Happy New Day!

“Every day is the first day of my life” I read the preceding quote distractedly and recalled what my mentor once had said about time; There are only three days in my time conception;  Yesterday, Tomorrow and Today and explained their meaning.

Yesterday: - I call whatever has passed as ‘yesterday’, even something that had happened five minutes ago it is yesterday- because it has passed… gone. I have no control over it- it’s nothing but a flashback, unalterable memory.

Tomorrow: - tomorrow is the future, the unlived, indeterminate, that I am not certain about.

Today: – today is now, the only moment I am certain about, the moment of life, the only time I have; the instant I guarantee, and the time I can act upon!

Until I read the above quote and recalled my mentor’s definition of time, it has never clearly occurred to me that our life is made up of a single day. That one concrete day we have control of is today. Yesterday is nothing but a flashback and tomorrow is the unknown.

I suppose, we are given a new chance to start over our lives over today. That is why today is a Present. It is a precious gift. When I wake up on a new day, mindful that it in actuality, it is the only day I have, I promise myself to be grateful and present. I feel as if each waking day is my birthday. The day I get reborn, the day I am given a new chance to learn from yesterday’s experience and act upon today so that I may ensure a better tomorrow(perhaps, if I am given another waking chance). Happy New Day, Happy New Year!

Today

Am I old in time?

Or, I old in essence

Aren’t I born just now?

As old as present

What is but yesteryear?

Time that just went by

What is but yesterday?

The day that just gone by

As shadow as image

Bygone, in memory

That I cannot remake

Amend the outcome

So, I say…

“Today is my birthday!”

My first day of life!

My shot to blossom

My chance to flourish,

My day to feel alive!

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A Book that Changed my Life

My best friend and I were arguing about my habit of reading books. He doesn't like the kind of books I read, “Why do you read self-help and philosophical books? What do you get out of such books except confusions?”

I remembered what my professor used to say whenever he stars his class, “ OK folks! Let’s get confused.” According to my professor confusion is the road to clarity. Confusion is an integral part of life; life would be meaningless if there are no secrets to unfold, confusions to clarify...

I wanted to continue more but I figured I would end up confusing him further. For he hates confusion and complicating life, he doesn't even like an in-depth thought of things. “Things are what they are; what I see is what I want to believe I don’t want to dig deep and complicate my life.” Such is his common argument.

He asked me a simple yet rousing question, “Can you mention a single book that really changed your life?”

Of course! There are books that certainly changed my life. But here is particularly one for my friend’s satisfaction:

How to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie, I read it when I was in one of the public Universities in Ethiopia. I was studding Applied Physics at the university, not by choice but because I was assigned to. That is how the education system works here. Most of the students are randomly assigned to study fields that are not according their choice. The ministry of education randomly assigns you or shall I say chooses for you the kind of field you should study.

Accordingly, I was assigned to study Physics; honestly speaking it was a subject I really hate. And hence, I tried to convince my families to go to a private university so I can study the choice of my field but they insisted I should try it and if not return. So I went to try it.

As I took few of the major classes I figured physics was not my thing and I was not a physics material; but I decided to carry on and just graduate even if I didn't liked the field.

My passion was reading not numbers. It was subjective analysis, not objective inquiry. So I carried on my hobby in the meantime. I go to the library to read philosophy books and some of my favorite author’s fictions.  

In one blessed day I went to the library and as if I was destined to, I randomly picked up the book I mentioned above. I started reading it and couldn't take my eyes of. The book got in to me. I was reading it line by line, word by word.

As I went further on the book, I read the following phrases that took my attention …if you want to be happy and successful with your life then here is my advice, for every activity in your life there are only two choices you should make. ‘Accept it’ or ‘change it’ do you like your job? Do you like the way you look, do you like your environment, do you like… if your answer is YES then accept it and be good at it and if your answer is NO then change it! These are the only two options in the game of life. To the contrary, most of us use a third option ‘complain’ we never accept or change our life but we simply complain. My friend let me tell you one thing, stop complaining and start being happy, ‘Accept it’ or ‘Change it’…

After reading the above phrases I asked myself ‘do I like my field of study, do I like physics?’ big NO! And at that moment I decided to ‘change it.’ I told my father that I decided to study a field of my interest in a private college and got him convinced to pay for the tuition. I also promised him I that I will win the trophy for an academic excellence and give it to him.  For I was too confident about my decision my dad couldn't refuse. He did as I requested. And I did as I promised. I scored all ‘A’s in all the courses I took and gave him the trophy I have been awarded for an ‘Academic excellence and leadership quality’.

My best friend knows the entire story except for the part that I decided to quit university because of a book. He couldn't argue more; he shook his head with amazement and said, “Now! This is a story to be told.’’  

  

Smoky Dreams

Kero was born in one of the very remote villages in Arba Minch-Ethiopia, out of a poor, small scale farmer’s family. He didn't have the chance to get formal schooling. At the age of 17, he is now looking forward for a better life and work in the town. Currently he is working as a Hookah-Man in one of the Hookah and Chat (Khat) chewing places in the town.

His daily task starts early in the morning. He gets up and barley washes his face, and then start cleaning up the mass chewing rooms that got messed up with sticks and leave of Chat remnants, ashes from charcoal, soft drink spills and other craps that filled each room.   

The cleaning usually lasts until the afternoon, where he would take a break for lunch. 1:00 PM on wards  kero gets ready to welcome his customers with his bright smile and friendly gesture. His usual customers start flocking on their regular times and the room gets filled all at once with all kinds of customers; some students, some business people, and others, random customers from the town. The customers are mostly youngsters aged from 20 to 35.

Aside the sound of the hookah and over-toned chatter from the crowd, the most caching sound you hear is the name ‘Kero’ called by his customers every now and then. They call him for any of their requests, soft drinks, hookah, chat, peanut, and other orders.

He gets busy satisfying the needs of every customer. He makes the hookah, test and start it as needed. He inhales smokes here and there. Every smoke he inhales burns the teenage lung out of him. He doesn't just smoke the hookah; he inhales his desires and exhales it to the fulfillment of his goals at the same time.     

Though you got to be interrupted every minute as he is being called by everyone, his friendly approach makes it easy to chat with him. I have noticed around three waiters in the place but everyone seems to like his name.

He gets a good monthly salary and allowance plus generous tips from his customers. That’s why he chooses this job. I asked him about his saving. For humble he was, he told me how much he saved in a year and half, which in fact is not bad for what it takes to foresee his short term goal.

His short term goal is to save money so he can buy a motorcycle first and then Bajaj, the common transplantation where there is relatively good money in small towns like Arba Minch.

You can read an assuring and decisive sense of passion from his eyes as he speaks about his future plan. Though he is not formally schooled, he seems to be a smart teenager. He sorted out his plan as short term and long term goals. As per his long term goal he wants to open a nice lodge in the town as Arba Minch is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the country …And so and so on, goes his dream with the blowing of the smoke.

At the moment, he is sacrificing what it takes to envision his dream with his energetic, ambitious and kind attitude. And, until the day he achieves his dream, he has to live in the smoke, he has to clean up other’s messes just to make his smoky dreams came true, for until the storm passes and the spring comes.