Daniel is a very charming guy. For most of his adult life, he had been a playboy. He enjoyed flirting with different women and had multiple girlfriends. He always moved from one, two, three, or even four relationships to others without necessarily wanting commitment. He had a stable job, a house, and a car, and most of the women he dated saw him as the ideal man to settle down with and build a family. But settling down was never Daniel’s priority. As time passed, though, most of his friends got married. His circle of unmarried friends became smaller. And frankly, age was beginning to catch up with him. And I suspect peer pressure, too. So eventually his priorities changed. He became interested in finding a meaningful relationship and someone with whom he could build a future. But wanting a serious relationship and knowing how to spot genuine love and affection were two completely different things. For three consecutive years, he had a relationship with three different women...
A long time ago, I worked in a small town in northern Uganda, in Kitgum District. There, I once met a guy named Kidega. Kidega told us a story about two men who were walking along a village footpath somewhere in rural Kitgum. Village footpaths are usually paths where people can walk or ride a bicycle or motorcycle, but not drive a vehicle. Because people use these paths so often, the grass wears down, and the path itself is mostly bare ground. On either side, the grass can be quite tall during the rainy season, while in the dry season it is normally dry and a bit bare. So, Kidega told us about these two men walking along one of these village footpaths. As they walked, they saw a man some distance ahead of them pulling a goat on a rope. The two men were friends, and one of them was a teacher. The other man looked at the teacher and said in Acholi: “Lapwony, dyel eni mwode.” Loosely translated into English, he was saying: “Teacher, this goat can be eaten.” What he meant, ho...