INSPIRE ME?

INSPIRE ME

My  head is pounding and am making effort to close my eyes, a remedy I realized is only temporary but what I need now as fast wind blows past me I concentrate on my destination. I look at my phone clock only to notice am 15 minutes late for an appointment. Clearly not a good sign for me but under current circumstances I can only pray I don’t bounce or be obviously late.

That’s why I beckoned a “boda boda” to make the quickest en-route to my destination. Mentioning the boda boda I don’t recall noticing much of him even in the negotiation phase for a fair fare, only I noticed he was clean being the reason I waved him down.

Right now he is talking and I pray he shuts up, or he at least gets temporary oral and hypoglossal paralysis. He has a good spoken English command and I make a mental congratulatory note to that. It’s rare to find many of his kind who can do that. But this is no reason for him to continue talking when I need him to literally shut it, just am not terrible enough to say that.

As he goes on wobbling about his bad luck I notice his tone is genuinely concerned.  He is obviously talking about something with a lot of passion. I then decide to open my mind to listen to what he was talking about. To sum it, he is a distressed and lost man, searching for answers.

Now really this is kind of weird for me, indeed creepy it is for I don’t remember signing up for rescuing distressed souls and at that “men”. I must add that even though I am a doctor (you can wrinkle your face for all I care) and   I attended that counseling class, am not comfortable with “men” pouring out their hearts for me.

Although I am disturbed by his boldness to talk to I a stranger even when I know I owe my safety to him at this moment, I am quite impressed by his attitude not to care and actually think he will get his answers. He doesn’t shut up as I expected even with my silence but he goes on probing.

For those who are lucky to comprehend the current economic situation from the middle and lower class view will appreciate how “times are hard”. Everyone knows this but we don’t go on disturbing the peace of strangers with this topic for any reasonable concern their might be.

He then relates this to the rising mental illness in the country, now wait a minute I read an article on that topic but this guy knows about it already.  From a concerned view, the ear hair cells are stretched further when I realize he didn’t read the paper but he speaks from a personal perspective.

With some friends gone awry in that direction, gives me the reason why my new “friend” is terribly disturbed. My analogy is that he is probably finding reasons for his late bizarre behavior, if he hasn’t done something horrid already. With criminal minds on my desk I rarely trust them smart ones as serial killers are usually smart. Of course it’s not that I fathom him being a serial killer or worse cannibal but I would have loved to play Holmes even when am not  Sherlock Holmes. But I ll do with mine which is above average anyway as I always stress to those willing ears.

The more this guy arouses my interest in what he is saying, the more I realize that if I don’t say a word I would have a case of mental illness on my hands or could be worse. That is the moment the genial inspiration talker in me is stroke and that is a rare feat.

Now am no expert but I trust my opinion because I form them from my careful observation and my peers’ opinions or what I read. The trend of the economic times is a matter of fact, most attribute it to corruption and its related vices but I insist it’s a generation gone wrong. If I had the time I could prove this right but right now I’ll just make my opinion and hopefully it echoes in many people’s lives.

“How old are you?” I ask my “friend”.

“32years,” came an apt response. And of course he is with a wife and children as he indicated earlier, to explain why I objected his viewpoint was for my lack of similar responsibilities.

“I suppose you would want to be on this boda boda at 42years (that is 10years from this year)”

“No.” I expected the response to be that but I had to continue the probing.

“And why is that so? Do you expect to be miraculously saved from this predicament?” I knew I was unnerving him and quite frankly I think making him uncomfortable but the headache was getting better.

“I don’t know,” I now started thinking this guy should stop being predictable, it gets boring.

“Alright, I guess you get my point which unfortunately many of our fellow youths don’t get today. They think of tomorrow or in a month’s time but when you ask where do you want to be in the next 10years, then that becomes hard to answer.

We are of a generation with so many inequalities that we unfortunately/fortunately want to correct immediately. That is not the fault but the method is usually in question for actually some become an instant success, unfortunately you are not one of them. We want a good life, because our peers have a good life but then their parents or grandparents made it easier for them. Who shall make it easier for your off springs if it’s not you?

Back to the reason why I told you why saving and investing are what will change this crippled predicament. How much do you make a month?” I didn’t realize how verbose I had suddenly become and actually passionate about what I was saying.

“it varies from Ugshs 300,000.00 to Ugshs 450,000.00.” for someone in his trade had to commend him for a good job.

“But if you can manage to save Ug50, 000.00 each month and also some from your wife if she works, you can manage to get Ugshs 600,000.00 at the end of the year. Don’t you think that is something?” it was time to make his mind dream. Well imagine how much you could save in 5years and then with probably some other motorcycle or whatever you find more commercially viable to you, you could get a piece of land and then now will stop your progress.” We arrived at my destination and I had to pay my fare though I could not charge for the consultation. “There is a lot you can do for yourself if you stopped a bit, thought about the future, planned and then implemented with a fiscal discipline that is lacking in many of us. You have to take charge of your future and stop blaming the government for it for no one will come to your aid if you don’t do it yourself first.” Those were my closing remarks as I had to hurry for my appointment.

“Thank you my “friend”.” It was genuine with a wide smile and I knew I have probably made a difference in someone else’s.

“Question is have you used your opportunity to make that difference.”