The hope of a sorrowing world

One day I went bungee jumping but could not take the plunge because of my record-breaking fear of heights. One of the girls we found there smiled beautifully and told me I would miss the adventure of my life if I didn't jump. The next thing I knew I was going down in what true to her word turned out to be the wildest adventure of my life.

the smile is the hope of a sorrowing world

I was reminded of this experience while strolling on the streets of Kampala recently. I saw a boda-boda motorcycle with words on its rear: "Your smile gives me hope." I thought about it, and decided that when things are bad to the extent that your country is named the world's eleventh saddest place to live in, only a lovely smile can assuage us.

As I walked on, a street boy with dry lines of tears upon his face extended his bony hand towards me. I placed a shs1,000 note in his palm. Sadness and hunger vanished from his face as it creased into a beautiful smile; a smile I'll never forget. That little boy was possibly conceived through reckless hanky-panky between man and woman who wouldn't provide for him, and so he found a home on the streets.

Similarly, many are languishing in poverty, others sick and dying in drugless hospitals while their leaders are building mansions. Things keep on happening; the smell of anguish is petrifying, and the incoherent noise of foxes is everywhere. More people are stuck in what John Bunyan called the "slough of despond" and the flame of ambition has been snuffed out of their lives. They are only holding on to the breath of life with the hope that someday God will smile upon them, and the fetters will be shattered.

So liberating is the smile that it empowers the giver and receiver alike. For three months after the nasty accident, my cousin Egan lay comatose on the hospital bed. One afternoon after we had knelt by his bedside and prayed, he stirred and opened his eyes. They lingered on us a while and his lips slowly broke into a wan smile that brought tears of joy to our eyes.

The power of the smile to assuage a sorrowful world cannot be underestimated. As one writer put it, "Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day."

Bringing out the treasure within

Sharon boggled me recently. She looked me in the eye and said I have "so much inside to offer the world." It has happened often; people believing in me more than I seem to believe in myself.

I have wanted to dismiss them as grovellers, but that inner small voice has always stopped me. Everyone wants something good to be said about them, and when you mull over such words of optimism and realise how much people believe in you, it can be intimidating.

But life has taught me that fear has never taken anyone to the Promised Land. It is only known for its debilitating effect, but where there is faith, hope and love, there is no stopping anyone.

This is what I meant last Sunday when I wrote here that I was stepping out of my boat. I meant I was beginning life afresh with more faith, more hope and more love. A fan of this column wants the specifics, and how it is like this far.

Well, so far so good. I approach each day with a heart bubbling with great expectations; I wake up at 5am, pray, warm up and jog for 30 minutes and read a chapter in a book before embarking on the rest of my day.

Benjamin Franklin said, "Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions." Planning for all my time has so far had such invigorating results.

Every evening, 7-8pm, is my 'Me Time' whereby I switch off my phones and shut out the world, to self-examine me and plan my next day. This is also when I get to meditate or just gaze at the moon in the night sky while enjoying the quiet beauty.

I've so far also not defaulted on my resolve to bathe twice a day, eat regular meals, avoid TV except for 9pm news, and go to bed early. It has brought me purity of heart; joy, calm and insurmountable energy. But being this orderly is not easy. I miss my laziness, my junk food; my wastefulness generally!

And sometimes when the alarm clock goes off, the temptation to snuggle deeper beneath my beddings is great but I know I have to fight harder and bring my body under subjugation if that hidden greatness within is to come out and benefit the world.

Besides, as that slave-turned great abolitionist Frederick Douglass knew better, "If there's no struggle there's no progress."

Stepping out of the boat

After the hour struck midnight, and the din from witnesses of the dawn of another year reverberated, and plangent fireworks gilded the sky, I found myself seriously meditating on my life and the turn I would like it to take soon.

It's like life was made to disillusion man. People have taken their lives; others scrape by and enter their graves forlornly. Even more of those we look up to; who live in mansions and cruise monster cars, have crucified conscience for riches, power and fame.

I wondered if there's any worthy significance in the pursuit of greatness. Yet I want to be great. I want to invest more in scholarship and travel the world giving important talks. I've always known I'm cut out for greater stuff. Even when the world deals me cruel blows, I cling to that inherent greatness of every man which is his moral duty to make manifest.

But how do I attain it without contaminating my hands in a sick and dirty world? And must greatness be defined by our intellectual attainments, the beauty of our women, the mansions we own, the lofty offices we occupy and the media glitz we attract, or is it all vanity?

I don't have all the answers, but after hanging out with my thoughts onto the wee hours, I concluded there's no vanity in desiring a good life, but that to live it and leave a mark on the world, calls for stepping out of one's boat.

Suddenly, the film of my life from when I left campus, started screening on my mind, and I was astonished at how I've accepted the average life; doing humdrum jobs for a pittance instead of thinking big and being pragmatic. It struck me strongly how we accept the status quo and squander time on trifling pastimes.

Thankfully, it's never too late to make amends. 2012's that year to step out of the boat of the commonplace and hustle with conscientious discipline and order. Benjamin Franklin did that too. With the ambition of "Arriving at Perfection", he formulated 13 virtues that would define his work ethic and lifestyle. It transformed him and his society so much that a whooping 222 years after his death, he's still referred to as the "wisest American!"

Like him, I'll imitate Jesus and Socrates. It's the way to true distinction and greatness.

A year of lots love and progress

There's something lovely about day one of the New Year falling on a Sunday. So I'm prophetically declaring 2012 a year of ability and prosperity; a year to increase, to bloom and to make a difference!

Make no mistake about it though, the secret is in what you're going to put in. Put in your all and be sure to bear much fruit. If the obstacles come as they are bound to, you defy them like Arnold Schwarzenegger, removing the damaged eyeball from his eye socket in The Terminator.

People celebrate the dawn of 2012 in Hong Kong

My plans are already laid, and I can feel reverberations conspiring to make things happen for me! Knowledge is power, and I recently discovered power in non-fiction books that I intend to gobble up like doughnuts on the breakfast tray. I'm already feeling a little liberated after reading Denis Waitley's Seeds of Greatness while Carmine Gallo's The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is up next.

There's probably nothing that spurs me like the written word, I'm going to make this your favourite Sunday column and publish the great Ugandan novel (yes)! I think it's that mega rapper Tupac Shakur who said we turn words into money, and I'll be writing lots of stuff; making lots of money because, man, I've a dream car to buy too, and I've to give back to society, and more stuff, if you know what I mean.

Richo just told me he's building a rocket to take him to the moon before the end of this year. And I just said, way to go buddy! It's so invigorating to be surrounded by optimists; the world is for the optimists to conquer!

That fine writer Anatole France, said, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan but also believe." I don't know about you, but I've dreamt and planned enough, and so action time is this year!

I'm taking the plunge; taking someone's daughter home to my parents! Clap for me because it has never been easy for men to conquer their apprehensions and reach this irrevocable decision of asking for a woman's hand in marriage.

So yeah, go ahead and bask in the promise of the New Year, but if you forget everything, remember love. As that silken-voiced Nigerian singer Nneka put it, love’s the heartbeat of life; the beginning, the middle, the end!

Reflections on Joseph and Mary

I've posted this late but it was first published on Christmas in Sunday Monitor

My friend Julius posing next to a painting depicting Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus

• Mary was certainly a veritable knockout, the village belle, beautiful beyond measure! Joseph must have cried, "Holy Jesus" the first he saw her! And he was never the same again! That's why he was cool about something that would drive today's man insane. He was cool about Mary carrying a pregnancy that was not his because he was not going to let anything take his Mary away from him. It's called unconditional love!  
• He must have been the coolest guy in his time else he would not have wooed to victory a stunner like Mary! And the coolness of that time was certainly not dependent on the lakeside mansion or the yacht one owned. True swagger back then, at least in Mary's books, was measured by how much time you spent in the prayer closet, if you know what I mean! 
• Don't you think Joseph was ridiculed by his 'messed-up' hommies next door? They must have called him a capon for not trying to get some from a woman as lovely as Mary! But for Joseph, sex was a sacred gift best unwrapped in the arena of marriage. And because he respected that, he set us an example that will never be erased.
• In a world where sex is advertised and fornication the day's obsession, a brother out there must be wondering where he can find a virgin. Take heart, brother; I believe some ladies are following in the footsteps of Mary. They are jealously guarding the precious treasure that virginity is! They don't need plastic surgery; don't have to rock bikinis to receive affirmation from men. Such women believe true beauty is in fearing the Lord, and are keeping themselves for the men God has preserved for them. You can even hear the herald angels giving them a standing ovation!
• Lastly and importantly, for the first time before the dawn of artificial insemination, a virgin gave birth because Mary respected her value system. Jesus became the "new kid on the block" that altered the course of history and humanity. By choosing to walk in the path of sexual purity, Joseph and Mary proved beyond any shadow of doubt that the rewards of waiting; of being a little more patient are far greater; extending into eternity.

Merry Christmas y'all, and Happy New Year.