Expatriate Mag Issue 11

Page 52

Lynnsanity

THE DAY BLACK AND WHITE BECAME GREY. “Sweeping over matters and mixing the black and white and creating our own comfortable grey area where we never have to be held accountable will not change the fact that wrong and right still do exist....” here was a time when things either were or weren’t - and because of that, it was easy to decide on which side of the line one would stand. The environment was harsher and less forgiving. It was difficult to get away with wrong doing. But in our pursuit of the free human being, we

lost the distinctions and boundaries that were supposed to define the human race and set us apart from other animals. Callous as it may sound, we are fast approaching an era, where dogs and cats will exhibit more love, empathy and honesty than us.

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EXPATRIATE

Perhaps it all started when the concept of duplicity became a norm, when it became acceptable for one individual to have two faces. This allows one to present various personalities to various situations in life. Granted one cannot be the same person at a work interview as one is at a bachelorette party but it is questionable when the two are so apart that they are irreconcilable.

If black and white areas still existed, I would probably be on the black side - because I’ve made more than my fair share of bad decisions in this life. But allow me to own that. Sweeping over matters and mixing the black and white and creating our own comfortable grey area where we never have to be held accountable will not change the fact that wrong and right still do exist.

Our thirst and greed for financial gain, social acceptance and recognition has clouded our ability to discern between right and wrong. We now live in grey areas of “well, even if I know she can’t stand me, I’ll befriend her because she has good contacts”.

At the end of the day, we have now followed the examples of animals and taken it further than they ever did. Like a female praying mantis eats her male counterpart after mating, we have allowed our animalistic urges that are geared towards, money, power and social standing to supersede what once made society humane. We get what we want and only then do we move on. So we pose and take the right pictures at the right places, holding drinks we can ill afford, smiling next to the man we loathe (but hey, he’s going to help you clinch that deal) so pretend to love him and raise your glass. Forget being true to yourself, just stay in the warm soggy, grey area, because it sure beats the cold.

In society, it makes more sense to befriend a known paedophile because he is richer than everybody else than it does to change work stations at the office place because your colleague has crossed boundaries and attempted to interfere in your personal life. We have now found safety in the grey areas of life and done away with the black and white sectors that clearly spell out right or wrong. Because residing in the warm, musty and damp grey area is safer, you just might get more contacts here and ultimately more contracts. You might finally be invited to that elusive social gathering you’ve been trying to worm your way into, so what if your soul rots in the process? So what if you can’t stand your fellow grey area residents and they can’t stand you...it’s all about the end justifying the means.

It truly is some kind of insanity. As for me, I am part of the endangered species, the last of a dying breed, those who believe in black and white and that lines must be drawn at some point. I’m hanging out there in the remaining black and white. I won’t lie, it sure can get cold out here, but I reckon I’ll stick to it! - SHEILA LYNN SENKUBUGE Twitter - @lynns95

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