Once in a while, it is therapeutic to let things out, even into the mirror.  

In this disarticulated piece, I will talk to myself…in public. Please pay no attention to me, ladies and gentlemen. As you were.

A fetish for ideas

Is that not how everything starts? As an idea? The very Genesis of existence. You think it, then speak it. With enough faith, the speech will crystallize into substance or action.

Let me use one of the most popular paradigm-shifting ideas as a convenient illustration: E=mc2.

Einstein was onto something there. Perhaps he was much closer to the “Theory of Everything” than he appreciated. Energy (thought?) and mass (reality?) are interchangeable. The constant (speed of light/belief/faith?) is imperative for the conversion. A stretch? Maybe. But parallels exist all over history and literature.

Is that why I incessantly scour the web for other people’s ideas? Maybe. I am not an idea pirate, though. I pay my debts and respect. I give credit where it is due. The sheer numbers of bright people and ideas out there enthrall me ceaselessly. Channeling all that brightness into a singularity of purpose is definitely high on my bucket list.

What I cannot deny is that I am obsessed with ideas. I admit that most of my cogitations are utter rubbish. However, that will not stop me from spewing them out. One day, I might break my mould, make an error and publish a worthwhile idea. Here’s hoping someone out there will be patient enough to sift through my junkyard of ideas.

I have always viewed blogs and social media as a junkyard of ideas. In fact, I find all fora of informal writing as a rich minefield to be foraged. 

On that note, I prefer reading (vis-a-vis writing) blog posts over journal articles. It stems from my proclivity for raw ideas rather than processed ideas. Sadly, I will be making a cross-over soon. Is this piece my swansong? Maybe.

The Legacy Effect

Lately, I have immersed my attention in the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) world, especially Diabetes Mellitus. Interesting (and outright scary) things are happening there.

For example, there is something they are calling “The Legacy Effect” or “metabolic memory”. It simple terms, what you do when first diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (particularly within the first year) has a long-term bearing on what happens in the twilight years of your life. Ominous, I know, but that’s the “in-thing” in Medical Science at the time of writing this fragmented piece.

In addition, some intelligent individuals did some calculations and came up with figures on the future of Diabetes Mellitus. They predict that by 2050, more than 1.3 billion people will have the disease. If the current trends persist, it is safe to assume that about 80% of these patients will be in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). To err on the side of caution and for the sake of my health, I have decided to increase my income and stop being so sweet.

If such a vile disease can afford to have a legacy, how about David? What is my legacy? How will it operate? Can it be restored? Enter Operation Restore Legacy….

A whispered monologue within a soliloquy

They say, “you do too much politics.” Really? Do I? I think it is politics that is having its way with me. Politics is violating all my orifices. If not for politics, I would still be in my home country. Maybe I might even be taking so much pleasure in my home that I might even have become xenophobic. Who knows?

For now, I know that politics prevented me from being happy in a country where my ancestors lie. Politics destroyed my ancestors’ legacy!

If not for politics, my marbles would be in well-aligned order.

Speaking of “law and order”, what happened in November 2017 in my teapot-shaped motherland? Which legacy did they restore? Whose legacy?

Nepotism has become far much worse than it was during Amai’s days. Liberation War veterans are still misaligned in favour of younger cadres with so-called “royal blood”. Educational qualifications (i.e. PhDs) continue to be sexually transmitted. The Liberation Struggle legacy is still being torn to tatters by a few individuals, led by a despot far less likeable than the one deposed.

Since November 2017, all vices have magnified: abductions, torture, arrests, beatings, lies, propaganda, corruption, verbal violence, physical violence, violence, violence, hidden violence and more promises of violence.

So, again, I ask, what was the point of Operation Restore Legacy exactly?

Anyway, I am not a politician or a soldier. I am not allowed to answer such supposedly “deep” questions. Who am I to even ask such “heavy” questions? Have I forgotten that where I come from, being a citizen means diddly-squat?

A swansong or a shift?

What kind of society is it that asking questions about bread and butter issues is considered anarchy or madness? What nature of culture are we fostering that criminalizes the otherwise mundane process of THINKING, generating ideas, and debating them?

But then again, who am I to ask such questions?

I have not lost my marbles. Some of them inevitably rolled into hitherto undiscovered crevices.

Is this a swansong or a shift? Should I now bow, or should I bend instead?