On: The Utter Amazingness of Viola!
This article is best enjoyed whilst listening to the song “Just The Way You Are” by Bruno Mars - https://youtu.be/LjhCEhWiKXk
A few months back on my birthday, I got a message on WhatsApp. One part of it read “…you have such talent, and I have faith that all that’s waiting to fall in place is chance…” The message was followed by a cash transfer. It came from one woman, and on reading it, not to sound presumptuous but I wasn’t too surprised by how heartwarming it was. For the brief amount of time I have come to know Viola, nothing has stood out for me more than her radiating kindness…well, that and the fact that she’s an absolutely gorgeous Ugandan bombshell.
But I digress. This is not about her beauty. Or maybe it is…maybe it’s about how with Viola what you see reflected outside is what dwells inside her. The first time we met physically was at a work function/brunch, and I remember writing a piece about how her hug felt like a thousand sunshines —captivating enough to make me ensure I got another before I left. In her kind smile you can be certain that you’d find an even kinder heart. She’s the one person you can ask the question “how was your day?” and her answer would make you want to pull a full-on Bollywood song and dance routine for her. Yes, she’s that captivating. And I know as a writer, it is expected that we tend to embellish a lot but I dare say, even embellishing words and phrases seem too little to describe the woman, Viola.
I remember the other day when I came across a picture of her hiking a mountain trail on her WhatsApp status. The picture made me laugh because I think, Viola might just be one of the very few people on planet earth that would be wearing that sort of “this is so amazing!” smile on their face while hiking a mountain trail. Personally, I wear a scowl when I have to get up from my bed and walk to my kitchen to go find my self something to eat. Yet, there’s Viola —a woman who ideally should have a hundred helpers tending to her every whim, making sure she never lifts a finger— hiking a mountain trail and smiling; her smile mirroring the brightness of the rising Ugandan sun.
If at this point, you’re starting to feel in awe of her too, welcome to the club. There’s a long queue of us. Viola is indeed awe-inspiring. She’s smart, personable, funny and has a heart of gold. In fact, one might be tempted to call her “perfect” if not for the fact that I think she has one little dent in her armor of amazingness: she cares too much. And I know most won’t see this as a flaw per se, but I do. I do because everyday I see the world around me and worry that her unashamed belief in the world and those around her might one day be stolen from her. But knowing her, she’d laugh off this worry. She’d probably tell me that waiting for the evil of the world to dent your happiness is no way to live, when you can just as easily choose to add a little dent of joy to the evil of the world, one day at a time.
And at the crux of it, that’s the sort of person Viola truly is. A woman choosing to dent this evil world with a little kindness every day. And her way of doing this is by making sure to positively touch the lives of those around her with one little kind smile or a warm hug that lingers in someone’s memory for as long as they live. I probably would forget a lot about her if our paths don’t cross in the future but, I know I would never forget that hug or those kind words on my birthday! So, I really hope that while I can remember, I am able to somehow follow in her footsteps by using the one talent she so bravely indicated that I possessed and celebrate her utter amazingness on her birthday, today.
Happy birthday to you, Viola! May the brightness of hope, love and strength that radiates inside you and beams out to touch others, never cease. Have an amazing celebration. Forever rooting for you!
Cheers!