In my best Nigerian voice impression, I shall attempt to mimic what you are thinking as you click on this story;
"Children of nowadays, ehn? She has gone abroad now and forgotten her roots. After all that Sunday school class, she still left her parents home training". And then I finish up my impression, clapping my palms together and spitting out "Tufiakwa" which translates to mean God forbid bad thing.
Shhhh.....
Please just read my story before you start back-lashing me and telling me my life history. Would you at least give me a chance to explain why I did what I did?
You are probably judging me and blaming America for turning me against my culture. Or worse, you have already criticized and bagged me as an unrepentant sinner. Well, the twist to this story is the 'why' I am posting it.
So, I was chatting with my beautiful friend one day, and I saw her tattoo on her wrist and I asked her why she did it. Because I was curious. I wanted to know why people get nose piercing, tattoos or even run off to get married. And she replied, "well Mac-Jane, it was valentine, I was bored, so I decided to get a tattoo, and so I got a tattoo"
I laughed as I said to her, "My Mom will skin me alive if I got a tattoo"
She laughed too, and said "well, my mom will skin me too, but she doesn't know right?
As I sat with her and we visited while she decorated my hand with her traditional 'mehndi' which is a temporary hand decoration that will wash away in a few days, it occurred to me that many of us are like my friend. We take serious life decisions in the heat of the moment without considering five, ten, or twenty years later effect. I love my friend, and as she painted my hands, she told me the symbolic meaning of what she was doing on my hands, and I was amazed. As she shared that it signified love, flowers and other things which I will rather keep private, I realize the beauty of friendship from around the world. Culture, love, food are all important contributors to friendship.
But the main point of this story today, is to say, when next you are about to take that spontaneous step, pause and think for a moment why you are doing it.
I have bought things in that spontaneous moment that I don't need. I have said things in that spontaneous angry moment that I don't mean and wish that I could retrieve. I have hugged someone in such a hurry that I thought later that I should have waited a little more to be too friendly. I have sent a text message that I wish I did not send. I have signed a contract that I wished I had thought it over some more and read terms and conditions before agreeing to..
Oooph!! The list is endless. But this my confession. What is yours? What is that thing that you just do 'JUST BECAUSE'?
Think before you make rash decisions...
"Children of nowadays, ehn? She has gone abroad now and forgotten her roots. After all that Sunday school class, she still left her parents home training". And then I finish up my impression, clapping my palms together and spitting out "Tufiakwa" which translates to mean God forbid bad thing.
Shhhh.....
Please just read my story before you start back-lashing me and telling me my life history. Would you at least give me a chance to explain why I did what I did?
You are probably judging me and blaming America for turning me against my culture. Or worse, you have already criticized and bagged me as an unrepentant sinner. Well, the twist to this story is the 'why' I am posting it.
So, I was chatting with my beautiful friend one day, and I saw her tattoo on her wrist and I asked her why she did it. Because I was curious. I wanted to know why people get nose piercing, tattoos or even run off to get married. And she replied, "well Mac-Jane, it was valentine, I was bored, so I decided to get a tattoo, and so I got a tattoo"
I laughed as I said to her, "My Mom will skin me alive if I got a tattoo"
She laughed too, and said "well, my mom will skin me too, but she doesn't know right?
As I sat with her and we visited while she decorated my hand with her traditional 'mehndi' which is a temporary hand decoration that will wash away in a few days, it occurred to me that many of us are like my friend. We take serious life decisions in the heat of the moment without considering five, ten, or twenty years later effect. I love my friend, and as she painted my hands, she told me the symbolic meaning of what she was doing on my hands, and I was amazed. As she shared that it signified love, flowers and other things which I will rather keep private, I realize the beauty of friendship from around the world. Culture, love, food are all important contributors to friendship.
But the main point of this story today, is to say, when next you are about to take that spontaneous step, pause and think for a moment why you are doing it.
I have bought things in that spontaneous moment that I don't need. I have said things in that spontaneous angry moment that I don't mean and wish that I could retrieve. I have hugged someone in such a hurry that I thought later that I should have waited a little more to be too friendly. I have sent a text message that I wish I did not send. I have signed a contract that I wished I had thought it over some more and read terms and conditions before agreeing to..
Oooph!! The list is endless. But this my confession. What is yours? What is that thing that you just do 'JUST BECAUSE'?
Think before you make rash decisions...
