Day 3: Bill Ningur – Upholstery Maker; and a dab of Truth

There does not seem to be much change in the movement of the dial on the scale. It quivers undecided between 88kg and 89kg. Perhaps it does not want to disappoint me. But who am I trying to fool here? It has only been two days. I did not say I was on some miracle fad diet.

In any case, a digital scale would have given a more definitive reading. But I realized that this yearning for an absolute figure is not just some random desire that was borne the minute I stepped onto the scale. It is something inbuilt. Whether we realise it or not, it is that longing that ignites the urge for the absolute truth to give us that peace of mind. It is that age old desire to know.

Then again, one could suppose this old scale better reflects life. That there are no absolutes in life but only varied shades of grey between the black and the white and the here and there. This is where many a thought junky may insist that truth is relative.  That truth is a variable of facts and has the shape of water.  But if we are to abide by such reasoning – relativism, they call it – then we have a catch-22 situation on our hands because that line of thinking alone calls for us to accept that version of truth, which in turn contradicts the very heart of that principle.

The only truth right now is that THIS very moment is the truth, as you get bored silly reading this far, and are perhaps pondering upon the possibility that the person writing this may have gone slightly cuckoos after all. (Speaking of which, I still reckon Jack Nicholson in ‘One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest’ was absolutely brilliant).

The only absolute truth is in the time between what has been and what will be; it is this moment– the NOW. Our memories have been either tarnished or glossed over by prejudice while our visions of grandeur play surrogate to the truth of tomorrow. Absolute truth resides in this moment. That is why the Psalmist said “Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalms 95:7-8).

Today.

This reaffirms THE truth behind this truth. That the only ABSOLUTE TRUTH is Jesus (John 14:6).

Today.

Lets return to the matter on hand.

So before my daily weigh in, I had to pick up a half dozen apple from the nearby supermarket during my lunch break (I feel a post coming up soon on the state of affairs of the apples from Stop N Shop). On my way back I happened to be sharing the footpath with this fellow who was peddling some burgundy and red synthetic leather bags, so naturally I fell into conversation with him. It was then that I found out more about his wares – that he actually sews these bags.

They looked quite a classy lot, them bags. Of course not Louis Vuitton classy, but straight up niugini freestyle K10-wan-wan classy. Sawn up like those regularly printed ‘Radazz’ bags, the only difference was the material used here, and a bit of flair factor with the inclusion of proper buttons and fasteners, handles and side pockets. Neat, eh?

Bill Ningur (left) and his salesman, Joe

This trooper’s name is Bill Ningur from Simbu and he is a upholstery maker. He resides in June Valley near Tokarara and supports his family chiefly through this trade. He told me he also uses this to keep youths and wantoks busy by getting them to help him sell his products.

I thought that was neat and that Billy deserved an apple for simply being a go-getter and not a gimme-gimme. I promised to check up on him later to see if we could do a follow up feature on him and his work.

I did not have a camera with me on the day I bumped into him and his salesman so I just used the camera on the phone to take this shot, hence the rather low quality of the shot.