Crippled by a Glimpse...

Have you ever tried to understand or imagine our planet by just glimpsing at a globe?  It's impossible to comprehend such a magnitude in such a short time so why do we try the same with people?

For instance, sixteen year old Violet, new to her school and crippled with only one foot, she knows that every time someone sees her, they will almost always try to imagine what she must be going through. Those people are almost always wrong. Violet lost her right foot when she was hiking six years back, she slipped near the top of a fairly tall mountain and the damage was so severe doctors couldn't do anything.

Even without a foot, she stood tall and beautiful. Her sleek, dark hair reached just past her shoulders. Kind, emerald eyes and well rounded figure made her almost irresistible. It was the incomplete leg that scared the crowds.

Violet could never understand why people were so fearful of her, she didn't snarl at anyone and she was certainly very friendly whenever someone asked her for anything.

Being disabled was only good for a few things like easy parking for her mum, but when it came down to living normally, by going out to clubs, doing sport and being in the school play, Violet wasn't the happiest crayon in the box.

She could participate in the odd sport like swimming and archery but acting was really her dream. She loved going to the Playhouse and reading Athol Fuguard but there was never a chance to be onstage, until her school had a talk on the subject of safety.

Having heard it a thousand times before when she was still able to hike, she zoned out.

No one had ever heard about her accident, nobody really cared before.  No one knew that the emerald-eyed girl had been sporty and adventurous before her wheelchair - if there was a before in their eyes. No one had asked, until the Safety Officer she called Mom asked her to share.

If I die young

Just listen to the lyrics.. that's all I'm saying.

Last Post I Promise!

ok so if you want to see the other winners of the night go to

www.crawfordecho.com

its rad. try it

Monday Blues

The sadness and sheer desperation when you wake up Monday morning and find that you're at the same stale desk, doing the same mundane task AND YOU HATE IT!

So why do you do it? Why did you chose a career that you hate? Don't hate the world because YOU made the wrong decision.

Sometimes you don't get a choice though. maybe you're still a minor that has to go to school. Be grateful. There are so many children out there that are: child slaves, factory workers, innocent prostitutes, virgin wives, guerrilla fighters and most saddening - to me at least - there are children out there that are struggling to stay alive everyday because of malnutrition, dehydration and famine and the last thing they'll ever receive is an education.

In my country - and perhaps more worldwide - the families that have 2 or more children and only one pair of shoes. The education is free but they arent allowed to arrive at school without proper uniform and unfortunately they have to take turns in wearing the shoes so that they might go to school.

In South Africa, we have a growing nation full of young leaders that thrive on the kinds of opportunities we get. I recently had the opportunity to meet a group of a dozen students from our poorer districts that, after years of struggling with a lack of money for a full education at university, they've been given the opportunity to study medicine in Cuba. The faces of proud parents and overwhelmed students that have never seen an airport before let alone a different country. It was life changing.

The fact that you're reading this blog already tells me that you have enough money to explore the internet and at leisure which should mean that you can afford atleast two pairs of shoes and you can also read which is more than alot of african COUNTRIES!!! Yes whole countries will go without even primary education.

Feeling guilty yet? I hope so. Next time you have the MondayBlues because you have to go to work for a living, think about those thousands of people that would die to be in your shoes...

Toms Shoes: one for one

Where is the Love?

So this is the Black Eyed Peas back less than a decade ago, do you think they still remember what they used to sing about now that they're singing of good nights with twisted microphones.

Even the good go bad and its just like they say those with an innocent heart will go astray while the guilty concience is lead to the churchyard.

How Do You Comfort a Stranger?

Imagine you’re just walking down a street – preferably a safe one – and you see a girl about your age sitting on some steps. She’s just staring into the distance: not moving, not saying anything, and blinking only when the tears make her eyes too heavy. She’s dressed for something special, and even though it’s cold out, she hasn’t got a jersey and the only thing she has on is a fitted black dress and fishnet stockings, red heels thrown aside.

‘Why is she sitting here?’ you start to wonder. Should you be a gentleman and sit down beside her and let her mouth just empty out her story? Is it too late to pretend not to notice her? Perhaps your best option to get away is to pretend you’ve forgotten something and turn back to find another way home. While, in the time you’ve taken to think, she’s turned towards you with a desperate look in her eyes.

“We enjoy warmth because we have been cold,” stutter her lips. “We appreciate light because we have been in darkness... And in the same sense, we can experience joy because we have known sadness.” A tear breaks through her mascara.

Intrigued, now, at what she has to say, your feet draw mistakenly toward her. Your own silence follows. “Sorry,” she stumbles, “I didn’t mean to disturb you, but the air is too pressing for silence.” She begins to rub away the tears.

Confused yet still silent you’re lost for words, your hands start pointing in different directions, supposedly indicating if you can leave. The look on her face makes you stop and just say “Huh?”

She looks where the moonlight sheds an eerie light on the alleyway, takes a deep breath ready to speak and starts weeping again. You stride toward the alleyway, determined to find the problem, and convert into what she must’ve looked about ten minutes ago. Guys don’t walk down the street prepared for this.

Lying by the wall like a clump of old play dough was a baby. Covered in everything; from dirt to after birth. Through glassy eyes you notice light bruises, and even as horrific as the image is, you can’t push your own eyes away.

That tiny baby was a victim and unknown to be so. Nobody knows what happened to it and nobody knows what to do with it. An inconvenience to everybody.

Motivate or Deteriorate..

One of the biggest problems I see everyday is the complete lack of motivation. Motivation to do work, to exercise, to finish a project and to sometimes just get out of bed in the morning..  It makes me think how did the human race actually get this far?

In ancient Greece their motivation was probably, "OK if we wake up now we can create a rad orgy by noon!".  In ancient Rome it must've been, "I can leave this guy to live or I can take him to fight the beast this afternoon. We can always do with some more entertainment!". And you can just imagine cave men "I can kill this cute T-Rex and be a hero AND provide for my clan! Two birds with one stone!".

Nowadays it's like "I'll just hire someone to fix that later," "I don't need to go to work tomorrow because they can still pay me for sick leave," and one of the best : "Who needs to pay attention in class? I'll just threaten a nerd to do it for me."

How does this generation get it so wrong? we eat too much or too little.. our super models motivate us to become allergic to fats of any kind.. our younger generations role models are teaching us to pose naked and lap dance gays for something we want! Children are motivated to follow their role models.. is this really what we want of our children..

I have drifted from my true purpose of this blog sesh and the story I wanted to tell you guys happened a few days ago:

A friend of mine was struggling to finish something because he was struggling too work with certain enemies and for some reason  I turned around and half yelled at him to be a baby..
If you think about it babies are the most determined creatures we'll probably ever come across. They are motivated by freedom, they wish to run and talk and just be.

Have you ever watched a baby try walk for the first few times, they fall, A LOT! but they also get up and try again and again and just imagine if we gave up after the first few falls. We'd be crawling around, never able to see the stars because we're too busy staring at dirt..

Next time you're feeling undetermined try thinking of your baby self, think "be the baby" because you ARE that same baby!

Untill next time, bye you big babies :}