Month: April 2019

“Until the Lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter”
-African Proverb

My friend mentioned this during our weekly check-in. I’ve been living in South Africa for 9 years, and my first time hearing it. Maybe I wasn’t spending enough time with the right people. I’ve been doing better prioritizing my time and people.

What this means to me:

1. Words trump physical strength or triumph. If I win and I can’t tell anyone, the loser with a pen will be revered as the victor.

2. I must face and fight the enemy to have a story to tell. Furthermore, I must survive.

3. I must write!!!

My team spent the whole day coming up with practical solutions.

Instead of picking a solution or adding valuable input, they throw another tantrum. And inaction wins again.

A whole day’s work is wasted (yet again).

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me again and again, shame on me.

Inefficient organism with zero accountability and no decision making authority. Everybody hides and blames.

I am becoming unshakable by creating more space, time, and patience between myself and petulant hypocrites.

I choose not to play the blame game with a long stick.

They throw sticks at me and lights a match.

Fhe fire won’t ignite. Because I am inert. I am unshakable.

A fancy dinner with friends. The ceiling illuminates with moving pictures. Laughter breaks out. We celebrate one another with yet another toast.

Suddenly.

A man in a dark suit follows our waitress towards our table. I can feel his laser gaze upon my face. It’s not menacing. Yet, it’s purposeful. I don’t understand.

She stops in front of me. He hands me a giant banquet of flowers and a bag of pistachios. He takes my photo.

A burst of joy. Explosion of happiness.

But, of course! He had mentioned flowers before, in jest.

He got me good. He is too good.

A board with 64 squares of alternating colors. Each player is given 16 pieces made up of 8 pawns, 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 2 knights, 1 queen and 1 king. 

King must be protected. The game ends when a player’s king falls.  

Queen is the most powerful, able to mimic moves of the king, rooks and bishops, but not the knight. Queen always in a straight line or diagonally, back and forth, across unlimited number of squares.

Knights move in L-configuration and never in a straight line.
Knights are often used to corner the king into a checkmate.
Bishops slide diagonally.

Pawns are the most versatile, and the most overlooked. When moving for the first time, pawns can move up two or one square forward. When taking the opponent’s piece, it must do so diagonally. It can only go forward. Other pieces do not have this restriction.

However, once they reach the other side, they can be promoted. Queen is the most popular and obvious choice, and hence this is also referred to as “queening”.

I used to sacrifice my pawns, holding dearly to my valiant knight. I was shortsighted.

Pawns must get the investment and protection they need to become the next Queen. The next Bishop. Once promoted, they shed their lowly soldier status.

Only pawns can transform into something greater than themselves.  

Hence, to win the game of life, I must recognize and develop my pawns.

Defines us.

I just made a list of activities to complete post work:

Buy groceries. Make chicken soup. Deliver soup. Take measurements.

I will spend four hours on the above.

Why? Because I care about people and relationships. I want my friends to feel appreciated and cared for.

I am grateful for having quality people in my life. I am grateful for having the time and money to do nice things.

I give my time because time with loved ones is important to me. Time is the vessel and the things we do overflow or barely fills the bucket of infinite possibilities.