“When People Fell”

Many times, we say one word only to mean another or one word or jargon in one place or to a people could mean something else to another group or people. Way back in school, we never took for granted certain words to the extent that; we dared not use them when not sure of their meaning! Much as we think that we are speaking English, we could be using slang only know to some of us and not everybody! There was this Italian Priest a.k.a. Padiri , read Padre or Father (no blasphemy intended). The Good old Padiri Antonio (as he was known), had been leading mass from the time when most of our parents hadn’t even met, he continued serving his flocks diligently, our parents met and we were born, he performed the role of Christening us, when we began going to Church, he even made some of us “Alter Boys”. The good man of God could not tolerate any vices and hence, he advocated for the sacrament of Penitence (those of you that are not Catholics may not know what this is). The sacrament is a pillar in the catholic faith; there are 7 sacraments altogether, though the number may vary from one faith to the other. One of the Sacraments in the Catholic Church is that of Penitence that is to do with disclosing your sins to a Priest (Padiri) for forgiveness. Many times, a number of people came to lay their sins before the Padiri for forgiveness, notable on the list was the sin of “passion”, where men or women fell short of their faithfulness and cheated on their partners. When the Padiri was told of this, he always ran mad with anger, “for God’s sake, can’t you control those wretched bodies of yours?” he retorted. Not wanting to be insulted, the parishioners decided to coin a word for their actions. A brilliant guy copied the “savedees” term of “falling”! This became widely used by all. Whoever came for the sacrament always said that, “Padiri, I need to be forgiven because a have fallen”. As the proportions of falling became more and more alarming, Padiri Antonio could not contain his anger, wasn’t he supposed to be the vanguard of his faithful ones? He went straight to Town Clerk in a bid to express his dissatisfaction with the way the Town Council was working! On meeting the mayor, padiri Antonio did not mince his words, “Mr. Mayor, I have come to you because there is a serious problem, most of my parishioners are falling; I want you to repair the roads”, he said! The Town Clerk was surprised, “Padiri, we just repaired these roads hardly a year ago, what are you talking about?” he retorted! To drive the point home, Padiri replied, “this is a very serious problem, all people are falling, even your wife has so far fallen three times this month, you mean she did not tell you? Are you waiting for her to first fracture her legs before you can act, or do you want your children to also start falling?” He asked! Mfashumwana@fastmail.fm