You can go to 'all the school' and still never learn how to think or worse, you can be a mouthpiece of a particular template of thought that renders you little more than an interchangeable part of some weird hive mind, and every idea you spout can be predicted more than 6 seconds before even you utter it. Because you'd be bringing nothing new to the table.

More important than formal education and reading wide on a particular discipline or philosophy is simply being curious about everything. Read wide, watch old movies, consume genres of media that are outside your comfort zone, take an interest in history, culture; not just language, but the culture of language. Be mindful about the present and get off your phone from time to time and reflect. Don't be sheep. Allow your mind to appreciate negative emotions. The human spectrum of experience is not entirely joyous. That breadth allows you to have a singular expression free from fear or denial. Just don't dwell. Express yourself in some creative outlet so you understand by doing, and give voice to the nebulous sentiments of the human experience.

In the digital age, the entire annals of humanity is ripe for discovery.

And lest you become one of those moronic brats that have perfected the beats of mature conversation without it's substance, and show absolutely no sense of wonderment or respect for the experience or opinions of the older generations, always remain humble and curious. Sadly, something our Baby Boomer and Gen X parents forgot to pass on.

Be courteous to your elders and learn from them. You may be armed with a modern sensibility and progressiveness, and they less so. But what the hell does that have to do with 'Wisdom'?

YouTube, TEDx or Google be damned, some things are lived experiences passed down through the wisdom of the ages, and cannot be measured simply by having a wide breadth of knowledge alone, revolutionary as effacing entire human history to reinvent the wheel may seem.

As some may have said better, 

stay thirsty, stay curious. Stay foolish.

#13 Some animals cannot be domesticated

We domesticated livestock, dogs and in some ways cats. We decided which animals were too wild and drew a line. But we never stopped to wonder; what if perhaps, we are one such animal?

Some times, I get hit by how primitive Human beings truly are. It's rare enough for me to be taking aback, but often enough to be reinforced in my cynicism of Humankind

The key aspect of this glaring primitive behaviour, I find, is prejudice. 

I sat in a taxi on my way up the Hill at Berekuso. Almost at the top, the driver saw three students; two guys and a fair, attractive girl (Note her complexion) walking at the side of the road. One guy walked hand in hand with the girl. 

The driver's immediate comment, in Twi, and more to himself than to me was "You wont study anything, you are there playing lovebirds". 

My responses was immediate and loud enough for the group to turn and look into the taxi as we drove by.

"How the hell do you know they aren't studying just fine at the same time, and why the hell is it any of your business?"

He turned and smiled foolishly. He never had any logical reason for his comment, so he had no reasonable reply to my response. Because to have one would be to examine his prejudices and insecurities. 

I was seeing comments on Facebook about that radio personality who it now appears faked her getting kidnapped and raped; the video of the latter going viral as is to be expected of such videos. Many comments from men dismissed it as having been staged well before it was known, and many others rose to remind others of their humanity, only to be made fools of when the facts came out that it was indeed staged.

But how do we do that; Men? arbitrarily belittle a grave and harrowing an ordeal as rape; and what does that say of our own view of the other sex of our species? How do we so callously turn the victim into the criminal, and shrug off the male perpetrators as just being... what? A force of nature? Boys being boys? 

Remember what happened to MzBel on stage some years back and how even more of the conversation was centered on the length of her skirt than on her being sexually molested right there on stage.

This prejudice makes the Takoradi case particularly tragic, as it simply goes to reinforce a terrible prejudice female victims continue to face, and why many have no clue about how many women really get raped in our society. 

In the past, I'd look at all these things and express my disgust at how backward conservative Ghanaians can be, but it's not just Ghanaians, conservatives, men or Africans is it? 

We don't suspect minorities are more dangerous than they are or condone summary execution by police here in Ghana, do we? We do however lynch homosexuals. 

So I have to conclude, despite the thin veneer of a modern world, technology and our universal celebration of historic civil right victories, that the human being, and not society, is the problem.

We still remain a very primitive mind tagging violently against the leash of a lofty Social contract that holds doggedly to the ridiculous notion that we will adjust to ever improving laws and rights, instead of accepting the hard fact that, human beings have never really been and may never truly be civilized.

#12 honest folk, liars and bloody liars

I know, the expression has gone out of fashion, If it was even in fashion at all. 

Perhaps it's a deliberately simplistic expession cooked up exclusively in Spagetti Westerns.

However, dare I tempt fate to say, there are three kinds of people in the world, 

Honest folk, liars and bloody liars.

Don't get me wrong, it's not as black and white as it sounds. But you might find that this classification is quite accurate. 

Not everything a liar says is a lie any more than everything an honest person says is the truth, and the impact of either's lie is neither here nor there, since one doesn't always know the impact of their deception - and a lack of propensity to lie doesn't presuppose a person isn't a high functioning psychopath. The real difference isn't in how often they lie but WHY. 

Here is one of three scenarios I'll use to illustrate this.

Earlier this morning, I stopped by a hardware store to buy an adapter for the American pin my laptop charger uses. I specifically wanted that very portable adapter that takes only one 3-pin. The lady selling told me she didn't have it and proceeded to look around for an alternative. She then handed me one of those unnecessarily large adapters that take just a 2-pin and 3-pin (and the two never together). And this adapter was GHS8. Seeing that I needed a portable adapter, I was loathe to shell out that kind of money for something so ungainly. I made sure she understood what I was looking for. She gave the impression of looking around some more then handed me the turkey she had initially offered. I handed her a 10 and while waiting for her to make change, I angled around to put the ugly thing in my bag, and lo and behold, there hanging on the wall was exactly the adapter I was looking for, right at the entrance - And there were dozens of them. 

No way a small time trader will forget such a large stock. But see, the woman wasn't trying to be helpful. She was trying to make a profit. 

That is a bloody liar. 

Some weeks back, while walking through Madina, I decided to satisfy a craving for coconut juice from one of those guys selling them off the back of 'trucks'. As per my taste, I asked the guy for a sweet one, which doesn't means anything unless you clarify that you want one which isn't 'akp3 na tor' (Copra, basically. The hard, old ones sold as accompaniment to corn). I told him this of course. You have to, or the sellers unload their oldest coconuts on you.

The guy, as standard copra-test, knocked on the side of the nut in his hand before cutting it for me. 

Immediately after he did, I noticed the tell-tale vapor rising off the top. Copra! I gave him a knowing smile and drank what he handed me, paid him and calmly told him he was a bloody liar. He grinned foolishly and said nothing.

My business partner, who was with me at the time, asked what that was all about, to which I answered. He proposed that perhaps the guy simply made a mistake to which I said,

"I used to go farming with my dad, and part of that involved climbing and plucking coconuts from trees, and it took me, then a newbie, under a day to tell the difference between an old coconut (with the husk dried and with the juice competing for air within the shell) and a perfectly ripe coconut, still full of water and with a husk heavy with moisture. 

Anyone who cuts and sells coconuts all day for a living and claims not to know the difference is a liar.

But let's bring this home. You ever sit in a taxi, tell the driver exactly where you want to go, have him agree to a price, get there, and tell you "This one dieer, you should consider him"? 

Translation: having provided the service, he is ambushing you with a renegotiation -- upwards. 

This is a liar.

Or less subjective, ever sat in a taxi after telling the cabbie exactly where you want to go, have him agree, set a price, then halfway there, he tells you he has NO idea where you destination is located (precisely because he's come fresh from Kumasi and has no idea where anywhere in Accea is)

This is a bloody liar. 

How do I classify them? Telling the difference between a liar and a bloody liar is subjective. Telling the difference between an honest folk and any kind of liar though, like I said, is less about how many lies one tells but more why they lie, their propensity to do so, and hence how easily they will lie for even the most trivial of benefits. I think it has something to do with weak personality, lack of moral backbone, or to use an old-fashioned but fitting term, lack of moral fibre. Basically, a failire to convince oneself of the inherent advantage of the simplest of truths when a flat out lie will almost always suffice. They don't need to lie more. They just need to lie more readily. 

Why is this important, you ask? honest folk, liars, bloody liars? 

Because contrary to the misanthropist creed, we live, work and survive on the existence of others. Won't you like to look into the eyes of someone you fall asleep next to, trust with your secrets or count on professionally, and know right off the bat whether that person would try to sell you the air you're already breathing if they can get away with it? 

#11 crash landing like a boss

Today, I'm going to unload on you another controversial concept, but before I do, let's ponder for a few minutes, the concept of Gliders.

Yes, gliders.

The early to mid 20th century was filled with fascinating technologies in the field of war that begun with such promise but essentially went nowhere. One of these (that figuratively and literally went nowhere), was the glider.

Think of this concept; an engineless airplane towed in convoy into battle by a single engined plane like the carriages of a train and let loose, to be essentially crash-landed by its pilot. You may control the roll, pitch and yaw, but without an engine, that plane is on a one-way trip earth-ward. 

For people like me, the idea of glider-borne infantry conjures up images of commando raids, stealth missions, and daring dos. 

Today, you may imagine a glider sailing down as metaphor for a term that has become apt to describe everything from human exploitation of the planet to the economy of certain countries; 'Glide slope'; That shallow yet unstoppable dive, from the sky to the unforgiving ground. 

And here, I unleash my silly theory.

You recall that bubbly girl from college with the pretty face, ample bossom and perky... everythin else? Or that cute guy with the toned body, washboard Abs and timbre in his voice?

Then you caught up with them again after college, after a few years in corporate life. 

Should I be the first to admit the disappointment in how these exquisite creatures now seemed... well, less exquisite? 

Everything was still there. The bubbliness, the ampleness, the perky... everything else. But some how, they seemed to have peaked. The changes were subtle, but things were less perky, the washboard now seemed to have a rolled wet cloth folded over it and the ample was now better described as just 'big'. 

Basically, the spring had gotten a bit loose, less taut.

Why? Because I believe, the average age of a human being as dictated more by evolution, biology and peak form is actually about 24yrs of age. 

Sure, modern medicine and healthcare means we now live well past 70, but the human body can evolve only so quickly, and we still peak at about 24. After this time, we're on a glide slope towards our inevitable death. 

Put differently, until our mid twenties, our bodies and minds are still being formed. Then we become these perfectly crafted designs around mid twenties. Thereafter, those perfectly formed tissues so well wound, begin to unravel. Slowly at first, then increasingly fast. As described in my earlier post about 'brain damage', our minds start to move from their keen capability, sharp wit and abundant abstraction to a noisy, sputtering, smoking engine, grinding itself to its own eventually destruction (unless whatever fault line existing right at manufacture decides to kill us first) 

When you get closer to 30, you start looking at 21, 22 and 23yr olds and suddenly notice something you failed to appreciate when you were that age.

Let me not romanticize my recent youth. They aren't all attractive or even youthful, but by a large, the system is as freshly minted as it will ever be for that person. Then comes scratches, and the smell of 'new' is lost forever. 

Not to give validation to an 'okay' move, but like was said in 'Troy(2003)', 'We will never be as beautiful as we are now. We will never be here again' 

But before this appears like the rants of some early mid-life crisis, the point of this piece isn't to bemoan the loss of youth, but to celebrate life, even past that so-called well-oiled stage, especially since, sadly, culture, social-conditioning and tiresome patronizing by our academic system renders most of us at this most-productive age little more than mouths to feed , rather than the keen-minded, able-bodied übermensch we ought to be. 

As the 2nd half of the original title for '(Everyone is free to wear) Sunscreen' goes, 'Advice, like youth, often wasted on the youth'. 

The point of this piece therefore, is to acknowledge the phenomenon of an earlier peak than most may want to accept, and as per my initial illustration of the humble glider, to celebrate the 'glide slope' 

Yes, while your body and mind may have begun suffering from entropy, we should learn a thing or two from the skilled glider pilots, who managed to accomplish their mission and land their crafts precisely where it needed to go, when they entirely lacked an engine to do much more than guide their vehicle successfully in its inevitable crash landing. They didn't give up immediately they got into their cockpit because they were on a one-way trip, or get nostalgic about those moments when they were in tow, and could feel the engine of their escort aircraft. They accepted the inevitability of their destination, and flew in like bosses; or as bosslike as they could muster and some, such as those who landed on Pegasus bridge on the morning of June 6th 1944, got to carve their names and exploits into the annals of history.

After all, isn't that the point of life, even after our prime? Turning our inevitable mortality into a legacy for the ages, while deftly guiding these mortal vessels towards a smooth, gentle and inevitable landing. 

#10 WARNING: Natural gas deposits. Stay focused.

In your travels across this moonscape we call Life, you may wander into seemingly benign gas pockets that litter the landscape. These pockets are called 'Nostalgia', and they are in fact, a miasma. 

While you linger there, you will find yourself hallucinating about a past that never quite existed, abondoning a present staring you between the eyes and eventually forgetting entirly a future you owe yourself.

Eventually, you will get lathargic, lie down and go into a coma;  with what's left of your consciousness; a shrinking kernel in a dying husk, dreaming forever about 'the good old days'.

#9 Thank you most kindly

Tip from Hypothermia. When you're cold, do your darnedest to get warm. Don't create snow angels. 

I'm in Ghana. Which means I have to deal with the all-transcending crap from the moment I wake up, basting in my own sweat, deciding if to wait for the power to come back so I might work from home or travel to some friend's office to perch, knocking on wood that the taps will flow so I can have a half-decent bath, and don't get krokro from what does flow out at me; Then sitting in impact position while my bus driver (Having probably bought his license) hurtles like a comet across the next major intersection without working traffic lights, or crawls at a meter a minute through the round-about where for some mysterious reason, a squad of Police officers have decided to set up camp. 

Put differently, I live the wahala, breath the wahala, hear the wahala every waking moment. So pardon my pickiness in not wanting to have to read about it every day on some Social media rant also.

I find the trick to dealing with the uncertainty of this glide slope we're on; if you've not figured out some master plan to fix it, is really to whine LESS about it and get on with the business of surviving it, and perhaps surmounting it. Do that, and you might even find the calm in your mind to crack the code on how to fix it when you least expect it. I'm still stuck at tying certain Public figures to barrels blindfolded and when they expect the BANG BANG, bayoneting them instead, but I'm sure you may think of something more constructive if you let your mind wander.

By all means, get in on the discussion (I do). Find some creative outlet to express it. Frustration is often a better creative motivator than calm. Just quit whining in every post about it. It's tiresome to keep seeing that, even passively. 

No, you're not keeping it 'real'. Quite the opposite in fact. 

No, an open letter to Mahama on Facebook won't get read by the BNI and taking under advisement. 

If you haven't decided whether our dear President is a genius or moron by this time, you probably never will. So now won't be the best time to begin forming a thought in our presence. 

Yes, the shock of another surprise ECG cut ceased to be a shock (or a surprise) the 10th time around. So we really don't need to know how flummoxed you are about this one.

If you're not at step 9 of 10 in your coup de tat, please write your daily to-do list, find a calming playlist and hum it while putting one foot in front of the other. It's what most people do. 

I find the Patriots, if there is such a thing, aren't those ranting on Social media, pulling Facts, posts and Quotes out of the ass, trying to make situations, but those with the glazed 200 meter stare and stiff upper lip, who are acutely aware of how let down they have been by those supposed to govern them, but rather than assume the faetal position and bawl about it, wake up each day and calmly get on with the business of moving forward. 

#8 Brain damage

'Ever seen Mad Men? I love that series, and I never could place a finger on why until recently.

Something to do with struggling with the expectations of Society, specifically in gender roles, maturity and 'appropriate behavior'. 

The Main character embodies the ideal male as was expected in 1950s and early '60s America, with his career in advertising acting as a loudspeaker for these subtle themes - the idea of 'ideal male' is being brought back in the 2000s, as per Society's tendency to romanticize everything in about 30yr gaps. From fashion, to music to Societal norms. 

I was specifically fascinated with Mad Men because I believed I could never stay in character, being the mature alfa male that is smooth and just knows how to act in various situations.

Probably the same reason I find classic actor, Cary Grant so interesting. 

But this leads me to examine what exactly constitutes being mature. At what age do we stop being silly guys and girls and transition into Men and women? And what defines that? Is there a list? Or just a societal feeling about who is and who isn't mature? 

One notable aspect I accept tends to be a confidence and seeming lack of self awareness my 30yr old self has compared to early 20 year old Yaw, who would have been ever conscious of (or imagined) the entire world staring at him every waking moment. I remember getting up in church or in some packed auditorium and making my way down the isles, past what felt like a million eyes boring holes into the side of my face, right outside my peripheral vision? Well, that was mostly all in my mind, but could I honestly convince myself of this? Did it make me any less conscious of every crease in my clothes, twitch in my face or bead of sweat on my brow? Nope. I was still a relatively new mass of nerve endings and every inch of me was alight with feedback, real or imagined. 

I used to wonder about that? Why I suddently stopped being this self conscious puddle of insecurities and realized (more than decided) by some point that I couldn't give two shits about what people thought about my mannerisms, my interests or much else. 

Don't get me wrong. I still care - a lot. But it feels like a large chunk of my brain went numb at some point, and I simply decided to operate with less focus on the constant reference to societal expectations. Something I'm guessing many people start doing from their late teens, right after their hormones start leveling off. 

Again, late bloomer here. 

More interesting to me however, is the many things I wasn't expecting. Why I became more of a creature of habit than was the case in the past, for instance. I used to struggle with daily routine. Just the fact that Tuesday looked anything like Monday was depressing. Now, I find comfort in it. 

I've notice my mates have  swung from being either undeclared in Faith, having a 'personal relationship' with their maker (Which usually means 'None of anyone elses goddamn business') or being Charismatic Christians to becoming either clear agnostics, Non-denominational Christians or atheists in less than a decade, and chances they will remain what they are for a good while, if not for life. What's interesting about this is how unpredictable some of these swings are. Like the number of them who were once so mischievous in primary or high school hits 26, 27 and are now thanking God for everything on Facebook, Twitter and in person. Simple Choice and Free will? Hypocrisy? Or a simplification of their otherwise unpredictable path.

I'm inclined to think the latter. 

I was told once that it had to do with realizing that such things don't matter, and experience teaching us to focus on what's important.

I'm not sure about all that; 'Experience'. Sounds like self-importance and ageism frankly. And it doesn't properly explain why older people tend to be more stuck in their ways and have difficulty changing their habits.

So here's my theory. 

It's one that came to me because I like to draw parallels between human beings and computers.

Imagine the processor was a brain, and certain advanced computer processors (Core i7 for instance) have a failsafe where, when a few transistors on them are burned or damaged, they switch into a more efficient mode that allows them to operate with fewer parts working. They focus on key processes. They slow down. They adapt to become more efficient as a means of surviving what is in actuality a handicap. 

Perhaps the same is true for human beings. What we consider 'experience' and 'maturity' is in actuality, our biological processor merely becoming more efficient as we wear out our mental faculties. 

It's not that we consciously WANT to be mature, or care less about things, but we simply get numb, more focused, more likely to consider when, how and if we need to expend brain energy before doing so.

Which is why at 30, I am less likely to come up with brand new theories about everything and stick to theories I already developed or that already exist. It's not because I have become wiser and so I've begun going with what works, but because my mind simply can't churn out abstact concepts at my say so. 

Our brain is already begining to forget the pigment of one in about a million hairs being sprouted on our heads. Is it unreasonable to assume that a complex self-preserving system with 200 million years of evolved history simply adapts to what in essence is gradual brain damge? And that, perhaps we tried to explain this phenomenon, conveniently, in favor of the 'wise old men' making sense of everything.