I Am Wide Awake

As a young person, being  different from the men around me, whether family members or casual acquaintances, was not something I consciously contemplated.

I had never heard the expression “culture shock” until the days when I was getting myself prepared to immigrate to the United States of America. And that was almost 43 years ago, when friends cautioned me with words such as, “Just so you know, you will be experiencing a serious culture shock when you go to America.

After all this time, I still wonder why it took me such a long time to finally read two of the most significant and literary masterpieces in the English language that were eyeing me each time I visited our local public library.

Although I’ve been an avid user of all kinds of technological devices and instruments, I have only recently discovered the fact that I had never used or familiarized myself with one of the most instrumental and popular features of modern technology.

Before you assume differently, I know that I should finally open my eyes, and as they say, wake up and smell the coffee. Yes, I know that we are already a whole month into the new year of 2022, facing snowstorms and freezing temperatures.

I have no doubt that anyone reading even the first few sentences of this column will guess my age and they will definitely be right on the money. Yet, although I am not a kid anymore and I’ve gone through the so-called many phases of life, I do not consider myself a close-minded person.

You can always think that the world is an orderly place when growing up as a kid and surrounded by grownups who look like they know exactly what they’re talking about. 

I hope I am not being totally unrealistic or naive when I say that I honestly thought the rallying cry against the cruel, excessive and inhuman treatment of Black people who are suspected by the police of breaking the law would actually come from the white segment of our society.