Positive Quote For Today

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."— Maya Angelou


Reading Widely & Wisely

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With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from All About Learning Press. All rights reserved worldwide.

In 2017, I shared a blog story in which I displayed a photo of the 2006 Fire-fighting Squad of Starehe Boys' Centre, my high school. One Charles Muriithi informed me via Facebook that he was the squad commander in 2001, a year before I joined Starehe. He went on to tell me that he was working as the DCIO of Turkana North, an arid region in Kenya.

I didn't know what the term DCIO stands for, so I googled it. After some deft navigation on the internet, I landed on Wikipedia where I learnt that the term DCIO stands for Divisional Criminal Investigation Officer. And the officer is part of the Kenya Police Service.

Wikipedia gave further information on how the Kenya Police Service works. It said that the service is sub-divided into the following departments: flying Squad, anti-banking fraud unit, special crime prevention unit, anti-terrorism unit, ballistics unit, anti-narcotics unit, bomb squad, cyber forensics, forensic department and kanga squad.

The words "kanga squad" made me giggle because they sounded funny to my ears. But I quickly got serious and pondered about the crimes that the police combat. Man, we live in a fallen world for shizzle.

It has dawned on me that the most effective way to cushion ourselves from crimes is by being discerning and knowledgeable. That means we should acquire knowledge daily like our life depends on it. And, in my opinion, reading is the best method of increasing our knowledge base.

When it comes to reading, I think it's unwise to read only motivational books about how to be rich and successful. Doing so can make us unrealistic, a recipe for depression and other mental illnesses.

You see, motivational books tell us that we should just do it, that "if Obama did it, you can do it better", that "whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve", and that "whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

Such motivational quotes do contain some element of truth but if that's all we read, we are bound to become, as I have said, unrealistic. We will end up doing things that are not right for us, or doing the right things at the wrong time.

Maybe it's the tendency for some books to make us unrealistic that compels framers of school curriculum to expose students to a wide variety of knowledge. They even make maths and languages to be compulsory subjects.

Not wanting to be one of those unrealistic people, I have diversified my home library by including such books as:
  • The Holy Bible
  • Glencoe Health: A Guide to Wellness
  • The Africans by David Lamb
  • A Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (a memoir)
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
  • The Butterfly Box by Santa Montefiore (a novel)
Reading such a wide variety of books has made me, well, not as foolish as I was before! As my fellow country youths would put it in Sheng, "Hizo vitabu zimenichanua."

To prove that I have grown wiser, I recently got rid of thirteen counterfeit books that I had purchased. Some of the books, such as Michelle Obama's Becoming and Robin Sharma's The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, were very captivating.

Those counterfeit books cost me about KSh 7,000, money that I would have used to buy genuine books. Even though the genuine books would have been fewer, they would have been worth their weight in gold.

You may be asking: Why did I have to get rid of the counterfeit books? Because I believe we do authors a disservice when we purchase books that don't earn them royalties even after they expend a lot of effort in writing the books.

Now that I have only genuine books in my room, I am looking forward to acquiring more books once I start earning good money from my blogging hobby. Oh, how I enjoy reading widely and wisely!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on reading widely and wisely, you might also enjoy another one on "Books I'd Love to Read Again" which I wrote a couple of years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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Part 2: Telling the Truth

Picture related to the title of the story
With permission, I have extracted this picture-quote from Trvst. All rights reserved worldwide.

As I have confessed before on this blog, I used to tell loads of lies in the stories I shared on a blog I set up in 2013. I am glad the friends with whom I shared my blog stories never realized I often lied, and if they did, I am glad they never instructed me to stop deceiving them.

In mid-2016 when I saw the light, I resolved to never tell lies again. I made that resolution just after I rebranded this blog to what it looks like now. So I created a perfect atmosphere to start writing truthfully.

But you know what? Even though I have strived to keep my resolution, I have at times found myself chipping in a few lies here and there in an attempt to spice up my blog stories.

In December 2016 for instance, I shared a blog story in which I said that I sneaked out of Starehe Boys' Centre on Sundays during my college days in the school because I thought it wise to interact with the outside world instead of getting confined to the school throughout the week yet I was an adult, complete with a national identity card.

The truth is, I can't remember thinking that it was wise of me to interact with the outside world. In fact, I wasn't that social during my college days at Starehe. I often felt lonely while in the company of the youths that I joined in church on Sundays in my hometown of Kiserian.

Then on Christmas Day of 2017, I shared a story titled "The Thuita Doctrine®". I put the ® sign to impress my blog visitors that I had taken time to register my doctrine. And at the end of the story, I warned my readers not to quote the doctrine anywhere without my permission.

The truth is, I hadn't registered the doctrine with any relevant authority. It was untruthful of me to claim that my doctrine was registered as an intellectual property. I was just telling a lie in a way I wasn't used to.

Perhaps the most flatulent lie I have told since I rebranded this blog in 2016 was adding a ™ sign next to the blog title, "Reflections of a Young Man". I added the sign to make my blog appear special and important.

The truth is, the title of my blog wasn't trademarked. All I did to have this blog recognised as my work was registering it with the Kenya Copyright Board. The © symbol on my blog is therefore justified, but the ™ sign was inappropriate.

You see, this blog is like a book where I share my thoughts. And I don't see many authors adding a ™ sign next to their book titles.

Peter Mwaura, the public editor of "Nation" (Kenya's leading newspaper), once advised me that it is improper to trademark ordinary words like "Reflections of a Young Man". Despite his advice, I persisted in displaying the ™ sign on my blog.

Early last week, an inner voice whispered to me that I get rid of the ™ sign on my blog. The voice made me swing into action. Sooner rather than later, removing the sign became an obsession.

Because I had put the ™ sign in all my blog pages, removing it ate into my time. But in the end, not seeing the ™ sign on my blog satisfied me. At last, I am not deceiving my readers that my blog title is trademarked.

Apart from removing the ™ sign, I have also corrected other lies I have told in my blog stories. Part of correcting lies has been acknowledging the people whose words, ideas and images I have used in my stories.

And why have I taken the effort to correct the lies? Because I reason that since people spend time and money to visit my blog, they deserve to hear the truth. Furthermore, I understand that the more truthful we are, the more others relate to our stories.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on telling the truth, you might also enjoy part 1 of the story which I wrote several years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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Latest Stories

Reading Widely & Wisely
on December 12, 2024

Part 2: Telling the Truth
on December 07, 2024

Growing Through Challenges
on December 02, 2024

Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Nationality: Kenyan
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just For Laughs

There was this drunkard named Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination. So I am trying to enjoy each day as I anticipate to fulfill my dreams especially meeting my soulmate and traveling abroad. Tomorrow may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tip

So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help to give you that greatest blessing of all - good health.


Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

Great Example for Politicians

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Computers & Radios
  6. Anesthetics
  7. The atom bomb

My Supreme Desire

Although I'd like to be rich and famous, my supreme desire is to be radiant: to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without hate, guilt, worry, jealousy, cynicism and envy. I wish to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so and to treat all men with kindness - to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)