THE GOLDEN TOUCH

 

There are things you come across in life that stick with you forever. Some scar you for life and cause a paradigm shift in your entire existence. I once read a story by Bikozulu and from the blues he mentioned that he had discovered that Kiambu women can’t pee silently. These words echo in my mind every time i have to get to that business which is way too many times for anybody. Now understand that i have dedicated my life to drinking water and minding my own business. The latter comes automatically when you religiously do the former and have to spend most of your time flushing the toxic and bad energy out of your system.

I came across the phrase ‘Midas Touch’ while flicking through my dictionary on one night in high school. You know how everything suddenly becomes interesting when you have school- related study to do. I was ready to cram every capital city on my Atlas and test myself on where Avarua is located on the world map rather than tire my brain with enthalpy and extraction of metals. I digress much but here’s the point . I came across the phrase Midas Touch with an explanation that someone with the Midas touch succeeds easily at everything they do.

So inspired was i that the first thing i did when i got home for the holidays was to change my Instagram bio to include ‘ girl with the Midas Touch.’ As human beings, I believe we have an innate desire to triumph and succeed at everything . Our existence is marked by setting goals, both big and small, and aiming at achieving them and the cycle continues to our last breath. Death for any of us would come automatically when we have nothing to live for.

Now that I have grown older and a little wiser over the years, I am not as enthusiastic about being the girl with the midas touch though the desire lives on deep down. I realized that having the golden touch more often than not turns out to be a curse and not a blessing . Here’s why.

Midas was the original president of soft life . He was a pleasure- loving king of Macedonia who spent all his days feasting and listening to music. This guy is in fact said to have planted the first rose garden in the world. Rumours have it that when he was not doing the above he was admiring all the gold he owned and loved dearly. 

One day, an old satyr was entangled in his best rose bush. This satyr turned out to be Silenius who had gone to India and back as Dionysus’ tutor. Midas entertained him for five days listening to his stories about India and the continent lying across the Atlantic after which he sent him safe to Dionysus. To express his gratitude, Dionysus promised to grant Midas any wish he pleased and our guy chose the magical power of transforming whatever he touched into gold.

This was definitely fun in the beginning as he touched ordinary roses and turned them into gold. He however realized how much of a problem it was when he ordered for a celebration and the table was set. Every food he touched turned into gold and so did the wine. Gold is everything good but appetizing and Midas quickly realized he was going to starve to death. As if this was not enough , his daughter Zoe came to embrace him and was turned into a golden statue. Dionysus eventually let him wash off the golden touch which undid the curse but by then Midas had given us our lesson here. 

Sometimes, you need you water to be just that as plain as it may be  and for your cabbage to be just that. Not everything you touch actually needs to turn into gold.