We sweat the small stuff

Tumie Modise | Monday April 4, 2016 15:32

My ox has died and I have no animal to help me plough my field! Isn’t this the worst thing that could have possibly happened?”

The wise old man replied, “Maybe so, maybe not.” The man hurried back to the village and reported to his neighbours that the wise man had gone mad. Surely, this was the worst thing that could have happened. Why couldn’t he see this? The very next day, however, a strong, young horse was seen near the man’s farm. Because the man had no ox to rely on, he had the idea to catch the horse to replace his ox—and he did. How joyful the farmer was. Ploughing the field had never been easier.

He went back to the wise man to apologise. “You were right, wise man. Losing my ox wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. It was a blessing in disguise! I never would have captured my new horse had that not happened.

The truth is, we never really know what’s going to happen—we just think we do. Often we make a big deal out of nothing. We blow up scenarios in our minds about all the terrible things that are going to happen. Most of the time we are wrong.

We are fast becoming a nation of dissatisfied, irritable and nagging people. Half of the time, half of the people are on breaking point, on top of roofs; if it is not the government that won’t make rain, it’s the annoying morning traffic or the disappointing utility services. Complaining is a very normal thing, nobody wants a raw deal. Nagging is another matter altogether.

So last week our nagging tendencies were again tested to their limits when the long promised BR Express train finally hit the rails. The first sign of trouble was when some people complained that the train should have been launched in Mahalapye. They said Mahalapye is the capital of trains or something along those lines.  All Greek to me, after all there has never been a railway in Kanye and majority of the kids in that village are yet to see a ‘live’ train. I was about 10 years old when I first laid my eyes on a train. What a terrifying experience that was? Back then, my aunt and her family stayed in Zimbabwe and so my family had taken them to Lobatse to catch the train to Bulawayo one cold afternoon. The only memory of the trip is lots of filth around the station, lots of black smoke and coal, unbearable levels of noise and lots of people. Nothing to write home about.

The BR train service was halted a few years back for reasons I cannot even recall. But I remember that some people, especially from the North were not amused at the time. The only thing I know is that at any given point at the Gaborone bus rank, there are crowds of people either boarding buses to the North or alighting from them. We are made to believe that part of its return was primarily to cater for these people, the long distance commuters. Seemed like a good idea to me. But we are complaining, not complaining about the gesture but rather about the train itself. And this is the part where I start confusing myself because to be honest, the issue is very confusing. 

So the train embarked on its maiden trip to the North, only it never left the station we are told. An apology followed and we were assured that all systems were now in place, that the train experienced ‘minor’ technical glitches, something to do with lights and the air-conditioners. We all forgave them for that one. Hours later came the news that the train had experienced another ‘hitch’, this one was hush-hush, no explanation given.

Now people were being tested, worse, this particular group of travellers was no ordinary travellers but Zebras supporters en route to Zebras/Comoros game in Francistown. Now you don’t want to upset Zebras supporters, worse if the team is playing in Francistown! Another apology given, followed by a press conference a few days later. Explanation? Suspicious foreign liquid discovered in the train diesel tank! They will never publicly say it but we all know what that means. We are busy creating scenarios; we turn around and cry about them, forgetting we created them in the first place!