and as quickly, exited it. A name would be familiar for some days and just as sudden as the name appeared into my life, it faded away as soon as one had had their loved ones back, had new friends, had had enough of my entertainment..had stopped feeling lonely..had gotten enough strength to stand on their feet once again. And another would appear. So she’d ask ‘where do you come up with new friends out of nowhere, just all of a sudden? ‘
‘Destiny…’ I’d mumble.
I got used to the idea that everything is temporary. I am temporary; I was meant to be temporary..and I’d always wondered when I’d meet my permanent people?
Nonetheless I’ve learnt to enjoy these short visits to my small cubicle; the little laughters, the little secrets, the little jokes, the thrilling stories, shared experiences..I had served my purpose in their lives by giving them what they needed and they had served in mine; by giving me the little joy that I’ll always cherish. It’s called compromise.
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By Imran Abdallah Said
“What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other name would
Smell as sweet.”
-William Shakespeare
In my quest to find the meaning of the name given to my hometown, I stumbled upon a rather funny story. It must have been my granny who told it to me. She said long ago, when the ‘wazungus’ arrived in our country, they sought the name of their new settlement from the locals. For some odd reason, they didn’t just go ahead and decide to name it after one of their kings or queens like they always do.
Anyway, for obvious reasons, inter-cultural communication during the Middle Ages presented a major challenge to all citizens of the world as there was considerably less contact between people from different continents back then. So, as the story goes, the locals resorted to asking this honest question, and I quote: “Mwambaze?” Which translates to “What are you saying?” in one of the Mijikenda dialects.
So the visitors clung to the first word they heard, maybe they really believed that the locals had understood their question or they simply found the name catchy, who knows? What matters is that the name stuck and as it was passed on from one accent-heavy tongue to the next, it evolved over the centuries into the name we’ve all come to adore: “Mombasa”.
Soon this got me thinking, what is the story behind the names of other places, or even people? In spirit of the Greek aphorism “Know Thyself”, I set off to find the essence of my own name first, hoping there might be a glamorous story behind its origins too. It means “one with long life and abundant wisdom” by the way, thanks very much for asking. Note that ‘abundant wisdom’ is the key phrase here.
The history of names in general is quite obscure so its origin is not really easy to pinpoint. For the religious among us, it is likely very easy to describe the origin of all names. As with all things it must be tied to the story of the creation of the entire universe, when all things were named by God and then taught to Adam, Adam being the first name ever given to a human, end of the story.
For the not-so-religious, the origin is yet to be discovered conclusively. Historians however place the earliest instance of using names between 6600 to 6200BC when the Chinese used an intricate system of symbols on their pottery to mark ownership. The symbols, called Jiahu Symbols, were not really part of any particular language, just personalized symbols to distinguish your property from your neighbour’s, like a family crest, you see? It turns out the earliest name ever recorded was Gal-Sal (3200-3100 BC), which belonged to a slaver (not such happy origins after all).
Earlier names seemed to have a descriptive meaning behind them, like Neithhotep (“Neith is satisfied”) the first ever recorded name for a woman according to historians. Such names still exist among many communities the world over, most notably the Native Indians of America who can boast such names as Mikasi(“White Moon”) and Miwok(“Bear walking into Shade”) or less honourable names like Eskaminzim (“Big Mouth”) or Arapoosh (“Stomach Ache”).
You might be curious about your name too, maybe you should ask your parents and if they can’t tell you maybe you should kick their butt proper. What if your name means something horrible and they just blindly tagged it to you? But please don’t; there is a better alternative. The internet is filled with seemingly infinite resources on origins and meaning of names. Look yours up. Who knows your name might be synonymous to “headache” which might give insight to how you were such a bully at the hospital nursery when you were born. Or you might have one of those “Awww, mum and dad, you guys are awesome” moment when you realize your name means “Child who will conquer the world with his golden heart.” Or something of that sort.
Right then, thank you for taking your time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed doing the research. Bye bye.
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There comes a time where maturity isn’t an option but a necessity in life. Maturity doesn’t necessarily mean you have to act like an old chap still living in the 19th century. It just means having a focus, acting smart and knowing what you really want or expect in life. Being matured means accepting oneself, accepting your social class, your problems, accepting your parents for what they are or who they are.
Maturity goes hand in hand with wisdom, courage, self esteem and determination. It is the ability to face challenges with open mindedness and bravery. It is the one thing that even adults do lack sometimes while some never depart their immaturity even when they have wrinkles all over their body.
If you are still ashamed to say that your mother sells vegetables at the market, if you keep acting like from a higher social class than you really are, if you keep running about discussing people or if you are driven by peer pressure then you are not really matured; sorry to say.
But this is actually what causes most teenagers and young adults to fall into depression; immaturity. Being a teenager comes with a lot of pressure from the friends we have, the people around us, the environment we live in and much of so. You probably have met a young adult hanging out with rich friends, skiving classes, going to party while the mother or father is at an office somewhere seated for more than three hours waiting to meet a person to ask for assistance so they can pay their kid’s fees. THAT is immaturity.
You have probably also met a young adult, who can be someone’s father any time soon, still under the influence of friends. I’ve never understood, why is it so difficult for people to say no? Why can’t we just have our own principles and be firm at that? Why do you have to start smoking because all your friends do? Or why do you have to have the latest designer perfumes just because all our friends have them? There was no rule that ever said that you have to do what people around you do or must have what your friends have. Maturity is the ability to be proud of who you are, where you come from and being content with that. Maturity is the ability to overcome influences and stand firm by your principles and beliefs. If a rich friend can buy all those good stuff then let them buy but before you go stressing your mum about buying the same things think about how much she is struggling for your sake. Maturity is buying what you need not what you want.
There is always a limit to everything and it is for you to show to the people around you that you have set limits to everything. Dont let people cross your line. Let them know there is time for everything; time to read, time to have fun, time to worship, time for friends and even time for family. Let them know you are brought up with the right principles. Till when will you let friends use you? Until when will you entertain people not worthy in your life? Until when will you keep pleasing people? Until when are you going to ignore your real life status? Until when are you going to ignore the struggles your parents go through for your sake? Until when…until when will you be immature? When are you planning to grow up??
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With the KCSE exams going on, it isn’t the time to relax or pressure yourself to read all the books in the library. It is important that you avoid any kind of pressure just as not relax more than needed for you. Here are some of the tips to follow as the exams are going on.
Now that the examination is already in progress, don’t go collect all the books you can, thinking that is how you are working hard. It is at this time that you are expected to read smart; read light stuff that won’t confuse or make you get tired easily. Read the important short notes that you had before hand.
No one should lie to you that one whole night spent in reading will help you miraculously. It is your hard work in the entire year that matters right now. Spending the whole night cramming math formulas and biology terminologies will just make you more exhausted before the paper.
After you have gone through your short notes, say a short prayer and sleep! It is important that you wake up very fresh and ready to do the paper. Good sleep means a fresh mind and body.
As the exams are going on, you might, at a certain point start relaxing since you are already used to the exam season. It is good for you to quickly adapt to the system, relax, have some fun with friends during weekends, sign auto books but don’t overdo it too. Just as much as you have time for merry, have time to go through your notes and refresh your memory on what you learnt throughout the year.
It is at this time that you will have all kind of friends, relatives and even some teachers calling you to seek ‘shortcuts’ so you pass your exams. Remember, this is your life and no one else’s. If you decide to start your life with cheating, then do know that one time somewhere, what you did will reflect back. Be careful whom you associate with at this time. Avoid unnecessary panic because seeking ‘shortcuts’ will just mess your head the last minute.
Believe in yourself, in your whole year hard work. Don’t let anyone corrupt your mind that you need anything extra to pass. You have all it needs and all you have to do is close your eyes and ears to the wrong people. You are the best and you will definitely achieve your goals.
You need Him now more than ever. At this point, He is the only one who can help you succeed, not your teachers, not your friends, not your relatives and not even your parents. Get closer to Him, pray much and have faith in Him and He won’t let you down.
I believe you got all it takes to get to your goals. Have the same confidence you had from the start, keep up the pace and don’t let any obstacle block your way to success. Wishing you the very best in your exams.
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The human being was created in such a way that he is not perfect and continuously commits mistakes. Even the prophets brought to us did some mistakes in their spiritual mission. This just proves the real form in which we human beings were created. But the most significant thing before God is when a person continuously tries to become a better person. We sin, He forgives, we sin again, He forgives and we sin again and again but still He forgives us. So where is the problem? The problem is with us who don’t appreciate that God is being merciful and take the second chances with appreciation. For change to take place you must go through a process, it can’t be in one or two days. It may be in months or even years for one to achieve one’s own ideal self. The following is one of the processes to achieve good change in one self.
The human being is in most occasions stubborn when it comes to accepting their mistakes. You try to justify your actions again and again with lame reasoning while you know very well you are the one in the wrong. A small example is how a teenage will be scolded for watching Television when they had been asked to go study for an exam. Then the young boy or girl keeps justifying themselves by saying ‘I wanted to watch news, it’s also important knowledge’ or such excuses. The examples may go on and on how people would argue just so that they may not be the ones in the wrong. It’s high time we abandoned our pride and take responsibility of our mistakes.
After you have accepted your mistake, don’t just sit and wail over it. Don’t cry over spilt milk and as the Swahili saying goes, ‘yaliyopita si ndwele tugange yajayo.’ That’s the spirit. If you tripped and made a woman pregnant, don’t ask her for abortion. Take responsibility of your actions with happiness just as you did the actions with happiness. That is just being humane with yourself and the people involved.
Sometimes, the environment we live in is what affects our attitude and behaviour. If the place you are living is what influences you to keep over drinking, robbing people or any other evil acts then MOVE! For you to change then you must sacrifice and even though it may be tough, you have to close your eyes tightly and pretend not to see all the difficulty ahead. It’s all about being strong to overcome your weaknesses.
Friends make up an important part in our lives. They are the ones who make us who we are at most times. Friends may be good for our well being but they may also be the reason of our downfall, evilness, pain and so much more.
As a quote by Buddha says, “an insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.”
Once you have decided to change, then do know whom to keep as a friend. You must reconsider each one of them one by one; who has always lead you to be a better you and who was the one who kept pushing you into doing evil. It is important you know who really makes a difference in your life. And by this, we don’t only mean friends as such; it may include relatives, colleagues or even parents.
Once you have done all the above then make sure you follow up the process. Don’t get tired too early. Get near your God and have faith in Him. It is obviously going to be hectic for you but don’t you yearn for the peace ahead? It is going to be awesome. Just keep going and you will finally be able to kill the wicked you.
THE TENDER FORGOTTEN SIDE OF THE ASSUMED ‘DEVILS’
Looking beyond all the misconceptions and wrongly added up assumptions about the street children, commonly known as ‘chokoraa’, I clearly see what most people tend to ignore. When we see that small girl or boy with torn and dirty clothes, shaggy unkempt hair with a bottle of glue stuck between their teeth all we want to do is walk furthest away from them. We see them like small devils ready to attack yet we never took our time to get to know their deeper selves that is yearning for love, care and understanding. They have so much pain hidden under all that rebelliousness and violence that they show in first impressions.
Working with a non-governmental organization dealing with street children made me more open minded than before and I couldn’t avoid getting so much affected emotionally by their true selves. One of the incidents that I will never forget is when I first had an introduction session with them and one of the older street boys started with a short prayer. ‘Ewe Mungu tunakushukuru kwa kutuweka hai tukaweza kuishi kuona krismasi hadi mwaka mpya. Ijapokuwa tumepitia mambo magumu mengi na siku nyingine tumelala njaa lakini pia tunashukuru kwa maana tunatambua kuwa kuna wale hawakuweza kuishi mpaka leo na washafariki. Tunakushukuru Mungu baba kwa walimu uliotupa na tunamkaribisha mwalimu mpya sana na tunampa heshima yake. Tunashukuru pia anatuchekea na hatuiti ‘chokoraa’ kama tunavyoitwa huko nje na watu wengine wote. Watu wengi hawatambui kuwa sisi ni survivors and hatupendi kuitwa chokoraa kwani sisi pia ni binadamu kama wengine. Mungu tunakushukuru kwa kila jambo ulotupa,amen.’
I was filled with so many mixed emotions and I couldn’t stop to question myself, how many of us have a much better life and yet can never stop a minute to make a short prayer and thank God to be so much fortunate?? I blamed myself for some time for also having a pre-assumed attitude and fear towards them. I realized that from their stories, most are victims of circumstances whereby they had no other option but run to the streets for survival. While some had to walk from Nairobi to Mombasa in search of life, others ride under the buses for hours to get to their destinations to date. One of the crippled boys who walks in crutches used this method to get to Mombasa and we can all picture how tough and rough it can be for a crippled to ride under the bus in an entire journey. Some have been looking for their mothers over twenty years while others are born just there in the streets. With all that, there come the government officers who chase them out of the streets which are their only home, without considering any way to help them out.
The young girls are even more vulnerable to sexual harassment and misguidance in the streets. They have a tougher time in the streets and they clearly talk of how much they hate it when they ask for money in the streets from people and they are abused and called names such as prostitutes.
No one can deny that they can be violent and some are thieves and hard core robbers, druggists and some rapists’ maybe but the fact is that these are forgotten people of the community. They are so much yearning for help, care, love and appreciation from the society. They need guidance and counselling so that they can relieve their stress and get help to be better people.
It is for this reason that I highly salute ‘Glads house Kenya’ an NGO which has taken its time, energy and wealth to invest on the street children and have successfully rehabilitated and reformed quite a number of street children and led them into independency and into foster homes. Same to ‘Wema center’ and to all the other charity centers who have golden hearts and risk their lives in making other people’s lives be better. Kudos to you all!
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As they say it, time waits for no man and if you think of it, wasn’t it just Monday yesterday? When did it get to Friday already? Days, hours, minutes, seconds fly past us like wind and eventually leave us behind still wondering; when did it get so late?
It all seems like just yesterday when I got admitted to the kindergarten and how I really cried for my mother, proceeding to primary school, secondary school to adulthood whereby everyone expects you to be a responsible being. But who could ever believe that those are so many years back and all what we are left with are memories and probably regrets of what we should have done and what not.
As the clock goes tick-tock tick-tock and as the finest sand trickles down the hour glass, did we ever pause to imagine the wisdom behind our Creator creating us with the abundance and yet still, limitation of time? It is for this reason that we must be organized and arrange how to spend our time wisely. In the time factor, we have two kinds of people; the organized being and the procrastinator.
An organized individual knows how to use time wisely. He is the kind that since his youth age already has a time plan of life. He would write down his dreams and goal and set time limits for himself. He has set a time for everything; what age to study, what age to work, when to get married, when to make a family, when to retire etc. He knows when he is to wake up, when he is to prepare himself to go for job, what time to leave the house and when to get there such that they arrive in time. It is such people that always know how to divide their schedules such that they have time for work, time for family, time for entertainment and everything in such an orderly manner. They barely have regrets in the time factor for they make the best use of it. They are the same kind of people who made the best use of their childhood, playing all kind of games and having fun all children need. They make use of their youth; creating amazing memories, doing great things that will always be remembered by the society, making time for studies and merry as well. When they got to the working age they immediately start hustling and looking for ways to learn a living. They get married and have a family when they are surely ready to take such responsibilities and finally retire in peace with no regrets of the time or opportunities they wasted.
The other kind is the procrastinator; the lazy being. He is the type that races behind time and expects the hour clock to miraculously stop for his sake. He would wake up late and blame everyone for not waking him up. He takes everything at ease and even when he is in a crisis, he wouldn’t refuse an invitation from friends to party instead of looking for a solution to his problems. If he is a student, he would procrastinate his study sessions each time for invalid reasons like watching a TV series that they can’t miss or a movie. Such a person doesn’t even have a purpose in life and such, ends up doing a lot of the wrong things before finally realizing their goals in life. They get to regret a lot due to the time and opportunities they wasted by being ignorant. They made so many wrong choices and hanged around with the wrong lazy people who were but enemies of time.
Time will never advise us but instead it will only give us time to correct ourselves but this is only possible if the Time-keeper himself wishes! So let us make a wise use of the much or little time we have because we can never guess when the end of our times will be!
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If you want to know how much Kenyans or coasterians are idle, then let an accident happen. It is at this time that you will know how many people are actually jobless or just lazing around. The accident may have happened at seven in the morning; you may pass by at the scene one hour later and still find the same people crowded there. I never got to understand whether staring at the dead bodies brought any change to the fact that the accident happened or that they are doing some ‘mtaani investigation’. What is even more interesting is how they are amused for all that time that they are at the scene and you could hear comments like ‘aii ai aii. Huyu jamaa amevurugwa kabisa!’ and the person would keep repeating the same statement for as long as the policemen take to get to the accident scene. Others would not want to miss out chipping in their comments of ‘mimi niliona kabisa kilichotokea! Makosa ni ya dereva wa matatu! …’ and he will tirelessly narrate the story to anyone else who would pass by to ask the same question of ‘what happened’.
Actually, citizens have proved to be better journalists in moments as such. Each one would show their deep concern and would be glued at the scene, shaking their heads with pity and wanting to know exactly what happened. At this particular hour is when traffic jams are created and matatus would rush to overtake other cars but yet still, when the matatus get to the accident scene, it is almost a guarantee that the driver would slow down and he would eagerly poke his head outside. He would have a small conversation with the next driver opposite to him about the accident before speeding away.
My concern has always been the crowd though. It is quite for sure that at least a quarter of the crowd was heading to work but nonetheless, they stay around. I end up thinking maybe they have a very tolerating boss who would forgive for the late coming and maybe ask them as well to tell the story, or that they are simply careless employees who aren’t worried about time.
Idlers have become a large population in our country and joblessness still stands to be the main reason. It is not only during an accident that you would see the idlers. Sometimes all you have to do is alight from a car at the ‘mtaani’ stage; and you would see them seating in rows like they are watching a football game or sometimes in small groups discussing issues that only they know about. It is paths like these that I would rather avoid because once they see any creature looking like a woman; their eyes would follow for as long as one is in their sight. Well, maybe it is because they have no better thing to do and as it is said, ‘idleness is the work of Satan’. But yet still, maybe we can’t really blame all of them that are present there. Some are university graduates who walked day and night searching for a job but all in vain while others ended up having the job; ask them and they would tell you ‘kazi ya kutafuta kazi’. It is really high time that our leaders sorted out plans for the idlers and the jobless. For sure, with their great numbers, Kenya would need their ideas to do something meaningful to the community.
Photo Courtesy: Salem_Beliegraphy
Procrastination is another one of Satan’s workshops and most of us have been trapped in this so many times; that lazy feeling to postpone what we are to do today with the claim that we will do it tomorrow. What most people don’t realize is that the price of procrastination is always too steep.
What we can do today is much easier for us to do at the same moment because the next day the work becomes double and if postponed to the next few days, you realize you have a whole pile of work. That is when you start asking yourself where all that work is coming from while whining and complaining over and over again. Sometimes all you have to do is sacrifice a bit of your time or wealth or even energy to do what is required. If you want to start a business then you don’t have to wait till when you have saved so much. Start with the little much you have and once you do, you will realize that you will work even harder to sustain the business.
A person who planned to build a house ten years ago and still hasn’t, may never get to achieve his goal. If his aim at that time was that he should get five hundred thousand to start the house, then with today’s economy, the budget would be double or triple since everything is much more expensive than before. The house that could be built at five hundred thousand ten years ago would have to be built at one million today. Time changes, and the more you postpone, the further your goal seems to be. But maybe had this particular person sacrificed his little money, maybe just one hundred thousand and started the house, it would be complete by now.
There is always this morale that comes when you have decided to start a thing. With the one hundred thousand, the person may have started the foundation of the house. Next thing is that the person would be restless and would work day and night to complete the house. This is the same thing with house chores or even homework given at school. It is quite weird when a person decides to clean the entire house and leaves a corner for tomorrow or when a child does his homework and decides to leave the last two sums for another day. Once you start a thing, you would always have the urge to perfect it.
As for the one who keeps piling up work, then work for you will never end. Even if it is just about buying a present for your mother, procrastination is not appropriate. Today you may say that ‘let me buy myself these beautiful shoes, then tomorrow I will buy mother the thing she always loved’ and the next day, you will realize you also have another thing to do. In the end of it all, you end up not buying the present at all.
Same thing with charity, humanity or even forgiveness; do not wait for tomorrow to tell your loved ones how much you love them, ask for forgiveness at that same moment, give charity even if it is just a coin or two, be humble and live each day as it comes because… tomorrow never comes!
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