Nowadays all aspects of our life seem to be explained by the polls and media. 

We get appraisals on which is ‘your’ favourite party, ‘your’ preferred American Presidential candidate, on whether ‘you’ think the government is corrupt or not, if the current Opposition has the qualities to be an alternative government, which is your favourite TV and Radio programme and whether ‘you’ prefer walking or catching a bus, to mention just a few – and after the results are out all hell will break loose if we even raise a query on these percentages!

Our lives seem to be conditioned by sampling, percentage points, trust barometers, census, surveys, market research and ratings 

But that is not what reality is about.  Life as a matter of fact is about private stories and the bread and butter issues that enthuse or knock us off our feet. 

I would like to believe that we are the ones making our own decisions, designing our own choices, determining our own destiny.

When you hear of people who are ‘killed’ on our roads like flies (with an estimated two people on average dying per month and our only snooty answer to that is that they must have been over-speeding), when we hear of people my age, at the pinnacle of their careers and when life should be serving them the best set of cards and instead passing away due to sickness, when we are faced with bad health and illness, pain and suffering - one really needs to start thinking from end to end and appreciating what life is really about and putting everything into perspective. 

Dear friends, ‘being’ should be about having fun and still doing good to self and others.  It is about that feeling that you belong and that what matters most is how hard you try and not how successful society determines that you are by its own simplistic standards, it is about having your needs met, whether physical or psychological, sexual or emotional, security or safety.  

People are content because they have money which they can spend on themselves and the people they love. 

People are cheery because they can feel good with themselves. 

Life is also about having the opportunity and the patience to walk around the town and village you live in and find the moment to saviour the smells, the sounds, the jiffy that makes up that community.  It is about feeling protected and out of harm's way.  It is about having enough time for the things that need time. 

Life is about dreaming on the next life project you have lined up.     

No, we should not allow our minds to be governed and managed by some ‘clairvoyant and forecaster’ because we are better than that.  These pseudo-institutional henchmen have a very brief shelf-life and will not make it through more than a couple of years so what matters is that you listen to your conscious and to the few people who mean well to you and not to these senseless and injudicious people. 

And how will you know that the people around you mean well? 

Simple.  Because when the push comes to shove, when everyone might be busy telling you off or having a go at you, they will be the ones that comfort you, spur you on, encourage, prompt, stimulate and they do that with an open and thoughtful heart.  Unfortunately, there are very few people out there who will be ready to read beyond your imperfections, blots and weaknesses. 

So there you go, my tip of the day: 

What the media says, what self-made prophets claim, what the so called honchos of this world tell you,  at the end of the day ‘you’ need to hear, reflect but cautiously and watchfully, vigilantly and with care -process the message.  Our responsibility lies with taking care of ourselves first and foremost and doing the right thing for and with others.  What matters most is that we live our life to the full, to try and have as much fun as decorously as possible, work hard towards the cause we believe in and do it passionately, however, lest you forget, our passage here on Earth will not last forever anyway.   .