Breaking loose part 2!!!

 

Hells Gate

We all have a phobia, something that would make us crumble from our sane selves and make us expose those vulnerabilities when it happens, it may be fear of snakes, spiders, heights, water, people, closed spaces the list is endless. Mine has always been with heights, and I have been trying to conquer that for a while, it is so bad that being on the third floor of a building makes me walk close to the walls just in case the inevitable happens!!! Since the year was closing I told one of my close friends that I would do something crazy, but I just couldn’t have it planned since I could easily go against that plan, therefore it had to be impromptu…

 

 

So last weekend we went hiking in Naivasha’s hells gate, it was my first time to the place so I didn’t know what to expect, I thought maybe there was a gate that looked like hell! We started that eight kilometres to the gorge (I guess that’s where the gate is! I forgot to ask.) while playing football 2 kilometres on the way we stumbled upon this rock with ropes, the guy there told us we could climb if so we wanted. Jaymo the team’s parrot(always has a way of saying things that put you on the spot and trouble sometimes!!) suggests we climb it, but no one wants to go first, I tell the guy to strap me up while my head screams “Mackel you are craaaazy!!” after everything is harnessed well and a helmet fastened I start the climb. When the guy said he would help with the climb I thought he would be leading the way, but far from that he just pulls the rope and gives you directions on where to step!!! Mid way my shoe almost slips, I nearly broke water, I had to fasten my Bata bullets midway up the rock!! There I was a guy who can’t climb a tree even if the situation demanded, up climbing a rock… the adrenalin made me tremble more than when I hear of rohyphnol! Then the grip gets worse the higher you go you just follow instructions from the guide down and your instincts, I tell you I contemplated going back but then, that bad voice called an ego couldn’t allow it… I snailed my way up and finally managed to reach the top. The height was only 50 metres, I know that is not a feat to rock climbers, but to me it was like climbing Everest! Those who remember their Swahili probably have heard this saying ‘kupanda mchongoma, kushuka ndio ngoma’ loosely translated to climbing a thorny tree is not fussy the work is in climbing down. But that didn’t apply as I was told to stand against the rock straight and just throw my self back a little just like in the movies J. I came down after five of my own movie like stunts 😉 and unfastened myself, the adrenalin still pumping my vessels with vigour (not Viagra) and let Jaymo have his adrenalin moment too, which he did like a pro, I bet you were taking notes while I went up J J! Was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? I do not really know…

 

Next on the list is bungee jumping, hang gliding and parachuting just wait, I have to exorcise those phobias, with a little intentional craziness like last Saturdays am sure I will go a long waaay…

Hang gliding

 

Vagaries of life

I have been away from blogosphere for a while, I know, but my friend Heir happened to have this amazing post which will compensate for that little absence… 🙂

Lately I have been very worried about what people around me think of me. Once I dared to ask and I was both glad and sad to discover that what I thought they thought was nothing close to what they were actually thinking! I had been weighed down by the thought of how they thought I was childish, immature…………. Let me save the rest in order to save face. Little did I know that what they thought of me was almost and in some ways more than what I thought of myself and it broke my heart and at the same time it encouraged me.

It was then that I remembered of a short poem I read a long time ago:

 

Man comes into this world without his consent and has it against his will. On earth, he is misjudged and misunderstood. In infancy, he is an angel; in boyhood he is a devil; In manhood he is a fool. If he has a family and a wife, he is a champion. If he is a bachelor, he is inhuman and mean. If he enters a public house he is a drunkard. If he steps out he is temperamental, a fanatic and a miser. If he is poor, he has no brains. If he is rich he has the lucky strike in the world and is a crook.

If he has brains he is considered too smart. If he goes to church he is a hypocrite. If he stays away he is sinful. If he gives to charity or does a good turn, it’s for advertisement. If he does not, he is stingy and mean. When he dies young, there was a great future for him. If he lives to a ripe old age everyone hopes that he has made a will.

It is therefore impossible to please anybody.

So do your duty and make fearless, use your common sense and if you ever make a mistake, it is better than nothing.

Anon

Finally the point was home (am not sure it was dry though) and I realized that the bottom line is that God is the only legit judge and all the rest are quarks. I therefore strive to please him only because on judgment day, He’ll sure have the final say.

Heir 2010