LET'S TALK ABOUT IT!

“Five minutes after your birth, they decide your name, nationality, religion and sect, and you spend the rest of your life defending something you didn’t even choose”…Unknown

Who art thou… human?

I once told a wise man who inquired of me the story of my life that I sincerely didn’t know where to start from as it was apparently and stereo-typically uneventful, ‘spare me the strategic demand for pity young man and start from wherever comes to your mind’ he gracefully said, with his tone and expression simultaneously garnished with a mixture of transient and obscure sarcasm. Fair enough I said to myself, at least there is a justification for my prior admitted imperfectness.

There is a Yoruba adage which says if a kid stumbles, he keeps looking forward, but if an adult falls, he looks back from where he came. This analogy emphasizes the imperatives of our knowledge of history in our lives, just as we unconsciously trace back our steps when we make mistakes, so is it important to consult our historical facts when we are lost or when we falter.

 If the history that we know are the ones handed down to us by our predecessors who are human and by implication are as imperfect and somewhat vulnerable to corruption as we are, is there perhaps a tendency that there exists some anomaly either by mistake or sabotage of truth?

 Now the real question is, what is the content of the history that we are consulting and how has it influenced the present position of our lives?

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. But if you talk to a man in his language, it goes to his heart"...Nelson Mandela

Secrets

Except you are the Head of your organization, I’m sure there are loads of classified information that you aren’t privileged to know. At some point the suspense is so great that you want in at all cost, but then you realize it’s a caucus thing. Same thing happens all around us everywhere, everyday and every time.

"Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead"...Benjamin Franklin

If indeed rumours have elements of truths then we should beware of government, fortune 500 companies and even local retailers because from the level of senior government officials to the neighborhood newspaper vendor are high networks of clandestine activities ranging from elitist policies that favour the rich and famous, while the low cadre citizens perish from societal intimidation and actual physical poverty and hunger.

Criminals are given soft landings, oil companies are allowed to degrade environments, drug companies experiment on the down-trodden, the law enforcers are aware of our vulnerability and we are constantly robbed, and even our very own community members are used as spies against us, can you even believe that?

"Live fast die young and leave a good looking corpse"...John Derek

Living fast…dying young

Different parts of the world presently live in different ages ranging from the rock age, agrarian, manufacturing, information / Jet age down to the wisdom age which is basically an exploitation strategy by the developed nations by virtue of their position of vague world power.

It’s a world of fast foods, faster cars, fast time, fast money, fast life and by implication fast death when we stubbornly alter the Eco-system and violate the true nature of things and it doesn’t only injure our minds, but also hurts our health.

What are we doing about the cancer causing foods and preservatives?, yet billions of Dollars are allocated for cancer research centers. What are we doing about oil companies that have caused almost irreversible environmental degradation that has destroyed lives and livelihoods? What are we doing about the high end drugs that are still basically poisons that cause severe side-effects or better still aggravates the disease to be cured? Why is there money for war but no money for food, infrastructure, healthcare and education?

Think about it, there is definitely a bunch of insecure guys out there joyfully exploiting us and creating a tendency of truth for the speculation that to adequately cater for the imminent population explosion, we indeed may require another earth.

"The war against terrorism is terrorism"...Woody Harrelson

Maybe we are all terrorists?

 

There was this heavy rain in my neighborhood sometime ago, but after the rain had long stopped the flood wouldn’t go away, this of course was unusual. It was later found that the local block maker had blocked the drainage so that he could amass enough sand for himself to make blocks. This selfish act that inconvenienced majority of people may seem trivial, but if the local block maker was in a higher position, he’d definitely do worse.

The recent anti-corruption campaign in Nigeria is a very huge eye opener and serious revelation of an illicit culture that has been secretly nurtured for as long as our forefathers lived.

Can you imagine a great country with limitless potentials being made to roll in the dirt shamelessly for ages due to the greed and insatiable corruption of a bunch of ignorant people that have failed to realize the power of empowerment? Rather, they steal and waste the useful resources of a blessed nation.

They over-bloated contract sums, yet they didn’t execute the projects, and if at all they did, they used inferior materials and workmanship to build mediocre projects for the sake of formality and with the intent to deceive people, while they live luxurious lives at the expense of the lives of the citizens.

The most horrific is the move to ridicule and compromise the national military by diverting funds meant for hardware, jeopardizing the lives of the military and the citizens, creating world ridicule and wasting the lives of true heroes. Common, if these are not acts of terrorism then what is? As sensitive as it is religious crisis and even the sects’ attacks are of our own making either by commission or omission.

As complicated as the world may seem, apparently it gets better especially as we try to understand ourselves in proportion to the world and how we compliment the two dimensional perspectives. Technically our imperfectness is not an excuse as it clearly outlines the superiority of a higher power whom I like to refer to as God.

It feels more empowering when we talk about it rather than pretend like it doesn’t exist. For instance how did we get here? From homosexuality to religious fanaticism, diseases, terrorism, natural disasters with undertones, hurtful inventions and covet over-ambitions that will probably annihilate us.

Thank goodness for admittance of love and affection, our vulnerability to music and entertainment, even an ogre gets excited in his privacy. Perhaps if we kept talking about it, we’ll one day prophesy positivism and at least see some good in ourselves and ultimately, in the world.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

SOURCES:

Google

Time

Punch

Goodreads

Brainy Quote

Facebook

Wikipedia

IT’S ALWAYS A NEW YEAR, AIN’T IT?

“Beware of your thoughts for it becomes habit, beware of your habit for it becomes character, beware of your character for it becomes destiny”…Unknown

Resolutions

My new year resolution is…I wish I had one, come to think of it or rather come off it, I’ve heard of new year resolutions for as long as I can remember so often and so much that it registers in my mind like a stereotypical dreaded boogey man who threatens me to make the call lest I die, help guys! I’m choking in here or whatever it is. I’ve seen guys that made resolutions of quitting smoking, alcohol, chasing women and so much more only to be bewildered by how much they have disappointed themselves once again after unconsciously taking stock of their activities and how well they’ve fared at the year end.

“No one’s ever achieved financial fitness with a January resolution that’s abandoned by Feburary”…Suze Orman

Considering the bigger picture, I wonder what the world is really about and if there is indeed a problem with the attitude you so carefully nurtured over a long period of time.

“I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm”…Edgard Varese

A whole new world

It’s 2016 for crying out loud and in as much as criticism and stigmatization are at their record high, people tend to be less judgmental perhaps due to fear of lawsuits, people minding their own businesses, or the intimidation and shame that arises from when your bold and independent decision justifies your action or better still saves the day.

I’m not a fan of lack of common sense, youthful exuberance and negligence of the law, but I embrace principles being that they are the guiding forces that govern the earth.

Natural phenomena such as gravity, compounding interests and leverage have been our guiding light to successful inventions through the approach of optimism and adaptation, urging us to appreciate the imperatives of science and technology in the form of knowledge and wisdom, and in summary a receptive mind filled with hope and adequate exposure to the world and beyond, and the multiple possibilities that stare us right in the face.

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese”…Willie Nelson

Perfect timing

Another angle of resolutions made in the New Year borders on group or individual belief systems ranging from religion to region, for instance the Muslims have a uniquely designed calendar and so are the Chinese and countless other groups, making it difficult or unnecessary to marry the various timings of convictions together, diversity is what makes us who we are.

“Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is timing it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way”…Fulton J. Sheen

I won’t be surprised if you’re like 'get on with your point will you', trust me, there’s no torture intended, especially when you only vaguely realize there is an imminent anagram paradigm.

Look around you, and if you truly can see that greatness abounds everywhere, then you are the chosen one to make the world a better place, firstly we must realize that we are running out of time, the man made calendar is driving people crazy, making them too concerned with the importance that the others ascribe to timing so much that we worry and injure our health.

We do not have to just resolve on a resolution in the New Year, it makes us susceptible to hurt. If you want to change the world, the first major step is to change yourself by being yourself and be nice and just like magic it reverberates to the rest of humanity, and of course you might as well start right away, perhaps slow and steady, regardless of any calendar. 

And oops! Lest I forget, Happy New Year to you, hopefully it will still be new even in December especially if that is when you choose to drop that bad attitude and pick up a new habit or hobby, your call.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

SOURCES:

Google

Wikipedia

Good Reads

Brainy Quote

NAIJA: UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

“Often the presence of mind and energy of a person remote from the spotlight decide the course of history for centuries to come”…Stefan Zweig

Where have you been?

Do you live in Nigeria or are you a Nigerian in Diaspora? Whichever category you belong (not leaving out other unenclosed ones especially foreigners), I’m sure you get the picture when I say or rather reiterate that there’s a whole lot of bumpy rides to brace up for, that is of course if we have made up our minds to commence on an imperative journey of a lifetime.

In case you’re wondering, what’s all the mambo jumbo this poor dude is yakking about? I might as well ask where have you been? And even if I cannot claim to be an authority in news casting like the daily tabloids, columns or even Linda Ikeji, well here goes.

“So few people are truly themselves when they are in the spotlight”…Lucinda Williams

 

Naija for Life

I used to think that Nigeria was very unpopular, considering our modest upbringing and every minute by minute apprehension about the unknown future which was stereo-typically and constantly promised to the youths like the Holy Grail. Only recently did it occur to me and several others actually that the world over, Nigerians are oxymoron-likely recognized as resilient perhaps as a result of deprivation, and on an extreme end which you might as well refer to as the edge of life, Nigerians are also known to be unremorsefully wasteful in the acquisition of luxurious material possessions, unknown to the rest of the world, it is neither a matter of riches nor affluence, but rather a technical resultant effect of poor financial intelligence and apparent interference of cultural belligerence.

We are presently living the fast life in this dispensation dubbed the jet age where nations are being run like fortune 500 companies and by implication forces territories to adopt current features of multi-nationals such as rebranding. Dora Akunyili of blessed memory tried to adopt the initiative by giving Nigeria the motto: Good people, Great nation, but it apparently didn’t quite stick perhaps due to the timing because Nigerians didn’t seem prepared for it, maybe due to our low level of exposure and our level of intellect generally. Still tolling that line though, and perhaps in a bid to psychologically free ourselves ‘Naija’ seems to have stood the test of time better for an unofficial brand name.

“Man is not imprisoned by habit. Great changes in him can be wrought by crisis”…Norman Cousins

Who are we?

This is probably the most difficult question ever as everyone is constantly on a mission towards the discovery of self, but unfortunately the tendencies of finding such crucial answers keep diminishing by the day due to interfering obstacles such as noise, lack of social amenities and our attitudes towards our challenges and our very selves.Most Nigerians have generally lost themselves in hate, lack, corruption, ignorance and misplacement of priorities, which doesn’t encourage us travelling far into ourselves to finding worth, content, purpose and the true joys and miracles life freely has to offer.

Most people both home and abroad get bewildered the moment the question pops up ‘where did we go wrong?’ like we have ever got it right before.

Sadly though evidently, Nigeria is currently and embarrassingly ravaged by terrorism, corruption, poor infrastructure, poverty and a broken people without hope in their eyes who ironically live on top of seeming infinite treasures.

“Plans are nothing, planning is everything”…Dwight .D. Eisenhower

What’s the Plan?

For me, the best question ever is what’s next? I pretty much believe that everyone knows this, and that’s why people unconsciously ask ‘what’s up or ‘what’s happening?’ It’s like asking ‘what’s the plan?’ then afterwards ‘what’s the next plan?’ which we generally call plan B.

Successful companies and countries around the world all have tangible plans to achieve success, and of course plan B in case their initial plan didn’t work out, here is where Nigeria got it all wrong

A school of thought justifies Nigeria’s lack of planning by tying our aims and objectives to the set blueprint of the western world that colonized us decades ago, enslaving our forefathers until the poor psychological effect of the hateful and shameful act of dehumanization seeped right into our subconscious minds which apparently constantly tells us that we amount to nothing.

I’ll personally consider this an alibi than a justification in as much as it has changed the course of destiny and altered the predestined eco system. Many nations are known to have taken a bold step out of the world of mediocrity and indiscipline and have chosen a path of liberation to be much better than they are, Nigeria on the other hand seems not to fully understand the picture or the plan.

“There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man’s reason has never learned to separate them”…John Desmond Bernal

The Future

Believe it or not there is a countdown going on and by the time the clock strikes its destination those found wanting may actually be in dire want. The future is packed with loads of amazing surprises ranging from jaw-dropping technological advancement to massive intellectual content as the human brain continues to evolve and proves more capacity, but above all of all the future perhaps virtually holds is survival. It is already happening all over the world, wars are emanating from small crisis and millions of people are displaced and there isn’t clarity in their refugee status due to terrorism, culture shock and capacity to care.

In the midst of all these Nigeria doesn’t seem to be aware nor ready to take advantage of the situation, rather, her citizens seem to have clicked the self-destruct button by being corrupt, wasteful, inferior, inconsiderate and devoid of planning.

In the future, if Nigeria has not fully exploited the land especially in Agriculture, mineral and human resources and has not improved on power and other infrastructure, the future generation might just curse their fathers, and it will be absolutely embarrassing, why not? Remember we are underneath the spotlight

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

SOURCES:

Google

Wikipedia

Time

Channels

The Punch

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