'There are myths that need to be smashed' | Lifeandstyle | Life and Health

'There are myths that need to be smashed' | Lifeandstyle | Life and Health

When are we going to move on from this?

Too many black and Asian faces on TV, says BBC director Samir Shah | Media | guardian.co.uk

Too many black and Asian faces on TV, says BBC director Samir Shah | Media | guardian.co.uk

Please tell me what is going on here.

I am trying real hard to understand the context of his arguement. Is he saying that we have too many faces on the screen but not enough boss men behind the scene who make the decisions?

Is his arguement that the number of Black and Asian faces on the screen is overcompensating for the fact that we don't have enough Black and Asian people who are high on the job ladder in the media industry and can make those decisons which would revolutionise what we see on our TV screens at home?

Its a two way arguement. I am tempted to agree with him and I am eager to disagree with him.

Either way, he has been in this game longer than I have, so he must know what he is talking about.

What do you think?

BBC NEWS | World | Nigeria needs $85bn to fix power

BBC NEWS | World | Nigeria needs $85bn to fix power


When are we going to wake up and take action? They have been promising since I was a child. Soon, I'll be married and I'm still hanging on their every word.

I better get myself a generator if I want to go back home.

I love my country and there is no place like home but I think its time the excuses went out the window and we see some positive action towards getting this power issue rectified.

It has gone on long enough.

Secret witness rule: 50 cases in jeopardy | UK news | The Guardian

Secret witness rule: 50 cases in jeopardy | UK news | The Guardian


Personally, if I am not protected and I am being asked to testify against individuals who are connected in the criminal world, the answer would be no.

I believe in everyone getting their day in court and people being free to tell the truth. However, you also have to look things from the other point of view. If your testimony is going to send a man down, then he has a right to know who is testifying against him. But from the point of view of the witness, they want to go home and know no one is coming round to sort them out.

I concur with everyone who is working hard to get this resolved. A solution is needed and urgently.

Don't make parents who have lost their children, cry all over because they feel justice has been denied again.

Christians must recover nerve, says Nazir-Ali | World news | The Guardian

Christians must recover nerve, says Nazir-Ali | World news | The Guardian

I am not one for helping people make up their minds but what do you all think about what Nazir-Ali is saying about the divisions in the Anglican Chucrh?

Is it time Christians regained their nerve.

What exactly is he trying to say with the statement, Chritians must regain their never?

Its an open debate. Tell it like it is. Don't be afraid.

When Those You Thought Would Get It Just Don't Get It.

Life is full of ironies but that should never come as a surprise to you or me. I recently told a friend, nothing should surprise me anymore. While I can't claim to have seen all life has to offer. However, I have seen enough for me to get to the point, where no matter what others do, I should not be shocked.

I am not sure why certain things still surprise me as such. Maybe it’s because I am just that way or were my parents too protective of me as a child? Did they shield me from the uglier side of life and now I am wondering why folk are mean and nasty to each other?

Don't get me wrong, I have seen life for what it is but not all that it is. There is still a whole lot to experience and I am looking forward to it.

It just feels so wrong when you have known people for so long and they pull a funny one on you. You are left wondering; I thought I knew you and have a million questions but no answers.

It’s even worse when those you expected would understand a thing or two just don't get it.

I was having a conversation with a girlfriend the other day and she said: "Well people do that all the time, I am used to it," due to an incident that had occurred earlier in the day.

I thought to myself, that's not normal for people to mistreat folks like they are garbage, ready to be thrown into the bin. It is wrong and I don't care what your excuses are, it is wrong. Nonetheless, people do get away with things you and I might never consider doing.

Now, that is not to say we are saints and we never mess up because we all mess up. However, there are different kinds of mess ups. Sometimes you never know what you are capable of until you are pushed far enough to fight back.

It made me think and I realised, when we become desensitised to something, it does not shock us any more and it becomes normal. But that is not the kind of normal I know.

This brings me to my point, when those you thought would get it just don’t get it.

I refuse to get personal but I must say it hurt and came as a funny surprise but that's another reason why certain things and people's actions should not shock me anymore.

It’s just so funny that they don't get it but that’s just life and I don’t apologise for it. If anything, it made me grow. That’s what it should be about, growing through all of life’s tests and experiences.

I am beginning to understand the title of Lauryn Hill’s last album, The Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill.

This is my education.


Image: Google

Mental Strenghth For Each Day

What's this about? Just what it says, Mental Strength For Each Day.

Lately, a few people have been trying it on and I mean really trying it on.

I keep thinking, is it me? Is there something I am doing to attract such attitudes and behaviour pattern from others? I keep checking myself to ensure it is not something that I have done.

Personally, I don't like dramas. I used to be a drama queen but I'm all grown up now. I have way too much to get on with in life that I don't have the energy for drama.

This week, it has been left, right and centre but I made up my mind, these little issues are not goingt to get me to bow my head. Oh hell no. I refer to them as little because that's what they are. When you magnify things, they become bigger than they are supposed to be. So, I am learning not to do that any more.

My friend, bless her heart, said: "B, you have got to pray for mental strength to deal with these things."

Funny, she said that because we went to school together. I have known her for the last 16 years and she knows me. I didn't always speak with my mouth. My hands did the talking. Don't go funny on me, we all do silly things.

But all that has since changed. I am wiser now and loving who I am today. I am a woman and what a fine young lady I have turned into. I say that boldly because that's who I am.

She was right. I have to pray for mental strength to deal with certain issues as they arise. People will always be who and what they are but I don't have to conform to what they want me to be.

The key is mental strength to know who I am and stay unperturbed no matter what others do.

Image: Google

It Only Takes One Man To Make History

Did you ever think that in your life time, a black man would be this close to becoming the next president of the United States?

It seems like what our fathers started on the plantation farms is about to be completed in the White House and my, my, my I believe it is possible. This is indeed, "Change That You Can Believe In."

I could not stop playing the Youtube video of Barack Obama's acceptance speech.

He is smart but he accepts he doesn't know it all.
He has come this far, yet, he is honest. 'The road ahead will be tough.'
He fills stadiums with thousands of people; black folks, white folks, Hispanics, you name it, yet, he remains humble.

Now, you tell me, what can possibly stop him or get in his way at this point in time?

It is a day Martin Luther King Jr, dreamed of in his famous speech, 'I have A Dream.' It looks like that prophecy is about to be fulfilled. A day when blacks, whites and Hispanics, and every race represented in America will come together and stand for change.

I am so glad that it is happening in my life time.

I may be looking in from the outside but it sure feels good to know that dreams do happen if you work hard for it.

I don’t know what the race against John McCain is going to be like but I bet you, it is not going to be an easy ride. However, I am looking forward to it because both camps are going to give as good as they have got but whose is going to be best?

We will all find out in November I believe.

Bring it on. Let’s get the history machine rolling.


Image: Google and Time Magazine

Why is Growing Up So Painful?

Do you sometimes wish you were a child again and your parents did everything? You know one of those periods in life when you were not accountable to anyone or anything?

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking on the subject of growing up. While it is a process, it is both painful and enjoyable. There are good days without a doubt but the bad days tend to erode one’s memory of the good days. Now if you agree with me, please stand up. However, you must always let the good days stay with you and let go of the bad days or else they will continue to sap at your strength and energy.

Believe me when I say this is the best time to be alive. I mean technology has so evolved, all you have to do is go on the web and everything you need is at your fingertip. If you are lazy and cannot cook, there is always ready made food. Everything is almost now instantaneous. However, there are things that will grind you and bring the best out of you and those things make growing up painful. Believe me, Mary J. Blige is not the only one with ‘Growing Pains’, the title of her latest album.

Success is sometimes an overnight business for a lot of people but for others, you have top work at it. It may take years before you get to that place where you can path yourself on the back but I believe we should path ourselves on the back everyday for the simple fact that we made it through the day and did not lose our minds. Oh yeah, you are not in a mental institution, that is a blessing and you should be grateful.

There are things that kill others daily but you made it through. You ought to be thankful. If you made one good choice or decision this week that will shape the rest of your life; please path yourself on the back because you are one step closer to your purpose while another is on his or her way to the state prison for wrong choices and decisions.

If you have your freedom, your health and your sanity, believe me when I say you are one of the richest people on earth. Some of us don’t have all of that. We may have one and crave the other.

As for me, this is the best time to be alive. I am growing through all of life’s experiences. I am learning everyday through and from my relationships. Some lessons are painful and others, well, let’s just say, I know better now. If I have learnt nothing at all, I am certain of the very notion that when people decide to walk out of my life, I ought to let them walk because even if I get superglue I cannot make them stay. My heart and spirit might be bruised but is it only for a while. There is always enough grace to heal and move on.

Secondly, when people show you who they are, please believe them because they are mot messing about. They are for real. You ought to realise, that’s just life. It is nothing personal.

This is where I go back to one of my favourite people in the world, Susan L. Taylor, “Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front-row seat in our lives.”

Back to the pain of growing up and accountability, this week has been very stressful to say the least. I am still recovering from my workload and the demands life has made on me. But this is the catch, when you say, I want to be this or I want to be that, when I grow up, you never think about the amount of work and time you will have to put in to become that very thing you desire. And that is when growing up becomes painful; when you become accountable to yourself and no one else for your successes and failures. When you are solely answerable for your thoughts, choices, decisions and actions because you know when tomorrow comes, you have no one but yourself to hold responsible.

I am tempted to throw in the towel and just be lazy but that’s not who I am. It has never been part of my make-up. I am too intelligent, blessed, gifted, and talented to waste all of life’s investment in me.

The greater one has given me more than enough to work with, I just need to make time and do the things I need to do. Time flies and you wonder how and when the day disappeared but that is life. It makes room for you but it won’t wait on you to be ready before it moves ahead.

Truth be told, I have been real tired this past week. If I am honest, I was close to tears on Thursday because I had just had enough. Exams, work and all of life’s little demands but when I looked back on my life’s journey, I said to myself, ‘Belinda, you have come too far to go back down on yourself.’

And that my people, is why growing up is painful, when you become accountable for the way your life turns out and no one else. You have no choice but to face up to the stark realities of life, pull yourself up by the bootstraps and keep walking.

You keep walking because growing up is a quest and a journey that one embarks on to find fulfilment in their life’s purpose and the key to finding it is in your hands.

Image: Google Images

From despair to fragile hope | World news | The Guardian

You have got to read this. A must for everyone.


From despair to fragile hope | World news | The Guardian