Multiple choice

That sounds like some name of a firm that I know: multiple choice, huh! We won't have to talk about Multichoice!

Well, it has been a very tough road,the one I've been riding for some good time now! Don't ask me how, unless you ride on it.

Last Friday, 20 February, I was party to the staff "congregation" with some Zambian motivational speaker. He's a good speaker, I must admit. He has no apologies to make, neither do I. I like the guy. Unlike some of my work colleagues, I had "known" him via the Internet prior to this office meet, all nicely arranged by our HR department. A good motivation for the staff, indeed!

But the exit survey revealed that there was more to staff motivation than – shall we say? – the (cough) "privilege" of inviting a motivational speaker. Lucrative business it has become, I am informed, this motivation speaking thingy.

Mubita Christopher Nawa (or Mubita C. Nawa, as he preferred to be known as) is, admittedly, a brilliant speaker. He is the guy who has done his home work pretty well. He is the guy who checks his notes before he knocks before your door to proffer what he knows best, a charade of vowels and consonants that you want, or should, hear. He is the guy who might just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Oh wow, the right time. And he did mention it. Yes he did. What, you might want to ask. Well, you should be well from planet Earth to guess that topic, rather that little "mention" in a vast topic!

Takes me back in time when I would be before a good audience and tell them stuff. From script, of course. And "Slumdog Millionaire" got 'em Oscars last Sunday (yesterday) at the awards, y'know. Don't permit me to digress. We all do that, don't we? At least, I am able to get back on track.

Well, (mph!), Mubita Nawa is a good guy. He talks to the audience like, somewhat, he's singly talking to you! It's not magic, of course.I think it's the same old story of being at the right place at the right time.

He did not mention it more than twice, the suicide topic, of course. I know I have been there. And I thought it is one on a list of multiple choice kind of options. Multiple choice, that is how our hybrid English education system inculcated into us. I have always told my older kids not to think that way. Be innovative. And that is what motivational speakers tell us, after all! Coincidence, no. (I think I won't digress again! I pray not to, please forgive me.)

Suicide, I think, should be the last option on a list that makes up what we now know as "multiple choice." From my school days, I still take multiple choice as a limit to one's use of one's vast arsenal of resources. It is guess work. And guess work has its own time and place.

In simpler terms, you hit a dead end. On your multiple choice list you find option suicide. You think it is the right answer. You tick it and believe it's the best choice.

A day later (if you'll still be in realm to observe and appreciate things), you see in your boss's files your salary increment and new posting, or you check what was your wallet in earthly times and see that the Lotto you'd purchased before taking option suicide actually gives you all the dime you needed in the world!

Bang!

Unfortunately, where you are now, there is no such thing as Undo!

Bastard, just got too used to computers! you swear. Shame, it's a different world. Time has moved. Oh trash. Trash? Let's admit, it's a computer age and we all think in those lines, but we still have to be practical and realistic.

In the end, I realise that it might be a school full of multiple choice but, hey, the choice you make matters.

As Mubita Nawa echoed his voice in that address (and I think he loves listening to his own voice, too, heh heh heh!), I think some funny eyes went across to me. There was this rumour that I was going to take that one of the multiple choice.

Admittedly, I have contemplated such thoughts. Admittedly, it is not necessarily a cowardly choice as most people might think. There, I would beg to differ. It is bad especially when you have attachments. I'm not talking about computers and Internet mail, you computer geek!

You have loved ones, spouses, lovable angels-for-kids, friends, grinning as they would, infallible supervisors who would write the best epitaph ever for you, and so on and so forth.

Well, you have loved ones, that's all. You think about them

But I know kamikaze is (or is was) more of a virtual deed. But it is questionable. What is virtuous about it? There are varied answers. Just as one would want interpret the Bible, or any scriptural writings for that matter.

The Japanese, from bedtime stories grandpa "chorused" to me from age 2 to 8 (he fought in both First World War and Second World War), kamikaze was a form of virtuous deed of honour.

For the Japanese, it was a traditional practice that they had adapted in their warfare, suicide instead of defeat. In all senses, for the Japanese military, capture and perceived shame was deeply entrenched in the Japanese military culture. It was, for instance, one of the main traditions in the Samurai life and the Bushido code, particularly loyalty and honor unto death.

You might wonder where I am delving this from. Well, there are a lot of various scenarios you could approach this from.

In most Zambian vernacular, such as the Bemba language, they say "Ni mu nkondo tuli," literary meaning we are in times of war.

I have to go home to help out with my lovable angels-for-kids' homework. Chichi rarely brings homework, typical of high school time! Sierra really loves her homework. Khadijah turns 3 on 7 March, not yet in school but she has "homework" every time I get home.

She will give me an A3 sheet of paper and quip, "Daddy, write for me what I should write. That's my homework."

Personally, I think she is a smart kid.

Multiple choice might continue later.