T. R. Okuna Profile picture
Dec 19, 2020 12 tweets 3 min read Read on X
When my mother was getting married to my old man, she had one demand: She would not marry/live with an alcoholic man. She was saved. So they married, & 3 weeks into the marriage my old man went to a busaa (local brew) joint & drowned a gallon. Came home staggering drunk...
My mother welcomed him. Fed him. Put him in bed. Packed her bags. Left for her father's home very early in the morning. She was not going to live with an alcoholic man. That was that! When my old man awoke, his wife was nowhere to be found...
He searched here, searched there. My mother had left. My old man decided he was going to marry another woman. He went looking but all the women he found had faults. Too lazy. Too dirty. My old man was frustrated.
He sent emissaries. He quarreled. He cajoled. My mother's mind was made up. It had been a month. Her father had already enrolled her in a teacher's college. She was not going to live with an alcoholic man. My grandfather - my father's father - supported her. She was a good woman.
He finally gathered courage. Went to my mother's home. 1st thing my grandpa (maternal) said was that his daughter was not an orphan. That she was a young beautiful woman with a whole life ahead of her. And if she didn't want a drinking man, she was going to get just that.
My father had to part with one more cow and 5 goats. As I speak, from the day I was born to date, I have never seen my old man near alcohol. They grew together from being rice farmers to being university dons. Mom a librarian. Lesson. People give you what you are willing to take.
Nobody will give you more than you are willing to take. If I give you less than you deserve, and you stay for it, you deserve exactly that. If you deserved better, you would get better. I am exactly what you deserve. You don't choose what you meet, but you choose what to keep.
No woman can give me any less than I deserve. I have spent very sad nights alone over a woman's betrayal. But I knew I wasn't going to take her back no matter how much it hurt. I knew that I could not control what she did, but I had the power of response. I finally overcame her.
That is why I am not afraid to treat my partner right. Because I take no crumbs from partners either. I will bleed, I will mourn, I will bawl, I will even convulse, but I will get over you. That is my power. That is why no woman can treat me like a pauper. You do you, I'll do me.
That was the point of the thread. That if you are receiving less than you feel you are giving, man or woman, it is not your job to try to change the other party, it is your job to find better. You teach people how to treat you by how you treat yourself.
If you are okay with crumbs, and there is no threat of repercussions, crumbs are what you'll get: Man or woman, no one has your welfare in mind better than you do. If I am toxic, it is not an accident. It is not cowardice. I do it because I can get away with it.
I'll teach my son/daughter. That it is not your job to rescue people from foolishness. Especially, when you are giving your best. You must let them go. One's destiny was not tied to the other. They will change when there is something valuable enough to fear losing. You're not it.

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More from @XivTroy

Apr 29
It's the knowledge that I could be alone if I wanted. But I picked my person, because of a value/connection I could not find with someone else (or alone). And that sustaining that value demands responsibility on my part. That I made the decision to be with her. It's not a prison.
2ndly:

I have a grounded identity outside of relationships. I enjoy cooking just as much as I enjoy playing football. Therefore, I do not assess women's appeal from a needs perspective. If I invite one into my life it's because I really really like them. No mistakes.
3rd:

I do not come from a materially privileged background. It's a miracle I made It out of my village. So I decided a long time ago to do my best to change that reality for me & my people. So I have no energy or time for side shows. I can't afford it.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 16
I recently had to let a woman I thought I'd marry go. We had everything going for us: Both loved reading, nature, teetotalers, & fitness enthusiasts but, I got tired of not being trusted. Always being accused of things I didn't do, trying to mend insecurities I didn't cause.
This is the woman I've been most honest with in life: Anyone who knows me knows how secretive I get. A woman I talked to daily for not less than an hour despite the distance & never suffered boredom for it. But I was a villain from the get-go: Men cheat & lie, so I did. Or would.
& You know, I have been around as a man. So I used to tell her, "Look, this doesn't happen; we don't happen. This connection we have... it is not an everyday thing" Out there people struggle to finish conversations after 2 weeks of knowing each other. We'd done it for years.
Read 9 tweets
Feb 28
Polygamy is so misrepresented in modern African literature. It was not simply a 'patriarchal' imposition because men were irredeemably horny & greedy. In drought-prone areas, it was a resilience mechanism. More hands were also needed for subsistence farming.
You also have to understand standardized, modern medicine was absent; more kids meant better continuity potential. You needed as many children as you could to guarantee that at least 2 or 3 will make it to adulthood & survive the clan.
It is not a sanitization of the system. I do not think polygamy is either wrong or right. It arose from the prevailing exigencies of its time. We have since gravitated towards monogamy, which I suspect in about 100 years will be considered to have been quite lame.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 10
Let me give you an experience I had for context:

Some time back, I was seeing someone who is in - relatively - the upper echelon of public service. She had an interview for a new job. We are driving - a few days to the interview - & she receives a call.
She picks it up & it's a group call by her friends & her supervisor, coaching her for the interview. They were also to meet later for a mock interview session. A few minutes later, 2 dudes called. They were also offering her critical tips on how to ace the interview.
I admit, I was more than a little jealous. Until then I was one of the primary purveyors of the "women hate each other" sentiment. The friends also doubled as chama mates. Where they invested in some properties. I looked at myself, reviewed my life, & it occurred to me:
Read 9 tweets
Feb 10
The reason I say men are their own problems is this:

1. Men mock men for getting cheated on.
2. Men mock men for getting abused by their wives.
3. Men won't develop other critical values - or front anything but money to women & then claim women only love them for their money.
4. Men will get money & defile their marriages. Then lose the money & get left; then claim they were only loved for their money.

5. Men start a business, & center sexual favors as the primary employment criteria, at the expense of qualified males. The victims will fault women.
6. Men do not wish to protest against any disproportionate systemic imposition/injustice but will fault women for protesting. In fact, the only time men rally together lately is for a drink & women. When it's time to protest, everyone for themselves.
Read 7 tweets
Feb 4
Not a thought process; more of an epiphany. Something unexpected they do that leaves you gaping. They decide it for you. I'll tell a little story of my experience:

Me & A came from the same village. We'd been dating about 3 years. She worked & schooled in the coast...
... I was in Ukambani.

February arrives, she has a break, she comes over to Kitui. We decide to travel home together to see our people. Her home was less than 2 kilometers from mine, so we'd meet on the railway line in the evening.

Valentines comes, I had some money to spare.
It wasn't much, as I'd also just started working but I wanted to get her something.

We met up on Valentines, I'd not been able to run to the city because of commitments at home, but I assured her I had a present in mind, & I'd get it for her the next day when I went to town...
Read 15 tweets

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