On Monday this week, there was a mini party at the office. I had stepped away from my desk for a few minutes and when I returned, one of the desks nearby was heaped to the ceiling with grub. Endless packets of crisps, popcorn, cartons of juice, biscuits…the kind of ‘food’ nutritionists often advise us not to even look at if we want a long, healthy and prosperous life to be our portion.
I assumed it was someone’s birthday because once in a while, a colleague happy to get older buys cake and snacks to share with others.
But as I looked at that mountain of snacks, I couldn’t help wondering who this colleague was that had all this money to spend on the driest month of the year, at a time when the end month was busy taking its sweet time.
And so I asked, curious, ‘whose birthday is it?’ Only to find out that this was no birthday celebration, it was Arsenal fans in the house celebrating their win against Manchester United the day before - I know, I know, a football fan wouldn’t use the full name…
You should have seen my male colleagues high-fiving one another, happily drinking out of plastic tumblers filled with juice – were it allowed, I’m sure there would have been something stronger in there…
The mood was infectious, and as I looked at them, laughing and cracking jokes over their celebratory fare, it occurred to me that it is important to have in your life that one thing that excites you to no end, an activity that makes you come alive, ignites passion in you and inspires you.
Something that banishes all the worries you might have at that moment, allowing you to feel free, lighter and unencumbered by the challenges that life sometimes serves us.
I say this because in general, life as we know it is no party most of the time – some have to deal with ill health in their families, a factor that drains them financially, others periods of poverty, some deaths, many joblessness and others childlessness. In such cases, that one thing that gives you respite, if only for some time, helps you remain sane. This is something that all ardent football fans have.
I am not one, but I have observed them watching a game and cheering their teams with unbridled energy. At that moment, nothing else and no one else matters. It is them and that television set. Anything that might have been causing them sleepless nights is forgotten. It is a sight to behold.
I am not easily excitable, I’m the cool, calm and collected type, if I may say so, therefore, some of the things that others might find exhilarating rarely move me, because I’m the, “Okay, and then?” type.
After that party, though, it occurred to me that it will not hurt to identify that one thing that is enough to make me get up and scream with joy and excitement once in a while, after all, we all live once.
I am still searching if you’re wondering, and no, I don’t think football is it.
The writer is editor, Society and Magazines, Daily Nation. Email: cnjunge@
