Pardon the Silence

Been a while, huh? I think it has.
It feels good to write again after about a month’s break. Throughout this period, I have been  getting messages asking me if I had retired  from freelance writing from the faithful followers of the Richie Online blog. The answer? I have not and I will not retire from this. The one thing that kept me from writing was the fact that I hardly had time to look for an internet source and a mobile drafting platform for doing the articles. As some of you may know, most of the articles that appear on Richie Online are either drafted or posted via mobile. Having no functional smart phone was a big constraints to the drafting and posting of articles.

There are a lot of things that happened in between the last article and the one you are reading. We have had the Chilima fever which has been the issue in the air lately. Perhaps my dear readers would have expected a Richie Online view on the matter. Well. I am compelled to comment on a part of the saga despite my commitment to writing about issues that are more personal than topical. The thing I wanted to share about is that my parents celebrated the silver jubilee of the closure of parenthood. Yeah. Their last born, yours truly, turned 25. I did not wish myself a happy birthday on the day. Happy belated birthday to me.

You might be wondering as to why I am making a big deal out of my birthday from 24 days ago. After all  a birthday just signifies that you have taken out one more year from the designated basket, One less year of breathing and roaming on God’s green earth. To be honest, I was not that excited about turning 25. On the other hand, I was scared about the whole thought of the responsibilities that are to come with this age.

I have heard of people getting all hyped up about their 16th, 18th or 20th birthdays. Those who have it late in life go on and disproportionately get excited about not dying until they are 40. That is not bad at all. I have learnt that a little celebration does not hurt and we all need to celebrate womb escape along with other things. On the other hand, I feel like I can relate and make more out of my 25th than any other birthday, as I feel like this marks the beginning of what I would define as the golden decade of life.

Perhaps a little explanation would do. I subscribe to one philosophy that there are three elements that make life fully lived and enjoyable, namely energy, time and resources. The general trend is that we get to have one or two of these at every stage of life. Early in life, we get to have the energy and time with no resources for enjoying life to the fullest. Midway through life, we tend to have the energy and resources with hardly any time to enjoy life with. By the time most people get towards the end of their lives, they have accumulated a lot of resources and probably have time to spare (possibly after retirement) but they hardly ever get to enjoy life as they do not have the energy for it. This is generally true, if you think about it.  My alternative idea, that I have built from this, however is that the golden decade between the ages 25 and 35 is the period in which a human being has the best balance of energy, time and resources. Moral? This is the time that ought to be enjoyed as one builds up for the possible future. I am not too sure ready for the fun and challenge; or if I can balance it that well. That being said, I will get back to the Chilima fever.

The former first lady stirred still waters when she endorsed Saulos Klaus Chilima, the county’s Number 2 for the DPP and country’s presidency. Ever since then, a lot of people from the ruling party and outside have been voicing out their views on the matter. The interesting ones? Bon “Winiko” Kalindo. This one told the nation how there were people meeting in the grassroots in a campaign to make the veep the country’s president come next year. Next was the finance minister. This one, on the other hand insinuated that the running of government business and the country’s top office was not babies. There have been a lot of pro-APM zealots who have been labeling the Chilima camp as rebellious and all.

Perhaps you heard about the college students who went to the presidential palace and had a good filling with some presidential Chibuku Super before pocketing 20k each. Result? We saw an “epistle” to Chilima. Far-fetched, if you are to ask me; but who am I to comment on DPP issues when I am just a member of some party that is labeled as a briefcase party? The funny thing is that despite all this noise about him, the vice president has remained silent.

I am of the idea that this is the best response that he could ever give. He is giving everyone the element of suspense and leaving us all to speculate about what his next move could be. Someone once said that the best response you can give in some situations is no response at all and I see such a school of thought at play here.
The vice president’s issue and his response (or lack of thereof) reminds me of someone who (in my view) got a similar situation wrong.  When we lost a gospel songbird a couple of years ago, some sections of the society pointed a blaming finger to one flamboyant prophet. For some reason, children of the deceased felt compelled to rush to the media “in the defense of the prophet”. I (and many others) found that unnecessary. This was their mourning period and no one would have blamed them from staying away from commenting about such issues in the mainstream or social media. I might be wrong but this time demanded silence.

Having shared the above ideas, I would like to acknowledge the differences in ideologies and opinions as to how we all view life timelines and how we handle our own publicity. Whatever works for you, keep doing it.

Have a wonderful weekend