My grandmother was the daughter of a Chief, even though she often chided use of that term, saying to me, “White people are the ones who called us 'Chiefs,' but 'mambo' is king.”

Anyway, that aside, there is something she drilled into me: “Speak and walk with dignity.”

If she saw me shouting and screaming amongst the other kids of my age, she would just give me the eye, and I would stop.

“Never shout to get yourself heard. Don’t denigrate others, particularly people you don’t know. Don’t let bad language be the way you speak. Using bad language as a way to communicate is a reflection of a bad upbringing,” she would say to me.

It was from her that I first heard the expression “Kings don’t beg.” If she learnt that I had begged for something, that always led to serious trouble. And if I borrowed something from a friend, she told me to take it back, saying, “What if you lose it, or break it? Then you will not have a friend!”

I lived with her from the time I was a baby until I was six.

When I was little, I was so soft-spoken you could hardly hear me, but people always listened. I learnt that my most powerful voice is when I speak softly.

There is something quite profound I’m trying to pass on:

"Evil communications corrupt good manners,” is how the book of The Great King himself would put it. (1 Corinthians 15:33 KJV)

Be careful how you speak, including when using social media.