Recently I was looking through some old stuff tucked away for years. You know, with the dust and all. That’s when I came across a stack of business cards. I never thought I had so many of them. I tried to just skim through the whole stack and believe it or not I couldn’t recall nine tenth of the names. Even of the remaining one tenth most I think I know are no more than innocent guesses. In fact those about which I’m sure wouldn’t be more than the fingers on one hand.
Now these are people I’m supposed to know or used to know. Now, let me be frank and I’m not your type of guy who mixes much. No, not the introvert sort of thing; not at all! So many of the people I came across in later years are working relations. At one time or another we have talked about work and related matters. In the process the business cards just keep piling up without you being aware of them.
But I’ve to confess seeing the names of some organizations I couldn’t help asking myself what sort of working relationships I could have had with them since the only other thing I know other than writing is, of course, writing!
Now giving your address to someone through business cards or any other means, when seen innocently, is the most harmless of gestures. Well, if things had been that easy life would have been nicer. Especially, from experience I can tell you if you’re in the writing business giving away your address comes with nice human things and a lot of not-so-nice things. Many call you up to tell you about something you wrote, criticize you for what they think is nothing but rubbish. While you can’t escape some rubbish talk in the process you know most are genuine readers or listeners.
Then there are the calls which come for all the wrong reasons. Some guy phones in the late hours of the night and says he and his friends were near your residential area drinking and to come and join them. You decline as diplomatically as you can. Many, calling after rounds and rounds of whatever they were drinking wouldn’t take “No,” for an answer.
And you scold yourself, “It was me who was the foolish one. Why in the world did I give out my private cell number?” Such talks aren’t usually ones you want to keep up with. But those hanging up on the guy would be the perfect blueprint for character assassination as you never thought it was possible.
I don’t know from where this trend comes; of course that doesn’t mean I don’t have suspicions from being informed by whispers and the like from mostly unsubstantiated sources. The jury is already in that people in the writing business, especially in journalism are supposed to be heavy drinkers.
In fact sometimes it sounds as if heavy drinking goes with the job of journalism and the writing business as a whole. And when your address is out in the open you can’t imagine the sort of stories you hear.
So talking about the business card thing a couple of months back a fellow had the business card of one of the heavyweights. And believe it or not he flashed it around like it was something unique and worth to be placed in some photo frame and displayed on the wall.
“Here, take my business card.”
“Why do I need your business card; I don’t do business with you!”
“Well it carries my address. It has my phone number, my Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
addresses and…”
“Wait a minute. Why should I need all that stuff? Just tell me your cell number and I’ll save it.”
Yes there is this breed who feels that everyone should take not only their cell numbers but also their social account addresses. Funny that flashy business cards sometimes are taken as signs of being on some elevated level whatever that means.
“Would you believe it? The guy has a business card!”
What! Anyone making such a statement is pardoned from all criticism. In fact you should feel sorry for them. They are complete strangers to how the world really works and think business cards are about status. No, they aren’t! Strange that it’s not only that you’ve a business card that counts, but also about its design. The nicer the design the more polished the person whose name appears on it. Nonsense!
“Come on, tell me your real address and I’ll drop by at the weekend.”
“I can’t tell you because I’m not sure where I’ll be next week.”
“You’re exaggerating things!”
“Had you known what it means being a tenant you wouldn’t have made that comment.” me that question?”
There was this guy who lived in such an unsightly ‘house’ none of his girlfriends ever found out about it. If a girlfriend insists he should show her his house he makes with a well-off friend and uses his house for a couple of hours; and his ‘guests’ were all eyes and
teeth. “I can’t believe it! I never knew you’ve such a wonderful house!” Finally without his ‘harmless secret’ never being found out he crossed the Atlantic and married one of his former girlfriends. I can imagine what she would say if now he told her the real story.
In recent years tens of thousands having relocated to condominiums there is a lot of rewriting when it comes to addresses.
“So where are you presently living?”
“In the Jemo area.”
“What the hell are you doing at that place? Weren’t you living in the Arat Kilo area?”
“Well, I went to Jemo and I don’t know where Arat kilo went.”
The village I live in had more to its share of notoriety over the years; and when I tell some people where I live it is like if I hit them with this suicide drones. In the Russia-Ukraine war. You could see it on their faces. “How the hell does he live in such a place?”
One thing is that however notoriously your residential area is painted when you actually live in it and when you hear the narratives about it elsewhere we’re talking about opposite stories. Maybe you become so accustomed everything around you; you know the normal/abnormal equation has been altered and you fail to see what others see. You know things that are rare to other communities but are common in yours.
Believe me and these days business cards or not unless cards is taken to whom you give away your address the world out there is not at all.
Ephrem Endale
Contributer
The Ethiopian Herald August 20/2023