The last place you want to find yourself if you are as impatient as me in
the last days towards Christmas is a store. So there I was in one with my few
items picked up that had nothing to do with Christmas , behind this
queue that if one didn't know better they would think there was a giveaway
/freebie at the end of it all. Not having anticipated the wait, I was
undoubtedly fidgety and my face must have been saying things for suddenly the
lady in front of me said, oh if you are
in a hurry you can go before me, to which I replied no thanks because literally that was not about to get me
anywhere as fast as I wanted.
Hardly a second later she goes again, oh
where are you from, my eyes must have popped coz she quickly added you have an accent. I bluntly replied Kenya which I always do when I don't
want to be bothered as the times I tell people I'm from Uganda which I'm
proudly from that comes with a spiral of other questions from Idi Amin to the
weather and in the spirit of Christmas someone asked me if they do Christmas
there, sigh!
So anyway a minute later the lady who obviously wasn't picking my do not disturb cue added oh I also have an accent, this caught me
in the middle of my thought process that since post-election I have labeled The
Trump effect. My brain had been working overtime as I categorized the
lady as another Trump supporter or dare I say deplorable, I mean how dare she
catch my accent in a four word sentence and use it as an icebreaker to talk to me.
She went on to tell me she was from Sweden; I forgot the long line, remembered
my manners and went on to ask her what brought her here and for how long. It
was actually a sweet chat that went on past the checkout to the parking. We
even exchanged numbers.
Back home I couldn't help but
reflect on how much the elections have divided the country. And much as I had
convinced myself I had moved on from the disappointment of the results, isn't it
sad that a simple question like where I come from irks me and sends me off into
judging people that I know nothing about. And now as if that is not enough, the
so many executive orders that made up the 1st week of the new presidency have
divided an already divided country further. Each day a different category, the
LGBT, the indigenous Americans, immigrants or should I say the world and I
can't imagine what else is in store.
An ardent believer, when things don't make sense to me I always anchor
myself in the word. Post-election one tweet that used a bible scripture from
Hosea 13:11 cracked me up, “In His anger
God gave us a king…" I quickly added a NOT and instead found solace in Romans 13:1 that says all
leadership comes from God and since I couldn't make sense of that one either I
switched off mainstream media and decided once sworn in the guy, His Excellence
the President of the free world would surprise us and indeed all would see
God's hand.
Uh from last month's events looks like that surprise is not about to turn pleasant any time soon. Instead as if it's not enough that the election results made me suspicious of simple questions like where I am from, shady just got a new meaning as the swamp is being drained though I’m not sure of what it is being refilled with.
Switching off now and hoping I wake up. soon to a world of decency, empathy
and sanity before willful contortions of the truth (#AlternativeFacts) and
should I say dubious decisions take over the land of the free and the brave.
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| Note to self |
