WOW! Before I jump right into this blog post, I want to say the response to the a post below (Que Sera Sera) was overwhelming!!! Young people, like me, told me they felt like they were reading an excerpt from their life book. Someone called the post ‘a tear jerker’ (that’s true considering it took me a whole day to write it because of all the crying breaks I took). Above all, I appreciate the inspiration it elicited.
My big brother has always told me at the end of every conversation ‘I’m there for you’. As a child, I felt safe no matter the situation because I knew he would always be there for me. My brother proved this to me one evening; I think I was 6 or 7, one of my ‘milk teeth’ was loose and I didn’t want #British to know because it would be ‘WAHALA’. So after the 7pm news, she locked the door, approached me and asked if I had a loose tooth. Maybe at this point I should confess how poor I am at lying. I looked at her with puppy eyes (which didn’t work) and I knew what was about to go down. I started screaming, calling out for my brother to come rescue me and sure enough he did. This is when I confirmed, for real, he meant what he had always told me, ‘I’m there for you’.
This past month, I’ve come to realize most people use this phrase without really understanding it’s weight. To me, this phrase comes close to saying, ‘I love you’.
When #British fell ill a month and a half ago, I struggled a bit to know who was there for me. I found it annoying how everyone used to tell me ‘Keep me posted’. I mean, there I was literally moved in to #British’s ward, in between relatives and friends visiting, dealing with rude nurses and taking #British out to bask, where would I have found the time to keep you posted. Who was there for the other?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the calls. I still do.
Being there for someone does not necessarily mean being there literally. It can mean standing in the gap for someone in prayer, it can mean delivering lunch, it could even be sambazaing credit to a friend.
Being there for someone entails offering time and being empathetic. One does not necessarily have to be told what to do.
I had several awkward moments with my friends during this period (awkward here means, some friends asked too many questions and sometimes I hate being asked questions) but I thank God they were there.
Being there for someone does not really require a lot. It mostly requires being human enough to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and doing what you would have wanted to be done to you.
Look at Twitter, #KenyansOnTwitter is one big virtual family. We have each other’s backs in times of victory and in times of despair. Imagine if we all knew each other personally? What a wonderful world it would be?!
My big brother has always told me at the end of every conversation ‘I’m there for you’. As a child, I felt safe no matter the situation because I knew he would always be there for me. My brother proved this to me one evening; I think I was 6 or 7, one of my ‘milk teeth’ was loose and I didn’t want #British to know because it would be ‘WAHALA’. So after the 7pm news, she locked the door, approached me and asked if I had a loose tooth. Maybe at this point I should confess how poor I am at lying. I looked at her with puppy eyes (which didn’t work) and I knew what was about to go down. I started screaming, calling out for my brother to come rescue me and sure enough he did. This is when I confirmed, for real, he meant what he had always told me, ‘I’m there for you’.
This past month, I’ve come to realize most people use this phrase without really understanding it’s weight. To me, this phrase comes close to saying, ‘I love you’.
When #British fell ill a month and a half ago, I struggled a bit to know who was there for me. I found it annoying how everyone used to tell me ‘Keep me posted’. I mean, there I was literally moved in to #British’s ward, in between relatives and friends visiting, dealing with rude nurses and taking #British out to bask, where would I have found the time to keep you posted. Who was there for the other?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the calls. I still do.
Being there for someone does not necessarily mean being there literally. It can mean standing in the gap for someone in prayer, it can mean delivering lunch, it could even be sambazaing credit to a friend.
Being there for someone entails offering time and being empathetic. One does not necessarily have to be told what to do.
I had several awkward moments with my friends during this period (awkward here means, some friends asked too many questions and sometimes I hate being asked questions) but I thank God they were there.
Being there for someone does not really require a lot. It mostly requires being human enough to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and doing what you would have wanted to be done to you.
Look at Twitter, #KenyansOnTwitter is one big virtual family. We have each other’s backs in times of victory and in times of despair. Imagine if we all knew each other personally? What a wonderful world it would be?!