A change of tongue

Each country has its own 'thing.' In more ways then one. This includes the manner of speech we use for our daily conversations and interactions.

South Africans have a particular word which we use for everything!
It is the word "Shame."
Your car broke down? Shame man!
Your dog died? Ah shame!
You got caught in a rain storm and now your hair is wet before your big interview? Ah no, shame!
Mandela is in the hospital! "Gasp! Shame!"
Your broke your toe? "Shame pumpkin!"

I am sure you get my drift.... the shame list is endless. 
A friend of mine who is in ministry recently pointed out this 'shame' reality to me. She began by asking what does the word shame actually mean?

Shame is defined by the dictionary as; a painful emotion caused by awareness of having done something dishonorable  or foolish. Disgrace. To be shame faced. Dishonoured. Humiliated or defiled.

Wow! When I began to realise the depth of the meaning of this word. I began to question myself and the use of the word shame. Why do we use it so often and so flippantly. Why do we tell others that they need to feel shame in simple things? Why do we express ourselves through the use of the word shame?
Well, I dont have the answers but I sure know that I am stepping back and stepping out of the boat. There will be no more use for the word shame in my life because I will not use it anymore. My journey to rid myself of this 'shame' talk is hard. This small but loaded word is in built in to the tongues of South Africans, but let us denounce it! Undo it and discard it. 
We are a nation whose past has been marred by shame, let us make our everyday speech joyful and uplifted.. let us steer ourselves away from shame and all it means.....
 

Pink blossoms and inner peace....

I just watched The Last Samurai, for about the 20th time.
And each time, depending on where I am at in my own life; I connect to something new.

For me, it is a story about peace, inner peace, the kind of lasting peace that as the narrator rightly states - that all of us search for and few ever find. It is a story about destiny and honour, about honouring what defines us and what builds us. Destiny and peace. Two of the pursuits of life - that I wonder about often.
True - the main character is far removed from civilisation in order to find true and lasting purpose and destiny. Is there something we should learn from this? Is this the only place where one can find these pursuits?
I do believe that true lasting peace comes when people are not around, when the scattered masses of voices are finally silenced and you are alone in a field of pink blossoms with the Master Teacher. Whose voice is soothing and calm, He understands what you don't say and why you cry.....

Imagine.......
True and lasting inner peace..... coupled with destiny.

"Do you believe a man can change his destiny?"

"I believe a man does what he can, until his destiny is revealed."

And so I wait, pursuing that peace and destiny and wondering about them both....

Sojourner Truth Speech of 1851, "Ain't I a Woman"

The Youth or Aged in me

I was the youngest person in the crowd, the youngest on a Sunday afternoon at a classical music celebration. The grey hair of wisdom moved around me and filled the wooden seats and I wondered – why was I the youngest in the room? An hour and a half of “music therapy” ensued, the sound of the playful flute, the weeping violin, the cheeky guitar followed by a concerto of voices that filled the amphitheatre a cappella.  

What is it that drew me to this place of sound on a Sunday afternoon? And I begged the question of myself, why was I the youngest?

Is it the childlike state of old age that draws us back to our innate appreciation of that which is beautiful? The natural beauty of music that evolves in melodies unfathomable, which in its purest form, only the childlike can perceive? Much like the world famous violinist who stood on the railway station, playing the most intricate of pieces, on a 3.5 million dollar violin for some change, who went unnoticed by the throngs. Except there were those who heard the sounds of the virtuoso and wanted to stop. Not to throw in some change or because they recognised the violinist but because their beings recognised that which was beautiful. And they were the children. 

As the poet Billy Collins mused all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub – dub of the mothers heart is an iambic meter, it is life that slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us.” Children have the ability to perceive the beautiful and the strange and the confidence to stare at it, even to their parents’ shame. I perceived myself as the child among the aged and my soul was listening, to the sounds of rhythms, tones and sweet harmonies from the creators of music. And at once with the turning of the string, I found myself as a kin among the aged, knowing the burden of life and feeling all its heaviness and my soul sighed. 

Whomever I was, aged or child; I have returned to the childlike being inside of me – the one who admires beauty in all its glory and who is not afraid to stare or to sit on a wooden chair on a Sunday afternoon and enjoy the musings of music and all its fancy and I smile because I have come home.

The Gender Neutral Bible Controversy

(My whimsical meditations on the issue from an English teachers perspective!)

The Gender – Sensitive Mother

Much like the embracing mother who gathers all her children within her arms showing no favouritism or regard, English gathers all of us into her bosom, allowing us to be fed with fresh milk, whilst resting comfortably upon her aged chest. The progression of a language both stable and evolving has made way for all to be included, through gender-sensitivity and thoughtfulness.

The completion of the world’s first, comprehensive English Bible hundreds of year ago, threw the religious hierarchy into a chaotic stupor! Throwing open the way for man and God to meet upon the common ground, called English. And once again as the religious world clamours among itself, the world is embracing the publication of its very own gender-sensitive Bible; allowing all to meet again upon His common ground. And who better to provide the means of Divine unity - then our mother English!

As a daughter whose voice has strained to be heard through the patriarchal gateways of society, who have blocked out the light; mother English threw open the windows and light shone in. Through the windows of gender accuracies and sensitivity, we have moved from defeated victim to overcoming survivor. She has at once acknowledged her daughters leadership and rearranged the cabinet, allowing us to move from “chairman” to “chairperson,” from enfranchised “sons” to the all inclusive “children” of God. She calls us “humankind” and not “mankind” she speaks to us as “people” and does not address us as “men.” As possessing “human authority,” seeing us as gifted and not excluded, throwing out the menhir, making way for the daughters of hers.

Oh mother English has seen our woes and answered us with comforting words so! In as much as she herself was created through diversity, through controversy and pain; a child born to different parents, left to fend for itself, borrowing and including, remodelling and refusing. She sought a path of purpose, a path of voice; a path called inclusion for all her children and they reach out to her, kiss her lips, rest upon her bosom and call her blessed.