Of Musical Chairs With African President(s)

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Rabbit Hole TV Series – Becoming The Muse

You know the game called musical chairs, where people dance around a set of chairs and then when the music stops, you have to find a chair to sit…

musical chairs

This would be an open invitation to any of the 54 presidents, either singularly or en masse if it pleases their excellencies, to dine.

Firstly I would extend my revolutionary greetings and congratulations on attaining independence. I cannot begin to imagine how that must have gone, for you see I wasn’t born yet, in your eyes I am child of yesterday, born free. According to our culture, we must respect our elders, but with all due respect, I have grown into an elder too, an epolon, mudhara, mzee there’s winter in my beard, and yet the only table I can sit with you, is an imaginary one.

I am not asking for a seat at your table, though that would be a welcome change from having to be content with picking up the scraps that fall from yours; as I wait for you to finish your meal. I imagine we play an elaborate game of musical chairs; round and round I go, until the music stops and I have to find a place to sit, except that when you sat down, way before I was born, you kept sitting and now round and round I go.

In our culture it is offensive to converse with an elder who is sitting while you stand. One would have to kneel, crouch or squat and in some of the older traditions, prostrate fully on the ground; lest you see the bald patch atop their heads or the grey wisdom crowning their scalp. I don’t know if you have noticed but I now have wisdom of my own too, I should be able to sit with you as an equal and invite you to my very own table. But no, round and round I go, waiting… for my turn.

By the time you were my age, you had done some remarkable things, you freed yourselves and claimed your seat at the table. At my age I have lived my life, waiting for you to finish eating. I bite my tongue to stop myself from asking rude questions, like how much can one person eat, because from where I wait, it looks like there will be nothing left, when you are done.

I have many other things I would like ask such as how even if you owned all the suits in the world, at any one time, you could only wear one, why would you let others go naked while your suits gather dust? Of course you do not own all the suits in the world neither am I asking about suits, but if I asked what I really wanted to ask… you would not want to hear it. You surround yourself with people who only tell you what you want to hear, at least publicly, you play the tune and round and round and round they dance…

Freedom is something you take, I have learnt from textbooks how you took yours, but now you turn into that which you freed yourself from. Round and round we go, playing this game of musical chairs; waiting for you to stand up so we can finally sit down…

The music stops and round and round and round we go.

~B

If you could meet any notable Afrikan, whom would you want to meet?

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43 Comments

    1. hahaha Between the lines, there’s a lot of subtext. ^_^ and while the music plays we dance (but hopefully not with those Ghanaian Pall Bearers)
      ~B

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  6. Some of has have been playing musical chairs for 30+ years. They people playing the game keep changing the rules to suit them.

    This piece deserves a column in a notable media house!

    Great job Mzee. You’re always inspiring me to great extents.

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    1. I wonder if they encourage them to stay sitting while everyone dances or are they trying to encourage them to dance or return home, it’s been a long night…😂😂
      ~B

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    1. Thank you Connie

      It’s weird that sometimes I don’t know what exactly I have written until I read the comments 😂😂😂 it’s difficult to explain but thank you again
      ~B

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  10. Am wondering what inspired this Musical chair thing, it’s one that would make a good opposition pitch all over Africa

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  12. I’d choose to meet… YOU!
    You are spot on. Our parents rebelled against their parents and now they become them. Are we going to make the same mistakes? I fully believe in respect. Will I respect an elder? Most definitely. Will I respect them just because they’re older? No. Is it possible for an older person to not have my respect? Absolutely.

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  13. Your mind truly works in fascinating ways Beaton. I suppose life is a bit of a musical chairs/dance scenario. We take each step through life waiting for the next chair and suddenly we realise that our chair is looking somewhat tatty and we’re no longer young. Some of us are wiser than others at the end of the sequence. But, age didn’t always confer wisdom. Sometimes, I think the opposite can be true, we can become too entrenched in our opinions as we get older, that we can’t see, or don’t want to see the truth. That’s why I’m holding on to my Peter Pan mentality for as long as I can! Lol. Some folks never grow up…

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  14. Pingback: Of Coffee Stirred Round And Round – Becoming The Muse

  18. For me it was the subcontext that was the main issues and vice versa. Only when I got to the comments(yes, I also visit your blogs so I can read the comments lol) that I went back and reread it that I saw the funny, after the fact.

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    1. Funny story, I also read my comments to figure out the subtext and the subcontext, sometimes I dont even realise its there… I usually wont be laughing as I write but after the fact, when I read, I might.
      ~B

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