I guess another apology is fitting for my no-show last week. I must admit in the last 5/6 year of writing this year has by far been the most difficult. I struggle to find information and finding time to put it all together has also proven a bit of a mission, but that’s all to change soon. I invested in a personal computer at home, no work firewalls, so I have no excuses. For those web crawlers amongst us, my home email address is yawzie@gmail.com, MSN chat name is yawzar@hotmail.com and from the old times my AIM screen name is yawpi.

So it comes to the end of the year I am sure tomorrow the 15th Dec is a lot of people’s last day at work, at least here in SA with the 16th being Reconciliation Day as we call it. So I’ll make this the last email for the year. And did I struggle to get a topic for this week. How is this for coincidence? Earlier this week I am watching CNN in the morning and I hear of a man called Stanley Tookie Williams, who the Governator (Mr Arnie) ‘allowed’ to die. I caught the tail end of it and it sounded interesting, I wanted to know more, but that was the end of my interest, I got up did whatever I needed to do and got to work. Later in the day/the next day, I get an email from my main man Sean Harps and what is it? It’s a link and whats the topic? Yip you guessed it Stanley T Williams. An interesting story it was I tell u

Born to a 17 year old mother in the currently underwater city of New Orleans. He spent his informative years running the streets of South Central LA…on the West Side. In 1969 Raymond ‘Truck’ Washington formed the eastern side Crips gang. In 1971, Williams joined Washington and he formed the western side Crips gang. The gang was initially started to root out all the other gangs and to keep the streets safe, reduce violence and police brutality (well so say many of the original members). Over time though, very short time it is reported, Crips morphed into the very thing they claimed to be acting against and Crips became one of the most feared gangs in LA if not America. The name Crips was derived from the term used to describe young men who were victims of crimes and were forced to walk with a cane.

The guy was one nasty piece of work. In Feb 1979 he and a couple of mates went to rob a Stop-N-Go, but some of his mates chickened out. Williams was bleak with them, he gave them a piece of his mind and then he told them we are going to do this, so they headed off to t nearby 7-11 where they successfully robbed the place of $120, yip that’s right $120 and in the process he shot a 27 year old store clerk in the process, just for s hits and giggles. He even laughed about how the guy Mr Owens, gargled or squirmed when he got shot, in the back at point blank range with a sawed off shot gun. This was the recorded beginning of Williams’ life of murder and violence.

It is recorded that after that Williams stormed into the Brookhaven Motel in March 1979 and murdered the 3 Taiwanese immigrants (a husband and wife and one of their children, who Williams referred to as Buddha-heads) who were working there, he emptied the cash register and fled the scene. This roberry netted him a whole $100. The law caught up to him and he was convicted of these 3 crimes and that of Owens and was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

Williams maintained his innocence from the beginning of his sentence, his defense was based on lack of evidence, eye witness, fingerprints, prosecutorial misconduct, biased jury selection and a whole host of possible excuses as to why he was innocent.

He was incarcerated from 1979. He spent plenty days in solitary confinement in the early years of his sentence as a result of assaults on the guards and fellow inmates. Williams was a large guy who used to be an active bodybuilder. The streak of assaults lasted through most of the 80’s to early 90’s and this list ranged to beating up inmates, threatening to kill guards, inappropriate acts with female visitors, attacking guards with chemicals, stabbing inmates. In prison Williams continued as an active Crips member, hence why the violent behavior. This behavior earned him 6 and a half years in solitary confinement.

When he came out of solitary, Williams seemed a changed man. He gained much attention for his publication of children’s books advocating non-violence and alternatives to gangs. His autobiography Redemption was made into a movie that starred Jamie Foxx. He was instrumental in brokering a peace agreement in what is known as the deadliest gang war in the history of America between the Bloods and the Crips. He received a letter from George W Bush commending his social efforts, this letter and all his other accolades he had achieved in his post solitary days were noted during his appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals, but it was all in vain. His last option was to request clemency from the Governor of California.

He showed some remorse for his actions and what had become of Crips. In 1997, he made a public apology stating that he had no idea that Crips membership would grow as it did and spread across the nation and have as many copy cat gangs popping up in areas such as South Africa. He apologized for the role the gang had played in destroying the lives of many people, particularly the victims of their crimes and the young black men who were drawn into these gangs and the violence they inflicted on each other! He was apparently nominated for a Nobel Peace prize in every year from 2001 to 2005.
Below is an extract of his apology obtained from a website:
"Twenty-five years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt other young black men. Raymond was murdered in 1979. But if he were here, I believe he would be as troubled as I am by the Crips legacy.

So today I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever did.

As a contribution to the struggle to end child-on-child brutality and black-on-black brutality, I have written the Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children's book series. My goal is to reach as many young minds as possible to warn you about the perils of a gang lifestyle.

I am no longer "dys-educated" (disease educated). I am no longer part of the problem. Thanks to the Almighty, I am no longer sleepwalking through life.

I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others.

I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.

Amani (Peace),

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, Surviving Crips Co-Founder, April 13, 1997"

Many citizens gave their support for a stay in execution prior to the defences case being presented to the Governator, many well know personalities including the Desmond Tutu, Jesse Jackson, Russell Crowe, Jessica Simpson, Gabriel Byrne, Danny Glover, Snoop Dogg, Ted Danson etc. After an hour long closed door clemency hearing, Williams was informed on the 11 December that his request for a stay in execution and the request to convert his sentence to life in prison without parole was unsuccessful.

On the 13th December, Stanley Tookie Williams was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison in California. Was re reformed? I don’t know? Was he innocent, well the courts say he was. WE will never really know cos apparently till his death he pleaded innocence and his apology was only in relation to him starting the gang and his gang lifestyle and not the murders. He requested neither last meal nor any last words to the warden prior to his execution.

Birthdays
12th Lisa
13th Dom, Si, Claudia and Antonio
14th Lauren
15th Gamaliel
16th Bro Nana
18th Renier
21st Stephanie
22nd Sasha
23rd Mia
28th Mbumbu
29th Lephoi
30th Thabang

I know I have left someone out, please let me know if its you. “the world is one big classroom, where experiences are your teachers and choices are your tests. The answers are up to you.” – Rebecca Hilt

If you are travelling over this period travel safely. Otherwise I sincerely wish you and your families a peaceful and ‘restful’ festive season. All the best for the challenges that 2006 may throw your way.

RESPECT!!

Y

In the words of Tumi Morule…Its HECTIC! I dunno whats plotting anymore. I am not sure if its because of aging or what but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day, days in the week… anymore and ask me what I have done at the end of the day and all I can say is not enough! 10 months down 2 to go and have you achieved what you wanted to this year?

Before I carry on, another addition to our growing community. Wendt, welcome! Should you find this to be an absolute waste of precious inbox bytes, firstly give me suggestions to make it better or alternatively drop me a line to remove you and your wish shall be my command. For comments and to read some older emails please visit www.mondaymail.blogspot.com.

You know up until today (Thursday) I had no clue what to write about…enter Thursday, we have a training session, I really didn’t want to spend my whole day training, cos I have 1 deal I am wrapping up and another that has to close soon cos its boring the life out of me, but I decide to attend at least for the morning session. I must say I’m definitely glad I attended, albeit in fits and starts. The course was mainly focused around giving and receiving feedback, which I am not that great at. I remember getting hugely upset in my earlier years at PwC when all my managers told me what a sterling job I was doing, there was no negative press and come appraisal time I was rated average, I flipped like a little baby who’s dummy had been taken away from him/her. My approach was all wrong then and I realized soon after the meeting, but its an emotional thing and your first reaction is always on the defensive. Something that I took from that meeting and which got reinforced yesterday, was step back assess and comment in a structured manner. Bloody difficult ask me I know, but its all about practice and making a conscious decision.

Anyway back to my topic…todays training is about receiving and giving feedback, but something that caught my attention was a concept called Johari’s window.

The window looks like this:

The name Johari is pretty odd isn’t it? The reason for the name is that the ‘concept’ is named after its architects Joe Luft and Harry Ingram. It emphasizes the importance of feedback particularly in developing your blind areas (the top right hand quadrant).

I will attempt to explain all these quadrants as I understand them.

Quadrant 1 – Open/free area
This area highlights the attributes of a person know to the person and others, such as their behaviour, attitude, feelings, emotion, knowledge, experience, skills, etc. The aim is for all of us to spend as much time in this area as possible because in this space we are at our optimum, all information is known, there is continuous communication and cooperation. Basically we are all reading off the same page. The aim is to get this open area as large as possible, because there is less conflict, confusion and mistrust, cos every knows everyone else’s business. This area can generally be expanded sideways and downwards into the blind and hidden areas.

Quadrant 2 – The blind area
This quadrant represents things others know about us, but we don’t know, a crude example would be say I blow my nose and there is a snolly still parking off in my nose, you can see it but I am totally oblivious to the fact. So here you are cringing every time you look at me. You know something I want to know. How do I get to a position of full knowledge as to the mechanics of your reaction? Request feedback! This feedback will assist in increasing self awareness and as a result increase the open area. This blind area is not a productive or effective area. Its an area that could breed arrogance/insecurity I guess, because you are so caught up in your own perception of you that you have no idea of what the world around you sees. This quadrant is prevalent in thick-skinned people. How does one minimize this area? Give sensitive, non-judgemental feedback, encourage disclosure and discussion. This will fuel the process of self actualization.

Quadrant 3 – The hidden area
This area describes things we know about ourselves but chose to hide from others. Such things will include fears, the fact that I watched a movie called Radio on Sunday and it brought a tear to my eye, because people may think I am a big baby, secrets, hidden agendas etc. Through the process of disclosure, hidden details should be moved to the open area. Say for example you have a boss at work or a spouse and s/he does things that irks you. What we tend to do is to keep it inside. That creates a hidden area, cos we know and others don’t. The healthy option? Engage in constructive discussions. Discuss what that person does and its effect on you, what this does is it increases the open area. The result s/he has heard your concerns and they may have not known the effect of their actions on you and if they see fit, they will rectify this. The reduction of this area results in the reduction of potential confusion, misunderstanding, poor communication etc. The secret to making this area work will be to create a situation where the individual feels comfortable divulging this information of his or her own free will.

Quadrant 4 – The unknown area
This is a funny area, because if I don’t know and you don’t know how do we know there is something I don’t know? Deep ne? These unknown issues take the form of feelings, behaviours, attitudes, capabilities etc. This area is larger in younger people and people who lack self belief or experience. I am sure you may be wondering what could fall into this quadrant? Below are a few examples extracted from the training material (I hope this isn’t copyright infringement):
An ability that is under-estimated or untried through lack of opportunity, encouragement, training or confidence
Natural ability or aptitude that a person does not realize they possess
A fear or aversion that a person doesn’t realize they possess
An unknown illness
Repressed or subconscious feelings
Conditioned behaviour or attitudes from childhood…

I think you get the picture. But how do we reduce this hidden area? Well I guess the obvious way is through examination, exploration and encouragement to spread your wings and try new things. Counselling for example would be a good way to unearth deep rooted behaviours. But the thing with this area is that it can move to any of the other 4 quadrants. This all depends on who discovers this knowledge and what they decide to do with the info. A word of caution though, is that this region could area could hold some repressed or subconscious feelings that may be the result of a traumatic experience in the past.

Interesting stuff this psycho analysis mumbo jumbo. Our presenter was a lady who specializes in neuro-linguistics…which in layman terms is the languages of the brain.

Later all hope u have a brilliant weekend. Off to the cricket with clients later today, but plenty to do before then. Sun is shining here in the cape, hope its shining wherever you are or at least in your life.

Birthdays
23rd Pearl
24th Philip
25th Karina

“to understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but what he aspires to.” Khalil Gibran

That’s me for this week

Respect!

Y

Who’s idea was it to organize 6 am flights?! My oath, and the paranoia that goes with it. I hate having inflexible things to do early in the morning cos I tend to not trust my alarm. So this morning I was up at 2am then 3…then again at 4 and then I decided u no what lets just get up already. Other than a tad dozy, I am on top of my game.

I had a psychometric test the other day for work, what it was for? I know not, but I quite enjoy participating in these things. My personality type was ESTP, Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking and Perception. “In general, ESTPs are action oriented, pragmatic, outgoing, and realistic people. In situations that require resourcefulness, they use their quickness and flexibility to find the most efficient route to accomplishing whatever needs to be done. They are lively, entertaining, and fun. They like to be where the action is and participate fully in what is happening. Characteristically, they are direct with their comments and mince no words. They are at their best in situations that require an orientation to the present and a direct, no-nonsense, pragmatic approach.” Extract from the results
As with most things I feel some of them apply and others are hogwash, but helluva interesting nonetheless.

I have mates who go and see clairvoyants. I am not too sure about these things, but to each their own is what they say I guess. Anyway for some reason, I have been thinking about it for a while and one of the most spoken about clairvoyants, is who I will write about today. He was born Michel de Nostradame on the 14th Dec 1503 in St Remy de Provence. His family were Jewish initially but converted to Christianity, which lead to Nostradamus being raised as a catholic. He by the way latinised his name to Nostradamus from de Nostradame.

He was a bright lad and studied classical languages, mathematics, astrology and astronomy. He later enrolled to become a doctor at the University of Montpellier. After qualifying he wandered off into the countryside and applied his skills to save many people from the plague. Whilst in practice, his unconventional ways caught the eye of a certain Julius Ceasar Scaliger, a philosopher, who invited Nostradamus to stay with him at his home in Agen. In 1534, he met a lovely damsel, whose name is not recorded anywhere, they wed and had a son and a daughter, the life of happiness was not to last. The plague returned, it swept through the region claiming many lives. On the list of casualties was Nostradamus; wife and 2 children. He was beside himself! His practice was in tatters, he couldn’t save his own wife and kids, well then who could he save? He set off once again into the world, wandering through France and Italy for a period of around 6 years. U see I don’t think plane and car travel was quite where it is now J It was during this time that he realised that he had a gift that enabled him to see into the future, well so its believed. It is recorded that one day whilst wandering through Italy he came across a group of Monks, Nostradamus, fell to his knees clutching the garment of one of the monks and exclaimed with his head bowed. When asked what he was doing he replied “I must yield and bow before his holiness”. Many though Nostradamus was dilly because this monk whose garment he had clutched was a monk named Peretti, a former pig herder. Apparently 19 years after Nostradamus’ death this monk became Pope Sxtus V…coincidence…u decide.

There is another story that some people heard about his ‘abilities’ and tried to show him up. He was invited to dinner one night and prior to the dinner, the host showed him two pigs, he asked Nostradamus which pig they would be eating, Nostradamus responded the black one, the owner said to his chef, right, we’ll show him, prepare the white one he said. At the dinner table he asked Nostradamus again which pig was being eaten once again he answered the black pig and with a smurk on his face he called in the cook and asked him which pig was being eaten, and the cook answered the black one. The owner was aghast, and why might this be he asked, well, the cook explained, just before I was about to fetch the white pig to prepare it, a tame wolf wandered into the yard and devoured the pig.

In 1547, he remarried and settled in Salon where started to focus his knowledge on writing books. “In 1955 he published the first of 10 books all titled centuries. Each of these contained 100 predictions written in 4 line verses which were named quatrains”.

The most spoken about of these predictions are the 3 powerful and tyrannical leaders that he called the ‘anti-christ’

The first was believed to be Napoleon and what he wrote was this:
An emperor shall be born near Italy
Who shall cost the Empire dear,
They shall say, with what people he keeps company
He shall be found less a Prince than a butcher.
Some other predictions about Napoleon were made such as his fate:
The great empire will soon be exchanged for a small place.
Which will soon begin to grow
A small place of tiny area in the middle of which
He will come to lay down his scepter

The captive prince, conquered, is sent to Elba
He will sail across the Gulf of Genoa to Marseilles
By a great effort of the foreign forces he is overcome
Though he escaped the fire, he bees yield blood by the barrel.

The next of the anti-christs was Hitler, and about him he wrote:
Out of the deepest part of the west of Europe
From poor people a young child shall be born
Who with his tongue shall seduce many people
His fame shall increase in the Eastern Kingdom
He shall come to tyrannize the land
He shall raise up a hatred that had long been dormant
The child of Germany observes no law
Cries and tears fire blood and battle
A captain of Germany shall come to yield himself by false hope
So that his revolt shall cause great bloodshed

Of the third he says:
Out of the country of geater Arabia
Shall be born a strong master of Mohammed
He will enter Europe wearing a blue turban
He will be the terror of mankind
Never more horror

He even states when the third world war will begin in the following statements:
In the year 1999 and seven months
From the sky will come the great King of Terror
He will bring back to life the King of the Mongols
Before and after war reigns

Many students of his work believe this third guy to be Saddam Hussein. I am not so sure about that one personally, I believe the world is currently at war, but not in the sense of the word that we know it, from TV etc. but we are at war. 9/11 the London bombings, Bali bombings, Iraq unrest, Spain and when did this all come to head. I believe it started with the first gulf war.

Nostradamus died on the 1/7/1566 from gout.

Cant think of any birthdays this week and I don’t have my trusted diary to prompt me neither, but if this your birthday week many happy returns to ya.
That’s me for this week, as usual maximum respect. Y

!5 degrees at the start of summer, every week for the last few weeks, there is talk of a hurricane, a typhoon or a storm of some sort, causing mad destruction and wreaking havoc, all over this globe, yet we ask y? Cut down the trees, drive our cars, spray our deo and carry on asking y?!

Ooh doom and gloom to start off the mail, but no its not all doom and gloom in my world, quite on the contrary, even though its cloudy outside the sun still shines. I actually just completed my first term loan transaction of about R30mil, bringing my total lending to about R90 odd mil for the year, the first 2 were a walk in the park compared to this one, but I think I will get more satisfaction from this one, just cos of the amount of KAK (shaite) I had to go through to get it done! It’s a bit of an anti-climax to be honest, kinda like finishing a series of exams. J But how u all doing? Hope u are all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

I am not sure if you are aware, but this is quite a holy week we are in, with lots of religious events taking place. Monday nite was the first nite of the Jewish New Year and Tuesday the second nite, of the Jewish new year. I think I may have written about this in previous emails, someone please confirm.

4th October, other than being Liam’s birthday J was the start of the Hindu festival of Navaratri, “Nava”, meaning 9 and “ratri” meaning nights. It is one of the most celebrated festivals in the Hindu calendar, it however holds special significance to Gujaratis and Bengalis. It is a festival observed twice a year, once at the beginning of summer and then again at the start of winter. Why is this? Well Hindus believe that there is a divine power that provides energy for the earth to move around the sun, causing the distinct changes in temperature and its only right to give it thanks. Another reason for this is that due to the changes in nature, peoples minds and bodies also tend to change and worship must be given to the divine power that allows us to maintain our physical and mental balance.

So now why the nine nights as I mentioned before? Well the festival is divided into 3 sets of 3 nights. The first of the 3 nights is for dedicated to the destruction of impurities, vices and defects. The goddess Durga (warrior goddess), dressed in red and mounted on a lion is the goddess dedicated to this cause. The next 3 nites, the giver of spiritual wealth Lakshmi, dressed in gold and mounted on an owl is worshiped. It is believed that she has the ability to bestow on her devotees copious amounts of wealth. The last 3 days are devoted to the goddess dressed in milky white and mounted on a pure swan, Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge. Hindus believe that in order to have an ‘all-rounded success in life’, all 3 aspects of the divine mother must be worshiped.

The 5th October, yesterday, was the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhaan in the Islam faith. This is a month of fasting (Saum) where ‘participants’ are supposed to abstain from eating, drinking and sex from sunrise to sunset. I have written about this before, but I find it quite interesting and for the benefit of those who have just joined this newsletter I will summarise this period. Why fast? Well it’s a means of controlling desires, u see if you can steer clear of abstaining from lawful pleaseures such as eating, sex, drinking, well then its just that much easier to steer clear of unlawfull ones and it weakens your inclination towards sin. Fasting brings people closer to the angelic beings who have no need for food and water. Fasting teaches people self control and patience, cos damnit imagine being hungry and not being able to eat till the sun sets, boss, if u r dedicated to the cause, u must maar wait, which removes the impulsive animal nature from our being.

But this is the easi part. There are deeper forms of fasting that includes:
1) lowering and protecting the gaze from the evil and sights
2) protecting the tongue from vain talk, obscene language, lying, back-biting, carrying tales, etc.
3) protecting the ears from listening to evil
4) protecting the remainder of the limbs of the body from evil

Here’s a thought, how about we try and fast for one day, just for whatever reason you have in mind and donate whatever cash you would have spent on food that day to a buy a street kid some food, or extra pay to your helper or whatever cause you can think of. I must say its quite a discipline. I tried to fast today but at 8:30am one of my colleagues offered me a muffin that I duly accepted, without even a thought, didn’t do it on purpose, but still did it, DOH!! The holy month of Ramadhaan lasts till about 3rd November so u have plenty of days to get it right.

That’s me for this week

Birthdays
4th Monkfish
6th Liz

“Few see beyond the outward appearance and recognize the true worth of a human soul. When they do, miracles occur” Thomas S Monson

U know last weekend, I heard of the passing of a very young man, I cant claim that he was a good friend or anything, but he was quite a jovial kinda guy and every time u’d see him out on the ‘jol’ he’d be having a ripper, but no more, which makes this next quote all the more relevant.

“Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do!”

On that note I am out for this week, I sincerely hope you had a good week and have an even more pleasant weekend. Maximum respect.

Y

What a day for a day dream?

Greetings sports fans, so game on this side of the world I tell u. Sun is shining, every one is smiling, work is stressful, yes you heard it correctly, yawza is stressed eric at work, but you know like most things in life, when you get a handle on it, you learn a great deal. It’s a horrible feeling I tell u, but ey what can u do.

Other than that life is just peachy…ish. Question, seeing as you all are pretty connected, do any of you know of anyone or any organization looking for a retired/retiring economist who’s spent most of his life in the macro economics and health management fields, if so lemme no.

Anyway even though I have plenty to say (as always…) this week I have just struggled to find the time, but I am reading this book called “until today” by Iyanla Vanzant. I only started reading it and so far there are 2 pages that I have read that I have found quite relevant. I think it may be copyright infringement and I appologise if it offends any of you guys, but I really had to share them with you…Fats thanks for typing them out for me.

Here they are…enjoy and I hope they are of some relevance in your lives.

PASSAGE 1

I will know love when I realize . . . people do not change
just because I want them to change!

If you are looking for a change in your mate and see no signs of its coming, stop looking! You are with whom you are with because you choose to be with them. Stop looking for something else and see the love in whom you are with.

If you are listening to hear something from your mate that you haven’t heard, stop listening! If you are waiting for a change, stop! You chose this person! You chose them because they opened your heart. You chose them precisely because of who they are and how they sounded. Stop checking to see if they are going to change because you may have changed. Stop waiting to see if they are going to change into what you knew they were not. See who this is. Hear what they say. Accept what they do as the truth of who they are and look for the love in them.

It is not loving to expect someone to change because you want them to or because you think they should. Love is consistent. Love allows us to see and hear the best of what we have right now. The love within us grows when we grow. It shifts as we shift. When how we love grows and shifts, love gives us the opportunity to choose again, whether or not our partner changes.

Very often when we change, our needs change. At this point, we can become very demanding of our mates. By asking your partner to change to your reality, you are asking that they ignore their own. Looking for, listening for, checking for or demanding change is not loving. It is controlling! The cure for this type of unloving control is simple. If who you have and what you have no longer meet your needs, choose again.


Until today, you may have been preoccupied with changes you need your mate to make. Just for today, look for and embrace the things you love about who your partner is right now.


Today I am devoted to putting aside my demands for
change and seeing the truth and love in who my partner is!

PASSAGE 2

I experience and express the power of trust because . . .
I know I have nothing to worry about.

Why worry? If you have learned anything by now it is that worry serves no purpose. Yet you do it any way. Why? You sit around frantic. You run around frazzled. You make yourself sick. You have all but pulled your hair out, and for what?

If your worrying could have made things better, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about. What would you do with all that free time? How about trusting that all the things you have been worrying about will not change for all the worry in the world. How about dropping all the worry and picking up a little trust. Oh, no! There you go worrying about whether or not you have enough trust to trust. Get a grip!

Until today, worry might have been your favourite pastime. Just for today, use your time to develop a bit more trust.


Today I am devoted to freeing myself from
the bondage of worry!

Birthdays
26th Tommie
28th John Kironde
29th Eve
1st Oct – Herman

“Time has no favourites…and it doesn’t become kinder to one over another…It just gives us back…what we put into it…” – Doug Firebaugh
“If you create from the heart nearly everything works, if from the head, almost nothing” – Marc Chagall

That’s me for this week, have a ripper weekend, big love and maximum respect.

Y

Salaam,

Whats going on all, trust the week gone by was pleasant and the week ahead holds much promise. Another addition to the mailing list Mrs Fatima Martin, welcome. The weekend was much fun so far, how people go thru life without friends I know not! Even the silliest of things are memorable anyway…

Last week I said I’d try and write about weddings well here’s what I found thanks to the www once again.

When and where the first wedding was held no one can be sure of, but research traces the origins of the institution of marriage back to ancient Egypt, surprised? Why? Afterall they did build the pyramids without cranes J. Pharaos used to take daughters and sisters as wives to preserve the bloodline (I don’t think the thought of incest and down syndrome children was an issue at that time). They also came up with the concept of engagements which was seen as an opportunity for the couple to get to know each other better and to see if they are indeed compatible. There was a marriage contract in place which stipulated what the rights of each party was and what is expected of them before and during the marriage. The groom and his family would then pay the bride and her family a visit and he would make a payment to them for their daughter to symbolize that he was capable of earning and keeping their daughter bling blinging J. And this romantic notion of ours called love, pah, what was that? It was not a necessity to get married back then

Initially weddings were only for the upper class. U see in the past its either u were royalty or you were not! No amount of hard work would see you join the gravy train, you couldn’t even pay your way there, I suppose if you could pay your way then you would already be a part of the elite.

Marriage was an institution established way before the Christian world came into being. The word marriage came into being in the 14th century. It was derived from the French word marier which means to marry.

Here’s an interesting fact about the engagement ring, do you know why it’s on the left hand? Well it was believed then that the nerves and the veins in the left hand ran straight to the heart. The engagement ring served to show society that she was spoken for. The round shape of the ring (other than making it practical to fit on the fingers) symbolizes eternity which meant the union was intended to last forever. Put it all together and it all makes sense, put it on your finger which is connected to the heart and you hold it in your heart that the union is forever and ever.

St Paul changed the concept of marriage later on from it just being a contract to comparing the union between a man and a woman to that between Christ and his church.

In the 1500’s many a marriage took place without a ceremony or a witness. The council of Trent (“The Council of Trent, the 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church, was held at Trent in northern Italy between 1545 and 1563. It marked a major turning point in the efforts of the Catholic church to respond to the challenge of the Protestant Reformation and formed a key part of the Counter-Reformation. The need for such a council had long been perceived by certain church leaders, but initial attempts to organize it were opposed by Francis I of France, who feared it would strengthen Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and by the popes themselves, who feared a revival of Conciliarism. The council eventually met during three separate periods (1545-47, 1551-52, 1562-63) under the leadership of three different popes (Paul III, Julius III, Pius IV). All of its decrees were formally confirmed by Pope Pius IV in 1564.”) decreed that every marriage that took place had to celebrated by a priest and at least 2 witnesses.

The tradition of the bride wearing a white dress was to symbolize purity and virginity and the bride not seeing the groom before the wedding day were superstitions carried over from Celtic customs and rituals of Mitra (Hindu deity). The dress was initially quite simple, with the only complication being a knot tied in the sash holding it up. The purpose of the knot was apparently to tease the groom and test his patience on the wedding night. The idea of the veil came from women called Flaminca Dialis who were the wives of priests called Flamen Dialis.

Weddings have been known to be instrumental in healing and building or destroying nations. The most famous one being the story of Marcus Antonius who together with Marcus Lepidus and Octavian avenged the assassination of Julius Ceasar in the battle of Phillipi against Brutus and Cassius. Over time the relationship between Octavian (who later became Augustus when he became emperor of Rome) and Marcus Antonius became strained, and in the pursuit of peace between the 2 of them he arranged for him to marry his sister Octavia. This didn’t last cos we are all well aware, that Mark Anthony’s love was with the lovely Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. And we all know how that story ended, joint suicide, Octavians forces destroying the Egyptian forces...

Well if you didn’t know now u do.

Birthdays
18th Thuli and Chetan
21st Shareen and Mike K
23rd Si Black, Gills 1 year anniversary
24th Vaughan

“if we don’t change we don’t grow. If we don’t grow we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean giving up a familiar but limiting patterns,safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in. As Dostoevsky put it, ‘taking a new step, uttering a new work is what people fear most’ the real fear should the opposite course” – Gail Sheehy

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not, but remember, that whoat you have now was once among the things you only hoped for.”

On that note I am out, sun is shining out there and I am holding myself captive in this office. Maximum respect as always. Have a great week.

Y

“The world is beautiful, but has a disease called man" - Friedrich Nietzsche

"To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed." - Bernard Edmonds

"I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet." - Anonymous quotes

I sure hope the sun is shining in your life. If not I hope that it is at least shining outside your window, there is just something about sunshine that brings out excitement and joy in people, the sun has been quite prevalent in the Cape the past few days and people’s moods seem to be displaying this, this summer is going to be silly here, I can feel it. I’ve gotta be honest, the sun has been shining half mast in my life lately. Work has been pretty taxing of late, but I guess that’s what happens when you work with too many clever people ;-) then I guess its only fair to tell u that mi Mrs and me are no more, a whole 9 months and 1 day we lasted, best and longest innings by me if I do say so myself, Kevin Pietersen would have been proud. Great lass…but when the distance factor and FOLKS are involved…need I say more…or maybe I was just an A SS. Interesting times I tell u, but its those times that you learn that you are really living.

My mail this week will most probably be all over the place, cos I have plenty thoughts in my head and I got plenty to say. I am not trying to prescribe how you should think, but just merely sharing what I am thinking. Hopefully you will share some of your thoughts too

A friend of mine is getting married pretty soon, and the excitement and the stress its an absolute rollercoaster. But his situation and mine I guess has had me thinking quite a bit and sparked off plenty an interesting debate of late…Dealing with folks telling him which aunt and uncle and cousin to invite and how the whole proceeding should unravel itself and which church to get married in cos she is a different denomination to him and we all know how hollier than thou Catholics are to the rest of the Christian folk…it fascinates me how we in society cling to some things so whole heartedly, yet in our lives selectively follow its rules. I will cite a few examples, X claims to be the most Christian of us all, but let Y do something to annoy them and it will take an eternity for X to forgive Y, I am sure in the Bible there is a passage of forgiving someone 77 times 7 times (basically means endlessly), this same X will practice pre-marital sex, but not want to do something else because his/her religion is his/her life mmmm :-/ (confused face). Then there is the situation where you let your kids hang with kids from different walks of life, but when they decide to enter into a relationship, you are like mmm not with those kind cos they are this that and the next and what will the rest of the family think. Maybe I am a bit dof.

Is it right for your parents to prescribe your life to you? That’s a bit of a tough one, but then again I am not a parent, but I am a child of 2 styling folks, bless them. I don’t know so much. Yes they brought you into this world, raised you, took you to school so you could think for yourself, learn about and mix with people from different walks of life, assuming you were us fortunate as those of us who grew up in the eastern cape J, but the funny thing is when you start to think for yourself and your thinking is not in line with those of our elders, it tends to raise a few eyebrows. A good friend of mine and I were having a conversation about this on Friday nite, about how our generation, the generation x’s are prisoners of our parents prejudices. You see the man is pretty smitten over a lass who is not of the same race as he (yes he’s black that’s y its an issue J), but her old man is totally against their relationship because of that fact and to me that is absolutely ludicrous in this day and age, but that’s my belief.

In days gone by building strong communities to fight off extinction was important because that’s what it was all about, a sign of a nations power was how many battles it could win and how many armies they could conquer and lands it could annex, but such is not the case no more, well not from where I sit. But now for an American and his Russian mail order bride to wed is big business as is the marriage of a Senegalese and an Ivorian, so what is it about this racial divide that makes it such a huge canyon to cross?

Our parents were brought up to believe something and that something worked in days gone by and they try and pass it on to us. A lot of our parents in South Africa were brought up to believe apartheid was alright, it must have been because no one stood up to say it was wrong until now, but right now the rules of the past just wont fly. Kinda like say interracial/cultural/religious relationships and I could be wrong, so comments please.

Here’s my thinking on the topic. In the past relationships were about protecting the bloodline, keeping the nobility line flowing, there was no chance of ever becoming high class through just hard work, you had to be born high class or it was sorreee for u, but nowadays through hard work, luck or whatever your means, anyone can be high class. But then what about our cultural heritage, and trust you me I have the highest respect for culture of any sort, but lets be honest with the advent of the global economy and TV a lot of our cultures aren’t all that prevalent, I am not saying it’s a good thing, its just the truth.

I am of the old school the school that respects its elders and appreciates advice etc. but boss, tell me something I don’t fundamentally agree with, I will challenge you, until you convince me otherwise, I call it learning, others might see it as otherwise, but eh tomayto…tomarto. On Saturday I was having a great discussion with my folks and they were on about how I am of a system etc. you see my folks are getting on and I think they would like a grand child or two (legitimately ofcourse before they get too old), y they weren’t speakin to my 2 older sisters only they know, maybe cos I was the only one doing cross border raids, anyway I digress, they were basically hinting about the fact that ideally they would want me to settle with a Ghanaian lass, I questioned them on this and asked why? Their answer is well its because its your people and that they know of many cross border raids that have failed. To which I said, so then why didn’t you leave me in a village with my people, so I would merely be exposed to my people? To which they answered…mmmm. I then said to them that there are many local border raids that you and I both know of that are in tatters too, in this life we live a lot of what we experience is primarily through the luck of the draw, yes you have the ability to influence your luck but I honestly believe that a royal being involved with a commoner has as much a chance of working as does a relationship between 2 royals, if the individuals are right. Yes fair enough, if you are cut from the same cloth it makes it slightly easier to relate, interact etc. but eh what says a German and an Israeli aren’t cut from the same cloth even though it was made in two different countries…mkaaay bad example, but u know what I am getting at? I mean my folks brought me up to be a good person, respect my elders, go to school so you can learn and be able to fend for yourself and make yourself a better person, kept driving us to do better, any of this sound familiar? But I didn’t grow up in your house now did I? Fundamentally we are all the same

As much as I believe in tradition and all (imagine an All Black game without the haka, what!), but I believe we have to learn to apply reason in much of our thinking and practices rather than what went on in the past. I am a born Ghanaian and I am proud of that, the black star is going to 2006 and I am elated, I am an Ashanti through birth and my flat head and that is something that I will never deny, but I can’t go around professing that the way of the Ashanti is the right way, firstly cos I don’t follow many of the practices of the tribe and to be honest other than the fact that I can speak the languge, have one of our symbols tattooed on my arm, the link is very faded.

This whole division in our society (and greed) is the root of a lot if not all of our world’s problems I tell you. And I guess it has been since time in memorial. This email I guess follows on to us and our prejudices and it really and truly bothers me how we as humans go out of our way to limit ourselves and I guess I cant change it but if even just one person thinks what I say makes sense or convinces me otherwise well I guess I would be a better person for it tomorrow.

In the past a woman would be carrying the groceries in both hands and a baby on her back, is that right, should it go on right now just because its what used to happen, mmm? In the past people used to think the world was flat…

On that note let me be out, its way past the witching hour, you all be good now and think logically about things and not just do because that’s how it was.

Birthdays
13th Maud
14th Kyle Mallen and Will Mapham
15th Kuhle

Sheesh I had this whole email researched about the history of weddings and all but I think I went on a bit of a tangent, but this was off the cuff, if I find some time this week I will drop you all another mail, don’t eva knock my commitment to educating the masses 00:16 on Tuesday morning, yes I have no life J

Respect!

Life is short, don’t waste time worrying about what people think of you. Hold on to the ones that care, in the end they will be the only ones there – Anonymous

Of course life is bizarre, the more bizarre it gets the more interesting it is. The only way to approach it is to make yourself some popcorn and enjoy the show. – Anonymous

God allows us to experience low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them – Stanley Lindquist

Some great quotes hopefully they are of value to you. This week is deaf awareness week, and I thought I should just bring it to our attention, not cos we can do anything about it, but cos, just take some time out to appreciate what you got, I know I sing this song endlessly, but as the saying goes you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone. I poked my ankle something silly a couple of days ago and my word the little things you take for granted, like walking, driving, now fortunately for me its getting better but what about those people that have to spend their lives in a wheelchair, I guess unlucky for them hey? Well it could so easily be us.

Anyway moving swiftly along, hope all is well with you all, and you are having a ripper of a week thus far, my week started with a bit of a speed wobble, but that’s what makes it all so much fun!

Speaking of not knowing what you’ve got till its gone, I wonder what’s going through the ex-deputy presidents mind right now, knowing that there is a possibility that his freedom may be no more.

Am I a socialist…well some might say, am I a capitalist, well let me ask you this why would I have studied forever as an accountant and be working in a bank?

JZ, born 12/04/1942, in Inkandla KZN, positions held, former deputy president of SA, deputy president of the ANC, chairperson of the national AIDS council, Chancellor of the University of Zululand, Patron of the JZ bursary fund, patron of the peace and reconstruction fund, patron of the Albert Luthuli education and development foundation.

He didn’t have much of a formal education. At the age of 15 he had to take odd jobs to help his mother out. A member of his family who was a strong trade unionist influenced him and hence his attention became drawn towards politics. In 1958 he joined the ANC, in 1962 he joined its military wing MK(Umkhonto We Sizwe which means the spear of the nation). In 1963Whilst on his way out of the country he was arrested along with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in the North West Province, he was convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government and sentenced to 10 yrs in prison on the island.

That didn’t stop him and in December 1974 after his release he was at work mobilising the internal resistance and awakening the ANC’s underground structures in Kwazulu Natal. But things started getting heated and in 1975 he pulled out of SA for 12 years based in Swaziland and then Mozambique. During this time he and the now President Thabo Mbeki and others worked together giving leadership to the ANC operation in the Republic. He also played a part in dealing with a whole lot of youngsters that poured into Mozambique as a result of the 1976 uprising. In 1977 he became a member of the ANC’s national executive committee. He served as the chief representative of the ANC in Moz until 1984 when the government of SA and Moz signed the Nkomati accord. This accord stated that neither governments would assist any opposition movements based in their country. What this meant is that the ANC was really no longer welcome in Moz and so off to Lusaka, Zambia they trod, where he became the head of underground structures and later the chief of intelligence. In 1990 he returned to SA and was part of the team that got the ball rolling in terms of unbanning the ANC and the return of exiles and the release of the prisoners on the Island.

In 1990 he was instrumental in initial brokering of peace in KZN. In 1991 he was elected the deputy secretary general of the ANC, he was then deployed in KZN cos the party felt he had a role to play in bringing peace and stability to the region. In 94 he was elected MEC of economic affairs and tourism in KZN provincial government. In 1994 he was elected national chair of the ANC and chair of the ANC in KZN, deputy president of the ANC in 1997 and exec deputy president of SA from June 1999 to June 2005. There are some other accolades but I have more to write.

In June 2005 during the trial of Mr Schabir Shaik, there were a few findings of payments made by Mr Shaik allegedly (I am not sure if I need use this cos it was used as evidence in court) in favour of Mr Zuma, the presiding judge stated that there was a “generally corrupt relationship” between the 2 parties. So as a leader what do you do? There is a judge saying things like this about your deputy, well u have no choice but to let him go. And Mr Zuma was very vocal in his innocence and asked to be tried so he could clear his name. The national prosecuting authority duly obliged and they announced that they will be investigating charges against Mr. Zuma.

Mr Zuma through his workings with the youth and the commoners of this land has managed to build himself a humungous gang of supporters, some who say they will support him whether he is guilty or not. It is reported that COSATU will hold a collection of R3 from its 1.7mil supporters to cover his legal costs (or at least assist) We have certain groups stating that they will make this country ungovernable if he is taken to trial, others stating that there will be mass action for every day that he is on trial. There is talk of a political conspiracy against the man because he stands for the people. Then there are those of us who are quick to point a finger a say this that and the next about his deeds.

My thoughts are very simple, he has asked for his day in court and he will get it, for people to support him whether or not he is found guilty, I guess you are entitled to your opinions and feelings, but for groupings to threaten mass action and deliver the country into anarchy, in my mind is insane, lets just hope its sensational journalism once again. The words of his supporters became louder when his residences and other affiliated places were raided by the Scorpions (the FBI of SA) last month. On the political conspiracy part, it may be true it may not be true, but the president of the country has offered to launch a commission of inquiry to unearth whether it is or its not, this offer was rejected by Mr Zuma’s supporters.

On the part of pointing fingers, we as humans are so quick to point out every body elses faults. But tell me something, you are crusing at say 180km/hr on the way to the coast on holiday with the family, out the bushes jumps mr police officer, boss, you are poked, its R20,000, court, jail for the weekend, inconvenience, or even simpler you just don’t have the cash, but, he’s human, he says hey boss, what can u do for me, u can slip him a R100 and off u go on your merry way? What choice would you make then. Closer to home for us youngsters out there, talking on your cell or drivin home pissed, u get bust, even if u don’t get bust, WE R BREAKING THE DAMN LAW! Cop pulls u over, say u r way over the limit, u r going to jail u will be prosecuted, ur whole life ur career up in smoke, but all it takes is R100 and u r back to normalish…what do u do? If u choose to pay, u r just as corrupt as Mr. JZ, make no mistake, ya but he is in a position of power, he is a public figure he is this and that, say u r in the car with your family u as the example, what kind of example r u setting? Corruption is corruption, you can justify it in your head as I am sure he did in his (assuming ofcourse that he is quilty)

If he is guilty, and note I use the word IF, because we are so quick to offer a ‘trial by media’, let him do the time, cos he deserves it, but pointing fingers, boss?! And what happened to innocent until proven guilty? But we are all educated here J.

There is a saying, take the log out of your eye before you take the speck out of your brothers eye.

Ooh the way I am kakking now after I have written this email, cos I know I am going to go out this weekend and have a few drinks and watch me get bust too, tempting fate, but oh well the tests in our lives that make it interesting.

This is a helluva a sensitive topic and I would like to have your views, I know I have been slack in the past about posting responses, but I will on this one, what are ur thoughts?

Birthdays
5th Smangi
6th Thalitha
10th Leon

“Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand like stone, kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own” Adam Lindsay Gordon

I am out for now gym she is calling and my stomach is rumbling from hunger.

Maximum respect to you all and may you all have a splendid week, hope mine gets there.

Y

"In terms of the effectiveness of the Kyoto protocol, the U.S. participation is crucial."-- Yasuko Ishii, Japanese environment ministry
"We'll be working with our allies to reduce greenhouse gases. But I will not accept a plan that will harm our economy and hurt American workers." -- U.S. President George W. Bush
Late again I know but eish guys things they are tense here at the work, this week they were laying off a few peeps even blacks, cos there are a few of us not gainfully employed here, so boss I had to put on a show and a half, but whew I made the cut J

Happy Spring Day to you all. I hope you guys had proper spring days, unlike the overcast chilly days we experienced here in the Cape. But hey I complain not I enjoy the rain. I can think of a few places in the world that are not loving the rain at the moment, Louisiana, New Orleans, places in Europe I think. Can’t help but feel sorry for those people that have been left destitute, thanks to hurricane Katrina which swept through the United States this week….Coincidence or freak occurance?? Mmmm I think not! Just like the increasing reports of cancer.

I spoke about the greenhouse effects a few Monday mails ago and yes I am not a climatologist or meteorologist, but I cant help but think the frequency and severity of these natural disasters has a lot to do with what we are doing to the earth. And as bad as it sounds I feel that the frequency of the ‘natural attacks’ on the United States has a lot to do with them rejecting the Kyoto agreement.

The Kyoto agreement, in a very summarised form, is a declaration signed by many of the world’s countries. The need for this agreement stemmed from the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio during which concern was expressed about the effects of climate change, like the moving of agricultural zones, the melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels. The agreement was signed in 1997. It was an agreement calling for a world wide reduction in the emission of carbon based gasses by an average of 5.2% below 1990 levels by 2012. All the respective countries made individual undertakings to reduce their respective country’s emissions by x%. There were 178 countries involved including the EU, USA, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia. There were fines imposed of $30 a ton if these targets were not met.

Surprise, surprise, the US, who emits about 30% of the world’s greenhouse gasses has decided to come up with its own alternative, which is 33% less than that agreed to in the Kyoto agreement. His reasoning being he doesn’t want to jeopardise the US economy or the livelihood of the American people (it is anticipated that $400bn and 4.9 million jobs would be lost as a result of adhering to the Kyoto agreement). Part of his reasoning for rejecting the agreement, which I find fair was the fact that the agreement exempted developing nations and large polluters such as India. But in saying that, I think imposing this agreement on developing nations would be extra taxing on their already fragile economies. In 1998 Bill Clinton signed the agreement, but he US senate had not ratified it and as a result George Bush could walk away from the agreement, which he seems to have done. His counterparts in Japan, Australia and Britain, have labelled Bush’s decision as almost unthinkable, the whole world believes global warming to be the biggest threat to humanity over the next 100 years, and for a large pollutant like the US to shun the agreement is, well I guess signing a death warrant for the human race. I know it sounds dramatic, but think about it, notice the weather patterns where you live.

As sad as it is, lets hope the events of this week fire a warning shot of sorts to the US President, but I wouldn’t hold my breath…

I started doing some research on our ex deputy president Mr J Z, and I just didn’t get around to writing the mail, but its coming. This week’s short, but that’s what u get when I write an email between Boots and All and Reunion and this morning ;-)

Birthdays
2nd Gavin bye
3rd JC
4th Alani

“Yes, it’s true: We can’t control the wind or the rain or the vagaries of the weather. But we can tack our sails so that we can steer the course we desire” - unknown

You all have a good weekend now you see…

Maximum respect!

Y

Very blue Monday this, feeling very narfi, I guess cos work is a tad slow at the moment, its raining, it’s a tad nippy but it’s a beautiful day nonetheless.

New additions to the mailing list Gill and Tracey, welcome to our little mailing community that currently boasts over 220 names, how many read it, I don’t know, but anyway welcome, I hope you find it useful, should you or any one else wish to be removed from the list please let me know and I will oblige. To read any of the older mail written or to make any comments, either reply to me or go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com

Now with the formalities out of the way…what do u have to write about today? Well something I think about plenty speak, about sometimes people even accuse me of having a chip on my shoulder, to which I respond no mate, I think I am a pretty well balanced individual, I have chips on both shoulders. I wasn’t going to write about it, because I thought u guys must be sick of hearing it, but I couldn’t help it, after watching Carte Blanche last nite. For those non-South Africans amongst us, Carte Blanche is a magazine program that discusses a whole lot of topical issues going on around us either locally or overseas. Anyway the story I caught on to was the story about the Waterkloof 4. Waterkloof is a pretty affluent suburb in the country’s capital Tshwane.

The story goes like this one evening 6 guys (2 of them turned state witness after cracking from the ‘guilt’), after a heavy night of going on the pi ss, decided to find some lone negro either old or pi ssed himself, stumbling home…if he had one, and they beat him to death.

Apparently this is not the first time such a thing has happened, nor was it the last, it is almost a favourite past time for SOME young white males in the city of Tshwane. Everyone knows about it but nobody does anything about it. These 4 would have gotten away with it had one of the kids who were part of this whole thing not cracked and told a teacher. How do these guys learn about such a thing, well apparently its introduced to them by either their fathers/older brothers, whose fathers or older brothers taught them. Boys anywhere between the ages of 14 and 19 take part in it. Some of the stories told were insane, once a lone woman with a baby on her back was beaten, she lost her baby. The more things change the more things stay the same I tell u. The reason why many of them have gotten away with it in the past well in the apartheid days, if this was done, and someone found out, I am sure you would be awarded the freedom of the city, but nowadays, the guys prey on the fact that most of them are either drunks or homeless. So if they are homeless then who will miss them? If they are drunk and stumble into the police station well who will believe them? Is there any justice in the world? Tell your parents of what you have done and they say its bad don’t do it again, kinda like stealing sweets before dinner.

At the risk of trivializing the death of that poor soul Leigh Mathews, how swiftly did the police work in finding her killer? There was no stone unturned, yet they had not a solitary clue to begin with, but let a street walker die, well I guess he’s better off? But is he? Does his death investigation not deserve the same sort of attention? Does he not deserve the nations thoughts as Miss Mathews received? Does his/her name not deserve to be written across every single newspaper for weeks…months?

Our generation is one that places far too much emphasis on material possessions. Ours is a generation whose respect for life and other people, parents, older people is close to non-existent. Ours is a generation that needs some intervention

Now that’s just one story, give me an opportunity to vent and vent I will…anyway so I am hanging with my brother this week, now my brother is a doctor at Groote Schuur, he has just finished call and so he heads off to the barber to neaten up his mane, for some poor unsuspecting lass(es) he is to ‘molest’ (I don’t condone that sort of behaviour unless she does, need to be sensitive it being women’s month and all) either that nite or the weekend. On his long walk home he gets pulled over by some cops, where is your id, he tunes nooit boss I have just come from call I don’t think a guy on the operating table that I am saving wants to know if I have a valid damn id, so he gives them his doctors card, they say nooit, not good enough, they give him a bit more lip and then let him go. It’s a full time job this being a foreign black in this here country, but to tell u the truth there is nowhere else I’d rather be, but guys and girls, ask me not why I a Bok supporter am not (and well done to them by the way).

I was having a discussion with some of my peers a while ago about this topic here. Say I am a black guy and I have a white girlfriend. We are pretty cool together, get on like a house on fire, our mates are pretty chuffed with our choices. But her folks. Her folks have caught wind of the fact that she is dating a white guy, and the abuse she is getting, threats of being disowned, how could you disgrace us, how could you do this to us etc. They haven’t even bothered to find out about this cat, is he a scrub or is he at least a half decent young man? Is that racism or is it just the folks personal preference? Initially I was of the opinion that it is racism, and that sentiment echoes still, but I am trying to entertain other thoughts that perhaps just as it is my preference of cats over dogs, black cars over white cars etc. as is it their preference for their daughter to be with a man of their race, not that it guarantees them happily ever after? Maybe I am looking at it from my point of view. I would never see an issue if my sister, brother, mate, daughter or son (no I don’t have any of the latter that I know of) came home with a person different to I, for me it would be an opportunity to learn something new rather than think I am better than that person.

We all ask for an open world where we can all just be…we can all just be people, buyers, sellers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, accountants, bankers, prostitutes, pilots, whatever wherever, we are just being, we ask for a global economy, why not a global world. Imagine a world of no persecution through difference. All you are is a person judged on what you do and how u do it and not what you look like, where u come from what you believe in, a world where you can just be

11 years later and where are we. Well we are in a beautiful country, a country where corruption is laid out there for all to see. A country where all of a sudden people can see the faults of the previous government. A country where the present government can do no right even though the country is in the best place its ever been.

Yes, more can be done. Hell plenty can be done and it starts with me! Sh it I just want break into song sing with me… I see trees of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and youAnd I think to myself, what a wonderful world I see skies of blue and clouds of white, The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, And I think to myself, what a wonderful world The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, Are also on the faces of people going by, I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"They're really saying "I love you" I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow, They'll learn much more than I'll ever know, And I think to myself, what a wonderful worldYes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Oh yeah – Wonderful world by Louis Armstrong

Birthdays
21st Julius, Nhlanhla
23rd Jem
26th Charl
28th Francois and Mrs Makanda

“today I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but my chief duty is to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble” Helen Keller

‘all of the flowers, of all of the tomorrows, are seeds of today’ unknown

That’s me for this week, comment...how refreshing a Monday mail out on Monday. Maximum respect to the masses.

Lata

Y

Midway through August already, yes I know I must get over it, time is flying, but you guys don’t understand man! I am closing in on 30, there was a time not so long ago that I used to laugh…ha ha ha at 30 year olds, I used to think that eish mara you guys are like old oh well

Trust you guys had a good weekend, mine was potentially rowdy and silly, but I managed to pull myself towards myself most of the time, it was the Cape Town fashion week, I had my crazy (no jokes neither) friend Lebogang Comfort here along with Karabo D, Lauren, Ish and Mike R were also here, didn’t really see much of the latter 3 though cos I just cant do it no more, stamina is just not what it used to be. But all good though.

I have been so slacking these last few weeks I know, so big effort this week. About 3 weeks ago I wrote about the conflict in Northern Ireland, well this week I write about the Israeli-Palestine issue, an issue that began many moons ago even stems back to BC. The reason for this is if you haven’t heard, Isreal is currently pulling out of the Gaza, an exercise that is being met with much apprehension from the Israelis occupying that area, an exercise that could be rather costly for the Israeli government, an exercise that may well lead to peace in the region.

A bit of a history lesson in how the region was initially occupied. The only question is how far do we go back, I found some text that gave the history of this region dating back to 3000BC. Between 3000BC and 1100BC, Israel, The West Bank, Lebanon and much of Syria and Jordan was occupied by Canaanite civilization. In the second century AD, the Romans expelled much of the people from this area and those remaining were farmers, pagans and Christian converts, decendents of Arabs, Persians, Samaritans, Greeks and old Canaanite tribes. The area became increasingly ‘Arabized’ when more Moslem settled into the region and started intermarrying with the residents (if that makes any sense). The area became known as a predominantly Arab and Islamic country at the end of the 7th century. 60% of the population was into agriculture and the remainder were either townspeople or nomadic people. There was nothing but an Arabic majority up until about a week before spring of 1948 when Israel was established, it is written that in 1931 the Jewish population made up 175k of the 1.1mil population. So how did this all change? In 1958 The Ottoman Land Code was enacted and it required all individual owners of agricultural land to register the property in their names. This was a practice that was not entertained by the current peasants and what this meant is that the peasants could be deprived of their land. The law ignored rights of tenure. What resulted, was the wealthier people in the Arab community, who knew people like Mo Shaik knew JZ, registered large areas of land as their own. The peasants, oblivious of this, carried on as they had in the past and only caught wind of this when they realized that their land had been sold to Jewish settlers. And so the invasion of Palestine began. A Jewish National Fund was set up to purchase the land of Palestine from greedy, wealthy Arabs, who’s land it was not to sell. This land was purchased by Jewish people under strict terms and conditions. One such condition, was that the land was not to ever be sold or leased back to the Arabs

As the Jewish presence in Palestine grew, so too did the hostilities against the Arabs, it was kinda like the apartheid era in this country, only it was in that country J, the Arabs were deprived of their rights, subjected to hostility and cruelty, oh it was just messy. This matter was made worse by the involvement of the British. The Balfour declaration, promising a Jewish homeland in Palestine, talk about meddling, it was a declaration made by a ‘European power, about a non-european territory in a flat disregard of both the presence and the wishes of the native majority resident in that territory’ I can clearly see how this was going to work! NOT!! And so the rift deepens…widens. During this time the Jewish settlers known as Zionists, started entrenching themselves in the region, they tried to impose themselves and their way of life on the Arabs inhabiting the land. This was met with mighty opposition. The stand off was as follows, 1/10th Jewish, 9/10th Arabs, do the math, it ain’t gonna work without some external intervention, enter Britain with its 50,000 armed forces to initiate the process.

In 1936-9 the Palestinian Arabs attempted a national revolt with the aim of obtaining a right to self determination, David Ben-Geurion recognized the fact that it was the Zionist who were in fact the political agressors and the Arabs were merely defending themselves and their land…the revolt was crushed by the British with some fierce brutality. In 1938, figures such as Gandhi, even though objecting to the use of force by the Arabs, came to their defence saying that the events in Palestine were grossly unjust and just as England belonged to the English, so to Palestine to the Arabs.

In 1948, Israel declared itself a state, a state made up of land purchased some say illegally by wealthy Arabs, who had no claim to the land; land illegally purchased after there was an order for the Jewish National Fund to stop purchasing land. Apparently Israel is made up of little more than 6% legally owned Palestinian land. In 1947, America emerged as a huge supporter of the call to partition Palestine. Was the partition fair? Well you decide…it was stated that the land would be occupied half by Jewish people (who legally owned little more than 6% of the land) and half by the Palestinians (how this would work I don’t know). But here is the twist in the tale, the Jews would be established as the ruling body of the region. The most puzzling part of this was the fact that this was an idea endorsed by the United Nations. The twist just got even more twisted, the Jewish people who made up about 1/3rd of the population, and were given the right to rule the region were unhappy with the partition, they wanted more of the land. As a result of their superior military capabilities, the Jewish people set off occupying more Arab land in 1948. Tiberus on the 9th April (this attack was recorded as a cold and predetermined slaughter, women, men and children were lined up against a wall and executed), Haifa on the 22nd April, Jaffa on 28th April, all arab parts of the new city of Jerusalem on the 30th April and so on. The Israeli machine was marching on and the Arabs were fleeing for their lives, what else could they do I guess, US, UN and British backed military against ?

The war ended and a resolution 194 was passed by the UN which allowed disposed Arabs to return to the homes, but unlucky, the Jews opposed this, they have found ways to prevent this and to compensate disposed Arabs from their property or to live in Israel as an equal citizen before the law. Winter came, many disposed families, not too from their vegetable gardens and warm homes had to settle for cold caves, make shift tents and hard core hunger, up until the UN food relief acted

In June 1967, Israel fearing what could result from the concentration of the Egyptian Army in the Sinai, chose to attack the Egyptians. The reason for the attack by the Israeli’s was to show the Arab world that Israel would not be intimidated. After this war and contrary to international law, Israel confiscated over 52% of the land in the West Bank and 30% of the Gaza Strip for military use or Jewish settlement. From the period of 1967-1982 over 1300 Palestinian homes were demolished on the west bank, over 300 000 Palestinians were detained without trial.

The effects of the Israeli occupation still rumbles through the region. Families can go up to 5 days without running water (cos the Palestinians have a quota and the Israelis not), the situation was mad, Bethlehemites were buying water from tanks at silly prices when just 5 miles up the road, sprinklers were blazing and little ones were splashing around in pools. Something like 90% of children of 2 years or more have woken up to the sound of the army breaking into their house, beating up a family member or just vandalizing, these same children grow up with this in the back of their minds and they get promised a better life if they die for the cause…enter the entity known as the suicide bomber. Or the story of a man who slaved in Israel just so save and build his family a home only to find that it had been bulldozed, the reason for this was that it was erected without a licence.

To date terrorism has reigned over the region i shoot your people, u throw stones at me and climb on my bus and blow up innocent people going to work, then I come back shoot more people, then tomorrow it’s a mall that’s blown up and so it goes on.

Many a talk of peace had been threatened, but never once did the Israelis want to talk directly to the Palestinians until 1993. Was it because of guilt? “why should the arabs make peace? If I was an arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but does that matter to them? Our god is not theirs. We come from Isreal, its true but 2000 years ago, and what is that to them? There is anti-semitism, the Nazis, Hitler Auschweitz but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we came here and stole their country. Why should they accept that?” David Ben Gurion quoted in the “Jewish Paradox”

The withdrawal from Gaza is a step in the right direction, it also demonstrates that perhaps what is written here isn’t too far from the truth. Only time will tell if peace will ever feature in that region.

All that is written is here is from a booklet published by ‘Jews for justice in the middle east’. It may seem slanted, in favour of the Arabs in the region, but tis the words that I see and those that I hear that a source of my wisdom be for I am not omnipotent…

Birthdays
18th Lerato
19th Rob lee

“Man must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind him to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery” – HG Wells

Till next week, maximum respect and any comments… www.mondaymail.blogspot.com

Lata

Y

“It’s not who you are underneath but what you do that defines you” Rachel from Batman Begins…

New addition to the list Doug, welcome to my views on the world, it initially was meant to be a forum where an idea or an event is put forward and any comments are made as and when you feel it necessary, the latter part of the sequence of events does not seem to be happening too much, but should you feel the need to respond to anything written here, please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com (definitely a generation X kid) or alternatively drop me an email. If at anytime you find this to be a waste of valuable inbox space (and I know how tight Standard Bank is on inbox space) please let me know and I will remove you or you could give me ideas on how to improve it.

Good morning all, I am very pleased that my misfortunes that I wrote about last week brought you great pleasure, for some reason I didn’t get any commentary on the main part of my email…

Hows this? Last week I am parking off about to catch a fat zzzz but in the process I am channel surfing to find the ideal channel to doze off to, Channel 72 wasn’t an option cos they were showing those damn Hom(i)es, anyway I managed to end up on Oprah and the first thing I heard was “He just not that into you”, hmmm interesting, lets listen… There is this guy, married (unhappily I assume) he has written a book about the tell tale signs that a guy is playing a woman. WHAT A FOOL!! Can he just not stay married, live in his lovely house with the picket fence in the burbs, drive his beige Volvo station wagon, and leave well alone. The id iot is just forking up the game of the players!! Women aren’t stupid, he says nothing new, we all know the signs, but when a guy says it and puts it in black and white, well all hopes are dispelled. That bootie call that hoped one day she would be the one….she gone, that lass you kept on the hook cos you just weren’t there yet, poof…gone!! I dunno!

Anyway the idea for this weekends email comes thanks to a good man (ladies…a great man ;-)) who goes by the name of Sean Rule. Sinn Fein, IRA, Northern Ireland, fighting deaths, Catholics v Protestants? What’s it all about? It took up most of the news time when I was growing up (along with the Middle east conflict). Well I did a bit of digging and here is what I came up with…

This fighting in Northern Ireland is not something that just sprung up. It’s a conflict that seems to have lasted for hundreds of years. From the literature I have read the fighting dates back to sometime in 1200’s. This fighting intensified in the 14th/15th century when the English created “The Pale” a big circle around Dublin which the English controlled, what this meant is that parts of Ireland were controlled by the English. Clearly this wasn’t kosher, I mean imagine u r living in your house and someone decides to come pitch a tent in your back yard…I don’t think you would be going out to his/her tent and offering them some soup and bread?! Anyway to complicate matters even more, during this time the Irish had more than one ‘king’ who controlled different areas of Ireland. To some extent, they worked together to fight against English rule, they even had the Spanish Armada coming to Ireland to lend a hand but the might of the English was just insurmountable and this resulted in the ‘Kings’ fleeing Ireland to mainland Europe.

King James was in control of Ireland at that time..1600. The English lords were on a mission to take over all the church lands in England, but the Catholics opposed this, King James was a Catholic and he opposed this too, clearly his tenor as king didn’t last too long and he was deposed and replaced by William of Orange a protestant from the Netherlands. As you can imagine, the Irish people were firmly behind their deposed king and the fighting continued…possibly the beginning of the classification of the conflict as a religious one. James and William met at the battle of the Boyne in 1690. William was victorious. Following this was the Battle of Limerick in which William was once again victorious. Ireland was under his rule. The protestant (English) power remained, Irish (catholic) oppression remained, worsened even…

After William came Oliver Cromwell, known by many as a monster because he would torture anyone who disagreed with him. From 1690 to 1790 nothing too exciting happened in the land in terms of conflict and uprising. In 1790 there were a number of uprisings that were intended to liberate Ireland from English rule…unlucky. England remained. During this time, the protestants in the North East part of Ireland flourished as a result of the industrial revolution, but the more conservative catholics in the south were ‘left behind’ farming and carrying on as normal. As a result of this, those in the North enjoyed their flourishing way of life and thus opposed Irish rule. In 1916, the Easter Sunday Uprising, a couple of irish patriots took over the General Post Office in Dublin and declared Ireland an independent country, for their efforts they were tried and hanged. Also in 1916, the IRA was formed, an army formed to fight against English rule. Between 1918 and 1921, England sent the Black and Tans to Ireland to suppress the IRA.

All these protests and uprising resulted in the formation of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in 1921. Ireland is made up of 4 counties, Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connaught (with Ulster being the northern most part). Northern Ireland was made up of 6 counties in Ulster, the other 3 namely Monaghan, Cavan and Donegal as well as Munster, Leinster and Connaugth made up the Republic of Ireland. Happy days and sad days blended in one. For many years many people fought…many lost their lives…for this beast called independence from England and that day had come, yet it was a bittersweet victory because, the land was still divided and not all of the land was liberated. This would pose a problem in time to come.

The Irish people in the area felt marginalized by the Englis in Northern Ireland, they felt their human rights were being infringed upon and inline with the civil rights movement in America. The movement spanned a period between 1963 and 1969, but on the 5th October 1968 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (formed in 1967) staged its second march in Londonderry, a march which was banned by the minister of home affairs because it was deemed to be a political front of the IRA. It carried on. They marchers met the might of the law, protesters were beaten, police brutality was caught on camera and aired to the world. The police’s credibility faded. In the summer of 69, the unrest had deepened, riots erupted in Belfast, 5 catholics were killed and 1 protestant, troops were deployed but too few to do anything, that night many catholic homes were burnt in Bombay street.

Many more skirmishes occurred in the period following this, but I will draw your attention to Sunday, 30th Jan 1972, known by many as bloody Sunday. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association had organized an illegal march to oppose internment (detention) without trial. The IRA gave assurance that it would be a peaceful event. 10000 people descended on Creggan Estate to proceed to Guildhall Square in the centre of the city…the authorities thought No. They barricaded the entrance to the square, orders were to arrest as many of the rioters as possible, permission was requested at 4:07pm at 4:10pm the army opened fire on unarmed civilians, 30 minutes later 14 dead 13 injured. Ofcourse the authorities maintained they had been fired upon first. This event was also dubbed another Sharpville. An inquiry into the event was ordered by Tony Blair in 1998 exactly 26 years to the day, on the grounds of compelling new evidence. Bloody Sunday provided a catalyst for the recruitment of IRA supporters and the bombings ensued. In May 1972, the unionist parliament that governed Northern Ireland sat for the last time direct rule from Westminster was instituted, the English weren’t going nowhere, Catholics were more bleak. More unrest and violence until 1999 when the Northern Ireland Executive set up by the Belfast agreement took over the government. Direct rule was once again imposed between Feb and My 2000 cos of the difficulties over decommissioning… I guess that’s where it leaves us now. There seems to be some degree of peace in the area, either that or the media people have gotten bored of covering the conflict. Lets hope it stays like this.

If you didn’t know well now u know.

Birthdays this week

25th Elmar and Poms
26th Gina
27th Mike Rea and Courtney
28th Folks 32nd anniversary, Jele, Reidar,
29th Sheya,
30th Eddie T. O. Maravanyika and Will Lee

“it’s the province of kn owledge to speak, it’s the privilege of wisdom to listen” Christine Lane

Maximum respect and a good weekend

Midway through July, been working at the bank for 8 months, feels just like yesterday, its absolutely insane how this year is flying by. Quite rude of me not to welcome a few people who have been added to the list, Dave, Chris, Craig, Graeme, Sanet and Ann. Guys welcome to our weekly mailing community, if at any time you don’t feel as if you are getting any value from this email, please drop me a line and I will remove you from the list, if at any time you have any comments or wish to read some of the older emails (dating to 2002 I think, cos that’s when my mate Charl told me I could get a website) please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com

Another week, but what a week I must add, I think I have had 2 of my most embarrassing moments of my whole entire existence this week. Cos you guys are my tjommies (mates) I will share these moments with you, it also protects me from being blackmail, cos all my dirty laundry is out there ;-)

So on Friday nite (the Friday before last) I am in Joburg, its late in the evening/early Saturday morning, I haven’t been to my folks house as yet so I need to wait for my youngest brother to finish what he’s doing before I can head home otherwise I will have to wake the old folks. Anyway so I have a fat chat with my lady friend and she reckons no I must come and visit her, I say to her sister are you crazy, you stay at home, with your folks, your old man has a gun, I haven’t met them properly yet and I must pull in, NEVA! Well I get convinced, pops in hospital getting ready for a shoulder operation, mom is fast asleep with grand ma on the other side of the house, its like 1 am and there is no way in hell that ma will come to my room she has never ever done so. So I am convinced, and after all I have to lurk till 2am anyway till my bro gets home. So I pull in, we are lurking, mind you its been a long day we missioned to the Mount Grace for a strategy session, and I had had a few pots at Newscafe and Sudada, so I was poked. I duly fell asleep, but my peaceful rest was rudely interrupted by the sound of an alarm being deactivated, I wake up Thash, I ask her whats that? She says, you are going crazy I cant hear a thing, I hear footsteps at this time I am just praying that its her brother…unlucky…her door is flung open and this is followed by a shrill screech for a good couple of seconds, mother standing in the doorway in shock, did I feel like a loser…schoolboy stuff I tell u! now all I want to do is high tail out of there, cos the mother is fuming but Thash forgets about me in terms of opening the gate so I’m parking off in my car in the driveway and I cant go inside to say howz about opening the gate? As embarrassing as it was, we got plenty laughs out of it…That’s the kind of things memories are made of…

The second most embarrassing thing happened yesterday. A few months ago I had a dental procedure done. This required the dentist to extract one of my front teeth due to trauma which resulted in the bone being degenerate, during this procedure he found a cyst in my gum which made matters interesting…2 operations interesting. The dentist needed the wound to set before he could insert the implant, so he had just fastened my tooth there with some sort of cement. Well earlier in the day I noticed that my tooth is moving around so I called for the dentist and I get told sorree for me the dentist is out of town for 3 weeks, I couldn’t mission too far cos our big boss Ben Kruger is in town and we are having a workshop and not everyone gets an opportunity to attend and if you do you don’t want to miss it, and to top it all off it was a bi tch and moan session, my favourite. So I think to myself, ag this thing will hold at least till tomorrow. We get into the workshop, I pour a drink,I take a sip, and ooohh noooo, its out, I raced out of that place like a shot, sellotape, prestick anything no joy, so I run to the dentists room, fortunately for me the dental assistant was there and we made a plan with filling material. What a mess…I lived to tell the tale, and that’s the kinda sh it that memories are made of

Anyway this weeks email…what is the one thing that stops us from being all we can be? Yip that’s right FEAR! Fear of failure, fear of rejection, there are other fears as well which translate into phobias, but that’s another level of fear.

Fear, potentially such a powerful emotion, an emotion that could bring out the best in us, yet us as humans tend to get fixated on the negative aspects. Fear should generally spring our as-ses into gear, produce some endorphins etc. get us working at or near our full potential if not beyond it, but what do we do? We start to worry, I can’t fail, I can’t lose, I can’t be seen with that person, what will happen if I fail, lose, what if s/he rejects me, what a loser I will be? What will my parents think, what will my friends think oh dear…enter panic…enter loss of focus…enter paralysis…exit enjoying the journey to the end goal.

I speak from experience. I was always petrified of failing an exam, not being in the top 10 in the class (hey some of us like to be there abouts but not there because once you are the best there is only one way and that’s down, and every one expects you to always be the best, knowing you can is generally good enough…well that’s my story and I am sticking to it;-) I digress…), afraid to lose the tennis match whatever, so what do we end up doing, particularly in sport, we focus so much on winning that we forget to play with reckless abandon, we get overly cautious and what happens we inhibit our talents, perform in an artificial way and we end up screw ing up even worse than we would have had we just let rip, we kind of become prisoners to our fear.

Instead of studying to understand so you can apply it better, all we are thinking about is I cant fail, sheesh what a loser I will be, and my folks will be so disappointed, all I want is that damn 50%. Or, damnit that school cant beat us we have to win at all cost. I remember at varsity I plugged honours, at the time I felt like such a loser, but in the end, I will be honest and say the second time around I felt I had a greater understanding of what I was trying to study (that feeling soon dissipated after I got my results), instead of studying to get the marks to pass, I learnt that perhaps moving to Joburg was a better option for my articles, which it was, I spent an extra year in the fairest Cape which was a ripper, I even managed to get paid to study, saved enough cash to put down half the purchase price of my brand new Polo. Through screw ing up we learn many a lesson. What’s the saying… when you lose don’t lose the lesson.

I have quite a few regrets in my life that ‘haunt’ me till this day, okay maybe haunt is a strong word, but I think about what could have been if only I had, and that’s a horrible place to be. Rejection, you wont be the first nor will you be the last, lunge, what’s the worst that could happen, she says no thanks, or the project doesn’t work out as you had planned, take it on the chin and move on. I cant think of anything worse than what if I, cos the moment is lost, forever most probably

Not everything is for everyone…its always better to have tried and failed than fail to try…

Does death petrify you? Answer me this then…what is the only thing we are certain about in this life…other than that damn tax man, we will all die some day, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but we will, so whats the use in fearing the unknown and forgetting about fully experiencing the known, the present, this life we live? Fear of the unknown shouldn’t hold us back, because we don’t know what is out there, who knows it could be the best experience of our lives, wanna make a move, town, job, country, try something new, go for it, and if it doesn’t work out, oh well…

S/he is different from me, why fear or hate them, get to know them, ur life will be the richer for it, if not you can at least experience first hand the basis of your fears.

I’ve always been scared shaiteless about failing, losing, rejection, just not being good enough, but I guess with age you realize that what really matters is that you give all you could and enjoyed the process, what more can you ask for? The right results will always prevail.

Birthdays
18th Tata Madiba
22nd Mich Watson
“Man must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind him to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and a mystery” – HG Wells

A few quotes…
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear not absence of fear – Mark Twain

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one – Elbert Hubbard

Fear is a question: what are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure hose of self-knowledge if you explore them – Marilyn Ferguson

On that note I end off, have a great week, maximum respect

Y