The right to be wrong, NOT to do wrong!

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There was a boss who was well within his rights to send any of his subordinates on errands. He was rich and they worked for his estate and served in his house. Out of some dislocated pleasures spawned in the mind of the devil himself he decided to send an employee whom he knew was allergic to animal fur to bring one of his cats to the vet. The employee’s allergies kicked in and the consequences were severe with quick onset of body swellings, itches and breathing difficulty. While the boss was free to send that employee, was he free to do him wrong?

There is a laissez faire attitude that parades the globe day, one in which freedom has been hijacked in a thousand different directions and monstrous atrocities have been perpetrated in its name. Freedom like all things has its boundaries that define its validity and the boundaries of freedom must be inextricably tied to the notion succinctly espoused by Abraham Lincoln that "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."

The answer to those who advocate that freedom has no boundaries and suffers no limitation, a land where anybody and everybody can do as they will or like independent of those who share the planet with them, perhaps lies in the pronouncement made by Canada’s 13 thirteenth Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker (1895-1979): "Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong." Maybe the only exception when Freedom is the right to do wrong is when the same person embraces the right to suffer the consequences, whatever they may be.

If we are free, we must be free to dare to grow, and when we grow we will be wrong many many times along the way which is okay as long it helps us grow, but to knowing do wrong, that is certainly what we are not free to do. What are you doing to free yourself from the right to do wrong? Are there any circumstances where it is ever right to knowingly do what is wrong, robbing another of their freedom to grow into that best person they can be?


© October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Profile of courage – the battle against Ebola

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These days when fear reigns and boldness becomes elusive, as I look around and try to find examples of courage to encourage me I am almost always sure to find it in one place; I am certain to find it in the place where in the face of mind boggling danger, fear is overcome and courage is crowned. As a viable cure agonizingly tarries, part of the mystery of Ebola lies in the fact that just as many probe the whereabouts of God when the monstrous disease ravages through the lands, questioning their faith in and about the same, many have reported miracles only because Ebola is here. This however is not what intrigues me the most.

As I have watched this disease battle and threaten mankind, aiming and dealing vicious blows and claiming many lives, I have been intrigued and marveled and amazed and blessed to observe the doctors who, despite knowing that many medical soldiers like themselves have lost and continue risking and losing their lives in the line of duty even after taking all necessary precautions to prevent infection, relentlessly continue in their desire and tireless efforts to help. Given that the symptomatic episodes of the disease do not immediately manifest, there is always a real risk that every doctor in the ravaged countries is treating and consulting and touching a patient who has the disease. They know this risk, they know colleagues who have transitioned from doctor/nurse to Ebola patient, yet they overcome the fear, honor their noble Hippocratic oath, and rise to the challenge, celebrating the very best of our humanity in numberless diverse acts of courage, engaging in a cause and course larger than themselves. I have a friend whose daddy, a physician met his death on the line of duty in this way. I salute his memory and that of all the medical practitioners who have sacrificed their lives fighting this disease. I salute your matchless humanity and rare courage. I celebrate and thank Dr. Kent Brantly, Nancy Writebol, the Cuban doctors who just made it to West Africa, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and all those who have and continue to fight this monster on behalf of all humanity, especially those on the ground in the countries most hit, toiling with scant resources under sometimes inhuman conditions.

© October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

The Genetic curse - Freedom from the stifling thread of DNA chains!

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Sometimes it is easy to look at some people and by looking at their parents, conclude they hit a jackpot of genetic lotteries rich in disproportionate dimensions. Sometimes you may look at yourself and life and become convinced without a shadow of doubt in your mind that you are caught up in a stifling coil of DNA helices woven into chains which strangle growth, dwarfing potential and ability to rise and stand tall. You may be go on the journey through life with knowledge that you have been cursed by  deoxyribonucleic acids with different combinations and permutations of bases, inherited from your mother and father when that egg and sperm fused to form that first zygotic cell that is you. Maybe you blame your genes for being too sick, too tall, too fat, too thin, too ugly, too beautiful, too short, too dull, too intelligent, too blind and too anything and everything… they say too much of anything is a disease. It is important to note and remember that part of what we inherit is not just biological… there is also a societal and cultural DNA we inherit which constantly interacts with the biological DNAs to shape who and what we become. This interaction and how we manage and balance it, shapes our drive and zeal and health and accomplishments and thoughts and habits and character and who we are and become. Samuel Johnson hit the nail on the head when he said that 'The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.'

One of the things I learned and believe as a toxicologist/scientist is the verity buried in the fact that the genes load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger. I argue that many times it does not matter how much the genes have loaded the gun, if the environmental does not pull the trigger, the gun will never fire. Prof Steve Jones explores this further in his fascinating talk:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ksP34GYwbY

How well are you managing the interaction between your inheritances from both within and without the biology of your person? Your ability to manage this will make you or mar you.  This is the reason why genetic disorders could not stop Toulouse-Lautrec, Queen Victoria, King George III, Nicolo Paganini, Vincent van Gogh, Abraham Lincoln, and a host of many others from leading fulfilling lives and leaving huge indelible marks in history of humanity. Without a doubt sometimes genes unleash an inheritance of lethal and fatal implications which make life unbearable. If you believe in God, you probably believe that nothing is purely random and it is possible to receive a blessing under the guise of a curse.

© October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Freedom to take the road never taken and hug revolution!

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The Road Never Taken

One was a beaten path and was evident,

The other never traveled, uncharted, unexplored, un-evident,

Two roads forked before my eyes,

Emerging from a distance quiet like a block of ice,

Certain I had to make a choice,

I heard that still small voice,

Urging me to shun the beaten path,

To shun the caterwauling voices of distracting wrath,

So I heeded and took the path never traveled,

I wish I could say with every step I wondrously marveled,

The opportunities came in the guise of work,

But that did not take away my zeal to continue the walk,

As I forged the road never before traveled a lot was revealed,

Nothing could stop me even though I was sometimes frightened by the uncertain hand destiny dealed,

There was lots of gold and treasures and precious stones waiting to be discovered,

Focused on my path every once in a while I pondered what loot had happened on the beaten path more traveled,

What a difference did it make and what a mountain of opportunity did it bring,

To take that never ever taken path.

Whether it was Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) most known for the electric light bulb who developed and innovated a wide range of products; the Wright Brothers who successfully dreamed, conceived, designed, toiled, refined, built and flew the first powered aircraft making man’s first steps towards powered flight; Charles Babbage (1791 – 1871) who created the first mechanical computer believed to be the initial prototype of all computers;  James Watt (1736 – 1819) who invented the steam engine, an invention critical to driving the industrial revolution; Alexander Bell (1847 – 1922) credited with the invention of the first practical telephone; Galileo (1564-1642) who developed a powerful telescope used in the confirmation of ground breaking theories about our world or Tim Berners Lee credited for developing the http:// protocol for the internet which allows us to interact through this medium; they all encountered and knew something about the uncertainty of trail blazing. They knew the scares of walking a path no other person had walked before, they knew what it means to have no previous experience or precedence to bank on, but they also knew the overwhelming and almost compulsive and instinctive urge to stay at it no matter the scares, no matter the discouraging voices, no matter the obstacles, no matter the setbacks, no matter the beckoning excuses giving them a millions reasons to stop, no matter the weariness of travelling that sometimes tiresome road; they know the unparalleled feeling of being drawn by a giant magnet of unrelenting drive and inviting curiosity towards that bigger than self dream and revolutionary, life changing discovery.

It is a path which can be lonesome and full of rejections, one which also helps reveal the nature of your true character and the true nature those around you. When nothing else matters more, and you are more than enthusiastically happy to give those countless extras that allow you inch closer to the dreams you see at night and courageously work towards in the daytime, then you might well be on your way to earning a place amongst those hall of famers who go to their graves totally wasted in a cause and course worthy of any lifetime’s best efforts and service. Have you given yourself permission to take the never taken path? Have you given yourself freedom to reach out to those things and people and places no one reaches out to or in a manner no one has dared out with before? Chances are many people have been on the beaten path and explored it and mined all the treasures, baring the barren land of once treasured soil but, but the opportunities in the never taken path are boundless – embrace it!

© October 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Freedom to rise beyond limitations 1 - Never say the word can’t!

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What do you do in life when you toil and seek approval through success and meet rejection and failure in its stead? What do you do when the walls which hem you in seem insurmountably tall and everywhere you look around seems pitch dark and bleak? She was rejected at birth like an incompatible tissue graft by her biological parents and she had no legs. She was blessed beyond compare to be adopted by parents who loved her, brought her up like a child without handicap and taught her never to say can’t, not just by the pronouncements of her lips but by the dedication of her drive. She will force you to rethink the definition of handicap and lend additional credence and evidence to the fact that some of the most handicap people walk around in perfect bodies, while some of the least handicap people may have no limbs, but have super mental fortitude with impregnable and laser focused determination to transform tall walls of limitation into pearl gates of miraculous opportunity. Jennifer Bricker makes trail blazing opportunity where excuses to fail hang from every side and mocks the obstacles of life with infectious positivity. What is your excuse today? She is in every sense a champion in her own right like Oprah Winfrey and a host of others. 

There is a French expression which says "les chiens aboient, la caravane passe" literally meaning "The dogs bark, but the caravan goes by". It is full of symbolic truth... Let the dogs keep barking, let the obstacles keep trying to stop you, let the naysayers keep busy, let people say what they will... you  have only one business, one focus, one concern, let the largely symbolic caravan go on. 

Let this 4 minute video inspire you like it inspired me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES5_B-1Golw

© September 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Freedom to fight for love – Man to Man

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Hello, hello, hello, may I speak to Ntonwi please… This is Ntiante and you may or may not know me but I was sorting through my woman’s clothes yesterday for laundry and I saw your name and number on the beautiful love note from you to her…  You know every time people ask me why I grow these sinewy muscles, big broad chest and strong hands; every time they ask me why I stretch my brain and nourish it and grow its power and mental muscles; every time they ask me why I grow my spiritual clout and muscles; every time they ask me why I grow a muscular bank account… I usually greet these questions with penetrating profound silence, but now let me break that silence and give you the answer – it is for people like you. I am sure that by now you know where I am coming from… You should also be guessing by now and rightly so that I am not going to throw my woman to your trash can… I love this woman to the point that I will leverage my muscles, all my muscles to fight for her, to protect her, to secure her and her heart… one thing you may not know is the price I have paid to accompany her to this place in life… some day if you force me I will show you the scars of the battles I have fought along the way… someday if you push me to I will show you the stars which showed us the way through the nights of countless storms… next time you see me take a good look at my calloused knees from countless hours of prayer through treacherous routes...  some day if you invite me, I will teach you how to protect a woman like this but you may not have a voice to tell the tale later because I will take it… and after I do if you do not leave her alone you will be like the countless worms that eat from the dust of the earth… It really doesn’t matter what you think or feel… I just wanted to remind you that the woman you see in your dreams belongs to me… I will fight for everything she is from the soles of her feet to the hairs on her head… I will fight for her heart… I am having this discussion only once… So man to man… man to man… I just wanted to be sure you understand how much I love this woman and what lengths I am ready to go to keep her… maybe if you step into my shoes… you will know how I feel… and maybe you will understand that in my shoes you will do the same … So man to man… I hope you understand that I don’t want your trouble and that I will not let any man or anybody break up my home and its peace… Go figure how to leave her alone. Now let me go take a coffee and find my voice!

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© September 2014 afesehngwaHilary

Freedom does not mean you are free to be dumb!

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Freedom,
No it does not mean you are free to be dumb,
Yes and you do not have to be or remain numb,
It means a chance to lift yourself beyond the labeling fog of teenage mom,
It means you are free to dare and rise from the discouraging slum,
A chance to weather the numerous storms of life and some,
You do not have to continue feeding from the falling table crumb,

Come,
Freedom means you get a chance to rise from every mistake to be a better you,
So let the fear of errors never paralyze you,
Freedom means to learn and grow towards the best person you could ever be.

© September 2014 afesehngwaHilary