WHAT IS LIFE ABOUT...REALLY?

"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life"...Albert Camus 

I bet the above caption kind of makes it seem like I’ve got it all figured out, right? How I just wish. And again seriously, how dare this young and relatively naive me in the least remote way somewhat feign understanding the same complicated life that we all dwell in with countless intriguing stories underneath our belts, claim to know what life is about? Well, I’d listen with mine eyes and heart amid a potential slap to my chin just for my apparent and potentially evasive and perhaps lucid justification or alibi as the case may seem, gracefully amass like a thick clump of smoke hoping that we don’t get choked.

"History will be kind to me if I intend to write it"...Winston Churchill 

History

Have you ever felt on top of the world or better than your contemporaries in any sort of gathering when you realize you are privy to a piece of information that they apparently know nothing about? I have, and this is an indication that knowledge has power, and the above scenario is an example of the impact of well researched history.

A school of thought teaches us that nothing is new under the sun, and by implication life is a repetition of events, it further clarifies that whatever difficulty we are in can be solved by consulting the relevant part of our history which relates to it.

We in our present generation have no choice but come to the understanding that our history is filled with extremely rich content that we cannot afford to ignore the uncharted goldmine.

The Landmark events that happened in the sacred times of our fore-fathers varied, ranging from wars, politics, colonialism, slavery, revolutions, industrialization and various forms of discoveries, which of course illuminated our paths and have graciously led us to the present direction we currently lead.

“The death of an old man is like a burning library”…African Proverb

The Sages

I saw a movie recently, it portrayed the life of a successful young lady whose business moved faster than she did herself. The achievements of her company was so over-whelming that her colleagues predicted that they would soon crash because the success would eventually be unmanageable.

Anyway an internship program was proposed, the irony however was that the intended interns were to be senior citizens. After the recruitment was done, the young lady, clearly not out of arrogance made plain her lack of need for the 70 year old recruit attached to her office.

During the course of the program after the old man had affected the company positively with his knowledge, the young lady started to appreciate the value of experience. Good story right? Yes though I’m narrating a Hollywood block buster, but it is true.

Our present society and generation is carried away with the energy we exude now so blindly that we fail to realize the relevance of our senior citizens.

We feel because we’ve manufactured some slang or new generational company term we got it all figured out, but we are making so many mistakes. We lose our souls and health in our quest to acquire material wealth and money we rarely need. We are enslaved by an infectious mirage and infinite insecurity only to aspire to be like that flashy looking dude whose lifestyle is extremely unhealthy, but despite that we feel it’s okay to relate with and directly to a stereotypical superstar or celebrity who makes bad and shameful acts look cool to the extent that we even long to have the diseases that haunts them even in their closet, but we feel its fine due to the lasting fake impression the devouring media paints of them.

We are so obsessed with the bottom line and soaring profit figures of big companies so much that we encourage them to feed on our souls and conscience, while they indirectly blackmail us to help them conduct crime and terror of killing us all softly and slowly through their harmful products that have taken the place of the devil and the deep blue sea.

These so called old folks are definitely not a part of these crimes, they have kids, they’ve been there, done that and have seen what life is all about.

Have you ever had a Near Death Experience (NDE)? Well, it is described as the moment you have a close encounter with death, and it does have a powerful impact upon the psyche of the victim. It is a turning point for the lives of many people when they usually realize all the wrongs they’ve done when their life flashes before their very eyes, and then the tendency of doing good soars through the skies. Most old people want to die at peace realizing they did their best to make the world a better place, and since they’ve probably had more NDEs, chances are they’d point you in the right direction if you gave them the opportunity. Lesson learned; never take an old person for granted, they are literally sages.

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves'...William Shakespeare 

In the Future

If God spares our lives and we out of our own never-ending curiosity do not self-destruct, no doubt the future holds a huge box of surprises. With the present spate of amazing inventions and discoveries that have helped add immense value to our standard of living, we are definitely anxious for the next best thing as the best is always yet to come. The question however is, are we moving too fast?

Every day the world is bothered with a new theory, eventually the most convincing or provocative one steals the show and wins the Nobel Prize. Some inventors get carried away and in the long run complacent with their research when they reach a pinnacle only for a more versatile and open minded group to overtake them, and so we keep going on and on like a vicious circle of health diminishing ambitions, desperation and incited jealousy.

Are we moving too fast? It almost sounds like a rhetorical question. Well we already send information at the speed of light, our cars move fast, our jets of course move faster perhaps in some way to our detriment as all these developments are not quite the right order of things and naturally comes with commiserate costs.

Are we moving too fast? Well, like the wise and old folks would perhaps say, what greater joy can be achieved than a peaceful life? While on a journey we might as well enjoy the ride on our way to our desired destination.

Life is about us and the decisions we make. Life is about the value we attach to it, the lives we save and what our conscience tells us, and of course so much more, seriously I wasn’t going to cover all that life is about in a single blog post.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

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WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

“We have to create culture, don’t watch TV, don’t even listen to NPR. Create your own road show. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you’re worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you’re giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends…” Terence McKenna

Identity Crisis

If no one has ever asked you who you are or who you think you are, chances are you don’t pay attention, you are an incurable optimist qualifying you to be the stereotypical nice guy as the case may be, or you simply need to go out more. You should know by now that there are loads of stressed out people out there and the tendencies of pissing them off even more escalates by the second, so one way or another if you embrace the natural order of ways to resist overbearing attitudes, it is very natural for the strange, oppressive and the self-proclaimed and relatively dominant folks to be curious, who is this dude by the way? But seriously, who do you think you are…really?

This present generation has probably witnessed the most experiments ever, especially upon people’s emotions and reactions usually recorded in candid cameras. They however vary from having international stars such as in soccer, movies, music or any other public figures feigning to be ordinary persons in the midst of regular people, and how the people shout in excitement when they realize they have been mingling with stars all along, to measuring our level of empathy to complete strangers that we refer to as nobodies, interesting right? I’d say.

 

In the past century there have been numerous escalated cases of multiple personality disorders, so much that it has become a major issue in the legal circles on the basis of justification for criminals that have done terrible things for technically not being guilty because some other character took over their brain like a kind of hypnotism.

As if that is not bad enough, some people actually deliberately strike off their own identities from the face of the earth only to embrace entirely new or different ones.

“Too many people spend money they earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like”…Will Rogers

Your wish is my command

My first knowledge of the existence of a genie was when I saw the Aladin cartoon, it excited me beyond measure to discover that by just rubbing a lamp gently, a genie would appear and ask me to make three wishes, but I wish that could actually happen, or I’d rather stop wishing at this point because now I’m older and I have realized it’s just kids' fantasy.

Knowing who we truly are is capable of solving the complicated jigsaw of life and can blaze a trail towards the path of self discovery and fulfillment, rather than just go to sleep and expect our wishes of building a bridge come into fruition without actually getting to work.

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy”…Kalu Ndukwe Kalu

 

Welcome to a whole new world where cars are fast but man is even faster especially as information moves at the speed of light and by implication literally leaves some people behind. 
Yes, some people are being left behind in this fast paced world we currently dwell in. A school of thought teaches us that when we are under pressure the true revelations of who we really are show clearly and we usually do the extraordinary things that are embedded within us. The explanation goes further to say that for instance if you were given a knife to stab someone and you actually do it, you had the intention to do it on your own before (I apologize for the dark picture), but if you think about it you'll probably find that its true.

This implies that people with negative attitudes are usually left behind in the positive activities of this beautiful world apparently clueless of the perks life has in store for them if only they embraced the goodness within them, rather than become selfish and investing in themselves only and not trying to fill the void of life with their resources which they waste on frivolities.

“Performance is done for the sight and approval of others. Service is done knowing that God is watching and approving whether or not anyone else is.” Mark Driscoll

Who are you really?

This is probably the most difficult question ever, because people all over the world constantly worry themselves searching for their relevance with hunger and confusion, during this quest they make huge mistakes and are often misjudged and misunderstood.

Sages from history and the holy books that were recorded to have discovered their true identities deprived themselves of the pleasures of life and subjected themselves to strict lifestyles and devoted their lives to selfless causes especially by disregarding material things and becoming servant leaders that gave priority to less privileged people of societies.

 

So with the massive changes that the world is presently encountering where you can see a phone call, listen to a book, bad can actually mean good, cool can mean hot and also the other way round, multi-tasking is imperative and working smart is the new hard work. Paradigms are fast shifting and the world is shaping us to become who they want us to be, giving us a few food variety that is prone to cancer due to processing and preservation, cheaper of course than the organic version, we are truly losing ourselves to the rhythm that we are forcing nature to play.

Who do you think you are? No doubt you are a wonderful creature designed to conquer the world, but sadly you are vulnerable to the destruction you created, your development has brought pollution, stress, worry, politics, depression, insecurity, greed, corruption, environmental degradation, misconceptions and disloyalty. 
If after going through all these uncleanness you come out unhurt and with an intact temperament, then you are the chosen one that has the heart to plant a lasting legacy in the fertile soil called earth..

So good luck on your journey to self discovery, but remember you have to embark on it first, and then you can brace yourself for the surprises you shall encounter on the greatest trip of a life time.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

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Identity (Movie)

HOW MUCH IS YOUR LIFE WORTH?

 

“It is the lives we encounter that makes life worth living”…Guy de Maupassant

Freedom

If you are an ardent follower of my modest blog, you might have realized by now that I’m a sucker for movies so much that they apparently help clarify and make my points on thought provoking topics ring a virtual bell. Well in the light of this, here goes another.

A few years ago after I let my younger brother use my computer, he returned it after he was done, but not the way I gave it to him initially. My Laptop computer came back to me with its hard drive filled with classic movies, hmm he got me, and of course he is welcome to borrow it again anytime.

As you would probably expect, I now had my own private cinema, only I had to make my pop corn myself, fair enough.

After watching several movies at different spare periods, one day I came across this movie with a simple title ‘Freedom Writers’. Yes I love anything that pertains to writing as it is a getaway hobby of mine, but a movie about writing? I had to check it out, enthusiastically.

As I traveled with both body and soul into the fundamental and apparent lucid world of the drama, I could actually for the first time swear that I have never been blown away by the content and delivery of a movie, in a sapiosexual kind of way of course, good thing it’s a movie inspired by true events else the writer would have had to take all the credit. Someone deserving did take the credit anyway, some decent and fine young lady referred to as Erin Gruwell, ring a bell?

“A man is like a novel; until the very last page you don’t know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn’t be worth reading”…Yevgeny Zamyatin, We

Heart

I remember when growing up, I practically used to brag to my friends and family about how much of a hard dude I was so much that no movie could break me, especially of course Indian movies that are characterized with sentimental songs and sultry choreography. Well, I’m not trying to market the ‘Freedom Writers’ movie, but the truth is it had an unusual grip on me, and as the story gracefully unfolded in addition with the characters interpretation, I must say truthfully that I got teary at some point, yes, the story did break me after all, not to pieces though.

 

I don’t want to give it all away, neither do I want to be a movie spoiler in case you haven’t seen it, but basically the story was about a good teacher that took it upon herself to straighten up the lives of certain unruly kids, how? She reached deep into their hearts in an unexpected and perhaps an unusual way, selflessly, no matter whatever it took.

Erin Gruwell was so passionate about salvaging the future of disobedient kids so much that she was able to intelligently point out the salient fact that if a lawyer had to defend a kid in the court room, the battle was already lost, rather she’d be a teacher and correct them before they got to the streets broken, wow! That is good enough a heart for me.

‘What we know matters, but what we are matters more”…Brene Brown

Priceless

I am definitely a fan of education, not just because it makes people easy to lead and difficult to enslave, but also because it sharpens our minds, allows us to discover things about ourselves that we probably never even knew was there, and it also gives us a reason to live when we aspire higher in pursuit of happiness and fulfillment.

Erin Gruwell brought herself down to the level of the kids under her watch in the school she taught in and strategically addressed racial profiling and also helped them reminisce on the important folks that the kids lost to thoughtless violence and gang wars, reaching deep into their souls and most sensitive points to clearly express the reason why it is senseless to partake in it, and to help them ascribe value to their personal lives. She inspired them by taking them on excursions to museums and to simulate well archived past racial violence and encouraged them to vent their anger on paper rather than society, thus ‘Freedom Writers’ Diary’ what a therapy.

“Even though human life may be the most precious thing on earth, we always behave as if there were something of higher value than human life”…Antoine de Saint

Worth

I also recently saw a new movie featuring Matt Damon (The tough dude from the Bourne trilogy), the new movie he stared in is called 'The Martian', of course I'll spare you the details so you don't worry about spoiler alert, but the point here is America was able to let the world realize the value of one person's life by committing immense resources to save it.

So what is your life worth in the midst of all the craze and rancor that has held the world hostage and left it under siege?

What is your life worth to the fortune 500 companies that have no regard for our lives so far their executives can add multiple zeroes to their bottom line while they throw caution to the wind when they compromise standards in manufacture of drugs and carelessly dispose toxic waste sin residential areas and local coastal lines, diminishing tendencies of future harvests?

What is your life worth to the propagandists that constantly destructively criticize terrorists, meanwhile they have large stakes in the multi-billion dollar market of the advanced weaponry that the rebels use to scare and massacre us?

What is your life worth to you, having been literally marked for death by extreme prevailing circumstances of war, poverty, natural and artificial disasters that constantly lurk both in the day and at night, making every move a dreaded one with the precious lives of our loved ones melting away in the bewilderment of disbelief and 'unwatchable' and gruesome sight of displeasure?

Even if Erin Gruwell lovingly won our hearts today, qualifying her for a reputable case study on matters of human worth, we must however not fail to realize that it is a tiny fragment compared to how much we can actually max out our potentials so much that we may realize the limitless things we can achieve.

 “Follow your dreams. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but it’s going to be worth it”…Moffat Machingura

We must genuinely realize that our lives are priceless, think about it, what it feels like to kiss a loved one, caress a friend, feel the flowers, savour the freshness of green vegetation and being confound by the mystery and grace of nature. Indeed we are worth much more than we can ever know, but we need to constantly remind ourselves also celebrate and appreciate the unique beauty of our lives, everyday.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

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Might Flight

Freedom Writers

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE NIGERIA: BUT ARE WE REALLY FREE?

“Those who won our independence…valued liberty as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty”…Louis D. Brandeis

We are all the same

From time immemorial, the world over has constantly witnessed incessant battles for supremacy over regions in order to establish dominance which is a major feature of control of world power. As an ultimate act of survival, the side which wields more strength especially through military and political might automatically use their exploitative clout to control new nations, indirectly expanding their territories and benefiting from foreign booty.

The natural inclination of man to exercise control over seemingly weaker ones spurred the attempt by some nations to rise against others with every available prowess to be in command of the rest of the world, this was however met with another directly proportional orientation of resistance and by implication culminating into the world wars that have been carefully recorded in the archives of our precious history. This further goes on to prove that we are all susceptible to an ordinary ground; we are victims of a common circumstances as we are products of our environment.

“Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone but for the development of himself”…B.R. Ambedkar

Salute

Who doesn’t love sports? In fact the many feats achieved by various people ranging from academic pursuits to musical renditions and many more enviable accomplishments of man add loads of beautiful colours to life, giving us a reason to aspire for a good life and idolize great men that are worthy of reverence.

Some men became even greater when they summoned the courage to face the apparent oppressors of their land otherwise known as the colonialists. In as much the compulsory migrants taught a lot of creative lessons to the areas that they conquer, something was still very evidently missing, freedom.

“When I discover who I am. I’ll be free”…Ralph Ellison

Discovery

Perhaps the greatest thing that can happen to a man is for him to discover himself. There is no greater feeling in the world than for a man to find out who he really is and what he was born into this mysterious and sometimes complicated world to do, that according to a school of thought is where true freedom and the secret to independence lies.

This is why developed nations have laid more emphasis on grooming young generations to become specialists in their chosen fields and hone their crafts and talents in order to create optimal value.

 “At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be race for our economic independence”…Booker T. Washington

Independence

When nations celebrate their independence, the faces of the citizens light up even to the already lighted up and beautiful scenery of celebration, with some throwing caution to the air, and almost crossing the line of festivity. 

While some simply stay up in their closets and attempt a sober reflection upon the emotional history which consumed the remains of the true heroes that gallantly stood for what they believed which ultimately cost them their lives, with their names ringing beyond time, giving untold pride and courage to their descendants like the pedigree of a champion dog.

Independence has indeed taken a new shape and it is usually taken out of context by a mediocre few as we approach a new world order, independence has become so systemic, evolving to a whole new level.

Yes the world is indeed a global village with the easy international interaction through trade and other forms of benefits which we obtain from each other, but the territorial rifts still generously abound.

“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds”…Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is clearly the turn of a new millennium and the world has never been more insecure, yet it has also never been this interesting; jam packed with possibilities and so much more potentials. 

Wars have been temporarily put aside, except for the restive minds with little understanding. 

Territories are however still being expanded economically, with the wise conquering but the imprudent bowing down to pressure due to lack of courage, enslavement to mediocrity or weakness to battle corruption.

The prospects of the future have never been this clear especially as the rest of the world gradually comes to terms with the fact that life is what we make of it and not as a result of political and religious sentiments.

This is a clock ticking wake up call to Nigeria as she celebrates her 55^th independence anniversary, are we truly free from our very prominent Achilles' heel which includes mediocrity and corruption? Perhaps one day we shall reunite with ourselves, only time will tell.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

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