Skip to main content

Minding Your Own Business

The other day, I was talking with an upwardly mobile lady. An upwardly mobile lady is one who is doing quite well in life, has a good job, a good lifestyle and has planned out her life in a way that Wycliffe Oparanya, our minister of planning , would envy. However, my friend thinks that am favouring the above lady, and as he points out, an upwardly mobile lady should at least own the keys to a Toyota Vitz. Anyway, as a few of you may have realized, that wasn't the point.

The upwardly mobile lady told me that contrary to popular opinion in a certain secondary school, she did not reach such great heights while others slept. Matter of fact, she told me that they were wide awake, otherwise who would she have bought breakfast from in the morning and who would have ferried her to work? she told me that she had reached to this great heights by minding her own business. It is at this point that I raised a very strong objection. I was of the opinion that those had reached such great heights through the combined business of many people.

You cannot achieve such great heights if everyone decided to mind their own business. For example, if those in the great heights of the government decided to mind their own business, we would be in chaos. Unfortunately, they occasionally decide to mind their own business, while others are always minding their own business. In the beginning of 2008, they decided to strictly mind their own business, and any one who was considered not part of their business had a high mathematical probability of being slashed to death,shot to death or cremated alive without an opportunity to choose which method they best liked.

Then there are those who always mind their own business. How do you think people ended up in the Mau forest, or the Government decided to that Volkswagen Passats were the cars most close to gods of economics

The results of people minding their own business can be very tragic. If the owner of the matatu decided to mind his own business and maintain it with cheapest and most likely to fail parts, and the driver decided to mind his own business of putting alcohol first, and the traffic police mind their own business like they usually do, you might be a dead end.

That reminds me of a picture that appeared in the papers the other day. A North-rift 14 seater matatu had most of its body ripped off, and 5 out of the 14 souls were the only ones lucky enough left to tell a story. the story is that a trailer driver was minding his own business, and he decided to overtake another trailer. As he was minding his own business and overtaking the other trailer, the matatu was coming from the opposite direction. The road happened to be raised several metres off the ground, and the result was that the trailer and matatu swerved off towards the side of the road, and the trailer ripped off the front and side of the matatu. I have also seen a bus full of passengers leave the road to avoid a lorry driver who decides to make a side turn as the bus overtakes. the lorry driver returned to his side of the road and continued minding his business, and the bus passengers were left to mind theirs.

There is also the case of a few countries like Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo that happened to have been blessed with lots of business in terms of mineral. As a result, several people minding their own business decided to invest in a few high powered fire arms and square out whose business will mind over the business. There is also the peculiar case of Somalia, where they am still not sure whose business triggered a never-ending war.

Then there is Bush, who decided that a certain Saddam Hussein would make a very good input in his business. Right now, there are several people in Iraq minding their own business, and the business includes blowing themselves to the next world with the highest possible scorecard in terms of casualty.

And Ladies and Gentlemen, that is whys you should be wary of people who mind their own business. You might not end up appearing as crucial assets in their business, but as a liability to be ridden off.

Mind other peoples business, and you will reach to great heights. P.s. when it comes to minding your competitors business, please undercut them, and always make sure that you mind business of those who hold favours.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every ha...

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of fre...

The Nairobi City By-Laws that Never Were

Well, you have all heard about the proposed Nairobi city by Laws, currently awaiting approval by the Local Government minister. The proposed laws seemed to be quite comprehensive, and ranged from simple laws governing traffic-lights-conduct to the outrageous ones which seek to limit the behavior of city dogs. We here at gramware have been having a feeling that some of the laws on dogs were referring to a word used to co-notate the gender of a female dog; and commonly used to refer to human beings with outrageous behaviours. Still, we think that there are some laws that city hall missed, and we decided to list some of them here. Most of them might be outrageous, and probably a reason why they didn't make the cut. Here they are: It shall be illegal for a city Resident to stop on a street to stare at a video screen for a period of time longer than 15 seconds. any resident contravening this shall be charged with obstruction. Pedestrians within the city shall attempt to walk in almost ...

Lusaka and Livingstone Zambia to Namibia By Road

Zambia is a pretty large country,  an exciting one and with no shortage of potholes.  For instance, take the direct route from Lusaka - Livingstone to Namibia through the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo border crossing. Typically, roads are either good or tend to have potholes here and there. However, the last 120 kilometres of the Livingstone to Sesheke/Katima Mulilo route are best described as potholes dotted by some road here and there for the just thirty kilometres past Kazungula town, which is also the Zambia - Botswana border crossing.  Trying to drive to Sesheke is so bad it will take you anywhere between 4 hours to 6 hours to navigate those 100 kilometres. You may or may not have your dignity at the end and your vehicle may be in more than one piece.  If you really must use the Sesheke - Katima Mulilo crossing as of December 2022, then take the 900 kilometre longer detour from Lusaka to Mongu then back to Katima Mulilo. It doesn't guarantee you absence of potholes, b...

Kenyan Beers and Craft Beer Reviews for 2025

It's 2025, and you asked for yet another Kenyan beer review. Let's cut straight to the chase - we keep the many stories for once we are drunk. Right? This year we categorize the beers according to breweries.  Bila Shaka / Bateleur  Flagship is Bila Shaka which is a rich flavoured but bitter IPA with 6% volume.  They focus more on quality and experimenting.  Home to many pleasantly (sweet per 2 people. I agree) favoured beers like Dire Straits, and for the ladies who love it a lot on the sweeter side, there's Honey Badger. These come in at about 5% or so. Jua Kali isn't as sweet as the above and is a mixed rice and barley beer, for some reason popular in the hot coast. Capitan is their bar beer and is a light-ish, pleasant beer at 4% volume and a good time passer when you're there for a long and good night and have things to do the next day. My favourite local brewer and highly recommended, especially Dire Straits. It's a medium beer, don...