Fellow "L'ers", today I heard a saying from someone
who is a Kenyan.  To be exact, from someone who is a
member of the Masai tribe in Kenya.  The saying goes


"I AM, BECAUSE YOU ARE.  AND YOU ARE, BECAUSE I AM."

And it was explained to me that, it means that we are
all inter-dependant.  And that our collective welfare,
depends on the individual welfare of each one of us.
As such, we can only fare well as a collective body if
and only if, each unit member of that collective body
fares well.

Hence, it is in our own interest to ascertain that the
person next to us fares well; especially when there is
a close connection to that person such as family,
friendship, neighborhood, community, and a shared
origin such as that of people from the same country.

Therefor, it is our duty to ascertain that others in
our family, in our community, in our country, etc, are
faring well.  For if not for moral reasons, for the
fact that in the full circle of things, our own
success and welfare to a certain extent (however
slight) depends on it.

THUS, I HOPE THAT GAMBIANS WILL REMEMBER THAT, IN THE
FULL CIRCLE OF THINGS, WHATEVER THEIR NEIGHBORS, THEIR
FRIENDS, THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS, AND THEIR FELLOW
COUNTRYMEN BACK HOME ARE GOING THROUGH, WILL HAVE AN
EFFECT ON THEM SOMEHOW.  SUCH EFFECTS CAN BE MENTAL,
PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, ECONOMIC, ETC, ETC.  BUT IN
WHATEVER FORM, REST ASSURED THAT IN THE FULL CIRCLE OF
EVENTS, AS THE MASAI SAY "I AM BECAUSE YOU ARE, AND
YOU ARE BECAUSE I AM."

And this, ladies and gentlemen, I totally believe
because how happy can be the rich man who lives
directly across, and everyday is confronted by, the
sight of the neighbor whose starving children are laid
down on the courtyard dying from hunger?


=====
"NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION"

                       ALSO

"NOTHING IS UNACHIEVABLE, THE ONLY QUESTION IS, WHETHER ONE IS WILLING TO DO WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE WHAT IS DESIRED"

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------