Your Cue, Edward, Your Cue

True, we fear the unknown but are confident with the perceptible, even what others bear witness to. Has it ever crossed your mind that the human race is the only living organism that holds the knowledge of death whiles living; yet we fear this knowledge.

Yeah, death… not something you would want to talk about, is it? I bet the trees don’t know about death until they die, neither does that lake nor the ant freely transporting those bread crumbs, but you do, because you aren’t dead… not yet.

It hurts to lose someone
It hurts to come to terms with the fact that they don’t exist anymore
No more calls
No more pings on Facebook notifications
No more smiles and complements
Simply, dead
Just like that… dead

All we’re left with are memories that stir up our emotions and the longing to see them one more time.
God please, one more time… just this once.

Death is wicked, I don’t like him. He makes me feel everything I don’t want to feel.

Edward, I just heard you passed on. I’m glad you’re relieved of the pain your body suffered but I miss you, okay?

The last time we spoke, I happened to mention how I’d started writing professionally and was earning incomes. I asked you not to tell, and you said “deal! That’s our little known secret”. Then you went on to tell me how you’d wanted us to write together. The plan? You said “let us write about how the year has treated us. Your perspective, then mine”.

Well, here is mine:

Amazing year, rough lessons, tough love, change; that’s how this year’s treated me, particularly change. This year, my imperfections perfected my being, surprisingly they revealed a part of me I consciously hid from myself. Little did I know that those imperfections were that which will eventually cause me to grow and be wise. I’ve laughed a lot, cried too many, even lost myself. It will be alright in the end, I say, yeah, I know… we all know that if it’s not alright, it’s not the end. But in all this, I’ve lived; I’ve stepped out of bed every morning with both bare feet kissing this cold ground. For this, I am grateful, to an intangible Supremacy I honour everyday. My name is Miz Akwele and I’ve had an amazing year with rough lessons, tough love, and change.

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This is your cue, Edward.
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Edward? Tell us, how has this year been for you… Edward, c’mon don’t be silent.
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Edward

Edward

Edward, say something.
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I’ll miss you, Edward Oteng Maafo. We’ll meet again, this time, without your glasses and I promise not to mention how small and Asian your eyes look without them.

Rest, my friend, rest.

…But Others!

You think you are alright because you’ve been that church boy, church girl, all your life and never backslidden out of the church.
You never played the prodigal son; never felt the need to ask God for a little ‘freedom with provision’ to satisfy your curiosity and later come to the realisation of who you really are and where you ought to be.
Yeah, you are alright.

You’ve never gotten drunk because you’ve never been in an environment where you’ve been indirectly influenced to. Perhaps you’ve never tasted the sweetness of some of the hard liquor.
So yeah, you are alright.

You’ve never stolen money because you haven’t been in the position to.
You’re alright like that.

You’ve never fornicated because a charming and irresistible man whom you can never say no to hasn’t approached you yet… he’s not touched you at certain places in certain ways yet.
So yeah! You are alright.

But woe unto you if you point a finger at that prodigal son who’s returned to his father’s house.
Woe unto you if you if you talk behind his back and judge him.
Woe unto you if you call him foolish, because for all we know, you might never return if you were in his shoes and strayed your path.
Perhaps, you would’ve returned but a week late, when your patient loving father who was awaiting your return is a week late.

There, you will know your fate lies with your elder brother; the one who’d always been there with, and for your father.

You cannot be comfortable where you are, because you can still be a church boy, a church girl, yet backslide, in the church, with your fellow saints. Be careful. Just be careful.

He who stands, stands because he is not falling.
He who is standing, remains standing because he can achieve more standing as compared to falling and remaining there.
Even toddlers… even toddlers who haven’t experienced life’s gloom yet, know that when they stand and fall, they have to stand again.

You can never be comfortable. But if you are, if you feel you are alright, think of OTHERS.

The Brows Are Not Twins, They Are Sisters! Opal Makeup Class With Special Appearance By Ashiakie Momo

I’m lousy with makeup, at least not until this past weekend at Opal Makeup Class. I entered with virtually no makeup gadgets yet left feeling like a pro. Truth is, this class was informative.

To Save A Life

It’s 04:23 and I’m thinking, if I had the chance to save your life before you lost it, I will. I’m thinking about you.

The sharp piercings of pain prickles my senses to the core when you think yourself worthless. My heart practically breaks every moment you feel you were never made for this. You were.

You see, I have problems too. The elephant is failure-prone to the ant… yeah! We’re never safe until we feel we are. But you are; you are safe.

I know this because I believe in you. Wait… you thought no one did? [Sigh!]

Did you come unto this earth by freewill? Why would you choose to exit out how you didn’t come? Don’t do that.

You are valuable, your being, I need you. I need you to read this to inspire me… inspire another. I need you to comment on this and tell me you get it, so I know I’m valuable too, only because you are. That’s your value to me now.

If you’d passed me a note telling me you’d want to kill yourself, end it all, I’ll tear the same page of my book, write same, then pass you a note too. Let’s see how that works out for both of us.

You’ve no idea how valuable a treasure you are.

Tales Of An Accra Taxi Driver (II) – Wofa Joe

 

I’ve been driving for 23-years and have never seen such reckless driving as that of this age. Trotro drivers used to carry canes in their vehicles to check the stubborn taxi drivers, so every driver was alert. Not today. No. O! Just look at that… Insanity!

We text and drive anyway, listen to music so loud that we’d have to lower the volume on the radio to see and figure out where exactly we are heading. Today’s driver is has a mind of his own.

Yes, my name is Joe but everybody calls me Wofa Joe. I’m old enough to be your Wofa, don’t you think so? Hahaha… wow nice teeth. You should smile more often. Back in the day, the dental gap was a mark of beauty because it was rare. My wife, of blessed memory, had one. Fortunately, she passed it on to our last daughter.

I like my teeth the way they are, I mean, they’re mine, whose else? I’ve had a couple of traditional African men praise its beauty, and a couple of young men who vocally told me that I’d looked better with the gap closed. But that’s alright. It’s alright.

Driver, that’s my stop. How much?

GHC1.80

Oh! But I just sat in the taxi. It’s even a walking distance.

Then you should have walked. It’s a station car, young lady, fixed fare for every passenger heading towards the last stop.

Mtchw!    [Bangs the door]

Young pretty lady, such indiscipline, it’s sad. She’ll grow. Tsk tsk tsk.

There was an awkward silence in the taxi, why not? We were 2 young passengers left.

Oush! Thank God my stop is the next. I don’t like awkward.

 

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  Photography: Gerard Nartey

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Touched By An Angel – Some Memories Never Fade

There are some memories that will never fade, certain songs whose lyrics don’t matter, and some movies that will forever touch our hearts. Touched By An Angel touched my life.

I might have been too little to understand beyond the surface meanings of each episode, but there wasn’t a Sunday night when the lines ‘I am angel, sent by God’ didn’t give me goosebumps.

There was something about Monica’s voice, her demeanor, the look in her eyes… she was simply peaceful to behold. Apparently, she was the main protagonist of the series, and Tess was her supervisor. No wonder Tess would rebuke her in love when she delays peculiar activities.

Tess was amazing. She was firm yet loving. Her white hair blew me away. And her smile, angelic! There was a time I told my mother that if Tess was my grandmother, I bet my family would know no sin. Yeah, that was how flawlessly I perceived her leadership.

The scary part was when Andrew will show up in his white suit. Woah!! “Oh no bruh! Andrew please don’t take him, please…” And as if he was responding directly to me, he’d shake or nod his head in disagreement, and take the dying character away anyway. I mean, which Angel of Death wears white? He must be accompanying his subjects to heaven then. Pfft!

Touched By An Angel was the definition of drama. You’d think you’ve seen it all, guessing the storyline right till it gets emotional and the angels reveal themselves.

It was strategic on Ghana television, airing on Sunday evenings. It’s as if to say, “here is something for you to ponder over to live a God-fearing life for the coming week; if you went to church, here is a double dose”.

Then again, what is fiction if there’s no hint of reality in it? What is rumour if there’s no hint of truth? We meet kindhearted angels who encourage and help us everyday. They are the kind of angels whose heads don’t glow, neither do they look divine, yet we overlook their good gestures with no Thank You or a word of blessing.

Let us learn to appreciate the good little gestures. Whenever you feel touched, remain touched, show some appreciation, because that might go a long way to touching and changing another; the cycle will be unending.

 

 

Weekend Love [II]

Grandma [left], Grandpa [right]

“Even in my old age, he reprimands me! Look at my face, do you think he doesn’t see the wrinkles when rebuking me? But we only have each other to love”

Self Esteem Revealed

Let me tell you something little about the power of self esteem:

It’s one of the most powerful positions any individual can find themselves in. It either overwhelms you totally, else it doesn’t; that’s where it’s friendly, that’s where you have control over and can deal.

Weekend Love [I]

He taught me to love again, and he needn’t say a word to make me
Full of life
Full of love
Old enough to know what’s right
Old enough to love right
He loves right
He’s lived a life of plenty rights, his grandchildren will say
But to listen to his wife
What she had to say
That made me love again.

My weekend was so full of interesting stories to share. I can’t wait to share them with you, but in a few hours, since my PC is dead and phone battery running low… ok, 15% now.

Try. Try. Try.

The heart, as fragile as it is literally and figuratively, is what keeps us alive, sanely or insanely, we still are alive.

But it’s deceiving, more than once, it is deceiving. Often times takes the same path, signals our minds to see light at the end of the tunnel; we get there and realize it was only daylight, in the season of longer nights.

If the organ that keeps us alive is a fragile one, is it not fair to say that we are naturally fragile. It is okay to be fragile, but you will be happier if you are stronger. Your cry isn’t a sign of weakness, it is a sign that you’re still alive; the dead cannot cry.

But don’t stay there, please don’t stay there. Dry those tears and live. Crying is not the only sign of living.