No Fear

Banners recently cropping up around Mtwara, "Gas first, life later"

I remember one of those No Fear t-shirts I used to wear when they were cool, for a few months at least; "Everyone who lives dies, but not everyone who dies has lived".  I took it to heart.  I've done plenty of "living".  Not many give death a lot of thought, but I've mulled it over plenty.  It's inevitable.  Everyone who has every been, will die.  You will die, I will die.  I may be a cold hearted bastard, but I honestly don't understand why people haven't really come to grips with the whole death chestnut.  You'd think we'd be used to the concept by now.  I guess not knowing how you'll leave the party bothers some.  Could be a plane crash, I certainly spend enough time in those metal tubes bouncing all over the globe.   Statistically I'm far more likely to bite the bullet in a car, or on public transport in some third world country.  Ride a bujaji and you'll understand.  Could be some long drawn out affair with disease, something the WHO has warned us about but I didn't bother with the shots, some parasite picked up from somewhere in Africa, some mosquito born illness, or some nasties getting into my blood stream, and there's always cancer.  Fucking cancer.  And then there's cerebral malaria and AIDs taking their fair share to the netherworld. Of course one hopes the reaper is just good old age.  Who wouldn't mind living a full life and to pass on gently while asleep? Perhaps something more dramatic will take me, something exciting the grandkids and nephews can talk about, like a hungry pack of lions simply looking for nourishment, or an angry elephant thrashing my broken torso against a tree, ending my life in spectacular glory on my safari in two weeks time, or some black mamba I regretfully step on, and who could blame the mamba?  Last year, rioting on our route from the airport to our hotel in Mtwara, an honest to goodness witch doctor driven horde pulled the driver from a Lory and beat him to death, and my co-workers in the SUV behind barely managed to escape, suffering only broken windows from rocks thrown in anger.  This Wednesday, two days time, there will be an announcement about whether the proposed gas plant will be built here or in Dar es Salaam.  All the shops will be closed, all the roads will be barricaded.  I've seen the mass texts to the locals threatening violence.  I don't relish the idea of a machete welding mob stopping us on our way to work, or perhaps storming our hotel, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it either.  Not quite as exciting as getting eaten by a lion, but it'll make a good story.  It's difficult to imagine this peaceful, friendly village turning violent, but anyone with experience in Africa will tell you things can turn ugly quickly, I've seen the burning road blocks and heard the first hand accounts of attacks on vehicles.   Still, keep your head down and be smart.   I think you'll find we waste a lot of time, effort and stress worrying about things that never happen.  Better to just enjoy yourself, appreciate life, deal with whatever crops up as it crops up, and accept, someday, it's your turn.