Friends That Add Not Subtract

-


We all have stories about the 2020 pandemic, some good, some bad. There was no work, no going out, nothing. We were under house arrest medically, but something good came out of it. Value. We realized that friends and loved ones we put a high value on, rank us very low in their graph. Now we know.

I never forget friends that added, gave me something that made me a better person. Mama was my first friend but I was too dumb to realize it. Call me young and dumb.

Later on in life, I was lucky to find friends that added rather than subtracted. Faz for example, she introduced me to the book The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir the French writer, where she poses the question: what is a woman? I went on to read her other books. Faz used to talk about how Simone was part of the Paris cafe culture, with her friend, Jean-Paul Sartre the writer.

Vusi is another friend that added rather than subtracted because he introduced me to the blues. I thought saxophones and trumpets cried, jumped and caressed, until Vusi taught me the blues. So much love, longing, lynching of black men, Jim Crow suffering and homelessness in these songs! I also love the validation, when the singer pauses for a moment and let the brass section and piano say amen, to the lyrics. 

At the end of the movie, Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls has a song that starts with ‘I was born by the river.’ I don’t know if it classified blues or not, but it is to me. I later learned it was written and sung by Sam Cooke, who was shot dead by a hotel manager.

Electronics. Surge is another friend that added something. He had an office next to mine at work and said computers can be, like spoiled brats and act up for no reason at all. He taught me how to fix the problem. Re-boot the system. I found it a strange term, but it has served me well over the years. I even re-boot temperamental cellphones.

Friends that add rather than subtract, may be current friends or friends that are now long distance, but what they added is always, a live stream.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

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