Much Ado about Zilch

I met this woman a year ago and she had clear white skin and had the biggest...erm...eyes. She was German and later I got to learn she was an Atheist. You know; a white German atheist! In Christianity they are called “non-believers” and in Islam, “kaafirs”. It was later I would learn that the word “infidel” is actually derived from Christianity and from the word “infidelity” and should not be used to describe someone who doesn’t believe in the existence of “A God”. In Christianity, such generosity is shown by example in that Jesus dined with the tax collectors at Levi’s (no..not the jeans..The man) and in Islam it is directed as such; “‘O ye who believe! When ye go abroad in the cause of Allah, investigate carefully, and say not to anyone who offers you a salutation: “Thou art none of a Believer!” Quran 4:94. So in my subtle knowledge of scripture and maybe, perhaps taken aback by her soft voice and big...erm...eyes, I ignored her religion (or her lack of it thereof) and dined with her. She turned out to be an amazing person (Surprise! Surprise!) with awesome taste in art and music and she wouldn’t let me pay the bill! I think she’s going to heaven.

Talking of heaven, Queen Elizabeth II shows no intentions of leaving any time soon and you can see Charles sulk in the corner not able to understand how the old woman has made it this long or maybe it’s just something about his face. Sometimes I picture him strangling her in 16^th century Britain almost as they had done with the first Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn of “Tower of London” fame, except not as violently. Many a time I have pictured a Charles rolling his eyes at his mother’s refusal to kick the royal bucket as every year seems to add to her strength. Then it is evident that people expect the “young man” to abdicate his birthright to his son, just as Essau had done with Jacob but those people must not have followed the shadow reign of “The Charles” whose hunger does not stop at royalty but an obvious need to be more involved in government. My German friend hated him, not because of how things ended with “the people’s princess” but more because of his rather slow demeanour. Was that not what the west thought of Idi Amin when they helped him to grab his people by the hips? That he was slow and a joker was the route to absolute control over Uganda and its peoples but how far did that backfire? So again we have a son who awaits his mother’s demise that he may reap the rewards of being called King but then again that might not be truth, for monarchies do not function like that...right?

Yet, even where you happen to (like me) hate most things British, you must say they gave us a good show this year.  However, the evident failure was not in the games (Olympics), or the organizing of it, but rather the dying (if not already dead) dominance of English culture in the globe. A country that dominated the world of art and literature but a century ago now has to rely on a 90% show of historical reference than a modern dominance. That an artist who calls himself Taio Cruz would highlight the night after a historical reflection show featuring John Lennon and George Michael (who I must add has gotten fat...) shows how far England (or is it Great Britain) has dropped down the pecking order. Don’t get me wrong, Taio Cruz is an amazing artist but nowhere near the top and certainly not a contending factor as to the greatness of The Beatles, John Lennon and even Elton John. Of the latter, I believe “candle in the wind” (his version) is enough to clear me of all possibilities of prosecution in the smiling coast at the mention of his name.

Then I am forced to notice something that I didn’t notice the first time. The 110m hurdles gold medallist is gay! I should have known from the way he played with his hair and flexed his muscles, but I was too busy watching him sprint to glory. Yet a balafong forum member had to spoil my fun (don’t get it twisted) by revealing the young man’s sexuality. To make matters worse, I get to discover that his sexuality is actually just the opinion of people that have observed the way he moved on the track. Apparently the way he smacked his lips, his green contact lenses and his hand movement suggested just that. The saying “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it most definitely IS a duck” comes to mind. I am sure however that the other 7 athletes that were chasing him down the track were not looking at his...erm...eyes.

Whilst the serious minded people are busy working on the next Olympic games which is four years from now, I’m sure we’ll be back to bickering on organization positions and “inherited financial losses”. Sometimes I am made to believe that we are descendants of Essau who lost his father’s blessing due to the cunningness of his mother and her love for her other son. Was his blessing not that of serving his brother? So we continue to serve nations that worked tooth and nail to be great. We took two athletes to the Olympic Games in London and they represented well. Do we have any plan as to how to prepare for the next Olympic Games or will we wait until it is too late? Unfortunately, my essay this time around is not supposed to make any sense and any topic on sports in The Gambia turns my head the wrong way.

I shall end this just as I had started; with my German friend. I forgot to mention that she drinks and smokes. Yaaxu la def!. She believed in goodness and in generosity. Her form of worship was one of sincerity in her dealings even as imperfect as she as, as we all are. I saw religion in her and within her and it was that religion that our prophets of old saw in people of hearts ruling over minds. It is said that to everything created for its usefulness there is an even greater destructive use. For every development in nuclear energy, there is an equal development in nuclear bombs. We ourselves are a clear example. We tend to believe we are the greatest thing ever to happen to mother earth, yet are we also not the worst? A wise man once said, “Be not careful of scripture, but rather of the guardians of it or those who tactfully, yet also sometimes truly, believe themselves to be chosen”.