It's okay to be "extreme"

When a man goes to the beach it is okay but when another attends a prayer meeting he is accused of taking life too "seriously." A bar plays ear-splitting music and people nod to the beat but a night Christian fellowship in the same neighbourhood evokes endless complaints about the 'noise.' So it is okay to play but not okay to pray? 

  

My Dad made 70 on Sunday. I am what I am cos he didn't raise me with kid gloves

A friend recently said she fears men who don't "speak two sentences without a Bible verse." She said such people are extreme yet "life is not that serious to live as if it depends on only one line of thought." Maybe she is right. But what is complex to you may be simple to me. You think I live seriously when I'm actually living simply and enjoying every bit of it.

It's all about tastes and preferences. After a hard day's work, I relax with a cup of tea and my favourite roadside roasted groundnuts. After a hard day's work, a colleague relaxes by reciting psalms accompanied by instrumental hymns. Does that make him serious, and me easy?

As for extremes, well, the world thrives on that! One should not be ashamed of being branded extreme because all the world's movers and shakers have been radicals. If Mahatma Gandhi had not been a radical he would not have tangibly shown the world the power of civil disobedience. If Mother Teresa was not extreme she would not have loved the unloved street children of Calcutta. If Muhammad Ali was not obsessed with boxing he would not be the greatest heavy-weight pugilist. Without extremity President Museveni would not have spent five years in the bush! If my father, who makes 70 years today, had not raised me with toughness, I would probably have gotten spoilt. 

Show me anyone who has changed the world and I'll show you their 100 percent extremity in their cause, their foibles notwithstanding.

Happy birthday, Dad.