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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Today's random thoughts

I lived in Ethiopia for 7 years. When I came back to Kenya, I used to talk about Ethiopia but no one used to believe me. This puzzled me on various levels. How did one have the audacity to disagree with me, and they had never stepped outside Nairobi? Okay, let's go with the 'maybe-they-read-a-lot' spiel. Nah. That was never it.

Anyway, one of the main bones of contention was how much one birr (the Ethiopian currency) was in comparison to the Kenyan shilling. Kenyans seem to have an innate arrogance about how much better they are than other Eastern Africans, and must therefore, of course, OBVIOUSLY, have a stronger currency. When I left, 1 birr was 10 bob. And of course, no one believed that. Because they knew so much better.

Arrogance is the bane of human existence (says the girl whose blog is a shrine to herself). I was having a (gruesome) conversation with my pregnant cousin and my mother about how the reason men beat their wives is because they've arrogantly bought into the lie that perpetuates all -isms of society. They've believed that they are better than women, and that women deserve everything that's coming to them. Cousin spoke of a dude who used to sleep with a gun under his pillow and tell her if she ever wanted to leave him, she'd leave her brains behind. Another used to beat his wife so much it would take 3 months for the scars to heal. Then he re-married a chick who he used to beat over her mother's grave.

The mind is a strange thing. It can convince you to do things you really would not ordinarily be doing (cut off your penis, for example, or stay in an incredibly abusive relationship). According to Cousin and Mommy Dearest, women go crazy when they turn 40. Their minds start screaming at them about how they need something other than their cat to nurture. Their biological clock needles them to a point to a point that they start to throw themselves at men to have a baby, or ask their married friends to be sperm donors.

To be fair, sometimes I think that commonly held beliefs that thus perpetuate religion/mythology (thin line, really, such as the ones stated above) are simply brainwashed into our minds so much that our minds, insane tools of power that they are, simply believe that life is not worth living without the man who batters you into oblivion/diapers you need to change/temple that you cannot live without/prophet that you must commit mass suicides with to make it into the afterlife. But then again, what would I know. I'm just normal.

tSN

11 comments:

  1. Oohwee, so many emotions at the same time! What to say, what to say...

    You're right, nyako. Human beings... Strange lot. They always have to be right, always have to be first, are always better than the next person...

    People do need to commune with themselves. If you don't, you'll get lost in a situation you don't need (eg. that abusive relationship). If you know yourself well enough, you'll know when to say I'M DONE WITH THIS! & leave. They do say you can't love nobody till you love you, after all...

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  2. The alarm on my face from reading this one can not be reproduced in words. Beating a lady is bad enough, and then somebody situates the atrocity atop the grave of the victim's mother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    How many victims can such a crime produce? In the bigger picture? Because Bad Karma operates something like this: you do me bad, I take it out on someone else subconsciously, and they take it out on some other person in like manner, vicious cycle, you get?

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  3. To be fair, sometimes I think that commonly held beliefs that thus perpetuate religion/mythology (thin line, really, such as the ones stated above) are simply brainwashed into our minds so much that our minds, insane tools of power that they are....
    *sheds a proud tear* :-)

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  4. It is true Kenyans love to argue about things they know NOTHING about LOL....Thought i was the only mad hatter!!!

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  5. @WK hehe

    @Humphrey This WOULD be the first blog you comment on! LOL

    @B_WTB That's it? That's all the blog loving I get?

    @Ant yes. Ant. Never thought of it like that, can you believe it? The mechanism of karma. Hm.

    @Fish Yup! Better know yourself before you wreck yourself! :o)

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  6. yeah, tsn..what would you know? you're only normal...and kenyan!!

    nice post this one....

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  7. I will believe what you say about Ethiopia, because I've never been there or Kenya. So I'll just sit and nod and agree :-)
    The mind is a crazy thing.

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  8. @lizdin :o)

    @CB I appreciate that lol. And yes. The mind is.

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  9. IRN, the birr is now trading at KSh. 50 for each. Much as it disgusts me to use the word, Ethiopia is #winning.

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  10. @iWannabe Actually, apparently it's 1 birr per 5 bob. Depreciated. But still...

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