Tag Archives: People

Chasing Humans: A Poetic Film

”Human life is as evanescent as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.’‘ – Samuel Butler. I agree because life and love is a journey. Find out more in this short documentary I wrote and directed with a friend.

 

Here’s a transcript of the film:

Life is a journey, and it starts with a cry… the cry of a new-born baby. It ends with moans, groans, or the contented sigh of an older man or woman who’s led a fruitful life.

Or it can end in running feet, a chase, a stab, searing pain, blood splattered on the sidewalk, the cold street receding away as a young life flitter away into nothingness…

A life cut short…

Humans are chasing humans and killing without thought or regard for the pains inflicted on unfamiliar people.

Life can end well, or, it may end in tragedy.

Twenty years ago, I got married to the man of my dreams, and two years later, I was in the hospital, in labour, and anticipating the birth of my son.

It was a complicated process. A short life, my son passed away two days after he was born.

My life stopped briefly.

I didn’t know how to process my grief. I cried every night, and I prayed every night.

Days passed. Time didn’t wait for my grief. And I healed with the love of my husband and family.

Three months later, there was a miracle.

I was pregnant again. This time, everything felt different, but I was hiding my fears. I smiled openly while I cried and cringed inside, wondering if the new life growing inside me would live, and survive.

Nine months later, I welcomed another son.
He lives. He’s kind and makes me laugh. He’s energetic and loves life. I had two more children, a daughter and another son.

My family means everything to me.

But something is wrong.

I’ve lived in London for over fifteen years, and every time there’s a young life wasted on the streets, I remember the child I lost.

Although my son died as a new-born baby and in different circumstances, I relive the pain every time I read or watch the news of another senseless killing of young people on our streets.

My eldest son is now 17. He’s brilliant and hardworking. He had one of the best GCSE results in his school, and he’s currently studying Medicine at A levels. He wants to be a doctor. Samuel wants to help and make our society a better place for everyone.

But should I be afraid anytime he’s out of the house? Or because of the colour of his skin?

Can I have hope that things will improve, and that love may conquer hatred, racism, anger and the ugliness inherent in the human soul?

My son believes in a better society, a better world.

Rafael Benedetti wants the world to see goodness in him. Fay Beneddeti intends to champion the course of women and family. These people are keen to see positive changes in our society.

Maybe, there is hope Afterall.

I won’t be afraid anymore.

Hope, no matter how fleeting is still better than fear.

Loving humans can be a reality while chasing humans could become a myth.

I hope love wins!

I want life to end well for our young people.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Seyi Sandra David.

 

Smile, It’s Christmas!

 

Our Scorned, Scorched Planet!

 (Photo Credit: Flickr)

Scientists have now issued a warning that in a couple of decades, some parts of our planet may become uninhabitable. I beg to differ, some parts of our world are already uninhabitable. Our patched, long-suffering planet has endured human’s degradations for millennia; we don’t care about our world; we hate each other and are so quick to point out our differences, perhaps I am doing the same thing, but this article is meant to be constructive.

I don’t mean for this article to pander to any group of people but everyone. Recently, I watched a film titled, ‘Knowing’ and it’s about our world being destroyed by a massive solar flare which inevitably made the earth uninhabitable and in a creepy twist of fate, scientists are echoing the same thoughts. They are not predicting a solar flare will obliterate our world as we know it, they are warning us about climate change, but what they aren’t telling us to change is our attitude to everything on this planet.

 (Photo credit: Google)

Humanity has descended so low that everything is about race and religion, and this is so sad. I wanted to write an article about love, bravery, and selflessness but I am finding it increasingly difficult to do so. A young boy lost his life in a house fire today in South East London, and yet on Yahoo, people were commenting on the colour of his skin and his parents’ race? It’s unbelievably sad.

There’s an increase in knife crime among black youths in London, and when a young life is lost, people hardly care, and that same attitude is unequivocally linked to our lack of empathy. We have grouped ourselves into white/black Muslim/Christian Catholic/Protestants etcetera. And it’s the same around the world, we have created this sick, twisted ideology we’re better than the next person if we belong to a particular race or religion.

There’s divisive politics, people hate with their eyes but smile with their teeth. We are so petty and care only for ourselves. We satisfy our cravings for depravities in the most deplorable fashion possible it’s laughable.

I am keen to see a time when we would truly love one another with no inhibitions. Sadly, it’s a human condition, we are suspicious and find it difficult to relate to people who don’t look or think like us. However, there is that basic instinct that connects us all, our DNA. It differentiates us from animals, the ability to think, feel and vocalise our emotions through words. Maybe animals love and feel (I’m not an expert on that) but not on our level, and I suppose the ability to express our feelings should make us a better entity. We should be able to take care of our environment and the people around us.

I am an optimist, but just as our earth is groaning under the burden of our selfishness and nonchalant attitude toward climate change, maybe, we will finally be able to do something together and eschew our petty differences.

Climate change is real!

Let Go?

”Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

Leo Buscaglia.

I would be a year older tomorrow. I came home from work today and found myself trawling through some motivational articles to make sense of the impending days ahead, and then I stumbled on the short article below. I believe I should share it and I am keen to find out your thoughts on this though. Do you agree with the author’s point of view? Or maybe you don’t, why?

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‘They say that, at some point, you learn to let go. I must disagree. If it just takes one moment to let go, then you never really held on tightly enough. To a dream. To a goal. To a place. To a person. To anything. I believe that you let go little by little. You let go a little, then hold back on, but with a little less force until you fully release yourself. And the tighter you old on, the more force you let go with. The deeper you dive, the higher you’ll fly. The closer you get, the further you’ll pull away. The weaker you feel, the stronger you’ll become. So do not be ashamed of your weaknesses. We all have them. You must learn to be kind to yourself. You must learn to understand yourself. You must believe in yourself. Never think that you are a bad person. Differentiate between your self-worth and your actions. To say that you are bad is different from saying that you made a mistake. You can’t fix yourself, but you can fix a mistake. And remember, not one person on this earth is perfect. We all make mistakes. We all fall. We all have flaws. We just need to look within ourselves and treat ourselves as humans who are worthy of respect and hope. Do not give up on yourself. Get back up. Be brave. Be happy.”

Najwa Zebain

Najwa is a Lebanese Canadian author who self published her book, ‘Mind Platter’ in January, 2016 by Createspace. She is a deep thinker and writes from a wealth of experience. I don’t know her personally but I sincerely believe in her story.

I hope you’ll all have a fantastic weekend!

Much love, always! 🙂

Here In Paradise…

                                                                                    (Photo credit: Flickr)

On Friday, March 10th, 2017, it was precisely 7.25 in the morning as I walked up the steps of Westminster Station en-route my office. I walked briskly, mentally calculating ‘my-to-do-list’ for the day and then like an image out of a disaster movie, I saw two people, a man and a woman. The man was hovering over the woman, his lips quivering, his gait was like a man under the influence of alcohol, he tried to move away from the woman and almost fell. My gaze turned to the woman, her pale face had obviously borne the brunt of living on the street. Her face was lined with weariness, her eyes devoid of happiness.

I stopped in my tracks.

I didn’t know if I should offer money, or simply give a hug. People pushed past me, a man swore under his breath, but it was loud enough for me to hear the words. I fidget with my bag and moved out of the way, my heart broke into a thousand pieces as I watched them.

The man and the woman were oblivious of my presence, and sadly, I turned away.

Here in paradise, (at least that could be the thoughts of millions of people in other parts of the world) we shouldn’t have homeless people. Throughout the day, I couldn’t concentrate on anything. There was something about that couple, they may as well be working in one of the imposing offices in Whitehall, or maybe, as tourists keen to see where most decisions in the UK were made.

Centerpoint is a charity here in the UK helping homeless young people but what about middle age people, old men and women? I have a passion for the homeless, although I’ve read that some do make themselves ‘intentionally homeless,’ but still, I couldn’t expunge their image out of my mind.

I did some further research and realised that there are many homeless charities all around us. Below are some of the charities in London:

There’s also West London YMCA, they  provide the same services as most of the organisations I’ve listed above. I think if we live in paradise, we should be able to do more for people less fortunate than we are (I know, we’re not all millionaires but we could always volunteer at a homeless shelter). I will volunteer at some of these wonderful charities doing such wonderful jobs, changing people’s lives.

If you’re living in other parts of the world, it wouldn’t hurt to give money to a beggar you see on the street or a homeless person. Some of you reading this may think, ‘well, she’s so naïve, most of these folks are drug addicts and rapists… maybe murderers.’

Maybe, some of them are, but some aren’t. Life’s just dealt them a hard hand.

Maybe Phil Collin’s song, ‘Another Day In Paradise’ would be a great way to finish this article.

I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Much love to you friends, always!

🙂 🙂

 

 

Treasured Links

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(Now this little girl’s what I call a treasured Link. Photo credit: Flickr)

”The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviours.”

Tony Robbins

Our pursuit of wealth (or survival as my dad called it) in life is ridiculously overshadowed by things that ought to be more valuable to us like family, friends, and scheduled times to reflect and truly enjoy life. We work all day, some of us are doing two jobs to make ends meet and that doesn’t really mean we would have enough. The only thing certain in life is time, and at a point, that would also end.

Time is certainly cruel. It flies by quickly and before we know it, the tangible things left are links. But some of us destroy those links, how, you may ask? By what we choose to link our minds and memories to.

If a poor man chooses to link his memories to struggles, he may find it difficult to actually overcome poverty. And if a rich guy links his mind to his wealth, he would lose himself in the pool of his assets, and everything else would pale into insignificance. Basically, everything still boils down to our choice and perception in life.

So friends, link wisely! 🙂

Grasmere lake with autumn colours and reflections, Lake District, Cumbria, England

          Grasmere lake with autumn colours and reflections, Lake District, Cumbria, England

I haven’t been able to write an article for a while because of certain projects I’ve been involved in, which would be wrapped up soon in the first quarter of next year, God willing. I know I’ve missed a lot of awesome posts. I’ve begun the pleasurable journey of visiting as many blogs as time would allow, I can’t wait to read to my heart’s content.

I hope you’ll all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Hopefully, I would write one or two articles before the end of this year. Live free and enjoy every bit of your moment on this part of heaven.

Much love to you all! 🙂

 

 

 

 

Somehow… We’re All Connected

 

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(Photo credit: Flickr)

My office is in a prestigious and historic building in Whitehall, and every day on my way to the office, I love saying hello to the cleaners making the place a beautiful sight.

They are as important as the Prime Minister, Theresa May.

Maybe some people might not agree with me, but we’re all important. From the bus driver struggling through the morning traffic to the chef in the restaurant trying to bring sanity to the chaos in the kitchen to the cashier at the grocery store who might endure muffled abuse from disgruntled customers to the care assistant who takes care of  our older relatives or the nursery assistant who has to endure the incessant screams of restless babies and yet, has to smile and reassure parents that all has been well when it hasn’t.

I reckon, we’re all the same.

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The feeling of ”I’m always right and I know everything all” has the hallmark of a ‘jerk syndrome.’ I respect all the men and women holding two to three jobs, trying to make ends meet while also bringing up their children at the same time. They are superheroes.

Now don’t get me wrong, life isn’t a straight line, but it would augur well to appreciate people who appear to be doing menial jobs. I once got into an argument with a former boss who refused to allow his driver in the same lift with him, I didn’t mince my words when I told him in no uncertain terms that he was wrong. You can imagine what happened after that, I got fired? Hell no (forgive my language), he apologised to his driver and increased his pay. Although I later realised that the truth is a bitter pill to swallow.

We’re all connected.

Imagine the scenario where we’re all rich, every single soul on this planet is wealthy. Where would you find the shopkeepers, drivers, butchers, child-minders, just to mention a few? So, why not give that sweaty waitress a sincere smile and the cleaner at your HQ an appreciative grin? Maybe I’m wrong, let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful weekend friends, and may the coming week bring you peace!

Much love, always. 🙂

 

The Ugly Side…

 

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”The most beautiful as well as the most ugly inclinations of man are not part of a fixed biologically given human nature, but result from the social process which creates man.” Erich Fromm

Recent events in the world are enough to sum up the fact that humanity’s ugly side appears to be dominant. We are very quick to tear apart than build, we hate anything that remotely differs from our way of thinking. We want to love but find that so difficult, rather it’s easy to be suspicious, have zero empathy and yes, we find a safe haven in hatred.

James Carroll got it right when he wrote, ”we cloak ourselves in cold indifference to the unnecessary suffering of others, even when we caused it.”

Hatred brings out our ugly side when we hide behind our knowledge of what’s right and wrong. We believe our lives are somehow a priority compared to others and when we’re not having things going our way, we’re quick to complain, bemoaning our fallen state.

We’re also beautiful creatures, that is when we want to be. Imagine doctors risking lives and limbs to save Ebola-stricken victims in a remote village in Africa or people pooling resources together to save Syrian refugees from the freezing sea. That, is the beauty of human nature just to mention a few.

However, we all have ugly sides, if not, why do we have laws trying to curtail our nastiness from spiralling out of control?

I penned this article shortly after the Nice truck massacre, somehow I couldn’t publish it but it’s still relevant today. Most of the time,  it’s very difficult to comprehend when such tragedies occur, like the killings of African-Americans by rogue white police officers or the killings of thousands by the so called Isis’s mad soldiers or the time when Lord Gen Jeffery Amherst, British Commander-in-Chief of America wrote to Col. H. Bouquet to use Biological weapons (small pox laden blankets) in July 1763 against Native American Indians. He wrote, “You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race.” Hitler wanted to wipe out the Jews and subject the world to his madness. In the end, I think our lives shouldn’t be mapped out based on such events no matter how sad.

Humanity is renowned for fortitude in the face of extreme violence. Hitler was keen to turn the world into a huge wasteland, but he failed, even though, in the process, millions lost their lives. The incredible thing I’ve realised is this, our ugliness and monstrosity would not prevail over the beauty and love inherent in us (this is where free-will comes in). That’s contradictory but it’s the truth. As Daniel Goleman wrote, ”societies can be sunk by the weight of ugliness.”

There’s real hatred in the world, just check social media where some segment of humanity compares others as inferior to them. It’s heartbreaking but over the millennia, it’s been part of the history of mankind, the pervading hatred, the palpable feeling of helplessness experienced by slaves which brought the brutal book, ‘The Heart Of Darkness ,’ written by Joseph Conrad to mind. More than ten million people had died in the Congo in the 19th and early 20th century under the rule of the notorious Belgian King, Leopold II. The Congo had been plundered and its inhabitants killed with ruthless efficiency. It’s one of the greatest acts of mass murder in human history. That’s humanity’s ugliness at its height. According to a review on Amazon, ”Conrad makes it painfully clear that the heart of darkness can reside within us all,” how sad!

Unfortunately, the killings in Congo is still ongoing, according to an article written by Owen Jones in the Guardian Newspaper on 6 March 2015, he lamented, ” African lives did not matter enough: a death toll of up to 6 million would surely not have been tolerated elsewhere. For the West, it is a country of little strategic importance.”

Overall, I still believe that our ugly sides can be tamed, maybe I’m wrong?

This article is open to debate, let me know what you think.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend wherever you are in the world!

Much love, always. 🙂

 

Alien

 

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   (Photo Credit: Flickr)

Recently, I had a splinter of wood embedded inside my middle finger. Initially, the pain was excruciating, but after a while, I scarcely noticed the alien inside my finger. I guessed it slowly became a part of me. It was a slow process, it didn’t happen immediately, but soon enough, it ceased to be an alien. I’d accepted that splinter of wood as part of me, it mingled with my flesh, it attached itself to my blood, and if I did nothing to remove it, it would be immovable, static.

It would have found a home.

That’s the same with attitude. I don’t believe that people are naturally born nasty. They cultivated that nastiness over time. That’s why I love children, they are so innocent but incredibly impressionable. It’s an open secret that children who grew up in homes where swear words were spoken repeatedly wouldn’t find anything wrong with it.

 

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Life is complex, and most things happen when we least expected. We can slowly turn into a monster, if we don’t check ourselves and gauge our lives with this mantra, ‘how would I feel if someone did that to me?’

My middle name is Alexandra, which means helper of men or humanity. I love people, naturally, I try to see the good in people, so you can imagine my horror when I found out that I’d hurt someone, although it wasn’t deliberate. I was mortified, and I moved swiftly by apologising. Have I been hurt by others? Countless times! But I wouldn’t for the life of me expect someone to apologise to me because life doesn’t work out that way.

At one point or another in our lives, we may have inadvertently imbibed alien attitudes, the great news is, we can remove that stranger from our lives if we wanted to do that. I travel on the tube to work everyday, and I’ve witnessed horrible behaviours from other commuters; and I’d also been exposed to a huge amount of love.

I’m a humanist, I believe in people. I hope anyone reading this believes in people too, because that’s one of the ways we can make our world a better place to live!

NB:

I have to apologise for not updating my website/blog for a while. I’ve recently accepted a job offer which is incredibly satisfying but utterly time-consuming. I’ve mastered my daily routine now, and I would be visiting more blogs and writing more posts often. I’ve missed all of you, and as time permits, I would be visiting and reading your awesome posts soon.

I love you all, and please, stay safe!

Love, always! 🙂

Notoriety And The Human Psyche

 

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”The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” Sigmund Freund.

Sigmund Freund was one of the greatest influencers of the twentieth century. He postulated the fact that our minds are like icebergs, what is seen is much different from the unseen. His quote reminded me of the story of an Australian woman, Noela Rukundo, whose husband hired assassins to kill her on a visit to Burundi for the burial of a relative. In a nutshell, the situation boomerang and he got nine years for inciting murder. It must have been a shock to Noela. Her husband certainly didn’t belie the fact he was planning her murder, this was a classic case of notoriety and the human psyche.

According to ask.com, ”The human psyche is the mind or soul. It is the center of an individual’s response to his environment.” While Cambridge Dictionary Online described Notoriety as ” the state of being famous for something bad.

 

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Love is the easiest emotion in the world, yet it could be costly and it needn’t be, love should be the backbone of our world, however, is it? I doubt it, because if it is, we wouldn’t be so divided with our different views. Some may argue that we need to exercise our freedom of expression hence the need for some people to be free to hate. Hatred would certainly make some people notorious and there are people who crave that kind of attention.

I believe love shouldn’t be all about our families and people close to us. We get suspicious of people who look and dress differently to us, we love our little space in the universe and aren’t too keen to share. We moan incessantly about the weather, the Tube (if you’re a Londoner), the government, whether we should leave or stay in the EU, (the UK again). We snort our noses at immigrants, we’re quick to judge but are slow to proffer solutions. For millennia, there are have been wars, unrest, hatred, disaffection and all sorts. Unfortunately, that is the world, it’s not perfect, that’s why we really have to raise the bar of our love level.

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Why do humans commit murder and relish mayhem? I believe the response of people to different situations differs which may ultimately be the catalyst for many destructive reactions. It’s nothing new that notoriety springs from the mind.  ‘For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him?’ 1 Cor: 2:11. This scripture is spot on! The mind is so complex that throughout millennia, people have tried to decipher its secrets.

The human psyche is as complex as the millions of electricity that pulsate through our brains, little wonder detectives bring complex cases to their behavioural psychoanalysis unit. People have recurrent patterns to their lives, following sets of rules which when pointed out to them, they are always surprised at the patterns of their behaviours.

Forgive me if my post is a bit based on psychoanalysis, it’s got to do with the books I’m working on. Lately, I’ve conducted loads of research on human minds and behaviours, when my new books are released, I guess you’ll all understand more.

I’ve been offline for the past few weeks, my sincere apologies. I’ll be visiting as many blogs as time permits. In the meantime, have fun and stay blessed! :):)

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

Much love, always. 🙂