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Time could be much more than money in certain contexts. Many thanks to Mr Kelechi for corroboating my viewpoint. Brother,taking on one Western name (Peter)is heavy enough. taking on two is a crushing load! The title 'Sir'makes me feel like a British Lord, a rank I can't ever aspire to even if I were reborn. You may address me Peter or Wuteh, not'Sir Peter'.
Have a great day. And see you on Saturday!
----- Original Message -----
From: Kelechi Eke <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, August 19, 2004 8:55 pm
Subject: Re: AFRICAN TIME
>
> The Bible teaches us that God is love; the world teaches us that
> love is blind. Does that make God blind? Those of us that
> believe that there is God would not think so. While I concur with
> sir Peter?s piece on this subject, for the most part, I believe
> that many Africans have misinterpreted the saying that time is money.
>
> It is quite unusual that an African would be two hours late to a
> job-related meeting - unless of course, he is working for another
> African. I will elaborate later. Therefore, we should not
> confuse African Time (A.T.) with Colored People?s Time (CPT).
> According to HighBeam Research, CPT is a concept coined to label
> some African-Americans' habitual lateness. This practice was
> believed to have developed from their feeling of oppression over
> the years. And with time, they inertly act out their anger by not
> keeping to time.
>
> A.T. on the other hand is plain Selfishness in my opinion. Most
> Africans get to work on time and are punctual to work-related
> meetings because of their awareness that no reasonable person
> urinates in the pond that he or she drinks from. As long as work
> is ?paying the bill,? A.T. would not be a factor. But when it
> comes to voluntary work or social gatherings where there are no
> compensations for time, A.T. mostly applies.
>
> It is a shame, however, that A.T.-plagued Africans would be on
> time to gatherings of their non-African counterparts. This also
> depicts that we do not take one another seriously, which is why it
> is easy for some Africans to be tardy to work if they were
> employed by another African. In Houston Texas, people have
> learned to print two different invitation cards for social
> gathering ? one with the actual start time for non-Africans and
> the other with two hours early for Africans. This is the only way
> to get both groups there around the same time. Some Africans are
> still late to such gatherings in many cases.
>
> While some make the time to contribute to this or other forums,
> others could perceive it as ?a waste of time.? The truth is: they
> are not necessarily more productive at the end of the day. You
> would be surprised how much mind-stimulating contributions this
> listserve would magnetize if contributors would get paid for
> clicking the send button J. But our time is so precious we forget
> we may be giving out more than money by taking a few minutes, like
> sir Peter has done, to enlighten others.
>
> If I did not know the organizers of this year?s Africa Fest, I
> would have advised them to ensure that the guests do not get there
> before the hosts. But that is not the case with this crew that I
> commend for all their hard work. They would agree that there have
> been occasions with other Africa-related organizations where the
> guests would be the ones waiting for the hosts. I would encourage
> all of you to show your support with your presence in celebration
> of Africa Fest 2004. America bills will be there forever and your
> time is not always money; it can be worth much more than money.
>
> Enjoy the festival,
>
> - Kelechi
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses.
>
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