FierceWhat if I wanted to
break. Laugh it all off in your face. What would you do? --
The Kill: A Beautiful Lie
Today when Maggie got home from work I was seated at the computer,
playing HALO, and she started talking to me, and I let go the
game. We talked about groceries.
Too many times, when I am seated in that same spot, some of what
Maggie says is lost because of my focus on school work. Today, realizing
that often my attention towards Maggie is lacking, as she said she was
going to the store, I quickly left my seat, grabbing my wallet and keys
in the process, and literally made a stomping run after her to catch her
on the stairs to the garage. Before she could complete her query, "Where
are you going?" I had placed my rear end in the passenger seat of the
Oldsmobile to get to the grocery store. It's the banal that holds the
meaning that carries us through successfully in life.
In order to sit in that same Oldsmobile, I had to get up out of the
seat a stapled printing of a
four page story from the internet that described the Ngozi tribe in
southern Africa. While I began to read, Maggie summarized, stating that
this story describes the reason that we Zambians are fierce.
Fierce. The word captured me.
As we backed out of the driveway, Maggie told of how the Bemba had
given a bride to a chief of the Ngozi, and because of this, the people
of the Eastern province were considered traditional cousins of the Bemba.
The tradition carries through to present times. Because of this
relationship between the Bemba and Ngozi, there is a traditional
understanding between these two peoples. Maggie attributes the
fierceness of the Ngozi to the Bemba Bride-gift; Ngozi fierce is a
carry-over from Bemba blood.
I have seen Maggie's personal version of fierce, and I have to say
that this aspect of who Maggie is appeals to me. Maggie and I have
suffered together - we have been through truly difficult times, and it
was during these times that I have seen Maggie's fierceness bring to
bear a powerful human force that humbled those around her. There are
several examples that come to mind. Here is one.
When we were working in Lusaka, and the clinic where I was
administrator was closed due to political reasons, Maggie stood up
for me. Maggie is Zambian, and I was an outsider less than two years in
the place, and Maggie lived not a kilometer from our mutual workplace.
The closure brought local unrest, and Maggie and I were in the middle of
it. Maggie, by virtue of her being native as well as her proximity, was
much more acutely affected. People came by her house, trying to pry her
for information. People asked her what side she was on. In the local
language, people asked her to choose. Despite the odds, she chose -
fiercely - my side. It was the side that favored providing health care
to people over corrupt, political greed. Maggie was the People v. the
government of Zambia, and in the end, the People won.
Being fierce carried the day, and it always will.
