GUILTY AS CHARGED

I do not consider myself a snoopy person. I very much like to mind my own business. But once in a while when a chance presents itself I like to bring out my bad side. It’s a one-time misuse of ‘all work and no play makes jack a dull boy’. So it’s only fair that the bad boy in me comes out to play. It’s nothing nasty. I promise.

So am driving home last evening. Ok, let me rephrase that. I am driving home in a ‘matatu’ last evening. And there is a lady in the seat just before mine holding up her phone. Undisturbed that some peeping Tom behind her is exploring the privacy of her phone. Some good Christian thought whispers in my mind “Mind your own business Joseph”

But almost in quick succession in a battle to win my mind, there is this loud voice in my head.

“It’s a long way home, we have to find a way to beat this traffic, now don’t we?”

Who am I to say no? So I quickly turn my eyes to binoculars mode and brace myself for something nice and hopefully naughty. She seems to have a secret mission of entertaining my eyes as she goes direct to her messages.

“Dear, how do are you doing, did you complete the errands that you were to run? If not let me know when you are done.” The text reads. Then she starts to type a reply.

 “Not a bad start” I tell myself. I confirm the sender to make sure it is from one of the opposite sex. Otherwise, this conversation would be as good as over.

 “Yes, I am now done, on my way to the estate.” Until now you might me wondering what the big deal is. So, I couldn’t see her face but from her hands I could tell she was a fairly older lady. Much older than my mum.

“What sheer luck of manners!” you might think. Its ok, am guilty as charged. So just before she hits the send button she seems to have a quick thought. She deletes the message and starts typing again.

“Hello Dear, am doing good, am done with what I was doing and am now on my way to the estate. Thanks very much for your concern.” If you don’t realize the difference between the two then there is definitely a problem.

With the current changes in technology, texts messages have become a major way of how we communicate to those we love or share affection with. The difference is the platform on which you do the texting. At least we can now tell who took composition seriously back at school. Dictation not so much, thanks to autocorrect. I believe that how you draft that text or that reply really matters. Your partner on the other side has no way of knowing the emotion with which the text was written. It all depends on how you choose to communicate it. Emoji’s have been of much help as far as expressing emotions is concerned.

Therefore, for me I believe that sliding in sweet names is always an additional blow of much needed oxygen to fern that love flame that keeps the both of you going. The following two texts will be interpreted differently but can be sent to mean the same thing.

“Darling, I am ok”

“I am ok”

I believe the second statement contains some level of doubt of whether the sender is really ok. But, the presence of the word darling in the first serves as an assurance of some sort. (And talking of assurance listen to Assurance-Davido)

Written communication requires a lot of skill. It’s like negotiating peace with a group of gun men, with a gun pointed at your head. You just have to be careful what you say. Or maybe that’s a bit overboard but I want to believe you still get the point. When it comes to that special someone, take your time after drafting a message and think of how the other person will view it. We may not all be talented in wording but always remember, writing is not like taking. The recipient cannot tell your tone or emotion. So do your best and choose your words right and do not be afraid to add one more word to get it just right. Plus, a sweet word will never be read negatively so drop as many as you can the next time you text him or her.