Every day should be Thanksgiving.
Kindness, Thankfulness, and Generosity in equal parts, blended together, is the alchemy needed for harmony and peaceful coexistence.
The words, ‘thank you,’ ‘I give thanks,’ ‘I’m grateful for,’ send out good vibrations to both the messenger and recipient of these encouraging words.
Let’s take a look at wise words on moments of gratitude.
Continue reading “Are You Grateful?”
The world is a melting pot, an ever-increasing paradise of voices that need to be heard if tolerance and understanding are to reign for peaceful coexistence.
Migrant literature, while evident through powerful voices, needs new sounds to add to the colourful history that should be shared if we are to live side by side.
Knowledge is necessary to foster understanding and compassion to move us closer to our innate humanity. Living in international communities in the 21st Century is a goldmine of multiculturalism that offers rich insights on culture and values.
What better way than to extend understanding through the literature we read and write. This could be a work of fiction, a non-fiction book, or a blog that creates connections to our neighbours near and far.
Literature is and should continue to be a vehicle that dispels ‘otherness’ or the ‘outsider’
It’s with gratitude that I write this post today in respect for the invitation to speak on reading and writing at a local school whose English Faculty and Librarian are tirelessly working to foster a love for reading to encourage students to expand their horizons and improve their speaking and writing skills.
Leading up to my talk, students were asked to send me their response to, ‘I enjoy reading because…’ – a simple question that elicited some thoughtful responses from teenagers.
Here are a few lines that suggest that young readers seek refuge between the pages of a book:
Additionally to complement the study of Cry Freedom I was asked to share my apartheid, South African experience on a personal level to forge greater connections to students’ appreciation and understanding of the world through the study of their school selected text.
The sharing of a terrible history elicited compassion and questions from students on how one overcomes this decimation of one’s people and identity and yet remain simple and humble, free from anger. My response was, that drawing from family values, the people one associates with and careful selection of role models will ultimately work in sync to fortify and support the entrance into light from darkness. I cited Nelson Mandela’s ideology of tolerance, acceptance, and forgiveness as the selfless way forward. This attribute shapes the crafting of the character, Marcia Ntuli, in my novel Across Time and Space.
The final message was that reading expands understanding of diverse ways of thinking, promotes exposure to varied writing styles and elicits inspiration from the unique crafting of characters and their experiences.Ultimately it’s about allowing strength to grow from fear.
To Quote Jane Austen:
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! – When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
Here’s to many hours of delightful and informative reading!
What are your views on the benefits of reading for teenagers today and into the future? Extend the conversation today.
After an evening at the amazing Headlong, Nottingham and Almeida Theatre production of 1984, the timeless warning of the danger of unchecked power and the futility of resistance invited thoughts about the state of society in other areas of power, control and fear.
The passive aggressive comment, the staring down to intimidate, the proclamations of intellectual superiority, cultural, religious or racial bias uttered from a monocultural, bigoted point of view instils fear in the targeted individual which reverberates with the mental torture, Orwell’s, Winston Smith undergoes.
Sleepless nights, dreaded days, endless bouts of nausea, skulking in the shadows away from penetrating eyes, questions about questions.
The long day’s journey into another sleepless night becomes relentless. Guilt, self-questioning and a whittling away of self-confidence reeks of the fascism of workplace politics.
Competitiveness of the narcissistic ladder climbing co-worker or the sadistic joy in pulling others down is yet another corrosive dimension of inhumanity.
Systemic torment dims the light of the once vibrant, optimistic individual, the light is interrupted as dark days take over. Winston Smith tried to hang onto the waning light in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
With every knock…
The eroded self-confidence and panic attacks sends the tormented individual hurtling into a bottomless pit of mental anguish …
Each act of power and control, topples the victim blow-by-blow…
BUT
While the message is bleak, while it might not seem possible, there is a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel, the light of strength.
Fear is thy strength when compassion and love grow from the depths of pain.
In fear, there resides hope.
Hope is the light
A video excerpt from the film Nineteen Eighty-Four :
The flickering light gets brighter as the individual rises from darkness, looking upwards towards the sun, guided by an unseen hand.
George Orwell predicted a future that has become a reality today, not only within the realm of politics and governance but also as a cautionary note to take a closer look in the mirror to decide if our souls are indeed supportive or destructive of each other.
A dark message sheds light on what should be rectified to save ourselves and the ‘unborn’, the next generation, from even darker inhumane acts.
Down with the Big Brothers and Sisters that attempt to intimidate while asserting their own self-obsessed grandeur!
What will you do today to uplift someone from the quagmire of human cruelty?
A writing life is one of solitude if writing in crowded spaces is not conducive to creative thought.
While writing fiction might entail living within the confines of one’s imagination, there emerges the gratitude for precious moments spent with close friends and family who understand the writer’s period of ‘absence’ from the social hub. The art of conversation keeps books alive as stories unfold, are morphed and recreated to generate hours of pleasurable reading.
Precious moments are often a coffee catch up and soulful reconnecting.
Being in the moment, in conversation with the person should be valued for the human connection with authentic people who do not pry, question only when needing honest clarification, and accept the sheer pleasure of personal engagement.
Being in conversation with someone, seeing their joy and fear, hearing their laughter and feeling their moments of distress is priceless-no mobile phone interaction or other social media platform can replicate the shared face to face rather than face-time interactions. To be able to reach out and touch someone’s hand to console them or share belly-aching laughter is the essence of human communication and interactions.
I recall some years ago being in a restaurant in LA, having an early dinner, after a day of sightseeing, when I noticed a young family, parents and two children at dinner with heads down, eyes glued to their handheld devices as they scrolled through their distractions, eating dinner in silence.
Cyberspace engagement in favour of human company is creeping into relationships, eroding the exhilaration of animated or quiet conversation between and among people. This makes those in company, particularly the elderly, for whom a virtual world does not equate with social engagement, feel ignored or unimportant.
Looking someone in the eye as they speak to you indicates you are present in the moment and responsive to what they are saying. Attentiveness says you are valued.
My idea of good company is the company of clever, well-informed people who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company. ~ Jane Austen
Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative~ Oscar Wilde
A single conversation across the table with a wise person is worth a month’s study of books. ~ Chinese Proverb
Are we slipping further and further into an age where the only conversation we might be exposed to will be the dialogue in a novel?
Are you keeping the art of face-to-face conversation alive? Share today what you value the most about conversations with good friends and family, or if you have a different view. Please share your views in the comment box below.
When access is denied, imagination provides fertile ground for creativity.
The absence of television in apartheid South Africa was strategic, to keep the masses ignorant regarding democracy and justice in a bid to thwart the emerging voices of resistance. Avid reading and listening to the radio for recreation offered many hours of joy in a world where outdoor games were limited in apartment blocks.
My About page with a brief biography on my origins as born in South Africa meant that I had a childhood in an era devoid of a television set in the family lounge room. The only ‘moving pictures’ apart from the local cinema were those created in my imagination.
Radio held its own fascination with the popular weekly, Friday evening, crime fiction episodes of, Squad Cars. I listened intently, forming images in my mind about places and situations in each episode. My rite of reading passage into the world of crime depicted through voices and sounds grew each week. Crime/Detective/Adventure fiction in children’s books from the Famous Five series to Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and ultimately Agatha Christie’s and Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories were hunted down each week at the local library. Visions of snaking queues of children lining up, thirsty for their favourite book is imprinted in my memory. Such were the days…
After school radio programs for children were eagerly anticipated, excitement gained momentum with the chatter of voices speculating what Noddy (by Enid Blyton) would be getting up to and whether Mr. Plod, the policeman’s kind and watchful eye over Toyland would save another day. Empathy for the skittles who did not seem to care whenever they were run over, filled my waking and sleeping hours. The imagination was ablaze with stories that wove into the stories of my mind’s eye. The imagination was fertilised with self-created images of places, characters, and events. An emotional investment of compassion for those who struggled or were mistreated and revulsion for those who harmed others was set in motion.
Listening and reading awakened the inner being as fodder for the imagination in the years ahead in the creation of my own stories – in the adult years, I turn back to my own voice recordings of my reactions to places I have visited, places that I have been moved by, to mulch and refresh an evocative sense of place through the voices and visions of my characters.
Audio books are a blessing, like reading is, to supercharge the imagination for a personal take on people, places, and events that ‘moving pictures,’ with all its commendable grandeur, might not quite fuel.
‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere’- Albert Einstein
What do you think?
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