Dear Maimuna

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarkatuhu,

Meeting you the way I did still gives me the tingles. I tingle each time I recall your candid queries. Your concerns were well founded. You had to be sure how you can accept engagement. You had to be sure you needed to be in an engagement. Your reasons certainly give concerns, such concerns that all discerning people must rationalise. You are a rational person. I often delude myself into believing I am a rational person. You may disagree, yet here I am writing you this very public message.

I think I have found a soulmate in you. I believe I have a soulmate in you. Your response to the answers I gave to your queries gave me a lift, a lift so high that I became pumped, full of adreliline. I became hyperactive, in all my waking moments; in all my sleep; in the periods I created to daydream: I found myself living through anticipated moments together. You let me in. You let me in to such a degree my kith and kin accepted my reports of you and your acceptance of me. We collectively cherished the moments of connection. We looked forward, earnestly, to being together known as a unit; - a unit of society that accepts responsibility for the combined membership. You must have felt the pull.

Dear Maimuna, you made us all look forward to life worth living. A living, with loving relationships that enable understanding of individual relationships. You are a gem. You will always be a gem. We are sure of your worth. A worth that stole away through the fingers of our brother. Yet, even so, we have a reason to love brother; not loath him. We have a reason to antiipate a relationship with him who caused you some pain earlier. Your pain is our pain. We all appreciate that. Some of us feel this pain more. To think otherwise is deceiptful. You will have to be strong and you will have to be decisive. We must not pressure you. We must not unduely impose our will on you. We must not make up your mind for you. You are a strong human being, my dear.

When you said our pain is why you are stalling, we pray you talk to us. You have to be serious and speak out. Your silence is interpreted as giving up. Unless you say otherwise, the best interpretation will be it is all over. You are a better person. Fear is not in your character.

Please bear with us. Live the rest of your life.

Bissalam.  

Desmond Tutu: Speaking the Truth

Desmond Tutu is in the news; still in the news - he is 81 years old you know. But that is not the issue that intersts me. He has just been awarded a cash prize of one million dollars by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Yes, awarded! I do not seek to unrevel the criteria used in the selection, but the Mo Foundation has its own standards, including the once cherished funding system for small businesses! Yes, standards are standards.

However, more than just talking about this award, my interst is in the fact that Desmond Tutu has been awarded this 2012 prize for"speaking truth to power" and incidents are cited by the BBC NEWS ARICA of the reverend gentleman refusing to share the same platform with former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair (because the British PM went to war with Iraq while lying about weapons of mass destruction). Ok. Where is the catch? I am seeking the meaning of truth.

 

What is truth? What constitutes truth to give those who speak it the upper hand? What is it truth speakers have that 'non-truth' speakers lack? Courage?

 

In the light of the 2012 Desmond Tutu "speaking truth to power" Mo Ibrahim Foundatioin award, I am set on the path of discovery. I am set on the path of seeking out the truth and how best to speak it. I am confident I will find my own truth - whatever that may be.