Tag: Reeva Steenkamp

Posted on

The Journey to 8Restoration

candle

Hidden behind monsters and walls of steel, lie treasure.

All of it within us, all of it created by us.

Breathless joy and crippling pain.

One does not exist without the other.  One can never grow without the other.

But what happens when our expectations of joy fall short?

What happens when the sting of pain festers too deep?

Do we erect a prison, safe within our walls, and wait for somebody to show up with a key?

Or do we close our umbrellas and dance in the rain?

Find a sword and face the dragon?

The journey to 8Restoration is not a carefully plotted trip to a far away land.  The path is not always clear or free of debris.  It’s a trek much closer to home; one that spans the terrain of our own minds.

And the answers you seek about Oscar and Reeva… They do not exist in a bathroom at 3am.  They do not exist in a fifteen minute window of time.  They exist over years, in the dark corners that nobody has addressed… that nobody wanted to see… nobody until now.   This journey to 8Restoration will open your eyes, make you pay attention and make you question everything you think you know.

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

8Restoration is available on Amazon… here

@lisawJ13

@HiRezLife

Posted on

Review of #RS

The RS of the title of this book stands for Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old South African model and law graduate, shot dead by her new boyfriend, Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius. He is currently in jail, serving a five-year sentence for killing her which could see him released in less than half that time. Prosecutors are appealing.

Readers should be aware that it’s the seventh in a series of e-books on the crime and subsequent trial, and a certain amount of foreknowledge is presumed. Those looking for a straightforward, basic explanation of how, when and why Reeva Steenkamp was killed, might be advised to start with some background reading.

Even if readers are already familiar with the case, they should be prepared to go on an unpredictable journey that reaches to the stars and moon, and back. The book is a lesson in freedom, and freedom takes a wandering and often complicated path. ‘It’s complicated’ is a phrase repeated several times in the narrative, and it applies to the way this book sets out to tell of Reeva Steenkamp, as well as of the world which made her and ultimately took her away. The black hole her killing created truly is complicated; Reeva could not escape it, but it absorbed all around it and continued to grow until its mass was felt by much of the world.

photo

The collapsed, darkened star of Reeva Steenkamp drew the world in to share her darkness and in doing so, brought in the light of freedom.  With her death, and the ending of her life, Reeva was also set free. No person in the world can catch, harm, hold or control her. Nobody can trample her dreams – or make them come true. Nothing on earth can touch her. Perhaps Reeva might put up her thumb somewhere up there, as Neil Armstrong once did, and blot out the tiny star that is earth and its teeming humanity, if its light should ever pain her ageless eyes…

Read the rest of the review… here

Visit the findbobharrod Twitter page… here

@lisawJ13

@HiRezLife

 bob-powerpoint-shot

Posted on

#RS Excerpt 2 – A Visit with Barry

sparkling_ocean_water

An excerpt from the chapter:

#MotherandDaughterandMother

Coming together as a community, in times of need and in times of grief, is a beautiful thing.  It restores our faith in that thing…the human spirit.  It lives in others and it lives in us.  It can be a resilient thing, phoenix-like, invulnerable and yet able to disappear and reappear in an instant, almost like magic.

As resilient as we are as human beings, there are moments in life when we just can’t make it on our own.   Moments of brokenness steal on us sometimes, and it’s then that we realise we need each other; we need to stand together, to lift each other up and be loud with our ideals in one collective voice. 

Yesterday, Twitter user, Sandy, and her husband, Denver, traveled to Port Elizabeth to meet Barry Steenkamp and delivered to him a beautiful card of condolences from people around the world.  It was a lovely moment that she wanted to share with all of you, via this audio below and further details in the book.

Barry was clearly very touched by this gesture. It’s a true testament to

the power of togetherness and the power of love.

holding hands

We left smiling and felt privileged to have met Reeva’s Dad, a gentle, friendly soul and also very kind… Meeting Barry reminded me of my late father. I can talk about my Dad now, but cry each time.  I was his ‘Treasure’.  I make the most of each day and enjoy it with Denver, who has loved me since I was a teenager…

family

To read another excerpt from #RS, visit the African Man website

#RS is available on Amazon here

@lisawJ13

@HiRezLife

Posted on

I Lived… #RS

ballerina on beach

Hope when you take that jump,
You don’t fear the fall.
Hope when the water rises,
You built a wall.

Hope when the crowd screams out
It’s screaming your name
Hope if everybody runs
You choose to stay

Hope that you fall in love
And it hurts so bad
The only way you can know
You give it all you have

And I hope that you don’t suffer
But take the pain
Hope when the moment comes, you’ll say

I…..i I did it all
I…..i I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places
The things that I did
Yeah, with every broken bone
I swear I lived

Hope that you spend your days
But they all add up
And when that sun goes down
Hope you raise your cup
Oh, oh

I wish that I could witness
All your joy
And all your pain
But until my moment comes
I’ll say

I…i.I did it all
I…i.I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places
The things that I did
Yeah with every broken bone
I swear I lived

Oh whoa oh oh oh oh oh

With every broken bone
I swear I lived
With every broken bone
I swear I

I….I did it all
I….I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places
The things that I did
Yeah with every broken bone
I swear I lived

Oh whoa oh oh oh oh oh
I swear I lived
Oh whoa oh oh oh oh oh

beach

#RS

@lisawJ13

@HiRezLife

Posted on

[#RS SLIDESHOW] I Dreamed a Dream…

Today is a wonderful day for all of mankind. For the first time ever, we landed a space probe on a moving comet… truly a mind-blowing feat and a dream come true, not only for the scientists involved, but for all of us too. The profound significance of this is that we are going back to our roots, as far as we possibly can, to study our creation.

The best way to move forward is to understand where we have been

The incredible irony in all of this happening today is that Nick and I are just wrapping up our book, #RS. Being true to ourselves, it has been a heartfelt exploration of our dreams and the dreams of the world… the ones that we have realized and the ones that we have not… yet! All of it done in honor of Reeva and in honor of the dreams that she did not get to complete. So today we acknowledge both the darkest and the brightest parts of life… The end and the beginning

Never forget to dream…

and never forget to DO…

And never let your dreams… just be dreams.

dreams

@lisawJ13

@HiRezLife

Posted on

An Open Letter to Arnold Pistorius and Family

Pistorius family

On October 21st, after Judge Masipa let the world know that 5 years would be a sufficient punishment for the loss of Reeva’s life, Uncle Arnold let the world know that on behalf of his family, he would “address us for the last time”.

How do we feel about their statement?…

Judgejudi, a great friend in justice on the Websleuths forum, has heard his message and felt compelled to share her own…

OPEN LETTER TO ARNOLD PISTORIUS AND FAMILY

We the people of South Africa and people of the world did not accept the court’s judgement. The State is now appealing Oscar’s conviction and sentence. Accept this as fact. We embrace this opportunity for justice to not only be done but seen to be done. Accept that the court of appeal will not be influenced by the crying, vomiting and general histrionics demonstrated by Oscar in the court a quo.

You complained that the trial was being televised. This decision was made by a judge who said, “Court proceedings are in fact public and this objective must be recognized”. The defence legal team fiercely opposed it, saying it would infringe on Oscar’s right and distort proceedings, yet they failed to appeal the judge’s ruling. You and your family reveled in the media attention when he was a famous athlete. He courted the media in order to gain hugely lucrative sponsorships. Celebrities use every opportunity to use the media for financial gains, but that comes at a price and that price is privacy. Once he fell from grace, you emphatically denied every article relating to his misdeeds. Unfortunately, you can’t run with the fox and hunt with the hounds.

You asked the media and public to accept Judge Masipa’s judgement. Perhaps you will be gracious enough to accept another court’s findings.
This has been an incredibly hard and painful process for everyone, the Steenkamp family, your family, the people of South Africa and the general public worldwide. It is now time for Oscar to embrace this opportunity to pay back to society.

We are all emotionally drained. The case that was originally set down for 3 weeks has dragged out for 7 months due to the mendacity, deceitfulness and snowball of lies told by Oscar coupled with virtually all the defence witnesses who were either biased, grossly incompetent or in fact not experts at all.

You criticised the State for trying to find Oscar guilty of premeditated murder and the collateral damage caused by that persistence. The State was endeavouring to find the truth and prove that he was guilty of murder. The “collateral damage” as you call it, was due to his persistence in lying and changing his version several times.

One of the most distressful parts for Reeva’s family and the public throughout this whole trial was the refusal by Oscar and the defence to be truthful, honest and transparent with the court.

We too hope that Oscar will start his own healing process. Now he’s unable to yield to temptation and recklessness, perhaps as a family you can support and guide him as he serves his sentence.

You live in the Rainbow Nation, and somewhere over the rainbow dreams really can come true. If this is so, justice will prevail not only for Reeva but for all the women of South Africa.

women-holding-hands-sunrise-silhouette

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/forum.php

Blog at WordPress.com.