Ibiye and His Goat

There's an adage in my local language that I've probably heard a handful of times but never really thought much of.  Seemingly out of nowhere, I started to think about it and I think I finally understand it.  Picture this: There's a blind man named Ibiye.  Ibiye owns a goat, which also happens to be blind.  The adage describes Ibiye's goat as being the cause of much abuse or insult to its owner on account of the fact that it's blind, just like it's owner.
Doesn't seem to make much sense at first perusal, right?
Well if you consider that in the same language, the exact same sentence could mean 'you blind goat' or 'you blind man's goat', then it begins to make a bit more sense.
So, if there was a son of an alcoholic dad who got drunk one day at a family meal and someone said 'what a drunkard'!  Who would you reckon they're referring to?  
As with most Yoruba proverbs, the meaning of this one is multi pronged.
On the surface, it may mean something akin to 'those who live in glass houses should not throw stones'.  It could translate roughly into: If there is already a propensity towards some negativity in your life, do not do anything to perpetuate that notion.  I know! I know!  That last sentence goes against everything I know about writing and speaking but I'm going to let it stand.
On another level it says to Ibiye: because you're blind, to most people, your goat is never going to be anything more than the goat of the blind man, no matter what great feats it accomplishes.
To the goat it says: were you not also blind, at least your blind master would have one good thing in his life, one thing to be proud of or happy about.
Essentially, it's saying to fathers, mentors, and all people in the superior position in any relationship to set worthy examples and to keep their image untarnished so that their misdeeds do not reflect negatively on their protegees; and it's saying to all children, protegees or all people in the 'junior' role in such relationships to ensure that they do not repeat the mistakes of their superiors.  Chances are that they may have been able to make said mistake on their own without anyone making to much of it, but given their superior's record, the conclusion , justifiable or not, would be that 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'.
So there's the lesson, whoever you are, watch what you do lest it reflect poorly on your loved ones.  Afterall, the evil that men do does live after them.

The writer in me

There's a writer in me.  This I know for sure.  Sometimes I think the writer is right there on the surface, it's who I am; sometimes I think that writer is so deeply buried that I don't know if she'll ever see the light of day.  But of this I'm sure, there IS a writer in me.
I find that writing, as with everything in life is a discipline.  Whether it comes easy to you or its hard for you, it makes no difference. So far, I've waited for the inspiration to hit, and it has hit, but if my livelihood was dependent on those hits, I'd probably be homeless and hungry right now.
So here's what I'm saying: no matter how much talent you have, you've got to cultivate the discipline to practice and improve on your act.
It's the reason why some people will never work at a job that does not pay a fixed salary at the end of the month- because if it was all up to them they would get up some mornings, and some mornings not.  They would show up some days, and some days not.

Talent is a hard taskmaster- it requires you work harder than the next guy who does not have that talent because you know and the people around you know how much more you could accomplish on account of that talent; and everyday you're not exploiting that talent something dies within you, whether you acknowledge it or not.
I'm not necessarily talking here about how much money you can make from exploiting your talent.  I do admit that it would be fantastic to be financially successful at something that comes naturally to you, but excelling at something you're naturally gifted for provides a satisfaction that trascends that.  It gives almost a sense of destiny fulfilled.

The other thing that I know about myself is that I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  I would rather not submit a report than submit one that's imperfect.  However I'm beginning to realise more and more everyday that that report was only imperfect in my own perfectionist eyes!  To most other people it was lacking nothing.
Talented people tend to be the worst self-critics in their area of talent.
I recently heard that 'perfectionism is a form of mediocrity'.  I don't know who the original author of that was, and I spent quite a few days grappling with it.  It irked me to no end, but I think I finally understand what it's saying.  If in trying to get the report to be perfect you end up not submitting the report, what conclusion is the person needing the report to draw?  The most logical one is that you're a charlatan who has no clue, you're lazy, you're inconsistent, you're......  Supposing you had submitted the report it might have played out in two ways: the report might have been perfect just the way it is, which is the more likely option; or it might have needed a bit more work to get it to meet the user's needs- note that this does not necessarily mean that there was anything wrong with the work that was done before.  Either way, you would have received some feedback upon which you can then base the improvements you need to make on your work, rather than relying entirely on your own, dare I say, flawed view.
So here's what I've decided to do- I'm going to dig deep and exhume that writer within me, and I'm going to keep her on the surface by writing as much as I can.  More importantly I'm going to put my stuff out there and grit my teeth while I wait for the critism, which even now the 10% of me that allows for anything short of perfection, realises will probably never come.
So, here I come world...

Seasons

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1.

When we hear about seasons we automatically think about the four seasons that make up a year or a cycle– Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.  Each of these seasons has its own peculiarities, things we automatically associate with it- cold with winter, freshness with spring, etc.

It occurred to me that seasons in the life of a human being are analogous to the seasons of the year.  And as with the seasons of the year, they occur in cycles.  I imagine that there could be an infinite number of cycles but I identified three

1)    Chronological cycle

The period from when you’re born till late teenage or early twenties is the spring of your life, the planting season.  Your parents invest in educating you and otherwise training you for life. 

From about mid-twenties to mid-forties it’s summer, you blossom and bear fruit.  Your education pays off, you get the great job and great salary, you get married, have kids, travel the world.

From about mid-forties to late sixties it’s autumn.  Your health may start to decline, you get grandchildren, things generally slow down from the frenzy of the summer years.

Well, when you die its winter for sure

2)    Incidental cycle

We’re thrown into different seasons by the events happening in our life.  When something new is happening in our lives, its spring.  You just got married, you just had a baby, you just started a new business.

When you get the promotion, watch your child graduate, get the business award, its summer.

Sudden ill-health or death in the family would plunge you into autumn.  Should the illness result in death, autumn becomes winter.  The failure or loss of a business, foreclosure of a home, etc, plunge you into winter.

3)    Self-inflicted cycle

Sometimes we take certain decisions that force us into a particular season.  In fact, every major decision that we take in our lives force us into a certain season.  Sometimes it just accelerates or decelerates things a bit, but sometimes it catapults us straight through several seasons. Deciding to start a family, quit your job, rob a bank, etc. will force you into a season, good or bad.

The important thing to remember is that seasons are always cyclical. So even though winter may appear a little longer than usual right now, spring will show up at some point; and even though you’re enjoying a long sultry summer right now, autumn will come knocking eventually. 

Hal Borland said: no winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn, and

William Blake teaches us to learn at seed time, teach at harvest, and in winter enjoy.