The Red Apples (part 115)

„Good morning, my darling,“ greeted Oliver Odhiambo his daughter with a sunshine smile on his face. As usual, he had ended his sleep while it was still dark outside. The older he became the less sleep he needed. Caren Odhiambo on the other hand liked to sleep for very long. He had set up the breakfast table with anything the heart desired.

„The honey is from our next-door neighbor…pure and creamy. The way you like it.“

Caren Odhiambo cut a German roll, spread butter over it, and a thick layer of yummy honey. Marmaladeee or jam were both not her favorites for breakfast nor were cheese or sliced sausages. Honey was on her mind for the start of a good day. She said while biting into her German roll: „It is still amazing that no longer Turkey produces the most honey in the world but we here in Africa particularly we here in Ghana.“

„Honey bees are needed for good crops and King David had launched a massive campaign to increase the number of bee hives. At first, he only thought of catering to the domestic market. Over time the humble beginning became big business. Now we export large tons of pure never never-mixed honey in a vast variety of flavors that even China can’t compete with us. In Asia, they still mix the pure honey with sugar substitutes the consumers do not want anymore. And they still don’t get it!“

„What we must look into is Bourbon Vanilla,“ advised Oliver Odhiambo and finished his German roll with Salami. „Vanilla grows around cocoa trees and is more expensive than silver. In Madagascar, they are good at it producing large quantities of vanilla…no problem…but we here can overtake them by far. We should put more pressure on our government or mention it directly to King Carl.“

„That is true. We have overtaken them all!“was Caren Odhiambo happy to proclaim. „The USA and China recently asked us as the New African Union for a loan. I think we have not yet decided about it.“

Oliver Odhiambo poured himself a second cup of coffee and prepared his second German roll with honey asking: „How many universes do we have?“

„What do you mean?“
„How many?“
„One universe!“
„Wrong!“ said her father.
„Ah…I don’t get you!“

„Thirteen billion universes…my daughter!“ counted Oliver Odhiambo. „Thirteen billion…thirteen billion to be precise?“

„We have only one universe my…confused daddy!“ was Caren Odhiambo laughing and turning around to grab the morning newspaper. It showed the latest statistics on the world population. She read out loud: „Thirteen billion people on earth. A new record. What are the consequences and implications?“

„There you have it black on white paper!“

„These are the figures about how many people live on Earth!“

„Everyone is a universe in itself. So…we have thirteen billion universes on Earth including us!“

„Every human being is a single universe?“ was Caren Odhiambo very skeptical but willing to listen. She saw her father cleaning his mouth.

„Have you ever noticed at school when the teacher explains something the students only need to sock up the information…not even need to understand it…one to one and spit the given information out on the examination day? Simple task you might think as exactly that is what machines do.

They get their information from a software program and reproduce over and over again the same product of the same quality. Students on the other hand as they live in their own individual universe understand the information given not as they are given but as they understand it based on the universe they live in.

The matter of intelligence comes into play when an understanding of the information is needed. Invention and science come into play when the understanding of information is lifted to the level of questioning the information to find behind the given information the truth of it and the truth of life. Everyone should be capable of the first stage of learning the replication of simple given information. Yet for most people, this is one step too far. Why? Because we hear the same words but our inner universe changes it based on the conditions of our individual universe.“

„Are you referring to your concept that what makes us as unique as individuals is the time?“ wanted Caren Odhiambo to know. She put the newspaper aside. It was already old even only having been printed a few hours ago. She greeted Yeboah who passed by the house. He wanted to ask for a spate but seeing the two in a serious discussion he decided not to enter the house.

„Time…that is true…is the reason why we are unique as individuals. We have our own beginning and end and in between our lives as life is nothing but time spent on earth. When you understand this simple truth and you see the human body with the life inside you come to understand and appreciate that these two factors create a universe in itself.“

„Let’s assume you are right…what does it tell us? What are the practical benefits of knowing these factors?“ was Caren Odhiambo curious to find out.

Oliver Odhiambo finished his third cup of coffee and smiled at his daughter: „When you want to understand how the interaction of humans works and why things are as they confessed you can impact them and change them in your desired direction you must have a clear understanding of these two factors. Our world first and foremost is not the world outside of ourselves our inner universe but…our first thoughts and feelings come out of our inner universe and relate to the outer world in which we think and act or receive a feedback from outside and check it with our inner universe. We could live alone with no other around but we can never live without having the universe within us!“

„That is too difficult for me, “confessed Caren Odhiambo ready to change topics. She had attended two weeks of African Contemporary Fashion Week.“London, Milano, or Paris Fashion Week are now really old-fashioned. They had to downsize the events to regional happenings. The focus of the world truly and rightfully is here in Africa. What they have put on the catwalk in Abuja…oh, my God…not from this world. Of course nothing really new but how they had pieced all the old puzzles together…stunning…amazing…I don’t know what to say! Wow…simply wow!“

„I will attend the African Oscars in Dar-es-Salam next week far more glamourous than the dusted old Hollywood event. I mean only the blind and lamed go there these days. The best days are over and rest in perfect peace in their golden coffins killed by the golden Oscars!“ He couldn’t stop laughing his head off.

„And our King will next week attend the New African Union General Assembly. So, then we are all very busy.“