A Positive Quote for Now

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


Growing Pains

A True Story
by
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
With permission, I've extracted this picture-quote from Quotlr. All rights reserved worldwide.

When I was applying to four top American colleges in 2006, I had my high school physics teacher describe me as "an exceptionally intelligent, caring, mature and balanced young man" in a recommendation letter I mailed to the colleges. I lifted that description from a book titled How to Get into the Top Colleges.

Looking back, I've realized I've not been mature and balanced as I wanted the colleges to believe. If I had been, I wouldn't have gone astray at JKUAT, a local university I enrolled in May 2007 following my rejection by the American colleges.

Honestly, I don't know what was going on in my head as I hung around JKUAT in August 2008 while my family worried sick about me, something I did again when I was at the University of Nairobi (UoN) in 2011. To think that I could behave that immaturely!

Even after dropping out of UoN later in 2011, I kept behaving immaturely. One Friday night that year for instance, I slept on our farm for a reason unclear to me now. But I remember lying to Mum that I was from church when I went back to the house in the morning.

Not one to be fooled, Mum told me I had slept on our farm and then added that she would spend the day dozing in her shop because of me. I didn't get to know if she dozed but as for me, terrible guilt assailed me that day. It was like the whole world was condemning me.

Since old behaviors die hard, I did some other foolish deeds as time wore on, like meddling in my friends' affairs, reacting in anger to minor provocations, sending annoying messages to some people and gloating at the misfortune of a former schoolmate.

Now that I've grown wiser, I'm striving to be mature and balanced as I wanted the American colleges I applied for admission in 2006 to believe I was. I've been trying to act responsibly, empathize with other people's problems and listen to criticism without letting it get to me.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "Maturing Up Mentally".
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Remembering a Math Teacher

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Jan 25, 2021
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
Mr. Samuel Obudho.

The head of math department and the Form 3 senior master during my time at Starehe Boys' Centre, Mr. Obudho was one of the teachers who propelled the school to excellence by holding teachers to high standards of performance.

I vividly remember the morning in 2004 when he came to our Form 3 class and I voiced a complaint about our literature teacher, a lovely lady called Miss Gathige. But I can't remember what I said.

A day or two later, Miss Gathige told us Mr. Obudho had questioned her. That was how he held teachers to high standards of performance. Oh, Miss Gathige asked us who had reported her and some classmates told her it was me!

Certainly because of his duties as the head of math department and the Form 3 senior master, Mr. Obudho taught only one class, a Form 4 class. When I got into fourth form in January 2005, it was our class he taught.

I became one of his favorite students, probably because I was good at math. He once asked me to go to the blackboard and solve a problem that was troubling my classmates. Believe it or not, I solved it.

That I was good at math is apparent now when I remember the day Mr. Obudho came to our class and handed out some scripts he had marked. When I got mine and saw I had scored over 80%, I almost danced for joy.

Come 2006, Mr. Obudho went to teach in another school. A few weeks or so before he left, he asked me how I'd done in his subject in KCSE exams when we met in Starehe. He must have been pleased when I told him I had scored an 'A'.

Several years later when I was walking in the streets of Nairobi, I spotted someone who looked like Mr. Obudho on the move. But I didn't approach him to introduce myself, a weakness I've had when in low spirits.

For some years, I had wondered what became of him. Part of my curiosity was quenched last year when I heard on Facebook that he had passed away. Till we meet again, keep resting in peace my beloved math teacher - Mr. Samuel Obudho!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "Four Teachers I Liked".
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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
Marital status: Single
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 called 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; I have therefore given up the things that weighed me down and I am now living my life to the fullest because the tomorrow I had always hoped to live my dreams 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 Tips

"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 give you that greatest blessing of all - good health."

~From Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

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

The Kind of Leaders We Need

"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. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow the words of Elbert Hubbard, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and 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)