Aboard the Bus 364 heading back from yet another painful session with my chiropractor, one of the most amazing individuals in the medical profession I have ever come across ( and I can tell you that I have come across loads of them in varying shapes and sizes ego-wise), I could not help but catch a glimpse of an already graded assignment being reviewed by this lovely young foreign student. It was a task to state a case for the reason why the average age for marriages in the UK has rocketed skywards as against 2 decades ago and it got me thinking too.
I began to reminiscence a conversation I had with my best friend just the other night after an acquaintance had vented her frustration at the insensitivity of the average Briton, in a position of authority – precisely the head of an advocacy unit of an organisation to which she belongs. Despite her membership and her non-reliance on public funds, all she was requesting was for Angie (the unit head) to simply do her duties which as the name implies advocate on her behalf in obtaining certain essential items but all she got after the phone call and a detailed email was the usual response. Pretty sure, many of you will be familiar with these words “it was nice talking with you……… but unfortunately there is nothing I can do to help you”. I can assure you that frustration will not aptly capture the lady’s feelings. Something of incredible humour which frequently assails me is the fact that most times, those with the worst attitude are those who were on the other side of the divide but either by hook or crook or fishing rod, have made it over. It tickles me funny when foreign born British citizens are so rude in their behaviour especially when dealing with a foreigner like themselves.
This sadly brings to mind the words of Jeffrey Archer, the prolific writer and one with an uncanny feel of the innate emotions of men
“I have discovered with advancing years that few things are entirely black or white, but more often different shades of grey…………and we all suffer in our different ways from being prisoners of birth.”
Life, I unequivocally state, comprises chance and choice. However, there are certain choices that we have absolutely no input to neither can we change them irrespective of how hard we try – we cannot choose who we are born to or where we are born into. The balancing factor is that time and chance happens to all and that alone is dictated by God however we can choose to utilize the chances as they come within the time frame or allow them slip by unutilized. And in order to do this right, we have to understand what our purpose here on earth is. Are we instruments of change and good or we are content with being puppets at the end of some unknown puppeteer’s strings (mind you, the puppeteer knows his purpose even as he jerks the strings). In the words of the unknown author “Nobody can change your life except you”
The truth remains that we are all prisoners of birth, whether you were born in the 1st world countries or the 3rd world countries, that is a unifying fact and the onus lies on us not to regale in the fact that you are better off being a citizen of a 1st world country and turn up your nose at your fellow human born in a 3rd world country but to break free of those shackles and dare to be you. We are all created to be instruments of change but permit me to ask what rights does a prisoner have? Having a weekly allowance of £20 from birth till 18, free healthcare and the likes should not be something to gloat about. Visit the pubs on a friday night and behold the leaders of your future, besmirched in vomit and clouded in haze of cigarette smoke and then do the needful and weep for a future that will be managed by immature adults who have failed to recognise that they are prisoners of birth. My best friend empathized with my acquaintance and in her words;
“Citizens/legal residents don’t understand when you can’t work cos u dont have a social security number and you don’t have a social security number cos u don’t have work authorization and u don’t have work authorization cos u ain’t filed papers with the Dept of Homeland security. they don’t understand that if I want to go to school, being a non-resident, I will pay international fees(which is sometimes 3 times what citizens pay) and still citizens will be given free financial aid or granted loans. So sometimes citizens can’t give correct/proper advice just cos they are given a social security # at birth and they don’t understand the hassle u have to go thru to get one. All in all, God got you sweets, don’t fret. God will prove Himself, watch and see”
So why are we alarmed that the average age for adults getting married (if they do) is on the increase? Why are we alarmed that the Home Office plays a game of numbers with the lives of humans like themselves? Why are we alarmed that the generations unborn will have nothing to learn from? It is simply because we have failed to acknowledge that nothing is as it seems, there is more to life than meets the eye and above all there is One who orchestrates events as He wills. We are all prisoners of birth and until we break free of those shackles irrespective of where you come from, our own lives will be a tale of regrets and misery. We can choose today to begin anew – changing the world begins by changing yourself. And if the son of a Kenyan immigrant said “Yes I can” then what behoves us from saying those life changing words………………YES I CAN!
Set yourself free and be a life changer in that little position you have found yourself. Influence your world, your home and subsequently the future by refusing to confine yourself to being a prisoner of birth. In the words of E.E Cummings “To be nobody but yourself in a world that’s doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting.”
Redzhis 
So well written. Great piece!
Thhis was lovely to read
Thank you for reading and leaving a comment.