Not That Loyal

Lets talk about loyalty in the general sense of it...

Random Thought From The Bar Counter

 

IM NOT THAT LOYAL

 

Often there is such a romantic notion around the idea of staying true to something that represents identity, belonging or even a cause. It’s a beautiful notion to know that there are so many individuals as well as groups of people who somehow identify with something or rather have something in common, willing to sacrifice the world of themselves to their cause. A cause can be anything really; love, religion, family, marriage, culture, another person, status, the list cannot be exhausted. Now that’s loyalty!

 

Let’s talk about that; Loyalty!

 

On a general basis it is not as easy to find someone who is opposed to their nationality and their country of ‘origin.’ Everyone has pride for their nation/country/state for the one reason that they were born there, their family roots are there or whatever reason that was not in most cases by choice but rather default. In a sense it’s a matter of ‘because I was born in this place’ then I will remain indebted to it, proud whatever the case and always see it in a good light because I can be nothing else but this environment that bore me (as if that made any sense either).

 

“I am a proud Motswana.”

“I am a proud American.”

“I am South African and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Being a Zimbabwean is the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Somalia my mother country, may it forever prosper.”

“I was born here; Uganda is my pride and joy.”

“Im a full blood Nigerian, get out of here before I descend on you!” (Okay I made this one up.)

“Long live Somalia!” (or whatever it is they say there…)

 

Very common phrases we come across from various people of various nationalities. This trickles down to race, tribes, ethnicity and more. It’s a beautiful thing and I encourage the habit to go on. However does one have to live a lie and not acknowledge the negative aspects of their being of such a nationality, tribe, whatever the case maybe? Often I feel so insulted and lied to by people acting like there is nothing wrong with them being who they are by such political categories. So many times I come across so many who can barely give me a reason to be proud, those who come up with baseless reasons or worst of all, those who speak of pride but don’t even believe in it. It’s like for some reason simply because you are born a Ugandan man (suppose a gay one just to make this interesting), you are supposed to raise the Ugandan flag and speak highly of the country that wants to see you burn at the stake for believing that the world is shaped like a triangle and that you fancy being touched intimately by men rather than women. Yes, even then, Raise the flag up high and ask for it to be blessed more with idiotic governance and control of people orientations and sexualities.

 

Better yet, I could say Botswana is such a democratic and transparent country. I’m so proud because I know everything that happens in governance and I’m allowed to speak as I wish about my leaders as a right of expression. No one has ever been arrested or deported for expressing themselves. The LGBTIQ communities have a right like everyone else here and our government gives out free blankets to the poor which means we will have no poverty by the year 2016. Yes I’m proud because there will be 0% HIV transmission by 2016 even though the legislation does not and will not include ‘key populations’. Yes this country is the shining example of democracy. Educations is free, our pass rate in schools has been a great reflection of that. We have electricity 24/7, all year round and we are not even bothered about water shortage. We are at ease and so relaxed because salaries don’t go up and the standard of living is on the rise. We are so peaceful because we keep silent about burning issues to avoid conflict. Yes I am so proud. Yes I’m proud because even though unemployment is on the rise we will have no unemployment by 2016 because Vision 2016 says so. But of course all of this is sarcasm.

 

I refuse to be that kind of loyal because I actually do not have much of a reason to be proud as I used to be; before things took a certain wrong turn, or maybe I just learned a bit more.

 

Take for instance the one party state of South Africa, no wait, the ‘democracy’ of the Republic of South Africa where we find that political, governance and economic education is so limited to the point that the majority of the population is made to believe (in a very tactical manner) that every voting chance they get they should remain loyal to the party that liberated them from apartheid. Some call it the ‘Black Party’. Because I am black I will vote the ANC. A very dangerous kind of loyalty that completely slows down progress and brain washes people to believe in a failing entity when the actual truth would be that such an entity, besides the good it has created at whatever point, is failing more than it should be progressive. No different from Botswana, a country that has had its independence for forty something odd years and yet has known nothing but the rule of one political party and its ideologies. Loyalty!

 

Yes it’s very true that people will not change because of fear, fear change or both. I mean for the lay man the response would usually be, ‘The BDP is the party that gave us independence and had developed this country so far, it’s the only party I know in terms of results so I will keep voting for it, even if they fail, BDP is the party for me.’ Loyalty!

 

I am a young Motswana man who has a lot of positive things I could say about my country Botswana. Diamonds, fee education, free health, democracy, the list goes on. But as a living entity on the grounds of this nation and country Botswana, the question is do I believe in all these great things that are apparently great about my country. To some extent yes, a little! I have more doubts and dark spots that I could point out more than the positives. I cannot preach my pride if I don’t believe in it.

 

I don’t apologize for it. I am just not that loyal!

 

 Patriotism is just one of those things that leave me baffled in more ways than one. People have a right of choice to say how they feel, that has always been my assumption considering that this would be highlighted by the right of expressions hence expression is evoked by feeling and thought.

 

I may be a rebel in my way of thought in more ways than one and that to me is something I have no control over especially that my way of thinking is hardly ever the same over a long period of time. It’s called growth and exposure for those who are quick to consider me psychotic simply because I don’t follow the norm they were herded into by text books and custom means of doing things. No wait, I’m becoming a tad defensive now, let’s get back to it; Loyalty!

 

Passion can be such a thing of beautiful fascination but then again a thing of such revolt. Loyalty! Take the extreme Christian. By George! Conversations with them are what I would like to believe it would be like to be suffocated in a toxic gas chamber.

 

“The bible says…”

“Because its Gods way!”

“My pastor said…”

“It is the way things are supposed to be!”

“Read chapter ‘x’ verse ‘y’ and you will get the answers.”

“I don’t have a brain so I just plug the bible into my head to think all the time…” (You get the point!)

 

Those people that are so loyal to a book and those that are so loyal to a religions. Let’s not forget those who are loyal to their sect of religion and the leaders of such religions. I mean it was not so long ago full grown men and women of a certain congregation in South Africa showed their loyalty in a certain man’s teaching that they did as he commanded, from being walked on (Yes, human beings were walked on as a celebrity would walk on a red carpet, or as Jesus walked on water, if he did that sort of thing.) to being instructed to graze on grass as cattle would (probably for redemption to get into heaven after dying from eating the raw grass).

 

Loyalty has led to so many possibilities of great progressive and challenging ways of thinking to be closed down and reduced to one other persons mindset, literally; I could in a few weeks start up some sort of cult movement and start a whole bible, manifesto, document, conspiracy, (whatever the case) of my own and start having people believe and in it and think of life in my way.  A man once got men and women of the congregation to set themselves alight in a mass suicide because they believed the world was coming to an end. They were clearly loyal to this man’s way of thought and thought nothing of their own logic. Fear in this case was created.

 

The world is so full of cults, period! As much as we would to call them religions or whatever the fact is our loyalties and fears keep us from seeing what is but rather what was intended, if ever we knew what that was. We have become so passionate about defending and sounding ‘right’ when in actual fact we could be as wrong as those people who put their hands on people and claim to have healed them, or those men that claim that they can ‘correct’ a woman from being lesbian by raping them. A spade is a forklift innit!?

 

I have come across women who just won’t leave their abusive, cheating and unworthy husbands simply because of loyalty to vows. They remain true to evil and hope some good will come out of it in fear of leaving or hope for things to turn up better at some point, a point that may never be realized in most cases. It’s no rocket science though, if he beats the hell out of you and leaves you for dead half of the time them why do you remain loyal to such? She replied, “God gave me this man and I shall honor and respect him…” Lady that sounds so sad. You have to acknowledge that in a way that means you know at some point he will kill you. Loyalty!

 

Loyalty has basically become a pill that is forced down our throats by Dr. Identity, Prof Society among others. A pill we don’t even know why we are taking, but fear what might happen if we don’t take it. Fear, Hope, Change, Loyalty!

 

It’s such a shame that the most of us live our lives hiding behind bullshit we can’t even understand. I don’t need to be told what the normal way is and I will certainly not say what the best way is. The truth is I don’t know. There is nothing wrong in not knowing now is there? I’m just not that loyal. (#TurnsUp #ChrisBrown #TheseGirlsAintLoyal, no relevance what so ever.)

 

Ludo Kitso Senome

Author's Note

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