If you have noticed, nowadays this blog is sort of running away from focusing on current affairs. The reason is simple. The motto of the blog suggests it is all about giving fact-based opinions; opinions substantiated by facts or alternative facts (if such things exist). Today, however I will talk about some current affairs to set the pace for the topic of excitement, which we will be discussing today.
When the registrar of the high court announced that the judgement of the court would be announced on Monday, the 3rd of February, 2020, everyone got excited about it. By the said time of 900 hours, everyone was tuned in to a radio of sorts, probably expecting a 30 minute to one hour pronouncement; not unlilke yours truly. Somehow, the hours passed until it was way after working hours when the judges indicated that they wanted to consult security personnel about whether they could continue or call it a day. They were given a nod to continue and they went on. Then came the judgement which declared the presidential election not credible and the incumbent not duly credible.
I was half asleep but from the peep on WhatsApp and other social networks, I could see that people were excited. I was periodically woken up by the person in our area who had decided that to celebrate he needed to play some loud celebratory music. There was whistling, dancing and jeering that probably lasted until close to midnight. You might be wondering why I am narrating this with a tone that sounds like I am excluding myself from those who were excited with the verdict. I was, but the judgement was more shocking than it was exciting to me. To be honest, I never expected the judges to rule against the electoral body.
Days later, there were speeches and addresses declaring the interest to appeal and all, but eventually the excitement is dying down with people considering the election and how best the majority vote (50%+1) can be achieved in the election. I will not comment on who I think will win or how this whole thing will go, but since everyone’s excitement is down I will talk about why I was not excited about the judgement; I had thought about the implications and I realized we were not out of the woods yet. I mean… What if the same party and candidate win the fresh election? Or better still, what if a different person wins but pulls a performance that is below our expectations? That is the pessimist in me, but now that we are there, I will transition to the issue of the day which is excitement.
On one beautiful afternoon, I got tired of working and I went downstairs to see a friend. After I pulled her out of the office and dragged her to the café, I spent a whole lot of time (probably half an hour) lecturing her about how it was not good to thrive on excitement. Excitement is not a good thing to hinge on when making decisions, I repeatedly said. When I was done making noise, she asked me as to why I had been given her the lecture and my response was simple and honest, although not complete; I was talking to myself. At the time, there were some exciting opportunities that were being dangled in my face. Some were career related, and on the other part there was this beautiful girl with whom I was clicking. Well. I managed to get the career opportunity, because it is the internship I was talking about last week. As you can guess, things did not go so well on the other side and I am still single, which is why I was continually reminding myself not to get excited about the whole thing from the start. It was a prophylaxis that worked to my good.
Over the years, there have been things that have been exciting us and driving us into a frenzy; some so routine and others not. We have all seen the excitement that comes with the festive season, year in year out. And there are those random things that happen around like demonstrations. We ended up hailing what we loved to call the Msundwe brigade (and some still do) despite the death of a police officer and the dirty police brutality that followed. We all become forensic pathologists or defense attorneys depending on whether it is a murder or a constitutional court case that is trending but all that might not matter much to us (though it does to others). What matters are these Ponzi schemes that are dangled to us like carrots in front of a rabbit, prompting us to join and make easy money.
At some point after I graduated, someone introduced me to something called Bitcoin. Now this was the time when the concept of cryptocurrencies was only coming out. It seemed to be a very popular thing by then; you put in a few hundred thousands and the money keeps swelling until you decide that you have had enough and you want your money back. Now, this was way before I had gotten crazy enough to start reading about the block chain, the Satoshi white papers and everything I read about cryptocurrencies (if you are into that sort of thing). I have sort of upped my game lately and I am able to read all that, so I understand the upside and downside of sing cryptocurrencies over central banking (which is the normal way that we all use). Over the years, we have seen a lot of cryptocurrencies and the amount of money people have lost in crypto scams in Africa alone is huge. For those of you that like reading, you might want to look up the crypto-queen. Spoiler alert. What you will get are articles about one Dr Ruja Ignatova who went away with over $3 million in people’s money, invested as cryptocurrency. At the moment, we have things like Jamalife and AIM Global which a few of the people I know are into. People are busy showing us the things they sell and the networks they make to make a lot of money and I am hoping it is what they are showing us. Then there is the betting syndrome. A few people who once in a while succeed and get some millions have swayed most from reality and people are getting addicted to betting. Excitement with easy money.
I wanted to talk about the excitement people get to have when they have met new potential lovers or when the relationship is just starting but I do not want to be called a disgruntled person like the founders of the UTM party. I will, instead talk about the excitement that is building up for next week. As a lot of you who produce a bit of oxytocin might know, next week is Valentine’s day. I know so because I have seen posts from friends who are taking orders of Valentine’s day gifts (Avon products, dresses from China and so on). There is a lot of excitement, and some of us who are oxytocin deficient are wondering whether the excitement is warranted. But tili ndi vuto, so do not feel guilty if you feel like we are a bit weird.
All in all, like I told this female colleague of mine and reminded myself, it is not good to thrive on excitement. When you are excited, it is not always easy for one to make sound decisions with positive results that have a bit of what we call longevity. We have seen it in politics (moto wa mapesi, zikuni za utsi, Mgwirizano Coalition ndi zinzake). We have also seen it in Ponzi schemes with people losing money to a promise of a better life and massive returns. Most of those do not work. We shouldn’t talk about love lives because at the end of the day we tend to be living in good health without the people we told we can’t live without. Basitu. Life goes on.
Who wants to hang out this coming Sunday afternoon, by the way? Just come. But don’t be excited.
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