My B-day Thoughts - The World Beyond

This is perhaps the longest item published on this blog, but it took me just a few minutes to write this up because it has been in my thoughts for the past week.

When I was younger, during periods when I am ill my sister, Renz, will come into the room and start singing those religious songs that were frequently heard at funerals. I will scream and beg her to stop. Then it was because I was so scared of dying, simply because I did not know why I was living.
When you understand why you are living, the purpose for which you were born in the first place, you regard death as the other side of life. While you work and toil to ensure you fulfil your life’s purpose, you await the time when you will be called on to your reward, at the other side of life – death.
Paul lived all our lives… for the sinners, he was the worse of them all; for the believers, he was the best in his time; for the unmarried, he was the most preserved and faithful of them; for those who like exploring the world, he sailed the seas endlessly. So what do you have to hold against him? When this guy was nearing the end of his life, and looking forward to the life beyond – death, he said
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7; NIV).
This is an example for us. The Bible encourages us to "run with patience (endurance, persistence) the race set before us, looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith ... For consider Him that endured ... lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Heb 12:1-3). Need I say more? Ask your local church pastor.

Now, with my purpose of living so clear in my mind, and as I enter another year in my life, I have been pondering what my family, friends, and loved ones will say of me when I am gone to the world a yonder – to be with my Eternal Father. I have thought of many lines: “she lived her life gracefully…”; “she brought smiles to the faces of so many…” etc., and my thoughts have neigh turned negative at any point. I am not allowed to write my own eulogy, so l will leave that to the rest living on earth when I transcend the evil of this world.
I have however been inspired by some of the greatest eulogies of our time, and wondered if mine will come any close to them. The last two paragraphs of Margaret Thatcher’s eulogy to Ronald Reagan (former US President) reads
“For the final years of his life, Ronnie's mind was clouded by illness. That cloud has now lifted. He is himself again - more himself than at any time on this earth. For we may be sure that the Big Fella Upstairs never forgets those who remember Him. And as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took him beyond the sunset, and as heaven's morning broke, I like to think - in the words of Bunyan - that `all the trumpets sounded on the other side'.

We here still move in twilight. But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example. Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God's children.”

Mahatma Gandhi was a great fighter, fighting for the freedom of all peoples. When he passed on, Jawaharlal Nehru (India’s first PM) said the following:
“Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere. I do not know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that. Nevertheless, we will not see him again as we have seen him for these many years. We will not run to him for advice and seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not to me only, but to millions and millions in this country, and it is a little difficult to soften the blow by any other advice that I or anyone else can give you.
The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later that light will still be seen in this country, and the world will see it and it will give solace to innumerable hearts. For that light represented the living truth ... the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom.
All this has happened when there was so much more for him to do. We could never think that he was unnecessary or that he had done his task. But now, particularly, when we are faced with so many difficulties, his not being with us is a blow most terrible to bear”.

I am not trying to compare myself to Reagan or the great Gandhi, but hey I know in my little space, I can make a huge impact such that when I am gone, people will think the light is gone, and know that the Big Fella upstairs has not forgotten me.
To conclude, in the 19th Century, one of the greatest poets who ever lived was Emily Dickenson (1830 – 1886). She wrote countless poems about death and was thought of as someone who adored death. One of those poems titled 'IF I SHOULD DIE' reads:
If I should die,

And you should live,

And time should gurgle on,

And morn should beam,

And noon should burn,

As it has usual done;

If birds should build as early,

And bees as bustling go,

--One might depart at option

From enterprise below!

T'is sweet to know that stocks will stand

When we with daisies lie,

That commerce will continue,

And trades as briskly fly.

It makes the parting tranquil

And keeps the soul serene,

That gentlemen so sprightly

Conduct the pleasing scene!


Love and Peace. Yours Truly, moi!

Panic Attack

Dear Readers

This is another episode in this reality show called "My Life". Please don't just enjoy reading, but offer your advice as requested in the last paragraph


Last night (April 18th), around 1am I was somewhere midway between dreaming and reality… u know how it is at times. Truth is since thieves broke into my house, I sleep with my lights on cos at times I have a creepy feeling someone is in my room. Had that feeling yesterday but couldn’t get up. Forced myself and when I finally succeeded to wake up, I heard a sound like someone hitting my door with a hammer. Ok, I know I can get dramatic at times, but this sounded so real. I got up slowly from bed and was thinking at 200words/sec… why should thieves come to my house the 2nd time in less than 2months, and in a fairly secure neighbourhood?


Well, got up quietly, picked up my phone which lights up for less than a sec, so couldn’t quite help, and tiptoed to the door of my room. I was in a state of panic by then, and I told myself if I have to go down, at least let me try scaring them away first (my thought was they were still outside trying to break in). Just for the record, there was no light and the night was as still as death.


I opened my door, the noise sounded closer. I realised it was coming from my dining table which is about 1.5m from my door. Then as I flashed the light from my phone, I heard a thud as something jumped on the floor. I noticed the table was in disarray, the wine glasses were all over the place, a bottle of peanut had fallen and the lid was off, papers were scattered everywhere, flower vase pushed down as well… and then it dawned on me! It was a rat! (really that is not a mouse). Before I knew it, I had screamed "Lord of Mercy!"

This rat is in the family of those which live in gutters and drainage cannals around the compound. I noticed one in my house less than two months ago and it has made me to be prudent. In fact I can’t leave food (cooked or uncooked) open and unsupervised, not even for 5mins. This rat has found its niche in my bath tub, through a hole that was blocked with wood. It ate the wood and allowed itself space to go inside the tub (you know like the space between the tub and the floor) and out as it pleases.

Ok, back to the attack. So shocked at the disorder, I still needed to convince myself it was the rat and not a human intruder. So I went and checked my doors, and they were intact. I arranged the things on the table, took the bottle of peanut to my room (I am even scared it will follow this to my bedroom, so today I will put the bottle in my kitchen cabinet), went and closed the door of the bath thinking the rat had gone back to its hiding place.

I returned to my room, still panicky so I could not sleep. With a candle, I was playing cards alone on the bed for more than one hour. I heard screeching sounds outside and I guessed the rat was trying to get out of the bath. I went out and you won’t believe what the rat had done to the door of the bath. When I closed the door, the rat wasn’t in the bath as I suspected. So when it wanted to return to its niche and noticed the door locked, it started chewing on the wood. It had peeled out a whole portion of the door before I got there. Guess what I did? I opened the door so it can go through quietly.

When I called my hubby this morning and narrated what happened, he told me the sweetest thing anyone has told me in a long long time. He said "Baby, I admire your courage". It sounded so sweet that I didn’t want to probe, in case that was sarcasm to mean "how did you think you could confront thieves with a phone?" ha ha! Really, what was I thinking? But I know Xav, he meant it.

But hey, I need more than courage to go through this. That rat has to go! How?
I need advice on how to get rid of that hideous creature that I dread and fear, and that is terrorising me!

Just for the record, I tried poisoning it but it didn't even sniff the stuff. I am looking for a stronger poison, i.e. if I can find.