Years ago when I lived in West Africa, I learned to speak Guinean Creole, a cross section of Portuguese and a tribal dialect. It remains one of my favorite “Peace Corps Takeaways” because a) it’s neat to speak a language that almost no one in the world understands; and b) to a person who loves words, the language has a fundamentally huge “cool factor” to it. Why? Because by slipping in a two-letter word (“ba”), an entire Creole sentence changes from present to past tense. With a different teeny word set (n’na bim ba), Guineans can launch a whole thought into the future tense.
Super cool, right?
I think so. But that’s just me.
It was the colloquialisms that I admired most about the Guinean language. Much like we say things like “super cool,” Guineans have their own set of cultural quips that are rooted in their native tongue but that also transcend geography and time. For example, “Djitu ka tem?” is frequently accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders and means, “What can you do?” Another favorite (and one that creeps into my consciousness more often than not these days) is: “Bu ka tene vergonha?” Translated, it means: Have you no shame?
Vergonha. Shame. One of the very best tools to use as a life cursor.
I am not certain if it is my generation, American culture/society, social media, the political mess or the media’s constant spinning and screaming of the news. But I feel that “shame” has left the stage and we could all benefit from its re-entry. Not because shame is a good thing. But because the feeling of it is the best deterrent from perpetuating bad things.
People used to be able to live within a margin of error. In more simple terms, people could go about their daily business (living, breathing, working, socializing, etc.) without the rest of the world sitting in judgment upon it. At least, it seemed so. (I’m getting older so it’s possible that my memory is beginning to soften.) Today, it seems that people’s best is no longer good enough. Intention doesn’t matter; purpose doesn’t matter. Perception does matter but only by the superficial lens. Truth gets chewed up and spat out while people push their way to the front of the line of… where? Where is everyone headed? To the front of the line of… what?
I am guessing that at the end of the Self Rainbow, there are accolades. A pot of gold that glitters with shiny compliments, maybe monetary delights. I don’t know. That’s not the rainbow I follow. I am chasing a rainbow. I am looking for color, for prism, for light. Even in my 40s, I am still chasing the leprechaun behind the Juniper tree- the little fellow that promised that if you do good, good things will follow you.
We’re all going to end up at the same finish line, in the same end zone, at the same final curtain call… at the end of a rainbow.
What are we searching for?
