PROUD SLAVES: THE MORDEN WORLD

NOTICE!! This is an old article I wrote in 2015. It was previously published on my brother's blogsite, Growthblog, but he has since taken down his site. I feel it is needed for this to always be online for all to read, hence I am now publishing it on my own blog.

The usual 

I could start by defining what slavery is according to dictionaries and many other sources, but I will just keep it short and share with you my understanding of slavery; it is when one works with all their might, all for the glory of another man who does nothing but give out the orders. But the purpose of this is not defining terms, but rather opening the eyes of society to the problem that lurks about each one of us, and to eventually find the answer.

Background of the problem

Let’s shift our eyes back from the time we are born. We are born into a uniformed way of doing things; a system. In this system, we all taught that we need to go to school and learn, which is not really a bad thing but rather very helpful in getting us literate. I wouldn’t be able to write this if I hadn’t been in the system myself. Neither would you be able to read this. But today I will share the bad side of this system, which is the cause of many of the world’s problems. It is this system wherein kids are asked what they want to become when they grow up. The problem with this is that most kids are very imaginative, and most of the things they say don’t seem to rub off well with their educators, thus leading them to telling the kids to be “realistic”. You will soon understand why this is the case. Most of these kids are turned around from being imaginative and spontaneous to being realistic and end up dreaming of having careers such as being a doctor, engineer, accountant etc. Now you may be asking yourself what the problem is with such. You will have your answers soon.

The problem

The problem is the main reason this article exists. I didn’t have to do much of research but I had to realise I was part of the problem, and then observe clearly the problem and the environment around me. It hit me hard to realise that the problem was all around us and we never seem to realise it. From birth, we are all born smart, entrepreneurial and spontaneous, with a purpose on this earth. That gift is always taught out of us and a new one is taught into us. We start fantasizing about having offices and working for some company and earning a huge paycheque. But is it worth the time sacrificed? We mostly spend around 16 years in school working so hard to eventually get a degree and we never focus on self-discovery. Our thinking is so channelled by the education system that we forget the dreams we had as kids and the things we imagined. We forget to explore ourselves and choose to focus on a way that’s tested and proven. But the question arises, who will test new ways of doing things if we all flood into one system? Look back at your own life and you will see this very same problem. It’s never too late to start being a child again and getting back to you imaginative self again.
You will remember that when I started I stated that slavery is when one works with all their might, all for the glory of another man who does nothing but give out the orders. Truth is, we are all taught to be slaves. We are all taught to dream of working for someone. Slavery is not just the olden way kind of slavery wherein people would beaten and starved. It’s evolved. The slave masters realised that mankind is rebellious in nature and will always rebel to forced slavery, so they came up with voluntary slavery; where one becomes a slave without noticing, and actually embraces it, hence the title “Proud Slaves”.

Truth is, to keep someone a slave, you just have to make them think they are free and they will never see the need to be free because their mind already tells them they are free.
Most people think they’ve made it and are free just because they have an office and a huge pay cheque and don’t realise they are just evolved slaves. The old slaves were much better than us, because they realised they were slaves and we are too ignorant to notice it. How are we evolved slaves, you may ask. Well, instead of a whip, they HR (the guys that will punish you for your mistakes). Instead of starvation, they now have debt (from the debt you incur to obtain your degree to your bond), the one thing that will choke you and also be the excuse you use to justify your slavery. There are many other tools used to further this modern day slavery, and if you observe you will notice them, both in your life and lives of others. You spend most of your day in the office working so hard and making millions, yet only receiving about 1% of what you make. And the big guy, that is the owner, takes the rest while he seats and enjoys his life, while you slave for him. Back in the days, folks used to work till they died building empires for another man, who would get all the glory and they would only get a place to stay. Isn’t the case with our generations too? Are we not working so hard and making billions for our employers, just because we need to pay our student loan, mortgage, car and credit card? Are we not slaves then to our employers? If you make mistakes, they get rid of you and find someone else to replace you; isn’t that slavery? The company gets awards and publicity for your performance and all you get is your salary. The same salary which will destroy your life if you lose your job, because you will be having so many commitments.

To make it worse, most of us are proud to be slaves. We go about giving motivational talks and bragging about our work and how much we earn, while forgetting that some guy up there controls us. We think we are free but we are not. We think we have it all just because we can manage to pay for it on a monthly basis, but truth is we own nothing. If you were to lose your job today, how much of your property do you think would be repossessed?  I hope by now you start seeing the problem. Worry not; the solution is around the corner. I wish not to hit below the belt, but truth is most of us work for almost 40 years, and retire at 65, with nothing much to show. What if you could retire now and still have so much? What if you could wholly own all the property you use, instead of borrowing it? Well, first we will have to realise that we are slaves. Slavery never died. It just evolved into employment.

The solution?
Upon realising that you are a slave, take this is a piece to your revolution. Take this as a candle stick which I’ve passed on to you in this relay called life. The solution is pretty simple. Rather be your own slave. I will say it again. BE YOUR OWN SLAVE. You were born with the potential to make it big in this world, so use it wisely. Wear your imaginative shoes and take off to a world of endless ideas. Find the entrepreneur in you. Be like a kid again. Be rebellious to the slave master. Why should you work for them while they sit and spend, all at your cost? You have the ideas inside you. They are sitting right there waiting for you. Find you gift and follow it with passion. Use your sweat to build your own empire. Stop working for so many years as a slave, only to die in debt. End the debt crisis. End the economic crashes. End your struggle. Employ yourself. Your terms, your own time, your own salary and no boss telling you what to do.  I put it out to you to make the change. Take this as a revolution. I dare you to get up and open your eyes to this slavery. It will be to your own benefit.

WHY LOVE IS THE DECIDING FACTOR

We live in a world of various cultures, norms and standards. When growing up, society shapes most of us and our thinking. We try to fit in. And when we fail to fit in, we end up lonely and sad. But today I won't be talking about lonely and sad, or how to fit in into society. I will be talking about how to be happy, more specifically happy in love.

While in this journey of life, we get to meet different people with different qualities and personalities. And on those rare occasions, love decides to ambush us. We find ourselves meeting that special someone whom we so deeply love. But then a problem arises; society. We find ourselves having to decide what to go with. Love or fitting in?

Conservative Families & Friends

The one biggest culprit is conservative standards of family and friends. Of the two, we can only choose who our friends are. Most of us still come from families which still hold to tradition and will not accept anything that goes against their standards. And you can't blame them; it's who they are. They might be against that relationship because you are of different races. It is a very common challenge. Some of you may have experienced it first hand wherein your family doesn't support your relationship because you have different skin color.

On the other hand, it could that the age is a big matter. Most problems arise when the woman is older than the man. This is deemed unacceptable in many society and will face great opposition. People always want things to be done the old fashioned way even though there have been multiple failed relaionships because of these old standard. People still want to abide by the same standards as if they are the holy grail of love. And the reality of things is, love had no formula, and no one man is wise enough to fully comprehend love. Love is greater than our human capabilities.

Sometimes it might be because of your religion. There are many issues which come bundled up with these conservative views of family and friends. And most of the time, they come in the way of an ultimatum. You can only have one. But what if you could have both?

Vain Society Standards

This mostly affects the current generation because they are too naive. We have become a generation were in we measure a person's worth by their beauty or bank balance. Even if you enter someone's name together with worth, it will show you how rich they are. If your net worth can be measured by some website, then you are not wealthy enough. As a person, you can be put to value. That is a recipe for disaster. People are obsessed with how rich he/she is before they pursue love as if money will water love to bear fruits. Love is priceless, so do not try to put a value to it. People end up letting go of the right person in search of money, and they end up miserable with all their money. If you are with someone because of how much they have, then you are not in love with the person. YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH THE MONEY.

If not the bank balance, we focus on beauty and fame. Beauty doesn't lust forever. I made no mistake. Beauty doesn't "lust" forever. That beauty that you are lusting after, will soon be overshadowed by age and better beauty. The lust will be gone. Hence I said, beauty doesn't lust forever. The same can be said about fame. You get used to it and no longer becomes something special. So if the basis of your relationship was fame, then your relationship is left with nothing special. Jokes on you.
ALL THESE SOCIETY STANDARDS OF LOVE ARE VANITY.

Real love

Real love doesn't have standards. Real love just loves. It will find you poor or rich as you are, and it will make it all invisible. Love will take your sadness away. Love will heal all injustices of the past and create hope for a better future. Before I fell in love, I used to think it was a thing of fairytales. But now that I am happily in love, I have learned that love is the one thing that will get you through all the challenges of life. Love takes you as an imperfect being, and makes you a perfect being.

Now to tackle the issues above. You do not want to fight your friends and family. Rather, show them the magic of love and what it has done for you. Rejoice, and speak proudly of your lover. Share with them how happy you are with the person. Do not be shaken or be afraid of talking. Voice it out and reassure them that you will still love them. Show them that it takes love to build better communities of tomorrow; not skin colour or any other standards which only divide us as humanity. The family unit is held up together by love and not these standards.

Rich or not, love is one things that last forever. If your lover loses their riches and beauty, love will always be there. Love sees beyond these things. But if you are with someone and there's no love, the moment whatever you are there for goes away, thats the end of the relationship.

Why Love is the deciding factor

You want to know why love is the deciding factor? Because it is the one thing that will remain when it's all said and done. When your family is no more. When the beauty is gone. When the wealth is worthless. When life happens, love is the only thing that will keep you standing. Love will never forsake you. Love will be your comfort.

And always remember: Love never gives up. Loves perfect everything. Love is stronger than all the challenges life brings. Love was there before us. Love will always remain. Fall in love. Be wild and enjoy it. STOP TRYING TO PLEASE SOCIETY. YOUR FUTURE IS WITH YOUR PARTNER, NOT SOCIETY. YOU WON'T MARRY YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD. CHOOSE A PARTNER YOU LOVE, NOT A PARTNER SOMEONE ELSE LOVES FOR YOU.

Let's question the motives

Background

A look at your current affairs, and 5 minutes in, is news of war or a terrorist group causing terror to innocent people. Most of these, if not all, are always linked to religion or rather, let me say done in the name of religion. But is it really the works of religious people or so called "religious extremists " or is there something or someone else out there whose responsible for all the terror?

Weapons and Ammunition

First focus of this article will be weapons and ammunition. After tons of research, i found out that the top 10 manufacturers and exporters of weapons are Western Elite Countries with a few exceptions like China, India and Israel. But then, why is it that war is always in Africa and the Middle East? Where do these so called terrorist groups get their weapons? Who funds them? How do they get their ammunition? It's pretty clear that someone benefits from all these wars. Who you may ask? The biggest manufacturers and exporters. These are the people who provide weapons and ammunition to rebel groups in developing countries and countries in the Middle East ( The groups we call terrorists.) . These corporates fund these groups, provide them with guns , ammunition and war vehicles. By doing so, the rebel group is left in debt towards the corporate. But the target is not the group, but rather the country's government. When a government gets attacked, it has to buy weapons and ammunition to fight back, thus creating more profits for the corporate. Sometimes even those in government have interests in the corporates and will therefore push for the purchase of weapons. So simply put, Western corporates and governments feed off war. BENEFIT NUMBER 1: PROFIT FROM SALE OF WEAPONS TO BOTH SIDES.

Foreign Aid

We've seen this too often everywhere. Where there's war, there's bound to be foreign aid. I won't talk about humanity foreign aid today(that's a topic for another day). Lets talk about war field aid today. For some this might be new but for others it won't. When there's war, governments turn to Western Powers for aiding, in the form of NATO and private special forces contractors who charge a lot of money to help countries come up with strategies to fight off rebels. In Lybia, these contractors worked against the governments, which is terrorism(Again, a topic for another day, detailing the double standard of the terrorism). So these special forces make a living from war if you look at it. With no war, they have no jobs and therefore no tax for their governments. But if there's war, they get a job. They charge governments a lot of money and very often when there's way, they are the first on scene offering their service, and taking the money back to their countries (stealing from poor countries). But what happens if a country refuses their services and for them there's a lot of money to be made? Pretty obvious. They offer their services to the rebels and when their strategies work against the government, the government has no choice but to hire these contractors and at that point, the contractors have the bargaining power and can now charge higher rates than first offered. Talk about hitting "two birds with one stone". BENEFIT NUMBER 2: PAYMENT OF PRIVATE CONTRACTORS
Post War Damage to Infrastructure
When the war is over, the country is left unstable and in ruins. See picture attached below for more evidence. All the bombing and shooting can take a country back to square one in terms of development. And because the country had been spending so much on the war, they are left with no money to fix their buildings and road which were damaged by the war. The people are left frustrated and expecting the government to come up with solutions or they will revolt, further causing more damage. But this time, Westerner are nowhere to be seen in the country, except of course if it has to do with the next point.........
Countries that are "Poor or Broke"
What happens when a coutnry has no means for paying the above? There's always the hero waiting to save them in the form of debt. Who? Western Countries and their various organisation. The westerners are giving them money to buy from them but then earning interest and debt power over these plagued countries. In the long run, these countries are left in huge debts which cannot be paid back by anything but natural resources. BENEFIT NUMBER 3: FREE NATURAL RESOURCES.

Conclusion
So in conclusion, it is only the Western corporates who fund these wars for the sake of profit. It is up to us the citizens to question the truth the media and govenrments have been reporting for the citizens. Why is it that they are always focused on the war all the time and always finding ways to brand these so called terrorist groups? Why is it that they don't focus more on finding out which corporates fund these wars and who in this war riddled countries has financial interests in these corporates that fund war? Is the media really looking out for your interests or the interests of those who hold stakes in them? Are you not being made to ignore the real problem? Treat the disease and not it's symptoms. PUT A STOP TO THESE CORRUPT WESTERN COUNTRIES AND CORPORATES WHO LEBEL US TERRORISTS YET BEING THE REAL TERRORISTS BUSY FUNDING WARS AND KILLING INNOCENT LIVES JUST FOR ANOTHER SHARE IN THE PROFITS. #WhoBenefitsFromTheWars? #WhoseTheRealEvil? Spread the truth. Do follow ups on where NATO, UN and AMERICA have treaded.

BONSAI: BEAUTY OF LIFE

   

Image from: Wikimedia.org

You probably just see a little tree when you look at it. But be mindful and you will see its beauty and the beauty of its application in life.

It is a very small tree indeed, requiring lots of care and love. You need just the right amount of water, sunlight, oxygen, and fertilizer for it to grow perfectly. You control how it grows and you trim it because if you don’t trim it, it will probably grow out of control and look like some random tree.

You are supposed to groom it.

If it is well taken care of, it becomes like a flower if not worth more, and it lives for many years.

So is the same with life, and thus the reason I am writing this. Actually ‘Living the life of a bonsai’ should’ve been the title of this.

If you care for yourself like the tree, with just the right amount of water, sunlight etc (which is in the form of family, knowledge, friends, love, care, thoughts) you could be just like the tree. You take control of yourself and you trim your life from a wild tree into a flower. Even when you age, you age like the tree; small and young looking but having hidden the hands of time for centuries. You too can grow old in wisdom, love, care, friends, family, experience and thoughts, but remaining young on the outside and filled with joy. You can be old but still green and filled with life.

It is all about how you care for your tree. Your life is like the tree. Give yourself the right amount of water, sunlight, fertilizer, trimming and oxygen, and you will unleash the beauty of life that lies within you.

Clay Pot: Using your challenges to mould who you are

Mbuelo Ramafamba. Captured at University of Johannesburg, APB.

We all wonder every now and then, if not often, what our purpose is. And most of the times, our minds are overcome by the thoughts of how weak we may be and how what we are, doesn’t allow for what we dream. This often ends with the overly abused line, “be realistic”.

Well, I want to tell you today that what you are made of doesn’t matter now does it determine what you become. It’s how you use the forces, qualities, and weakness that make you who you are, which will ultimately enable you to conquer what you shouldn’t be able to conquer in your natural form.

Soil is a great element of the universe and is undeniably the source of life. But we all know that soil is very vulnerable to water. Water will always soften or at times, even wash away soil. So technically water is a challenge to soil. You have all witness how water causes landslides and all other things. Most of us go through life like soil. We are easily washed away by our challenges and we find life moving too fast for us. Sometimes the water just dampens you up and you feel very weak and without cause. But today I won’t be looking at its weaknesses. I will instead focus on how soil conquers water.

Water is a challenge yes, but what if you could use the same water to build yourself into something stronger? Well, you can. The clay pot is your answer. The clay pot starts out as soil which instead of being washed away, becomes one with its challenge and mixes up to become clay. This is the point in life where instead of running from your challenges you stay and face them. Instead of going on about how big they are, you focus on how you could overcome them. You focus on how you could dismantle the challenge slowly, one piece at a time, instead of trying to find the holy grail solution to it all. And remember, patience is not just about waiting, it’s also about how you wait. While you wait, find your strength and weakness. And also find the strength of your challenge and it’s weaknesses too. As for the soil, its strength is to get wet and suck the water in. But remember, pour your water carefully, tackling one thing at a time and soon you will be in perfect shape to tackle the rest.

You now want to mold yourself carefully and with precision and dedication to become a pot. It takes time, so you need to be patient and strong. You want to shape yourself in a way that suits you. How big, how wide, how big of an opening and if you will need handles. This is the slow process where you learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them. Not only that but also prepare for next time in case they resurface again. Take your time and perfect your yourself.

After this comes the part where add the final and most important step. Baking yourself to perfection. This will determine how hard and strong you become, and how easy you succumb to water. You need the best heat for this and time also. It’s going to be a tough time. This is the point in life where you get rid of your weaknesses for that perfection. You get rid of anything and everything that normally stands in your way. You strengthen yourself. This stage will determine whether you become eternity or just a short time. After this stage, you cool down.

Now that you are done, you can get to work collecting water, from the rain, the fountain or the river. Do you see how what was weak to water has now become its containment? Same is you in life. The rain would normally wash away soil, but now the soil which is now a pot collects water. Actually, it traps water. This is what you should do to your challenges. Trap them in. You can now go to a river and collect water. But if you throw soil into a river it gets washed away. Do you see how soil used its biggest challenge and by mixing it together with other forces it conquered the water? This is you. Be like soil. Turn your challenges into your strengths.