T'is High Time You Trash The Art of Silence!

For years’ motivational texts have been telling us to ‘get up when you fall down’ or ‘never let anyone snatch your gift of being alive’. Good messages and I admit when I started my blog I was all about getting the ball rolling but never once did I think of what causes the ball to lose its life or even how to deal with the lifelessness before pumping pressure which most highly it is not equipped for. In case you lost me on the metaphoric language that ball is you, and the pump is what culture, backgrounds or what we are exposing ourselves fills us with doctrines and metaphysics. So rather than looking into the problem, we run to the know-sense, a quick fix remedy instead of patching up ourselves permanently to retain the new knowledge. Instead of solving the problem it is just a moment of relief until the real problem creeps back in to suck out the life in us. The ultimate question is “why we find it so hard to talk about things that matter.”

We have become a generation of minimal human interaction; we hide our emotions behind emojis. Technology has stolen what we need and given us things that make us drift and let envy drive our choices. What happened to face to face interactions, rather than fostering communication, technology has turned us into anti-social beings stuck in a world that doesn’t exist. A quick fix to our loneliness, depression and self-esteem issues. Technology has become the playing ground of ill morals, cyberbullying has now been romanticized as “twars” or “trolls” expressing provocative opinions and thriving on the chaos of other people. A person can say the vilest thing to the next person and an emoji before the period is somehow supposed to make the insults lighter! In their words "you are too much in your feelings, it is just a joke” We see this happening every day but choose to turn a blind eye. Cyberbullying statistics worldwide reveal alarming facts on virtual harassment and its awareness is only at 75 %. Some will say it is not bad but in reality not so much.

Why is it hard to talk about important issues? Sexual harassment is on the rise, depression is devouring many souls in silence, teenage pregnancies, global warming and a long list of unspoken ills happening. Is it because we are already preoccupied with the know-sense that we do not know how to deal with what needs more interaction, more action or more sense of responsibility?

Then I thought of a quote I came across which says, “your input is your output.” Simple right? What you see around you rubs onto you. If you are stuck up with what you know, then you will never give yourself the opportunity to know how to handle some issues better. Did you know according to Population Services Zimbabwe child pregnancies remain high at 22%? It is very alarming but once we know the stats that’s it, no one bothers to look at what might be the cause, how to raise awareness or educate to curb it. It is not only the job of organizations or the government. You have a part to play. Again the question remains, why is it hard to talk about things that matter? I’m a strong believer in once something is set up, it can be reinforced time and time again over time to make a difference. So read about it, write about it and most importantly talk about it. That’s how you bring awareness. Dare to be different, in a world where intelligence is shunned and ignorance is rewarded.

Whilst I was reading around I came across a paper called The African World View by Ministry Magazine. It talked about how a worldview exerts strong, shaping influence and power on a person’s life. In a way creating a sense of direction and way of thinking for human thought and action. It got me thinking maybe, our African worldview remains untouched. The belief in hierarchies and entities of power still lives inside of us, where in our families or nationwide. As much we would say we are evolving with time is it still hard to go straight on to parents to talk about issues like sex education, sexual harassment or depression. Due to some imbibed norms and practice of culture from acculturated adults lead in a way that doesn’t allow dialogue and deep conversations. It becomes hard to break ties of the system. A sense of community is one of our greatest gifts but with ignorance, it has become the death of us. Studies show most rape cases are usually by a family member or people they know.  In the end, the patterns of what they assume are right or wrong detect how they think, feel or do which makes it hard to converse about things that matter.

It’s easy to set up walls than confiding in people that don’t care. A people who are only concerned with their well-being. The 'I don’t care' type of people who maybe are the cause or are somehow playing part in the eclipse of morals, lives and our environment. You have always been busy with yourself, but it’s time to turn back and dig into your past. Are you talking about things that matter, know your family, friends, and people around you? You might just learn you never knew and save someone. Think about it, when was the last time you sat down with your friends, family or relatives and asked them if they are okay? I’m not talking about FaceTime and Facebook live but an actual sit down, heart to heart conversation devouring every subject and finding long term solutions. Funny enough if it is about memes or gossip we find time to type long threads even make time during lunch break. But when I was the last time you engaged in any meaningful conversations.

How are you helping to fight the fight of depression, child marriages, discrimination, teenage pregnancy or global warming? Instead of passing blame, take action. Instead of judging why she bleached her skin and start asking the underlying events that led them to that decision. Instead of questioning, she got pregnant at 16, ask yourself as a mother whether you gave them self-education to protect themselves. So whilst you are passing the blame it is necessary or you are just pushing aside the important issues.

The question still remains; why do we find it hard to talk about the important things? Drop your thoughts in the comment section.