Titanic Greece Rich Poor Death is Coming

-

Death, six feet under ground. Only sailors know the probability of ocean graves. 

The sinking in southern Greece, of the boat carrying migrants from Pakistan and the Middle East and the Titanic expedition is a reminder of what we don't want to talk about. Death. The overloaded boat was carrying poor people. The Titanic submersible had passengers who paid $250 000 each, to be on board.

Here is a piece I posted 30 May about fear of death.

‘Wake up! Honey, wake up.’

“Ooh! I’m still alive!’

‘Again?’

‘Yeah. Same nightmare. He tried to kill me.’

We don’t want to die because we’ll miss personal debt or millions of dollars in the bank, traffic jams, floods, fire, the boss, COVID-19, the government and the people who shake us when we have nightmares.

I’m not laughing, just thinking about why talking about death is taboo, when it’s inevitable. Ask ghosts. They have the inside story. Do you buy old houses/apartments, renovate and rent them out? There is dirt cheap real estate in Europe. Castles, but you won’t buy them because you are scared of ghosts, when plumbing should be your only problem.

How are we going to know what happens in the after life, when we don’t embrace people who live there, if I may put it like that? Commodores, the old school African American group has a song, Night Shift. It makes sense. People who left us live in a dark place, like the night. Ghosts are in the best position to tell us about night clubs in the area. Well! Not exactly, since it’s night 24/7.

Seriously speaking, death is about ignorance. We are scared of things and people we don’t know. We build walls for protection. Protection against what? Against what we don’t know. It doesn’t make sense, does it? But death is devious like bed bugs. It slips through the car and plane seat belt, through gated communities, state-of-the-art security systems and through expensive sheets made from Egyptian cotton.

Write a will. Otherwise your family will never say RIP (Rest in Peace). ‘I wish she could rise up and fix all this mess she left behind.’ Write that will. You’ll live longer.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more