You've Been Walking Down My Street Again

Thoughts have been haphazardly wondering around my mind. They have no desire to ordered and much prefer to frolick their way into focus whenever it is most inopportune... So I've decided to inflict them upon the cyberworld...

This is a shortish novella of sorts that I started working on quite some time ago that I've been meaning to do something with - who knows what...


Two older ladies were arguing on the side of the road. In the middle of the Transkei, surrounded by goats and a couple of children, these two ladies had their fingers in each other’s faces and mouths were opening and closing at a rapid rate. This was surely an argument of gigantic proportions. Our car passed them and their emotional scene, leaving it forever behind, but I had watched them since coming around the bend. I watched the contours of their faces change as their anger bubbled to the surface. Unfortunately I couldn’t see what happened next although the fight seemed at its pinnacle, but that image of those women raising their voices and pushing each other was ingrained into my memory.

As a photographer I am constantly freezing moments into eternity and as part of believing this romanticised idea I started making mental photographs as well, and normally I am pretty good at remembering every detail if I do say so myself. The theme that attached itself to this picture was offense and brokenness. After making townships and other poverty stricken dwellings of the majority of South Africa’s population my area of special interest I have come to see that offense and brokenness are inextricably linked.

As far as I know, this monster called offense is something that is more often than not a thing that is possessed, and not thrust upon the poor unsuspecting person. We would so like to believe that when we get offended it is the other person’s fault. But it’s not! It happens to be a state of mind that we willingly grasp and cling to our bosoms, cuddling them to ourselves. We become so indignant with the offender; we thoroughly believe that they could be the cause of many of the problems in our lives. In fact, we should tell the whole world about their shortcomings, their failures, and obviously we have to let the whole world know about just how low down and loathsome they are as human beings. They are clearly not worth being friends with. Those two ladies would gladly agree with this.

This is the way that offense operates in our minds. It breeds and presents itself in such a rational and logical manner that it is rarely ever considered wrong. But it is wrong, as it never allows the person who is offended to move on, to forgive. Forgiveness is known by all and sundry to be a soothing balm for a wounded and broken spirit. Obviously then we can see that offense is the disease and forgiveness the medicine. It would incorrect to say that forgiveness is the cure because the creator of forgiveness would be quite put out and thus I point out that God is the cure, and his methods do involve a spot of forgiveness.


So these were my random thoughts - they're quite old now because my thoughts quite clearly have supped on the pleasures of Red Bull... The result is a pandemonium... pure pandemonium I tell you!!