Friday, November 25, 2005

Words.....

I have been looking at things through my cynic glasses and it seems sometimes that there are more things in general that I dislike then like.I am yet to take a tally but was one thing that was passing through my mind just now.
There is this group in our uni that is suppossed to be helping create awareness about AIDS.So I went for my first meeting last week.So first of all the meeting starts late so I had to sit in the coffee shop looking lost.The group was like 3 other people.The meeting was suppossed to be one hour long but the chic leading the meeting spent all that time dotting (blithering) over stuff that could have been covered in 15 minutes.In the past when I have been part of small committees we have worked efficiently,fast with minimal lip service.Frankly I dislike meetings where everyone is made to talk and people get chatty saying lost of uneccesary things that do not add any information of value to the meeting and simple lead to people running down bunny trails ( derailment ).When I am in meetings usually I don't say much, I prefer to gauge everyone's points and then give my opinion after hearing what they have said after taking what is useful from what they have said and adding my own two cents or I may speak just to clear some glaring oversight or too answer questions that are directed at me and my role.In my opinion meetings should be more like military briefings where the speaker says it all simply and to the point.That is a reason why armies are so efficient they know how to disseminate information to maximum effect.So it may seem that I don't like speaking?Au contraire I do and that is why I got an A in public speaking when I was in uni and whenever I go for open forums/talks whenever I ask a question the most probable response I get is, "That is a very good question/point."
I think over time we as a society have become way to talky.People are using to many words and time to say simple things and it isn't like that has improved how effective they are in most cases.What happens when people have too much information to take in is that they only take in half of it.
Something I also dislike is people who talk to much about something ie activists but at the end of the day what they do on the ground is negligible.I have seen this in so many areas such as gender issues,politics,church.I am of the "shut up and do something ilk."That is also a reason I dislike seminars.Don't get me wrong alot of good comes from them when they operate on the grassroots level but the higher you go the more hypothetical and dreamy the solutions get.Kenya has been delivered from AIDS and poverty a thousand times over in costly seminars over the years, I remember some time in the past when President Moi said that he would put a cap on the amount of seminars that ministers could attend as they were spending more time at them then at their offices.
Hmmmm time to take this hen home to roost.What am I saying here?That I am sick of people doing more talking about problems and doing very little about them, some of the people who do the most are the most silent.Ironic I have used so many words to talk about the misuse of words.
PS:Has anyone heard that song by James Blunt called Beatiful?I think it's one of the deepest songs I have heard in a long long time.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny you should mention james. I listen to him every night, well i can't get myself to remove his songs from my mp3 player.

I went to his concert a few weeks back, low turn out but an awesome perfomance all the same. I love his other song "good bye my lover" okie well i love all his songs.

Mocha! said...

LOL.....after reading your post all I can comment about is the fact you mentioned James Blunt's song "Beautiful". I thought huku niko was the only pipa for stuff from oteto (yaani, we pata music, movies, etc late, very late).....kumbe it works both ways. The song is timam....lakini here it has been played out.

Anonymous said...

@ Keguro
Yes the military can be too gung ho at times.And yes words can be used to do good things like teach and motivate.But I guess I will still jack your lines, "talk less, do more!"
@ mocha
yes alot of the stuff here is over the top esp telly but some good stuff does come out of here too and we do get some good stuff from the u.k even tho most of what is over there in the u.k bores me too tears!
@ mutumia
I am not against motivation and awareness.But I am those kinda ppl who would rather things were given to me fast and point form.Sorry bout all those meetings, I remember we used to have some in the Kenyan company that I used to work for if it wasnt for the fact that they would save me for working for one hour I wouldnt be very amused.

Anonymous said...

Hi Aco - glad you found James Blunt - I wrote about him sometime back here http://www.guessaurus.com/2005/06/05/james-blunt/
and his album is on my playlist rotation on my HD3... Love his music - my favourite being Tears and Rain, You are Beautiful (this got me out of a tricky situation I might add) No Bravery (played this constantly after 7/7) Goodbye My Lover (too true) So Long Jimmy (about a departed Army pal(James was in the Army)OK the album is pretty cool and unusual.

BTW:Little known fact:You are beautiful was premeired as a first in the world last week as a single released on Mobile phones :) Yeah, I know I am strange, so I am going to go away and skulk in the corner :)

Anonymous said...

@ guess
Well I am planning on getting the rest of his music.I dont think the cd is available here but since i dont buy cds.Its all good!I hope you learn your lesson in the corner : )...

Anonymous said...

with your address and I will put a copy in the post for you... call it an early xmas present :)

Lesson learnt... well, not really but I got over the 'zone' and now I can sing the song happily. Funny I found that my 'situation' loved the song as much and I did a copy for them too.... TMGI

Anonymous said...

@ Guess
Oh you have just made my day!!I will hit your inbox asap!!Yes his music does speak volumes....

Anonymous said...

Do it on guessaurus at yawho dot com cos the other email is acting up

Anonymous said...

@ Guess
I'll drop you that line asap...

AfroFeminista said...

I so hear you on all this talk, talk, talk. But also know that words when spoken genuinely can be powerful tools for communicating - think of all of us, blogging about this and that, serious and not so serious in this here space.

And yes even as an activist, I do get tired of all the talk. But at lower, more personal, community levels (I'm avoiding the term grassroot[s]- so misused!) workshops,awareness fora can be very energizing and transform the thinking and ways of doing things in places. Pity that when they come to the 'city' and gather the 'experts' they get so dull, you could cry, at the sheer boredom of it all!

As for James Blunt: he is simply amazing - words can't describe how I feel about his music:)