The Dilemma

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk rejection.
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love.
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave.
He has forfeited his freedom.
Only a person who takes risks is free.

Get more here:
http://cndcountrygifts.com/poetry.html

The 84 year old bride

Striped Icebergs

Some thoughts on Perfection

So here I was laying in bed thinking about things and those things started thinking about their own things which also gave birth to their own thoughts… the point being that one of those thoughts reached a higher level of evolution in my brain and that’s what I thought I’d write down before it gave birth to newer more exciting thoughts. Anyway here’s the deal: Did you ever notice how it is that we hate perfection. We like thinking about it we love talking about it… discussing it among our friends and even in our religions perfection seems almost farfetched and better suited for the afterlife (the cooler side of coarse - no-one I know imagines a perfect fire). It all started last year sometime while I silently obeserved a male species who was struggling to find love for a very long time and suddenly chanced upon the most beautiful girl he’d ever chanced upon. She fell for him long before he had a chance to fall for her which gave him the upper hand for the mean time. It was beautiful, everyone was so proud and he was showing his trophy about wherever he went. Although in all fairness it has to be said that the first reaction people had to this was: “how on earth does a girl like that fall for a guy like this?” They eventually got over the initial thought and unanimously agreed that it was well deserved. Nevertheless this wonderful thing came to an abrupt end not more than two months after it began, he ended it. Why, you may ask?? Exactly is my answer! Oh, you’d like to know why… he felt, and told me this with the straightest of faces, she was way too young for him(he 30, she 23), he had too much baggage, she was extremely religious and he was the prodigal son that would come back on his own not through the love for a woman etc. This thought played on my mind for a while by itself before it met its perfect match and paired off and gave birth and so on. But last night the original thought re-occurred to me and I realised that this girl was too perfect for the guy and that’s why he decided to dump her. I through this thought around at some of my peers and realised that as soon as something goes too well or near perfect we feel that we’re being setup for failure and in a way I think we actually just create that failure by thinking it because like all actions, it started with a singular thought that met another thought that paired off and gave birth and so on. Please indulge me with your thoughts…

Mad cow

Thoughts on mugabe

Meals after the petrol increase.

Nothing better than a cold glass of water...

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal. A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive. (A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this message sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.

all that for one loaf of bread

Wordless wednesday

Creed of the South African white kid

We are sorry that our ancestors were intelligent, advanced and daring enough to explore the wild oceans to discover new countries and to concur and develop these.

We are sorry that those who came before us took you out of the bush and taught you that there was more to life than beating drums and chasing animals with sticks and stones.

We are sorry that they planed, funded and developed roads, towns, mines, factories, airports, all of which you now claim to be your long deprived inheritance so you have full right to change and rename these at your discretion.

We are sorry that our parents taught us the value of small be strong families, to not breed like rabbits and end up as underfed, illiterate shack dwellers living in poverty.

We are sorry that when they provided you with schools, you decided it looked better without windows or in piles of ashes. We happily gave up those bad days of getting spanked in our all white schools for doing something wrong, and much prefer these days of freedom where problems can be resolved with knives and guns.

We are sorry that it is hard to shake off the bitterness of the past when you keep on raping, torturing and killing our friends and family members, and then hide behind the fence of 'human rights' with smiles on your faces.

We are sorry that we do not trust the government. We have no reason to be so suspicious and short sighted seeing that there has never been a case where any of these poor hard working intellectuals were involved in any form of corruption or irregularities.

We are sorry that we do not trust the police force and although they have openly admitted that they have lost the war against crime and criminals, we should not be so negative and just keep on hoping for the best.

We are sorry that we basically flung open our border posts, and now left you competing for jobs against illegal immigrants from our beautiful neighboring countries. All these countries that have grown so strong after kicking out the 'settlers', you should follow their excellent example and grow big and strong like them!

We are sorry that we don't believe in witchcraft, beetroot and garlic, urinating on street corners or trading woman for cattle, maybe we just grew up differently.

So sorry that when we are forced into sharing the same establishments, sometimes we loose our temper, that is totally uncalled for.

We are sorry that your medical care, water supplies, roads, and your electrical supplies are going down the toilet because skilled people who could have planned and resolved these issues had to be shown away because they were of the wrong ethnic background and now has to work in foreign countries where their skills are more needed.

We are so sorry and should really try harder to be more tolerant and learn to get along with EVERYBODY around us, one big happy family.

The Dumb White Kid

Cape Argus 2008

This year I did my first Argus. With two 94.7 races in my legs I thought I was ready…
Everything was perfect, my bike landed on time-without anything missing-thanks to the airways for that, I had a few easy rides before the race, was psyched up… perfect weather… what more could we ask for?
I have been cycling for about two years now, so with very little experience I figured let me try and catch a pack and stick with them… immediately after hospital bend I found a slow enough pack and stuck with them. Unfortunately our female leader – all dressed in pink, for no apparent reason, took a nose dive 2kms before Simons Town… With both my hands tightly squeezed over my brakes I was the fourth rider to hit her at around 60kph. With bloody legs… I tried to help those who suffered the same fate as me and was pushed aside by an official screaming “ don’t touch her!”… I tried, my bike seemed fine so I jumped back on, blood dripping into my “free” white socks I got from last years 94.7 - thinking “it’s not too bad I only lost about 15mins”. However, 3 kms after simons town I hit a cat eye… these are those hard insensitive creatures who have no respect for cyclists wheels. As I was changing my tyre, an official and his wife dressed my burning wounds with some more burning liquid - bless their souls… Everything else was a blur until I hit Chapmans… halfway up, legs on fire-inside and out, chest burning, my foot slips out of my pedal(isn’t this where cleats differentiates us from the normal pedal cyclists? WE DON’T SLIP OUT!!!) rendering me useless since I can only hook in my cleats while rolling…forward ofcoarse—could it get any worse? Finally “bitterbossie” the most humbling experience I have ever had as a cyclist-need I say more? Finishing in just over 4 hours, despite it all I have to admit that all in all this was the most beautiful race of my life!!!

Four stages of a mans life

Drive or wait?

I am Wordless

"Great spirits have always been violently oppressed by mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein -

After the festive season