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Day 140

Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either. – Aesop

It’s 9: 51 PM on day 140 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bun and chicken for brunch while watching TV, send my reverend an email telling him about my campaign – he replied back a few hours later saying that he admired my efforts and somehow I didn’t think he got what I was getting at so I sent him a more direct email with another link attached whilst making it clear to him that I would understand if he said no – I sure hope that he makes a donation though 🙂 – feed myself Litchis for dinner – as I was eating the litchi I remembered the chicken I had for brunch and I was mortified because I remembered that today was supposed to be meat-free Monday – oh well I guess just for this week I can do it on Tuesday LOL 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – I thought I was going to cry I sent out tweet after tweet after tweet with no luck and eventually I decided to call it a day 🙁 – and exercise for 5 minutes.

A few months ago I had watched a documentary on Al Jazeera about Somalian pirates and why they do what they do and despite my best efforts not to I began to feel a great deal of empathy for them – these men had no food, water, shelter or clothing – and I thought to myself maybe there’s a huge gray area between and wrong, but today as I watched two South African families pleading with the Somalian pirates for the safe return of their loved ones on the 7 o’clock news I realized that there’s never a right reason to do the wrong thing. When you do something that you know you’re not supposed to, do you only see your side of the truth?

Day 139

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Holy books of every religion are designed to lead humanity in humanity in the right direction – that’s what I learned today 🙂

It’s 9: 00 PM on day 139 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, go to church – it was the weirdest thing I felt like the sermon was meant just for me our reverend was saying stuff like sometimes you’ve got to do what makes you uncomfortable because you know it’s the right thing to do and even with that directly prompt from God I couldn’t do it and for the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to disappoint God – it was the WORST feeling ever 🙁 – go visit my cousin who was leaving for university – I thought I would cry because I suddenly had flashbacks of the little boy who nobody thought would grow past the 1 meter mark LOL 🙂 – feed myself Nina’s Pizza – for lunch – I had never seen anything quite like it, it was a square- shaped pizza with four different kinds of toppings in each row – best pizza I’ve tasted in a long time 🙂 – go visit my other cousin – she told us a few days ago that she’s moving – everybody’s leaving must be something in the water 🙁 – and feed myself Chapati – an unleavened flatbread – and chicken curry for for dinner and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no luck I must do something different before time runs out and I need another extention but the question is what.

Today as I sat in church trying to drown-out the words of our reverend which by the fifth minute of the sermon had already started needling at my very soul I heard him say today’s reading is taken from Romans 12: 9 – 21 (see below) and despite the fact that I was really annoyed with my reverend I decided to listen because I felt that God deserved my full attention and looking back now I am so glad I did because I realize that the words uttered by God in those twelve verses applied to people of all religions, not just Christians. Are you guided by the words of your holy book or the pursuit of wealth? 🙂

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Day 138

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The hardest part about alive is that people will never get to see life through your eyes – that’s what I learned 🙁

It’s 8: 32 PM on day 138 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bun and chicken nuggets for breakfast, go visit some people – I was SO board 🙁 – feed myself crumbed fish for lunch, and feed myself mangoes for dinner and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – still no luck 🙁

Today we went to visit a family in our community to bid their eldest son goodbye – he is leaving for college tomorrow – and although they said everything and did to make us feel welcome every time the aunty turned to talk to me I could hear the change in the tone of her voice – she spoke to me like she would a five-year-old – I smiled ,nodded and played along for the duration of the time that I was there, but as soon as I got home I went to my room, shut the door behind me and cried into my pillow for the way I would never be treated. Do you ever wish that you could borrow your perspective to everybody around you? 🙁

Day 137

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The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept. – John W. Gardner

It’s 8: 59 PM on day 137 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – someone promised to make a donation – YAY!! 🙂 – feed myself bun and chicken for breakfast, feed myself rice and curry for lunch, went to physiotherapy – I know there’s no cure for Cerebral Palsy but I feel like I’ve turned a corner with my health before I use to exercise on a daily bases just to tell my physiotherapist that I did but now I do it for myself because I know there’s nothing in it for her 🙂 – watch TV and feed myself Custard for dinner.

Today I was thinking a lot about make-up and beauty and wondering if I was the only woman in the world who felt completely comfortable in my own skin without any make-up on so I asked my followers on Twitter can you go a week without wearing make-up and to my amazement my older more mature followers said I do so quite often whilst my younger more inexperienced followers said I don’t think so which led me to the conclusion that when you have confidence you don’t need to hide behind a mask. Do you go along just to get along or do you ask questions that others wouldn’t even dream of? 🙂

Day 136

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When you’re finished changing, you’re finished. – Benjamin Franklin

It’s 10: 19 PM on day 136 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself grapes for breakfast, email someone for a donation – it didn’t quite work out 🙁 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, watch TV, exercise for 10 minutes and feed myself Malva Pudding – a sweet pudding of Dutch origin – for dinner and tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made today but God knows it wasn’t for the lack of trying 🙂

A few days ago my brother pointed out to me that my 20^th birthday was fast approaching and in that moment I thought I was going to hurl not because I have a fear of aging but because I didn’t feel like I was making any progress in my life – I still need help going to the bathroom and bathing – but then I realized that every birthday is an opportunity to improve myself and with that I was grateful once again. Do you embrace change or resist it? 🙂

Day 135

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Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.
Jonathan Swift

It’s 9: 49 PM on day 135 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, update the information on the posters that @sapphire100 (Emma) and @laura_FilanFan (Laura) are planning to use for the fundraiser – all I can say is thank God for ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ otherwise it would have taken me 7 days as opposed to 3 hours to do everything that needed to be done – watch an episode of the Dr. Phil Housewives – it’s amazing how miserable we end up when our perception of ourselves does not match other people’s perception of us – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made to my campaign today but I will scream loud and long and eventually people will make donations just to shut me up LOL 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, help my brother with his homework, feed myself bun and chicken nuggets for dinner and exercise for 15 minutes.

Yesterday sitting at our dining table staring at the beautiful trees and flowers through the window I thought to myself why am I smiling so much I’m nineteen – soon-to-be twenty – broke, jobless and living with my parents and after a couple of seconds I replied to my own thought saying it won’t be like this for long. Does your vision for the future give you hope in the present? 🙂

Day 134

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Follow your heart, but be quiet for a while first. Ask questions, then feel the answer. Learn to trust your heart.
— Author Unknown

It’s 9: 06 PM on day 134 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, edit all the information about my campaign on the different social networks – it was a tedious task, but somebody had to do it 🙂 – feed myself bun and chicken nuggets for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made to my campaign today but hey I still 405 days left to go LOL 🙂 – feed myself banana for lunch, exercise for 10 minutes and feed myself rice and curry for dinner.

In today’s society you have to take everything you hear and read with a boat-load of salt that’s way I decided to ask my friend if the rumours of her flunking out of university and going back to India to complete her studies were true or not and her response surprised me she said you’re the first person to ask me that question directly, thank you and in that moment I realized that growing up is taking what your elders say under advisement – my parents had instructed me not to ask her about her educational status – and making up your own mind. Do you follow your heart or other people’s advice? 🙂

Day 133

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We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

It’s 10: 44 PM on day 133 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself Batura – deep fried bread –for breakfast, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made to my campaign today but on the plus side I just found out three hours ago that my campaign has been extended from March5th 2011 to March 5^th 2012– I feel like jump for joy too bad I can’t LOL 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, exercise for 20 minutes and feed myself bun and chicken nuggets for dinner – I forgot it was meat-free for a second and accidently ate chicken LOL although I suppose 2/3 is not too bad for my first attempt 🙂

A few weeks ago I read a blog post called 10 Ways To Go Green And Save Green by @JustDiii (Dian) and subsequently made a commitment to eating three meatless meals every Monday, but one thing led to another and soon I had forgotten all about it until I read How do human CO₂ emissions compare to natural CO₂ emissions by Gpwayne this morning and realized that the future of the planet depended on what we did in the present. Have you ever wondered what would become of our children’s children if we depleted all of Earth’s natural resources? 🙁

Day 132

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You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. ~ Clay P. Bedford

It’s 10: 02 PM on day 132 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, go to church – I didn’t go up there and tell the congregation about my campaign not because I chickened-out but because I wanted to wait until I heard back from the Firstgiving team as to whether my campaign would be extended or not – hopefully they’ll get back to me but next Sunday so I can make the announcement then 🙂 – feed myself a KFC Twister – a wrap consisting of chicken strips and salad – for breakfast – my sister had to help me out a little because every time I tried to do it the contents of the wrap would fall out from the bottom but that’s okay sometimes asking help shows your strength rather than your weakness 🙂 – tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours – no donations were made today 🙁 – and exercise for 5 minutes.

Growing up I didn’t see the point in going to school, but today when Kate – my friend on Twitter – told me that she could relate to my story because her twenty-one-year-old daughter suffered from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome to which I asked what’s Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and a few minutes later she replied a connective tissue disorder and it was in that moment that I finally understood that the primary purpose of an education is not to teach Math, Science or Biology, but rather to instil in you the confidence to absorb as well as question all the information that you receive. Do you still possess the thirst for knowledge that you acquired in the classroom? 🙂

Day 131

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People will not look to change the suffering they do not feel – that’s what I learned today 🙁

It’s 7: 14 PM on day 131 of my journey towards independence and I’ve managed to brush my teeth, feed myself bread and egg for breakfast, email the Firstgiving team – I wanted to get my campaign extended to raise more money for The Water Project 🙂 – email The Water Project – I couldn’t find the video links I needed for the water party I’m planning – hopefully they’ll get back to by Monday 🙂 – feed myself rice and curry for lunch, tweet about my Clean Water For All Campaign for a few hours –no donations were made today, but I did get listed under the environmental section of the Groovy News Network – Thanks Kate 🙂 – exercise for 10 minutes and feed myself rice and curry for dinner.

Today I asked this guy on Twitter – I won’t mention his name – to organize a water party and donate the proceeds to my campaign and a few minutes later he replied back saying I don’t even know you and as I read that I thought to myself do you need to know someone to help them and in that moment I realized that the fundamental problem with today’s society is its inability to feel empathy. Are you able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes? 🙂