i close my eyes so i can see...

It’s Friday, and I am up in arms. It’s also Friday, and I’m sated.

Let’s start with the sated, naturally. The beauty of being in a small town is I think the concept of the market day. I used to read back in the day those old African writ novels, talking about women really psyched up for market day. Come the day, houses were cleaned extra early, food for the kids prepared way in advance and at sunrise the journey began to the local marketplace. I think that still happens na huko ndani ndani… Me, I wait for 10am when the sun is up and scorching. Not too wise a move of course, but oh well. 

So in my hometown our market days are on Friday. Well, and Sunday, but that Sunday one is for food, and not at all as interesting. So Friday, like Friday needed any help getting awesomer… Anyhow, I went to the market today for the first time since I got back, it was hot as hell, but definitely worth it. And I got to do a few other things I’d been putting off on account of the heat. Yes, it’s that serious. No, I must not be joking. Or yes, maybe I just dislike leaving the house. It was worth it though, I got to buy a few more clothes I don’t really need with money I don’t really have… Ah!! Gotta love life….

Now unto the up in arms part. Here I am, totally minding my own business finally browsing through my newsfeed, still sated. Now, I am generally skeptical about most things I see on the internet, because many people will say anything for a million likes (I’m looking at you, those who tell us liking a photo will raise a dollar for whatever. Is that usually true? I feel like it should be a lot harder than that, getting a dollar, but what do I know right?) Anywho, so I see this totally horrifying picture of a man burnt to death. You know how after an accident and  they want to show the footage the news anchor somberly warns us that some photos may be really graphic? Yeah, those warnings are for me usually. 

I wish I could unsee that picture. But then I also don’t want to. Because I’ve kept silent on this gay human rights issue for too long. Maybe because I’ve got gay friends I’d give my kidney and part of my liver for. I refuse to think about them as gay I guess, I just don’t see that part of their lives. It’s just a thing in the air I don’t at all register. Would it be simpler if they weren’t, I don’t know, I guess… it’s always easier when you don’t have a face to attach to a concept, so that it’s just something you abstractly know about…

Anyway, last year Uganda’s parliament passed that controversial ‘Kill the Gays’ bill, it’s just awaiting the President’s assent, which assent he seems reluctant to give for some reason. I don’t want to get into all that; I wish to not thrust my foot into my mouth at this time. :) :) :) So that’s what captioned the offensive photo. Maybe he was burnt for other reasons; maybe he was burned for being gay. But Christ, HE WAS BURNED!!!! with people watching!! Who does that? It’s a human being; it’s a human being, goodness… What did he do that was so bad you’d stand there and watch him burn? 

(exit outrage, enter normal)

Nonetheless, I think: homophobia is a load of hogwash… you can’t put me right up there with racists and xenophobes, simply because I’m not comfortable with same gender PDA… I’m not a homophobe, I’m normal, jeez!!! Though I suppose if I burned you to death or passed a law to imprison you, yeah, I could start to believe you have a point. I think those activists may be being counterproductive towards themselves, calling everyone who doesn’t raise their banner and laud them a homophobe. If you kill, hate or ‘correctively rape’ another human being for being gay, you’re a bad person. Like how they did all three to Eudy Simelane. If you just prefer to not have it shoved in your face, not so much. There’s a big difference.

The beauty of writing for no one in particular is that there are no deliverables. You can just stop, without concluding, or making all the sense in the world. Though I suppose this might count as some conclusion. Well then, Beracchah rests.