Donkey Chronicles

The "Burden" of A Good Name

2012-01-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold”-Proverbs 22:1[KJV]. You make ask, “What is in a name?” In a decision of head or tail or of the matter of life and death where you have only two options; the choice you make is the direct opposite of the other. Therefore care and caution is always called for in the making of the correct choice. More the so, when one is the right way and the other is not or one has tried and tested weighty eternal consequences and the other is wishy-washy under a glittering coat nothingness. A good name lasts but riches no matter the greatness will disappear like a morning mist in the face of the sun.

An older cousin made a profound statement years ago that had stayed with me. It came to the family’s notice that one of us was not behaving properly and he said, “Some of us are working very hard to wash and polish this great family name while others are busy dragging it in the mud!” I understood what he meant as it pained us that one of us could be that careless and selfish to carry on like that. A good name is precious as it is in many cases the only tangible legacy some parent could bequeath their children. A given first or/ and middle name may have significance besides identification but a family name has more. Ever wonder why family names are important and if so how important is it? Naboth had to make a choice between his life and his legacy- the land he refused to swap with King Ahab was his legacy. Your family name is your legacy! How well are you willing and ready to guard and defend it? At what price are you willing to let it slide and settle for something “different” or stylish” or “convertible”? Those before you polished it as best as they know how and proudly handed it to you to continue the polishing and you, what are you doing with it, I mean the good name?

One of the kings of Israel was told that his children will suffer the consequences of his sins and he comforted himself over the fact that the calamity was not going to happen in his life time. It is very easy to see such selfishness and condemn the recklessness for what it is but we often forget that each time we drag the name that we inherit from our parents through the mud; we are behaving like that king. If you ever had had the experience of a total stranger making complimentary statements about your parents as they connect you and your family name or experience the total opposite of being booed or maltreated over the association; you will think twice even if for the sake of your children but you care less of the rest with whom you share that name. You name is an identity card that may grant you access or deny you access to the very most important places you can imagine. Sometimes the criteria that influences the outcome was long established by someone tied to that name and sometimes it is based on your person which has lasting consequences. The past may be badly damaged and there is nothing one can do short of effecting a complete name change. If one’s family name is associated for the killing of innocent people in the community and this is posing a problem and there is no way to avoid this stigma. If the family name is Sin and the person becomes a preacher; the name Rev. Tari Sin (Love Sin) will pose its sets of problem in his ministry. Even under such circumstances, if the individual determines the value of a good name and watches to keep a good name, the essence of the character will obliterate the semantics since character has no language barrier but semantics does. Hence a goofy character will find the language to be goofy and the kind will be kind wherever they find themselves; rhetoric on the other hand is either understood or has to be interpreted to be understood. You hear utterances like “unlike the rest of the family; he is a very good man”, this is based on merit of the individual; “like father like son” is a case of a value added son and “he is an Oguanrau” is an example of an instance of free riding on the family name.

A legacy is passed from generation to generation with the expectation that the present custodians will cherish and improve on it. When something precious is handed over to you without personal cost, it is expected that you will take care of it and at least maintain it in the form you met it and carefully pass it on to the next generation even if you can not add value to it, it should not deteriorate under your watch or custody. That way those that come after you will not face the uphill task of undoing the damage that you may have done in your recklessness but could enjoy all the goodwill associated with the legacy and happily build and improve upon it for the next generation which may include your immediate descendants.

What is the value of your name? It is priceless, every other guess is nothing but a hazardous guess and like it sounds, very dangerous. If someone offers to buy that piece of land the family house is sitting on and you look at the money in today’s currency and sell the land and the family house; do you know the exact worth of that piece of land which had been with the family for ages and what it represents to those who had fought for it and perhaps got killed to have it preserved for the generations to come? By single fiat of your beautiful john Hancock, you have exchanged something precious with riches which might not be as great as you thought they were. In the search for riches whether great or just enough, what else are you willing to trade for riches or fame; the love of a trusted friend, your conscience, the confidences of a family member, community trust, time with your family or your total unalloyed devotion to the Lord?

What is you name? Are you riding on that family name? Are you maintaining and adding value or are you dragging it in the mud for innocent others to get clobbers and capable others to take it to the cleaners? What is your legacy or is that not important? It may look unimportant if your value system is compromised which in itself is not the end of the world but to destroy something which is priceless because the worth is not unappreciated is the worst amongst careless mistakes. This can be likened to a father giving away a stone that had been in the family for ages to another and the child comes to discover that the precious rare stone on displace at the city center by a prominent family was actually that same stone once belonged to his family that made the other family prominent and his own father give it away!

Guard and polish that name, both your name and the family name; one of your descendants will be thankful that you did. “You better watch what you are doing”, says the title of a favorite song. Everything adds up, including what we say, write or do and do not. May the Lord help us all.

A Tradition of The Elders

2012-01-25T22:07:00.000-08:00

Oh well, junior might have a point about the meaningless custom of flexing and bowing to every old man or woman that happens to get here by stroke of a lead time. What an absurdity, such useless and archaic piece of perfunctory junk to be expected to kowtow to everybody with some age advantage. When a piece of cloth or car gets old, the value depreciates and once new devices find themselves in the museums amongst antiquity to make way for the new and conventional. For someone who does not drink, the idea of a wine getting better with age is all balderdash. As with most things in life, the unknown is often envisaged through the template of what is familiar. The consequences of such postulate are sometimes far greater and disastrous than expected or predicted. One example is that the young gets old to find that experience no matter the kind or the perceived worth at the time actually does matter.

The plantain sucker once asked its parent which had started fruiting why it was bending so out of shape and the parent wisely replied, “you will soon find out” when you get here. This parable is a classic amongst older folks in Izon land as they attempt to teach younger folks who get impatient with the older generation. I must admit, I belong to the old school and I sincerely understand the level of impatience that a well meaning youth can get where there are no guidelines or basis of interaction between the ages, especially during these days of instant everything! If you will, consider a situation where you have toddlers, youths and old folks with clutches and walking sticks trying to run a marathon; okay a virtual marathon. If it is just a matter of speed, then clearly we all know who should run that race. If the route is a maze, it is certain that someone who knows the way must be in the team. If the entire family was moving, then there will be weaker ones to accommodate and while those who can set the pace to lead while others follow.

This forum is a cross section of the Izon nation and how villages meetings are conducted is a good model. We share a common lineage but the diversity is so immense that there is no way to bring members to a consensus without well tested guidelines. Whether we like it on not, respect remains the pivot of every human interaction and engagement. There must be reciprocal respect between champions, between professional colleagues, between siblings, between parents and children, between leader and followers, between the old and young and between spouses, etc. Mathematically speaking, reciprocal is the inverse of what is; meaning there has to be something first. So someone has to pay respect before it is being reciprocated and note that reciprocity is not equality! Conversely where there is respect, there must be a reciprocal respect or a response that acknowledges a respect that was so freely initiated without solicitation but with expected response or acknowledgement. Example: A younger person sees an older individual who may or may not see the younger and receives an unsolicited greeting: “Nua o, Okoido”(welcome, my knees are on the ground - implied). The cordial response to this unsolicited respect is, “Yaa, Seri” (please rise). Ordinary greeting would have been “Nua”with “Yaa” as response.

Like the plantain, it is inevitable that everyone who values life will pray for long life and will become old and continue to exist amongst a potpourri ages. There will be the rich and strong, young and vibrant, the infirmed and poor but there is one common denominator baring the physical barrier of muteness, the capacity to speak their minds in public places. If that be the case, what will be the criteria for the privilege to be heard or respected? This is where I believe our custom got it right. The respect for age where elders are given the right of way to speak in a meeting and then give younger ones the opportunity to respond, infuse insight, recommend or introduce new ideas to forge agreed concepts into workable projects. The aged may become senile but they are never thrown out or ridiculed just as the poor or infirmed are not shamed. Tact is key, when a change of baton is necessary. If you have ever seen a scene where a 90 years old man is made to give up driving that he has done since a teenager, then you would understand the tact that is required to negotiate that transition. More the so if you are thoughtful enough to think far on the way he tenderly taught you to drive, and safely did so for every one of you and now you are about to stop him from driving for his own safety and those of other road users. You will have to do that with respect. However, if you choose not to, never mind; junior will certainly copy this same approach you have adopted and apply it to you with the going interest rate of his day. This is for certain and I can bet anybody on that.

Custom: If it ain’t broke; don’t discard; adopt it with some degree of ingenuity and keep it alive; it is your legacy.

A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

2012-01-25T21:51:00.000-08:00

CORNER CUTTING PHONEY

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Being the
instant generation that we are, we are prone to approach every
destination or situation with the mind set of getting there at the
shortest time by the easiest way. Doing so some times entail short
cuts which may trample upon precious entities such as flowers upon
well laid square beds; carefully established rules aimed at regulating
and protecting society, or delicate characters that differentiate and
define the unique beings we all are.

As with everything, practice makes perfect; if consciously left
unchecked in a predetermined fashion this seemingly innocent and
harmless habit of cutting corners is capable of resulting into serious
compulsive behavior most of us abhor in life. Life is a journey (into
the unknown) and like astronauts who are planning to take a trip into
deep space that train and factor in as many possible scenarios they
might encounter, the life traveler who cares about the journey and
fellow travelers must be prepared to observe what is and what could be
as they travel along. The fact that no one can make it alone should be
apparent to everyone who cares to pause and think but here lies the
problem; ‘to pause and think’ in an instant generation where everyone
seems to be in a hurry which is an oxymoron of some sort! If the
journey must be successful (that is making it to the desired
destination with all the pilgrims intact and in good shape), there has
to be a predetermined self imposed auto pause or brake system which
must be effective when initiated or energized as needed.

If you were to find yourself as the captain of your capsule and you
depend on your navigator that mans the panel that guides your craft;
would you not think twice before you trample upon his fragile ego that
could lead to a demented patient incapable of functioning properly or
worse still cause him to feed you with wrong inputs capable of
jeopardizing the entire mission? If this is not possible, just reflex
on how on a busy super highway a single careless act of an absent
minded driver can cascade into catastrophe (It could just be a finger
gesture, a slight stray into another’s lane, a sharp cutting in front
etc). Saying an out of place word with the intent to belittle another
is akin to cutting corners! It is like what the professional wrestlers
do when they face formidable opponents that they suspect they would
not otherwise subdue if they stick to the guidelines in a ring fight.
They distract and poke the opponent in the eye and as the poor
opponent grapple for sight they pummel and subdue with whatever means
to win! That might be acceptable for a ring fight but if the same
tactics are applied amongst co team members or travelers, it becomes a
problem.

I do not know the name for a small snake, but I know that the eggs of
snake and the little snakes are all snakes which must be avoided even
if one is a snake charmer. Cutting corners to take an undue advantage
may seem harmless but it is one of the most dangerous habits one can
ever develop. It is dangerous to self, others and the society. The
personal mirror is like a time lapse camera that captures events
continuously of the person in such a way that the individual is
unaware of the slow changes taking place. Others see only discrete
pictures from time to time and are able to tell the progression or
retrogression far clearer and quicker than the individual. “In the
reunion of two close friends who had been apart for a couple of
decades, one of the things that both would recognized is that, every
wrinkle on their fore heads stamps a major disappointment” – W.W.
W; circa 1974 SMC PH.

“It will not happen to me” is not a remedy or a plan. The champion of
today was once an amateur and the tendency to cut corners is in
everyone us! If we ever plan never to cut the ‘big’ corner we all
despise and write so strongly against; we must as a matter of policy
start to work at eliminating the eggs and little snakes before they
develop to the man eating monsters of greed and the callous
mismanagement (kolobie) of public funds. Seeing and observing this
obnoxious personal traits in oneself and taking public positions but
ignoring “poto poto” in the eye is a signal of a phony in the making!
If one engages in the short cut of offering and accepting bribes, it
is very certain that the individual will demand and accept bribes when
he/she gets to top. It is like swimming, once you learn it…and as the
lingo of the vice- “no greasing, no sliding” and there always will be
friction (both natural and artificial) on the path of an impatient
instant generation that is constantly in a hurry that yells – more
grease please!

This is not in any way an indictment but a self x-ray or a mirror
aimed to help every aspiring pilgrim who may find themselves in
leadership position tomorrow. Slumber courts only exist deep in the
recesses of the mind where the subconscious is the judge and the jury.
Should you find some small foxes jump out to meet your eye, it would
be wise to swiftly take care of business before they become demons the
public would want to exorcise one day.. Dealing with foxes is personal
but it becomes nasty business when they become demons which have the
tendency of consuming the host. If in doubt, ask those who have been
there, it is not pretty. No one asked me but it is true that no one
goes to war without preparation and the time to prepare for war is at
peace time. Do not wait until you get there; you will be lighter and
the climb will be faster.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall, what do you see? Will I be like any of the
leaders whose antics I have written against? Oh, oh, that looks like
an egg of envy; yet another tiny winy serpent of greed (give-me-ity);
etc. A stitch in time saves nine. WHAM!

Wake up or you go back to sleep!

Chewing The Cud

2012-01-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Here, a quiet cool place, let me recline;

Warning : Please be advised it is long; just too much to chew; avoid
possible imminent constipation..!!!.

Chewing the Cud (sorry, words; donkeys do not chew cuds or words
lthough there is a record of one speaking)

There you are wondering how a donkey which naturally does not chew the
cud has the need to lie down to regurgitate and masticate invisible
material it hurriedly swallowed and where in the world does it have
the time to do it in this bustling restless times. As you wonder, I
too wonder at the sight of a lonely able bodied person in the midst of
happy cheerful people with and a bold but invisible custom self-made
label of a sign on the lapel; “I am different, unwanted and alone,
nobody cares!” There is no need for audio, the body language and the
sulky sunken starry look in the eyes says it all. There the fellow
stands like a flag post in the center of a field of melons, feeling
and expressing real and imagined painful differences only to receive a
confirmation of what is expected. Like an albino sheep amongst black
sheep, like a cattle egret amongst eagles, feeling and ‘seeing’ (in
the mind’s eyes) the differences but forgetting that all are sheep and
birds respectively. So you go looking for your kind everywhere you
went hoping that you will find and perhaps hear like others do hear
somebody greet another in the language you know and consider yours.
Then imagine the joy that would follow this welcomed find until
reality hits again{ as it will every one that comes to this forum}.

While in this wonderland, have you thought of the reason why someone
could be alone in a crowd? It is a cold, cold world they say but I
would rather we do not complain about the cold if we are not ready to
break the ice which insulates the cold in us to share the warmth
without. Like tortoises in their shells we hide ourselves in self
defenses, cover our vulnerable areas in (isolation) and mercilessly
spit fire (venom) from our mouths in rapid sessions like machine guns
at others who cross the imaginary boundary lines we create and know
about and stray into our provoke prone spaces. On the outside we look
cool, smooth and attractive until the words come out of us to identify
who we really are; thorny as a rose bush, prickly as a porcupine and
unforgiving as hot iron on bare flesh. What became of that initial
excitement upon the finding our kindred? How soon do we forget how
lonely we felt amongst a majority that, try all you can, we may not
belong to? If one feels different amongst his very own, is it possible
that there is something (either perceived or real) about the person
that is responsible? No wonder we continuosly tell others to make
themselves feel at home based on our jumpy uneasy experiences in
similar circumstances. Depending on the goal, it is important and
therefore prudent to have a self examination. (If you fail it you take
it again until you pass it and improve upon it). It would be confusing
and therefore counter intuitive to be calling for peace and
cooperation and at the same time raise a clenched fist while spewing
out invectives through open grinding teeth. Words do kill and words
build, the choice is ours.

Words are powerful and as I was thinking upon this fact some of words
started playing in my silly dreamy head. I was wondering; no I was not
sleeping. I could not drive the words off as one would drive flies so
I stopped fighting and started examining them with the motive of
avoiding the bad and hopefully remember to choose the right and
appropriate words in my communication with those I share our space.
The words, banding, band wagon, bandage, band-with, bond and bondage;
do have some connotation of ‘coming together’. When this applies to
people, it could have a sinister meaning/ purpose and it could also
depict a noble and soothing meaning.

Banding together to withstand external aggression and collectively
banding to ward off a common enemy is a good thing. United we stand
(together), divided we fall (one by one beginning from the weakest).
Unless the order of the fall is more important than the fact that you
all are ultimately going to fall; the wise option is to find or follow
the path that would mitigate a fall. However, if in a given family,
individuals decide to band together to exclude others against their
wishes (to be part of the whole group) and if such arrangement or
outcome is inimical to the interest of the whole family, then such
banding is questionable and must be reviewed, scrutinized and
disbanded if it is found wanting in the department of brotherliness. A
family is not an association of professionals, neither gang of
knuckle- heads nor a modeling outfit where only those who are
considered fit and capable are selected. No one chose the family they
were born into; everyone found themselves in the family the same way;
two may have decided to come together to ‘begat’ somebody and there
you are amongst the strangest of fellows as kin and kith! No
questions, no inputs from the concerned somebody!.. Before anyone gets
swollen in the head for making the appropriate choices, even when you
think that you chose the right partner; guess what, the zygote that
resulted into the mysterious family member, (that somebody you wrongly
term nobody) is just one out of a zillion possible others! If you had
no choice being here, do you think you have a choice to ostracize
another family member who equally has no choice being there to share
the same space? This is where human beings are different from animals
that expel (and exterminate, if possible) any that dare to invade
“their space”. Their space, my space, my, mine but never ours; so the
separation and the alienation escalate until it ultimately leads to a
stand off and a fall! {One mischievous child was heard saying to the
parents, I did not ask to be born (-meaning you owe me everything I
WANT) and the father aptly replied, ‘sorry you did not ask” (for if
you did the answer would have been no, not this silly saucy,
disrespectful, inconsiderate one)}

The compound word band wagon is neutral and harmless on the surface.
What harm can band in a wagon do unless one is a wet blanket and is
averse to seeing others rejoice or jubilate; a party pooper of some
sort? Granted, a noisy band in a wagon may be a nuisance in quiet
neighborhoods where baby boomers who in their younger days have messed
up their tympanic membranes while listening to constant loud music to
the point where a rap band in the wagon is offensive. Picture a couple
of exuberant youths moving their heads, limbs and mouths in a rapid
fashion but try as you can with your ear piece turned on full blast
and you could hear nothing but thumb, thumb and make no meaning out
of what is going on! It is a given in any society that something
considered unpleasant or undesirable by the majority will surface and
even if that does not happen, undesirables can be imported and
exported. So, one fine day, often without warming and definitely
without the group’s invitation, you find Mr. Undesirable floating,
sneaking, creeping or blazing through your collective territory. As if
that invasion was not affront enough, individuals within the group or
family may join the band wagon. Sometimes, a thief squats in an
unoccupied building to practice its trade in stock of pilfering and if
nothing is done about it, soon this thief would attract individuals
who are on the character borderline (shady?) without the will, courage
and skill set to independently initiate or engage on such nefarious
activity to join the band wagon to form an in-house den of robbers!.

As one reflects on the word bandage, the first thing that comes to
mind is wound. Bandages are applied to wounds to prevent infection and
enhance speedy healing. This, I believe is a good thing. Bandage could
also connote isolation; isolation of the menace from the useful. There
lies the problem especially where the definitions and distinction
between the assumed or assigned values which warrant the isolation is
fuzzy and unsystematic. Does it necessarily mean that the man who is
always talking to himself and found writing things no one else can
decipher is mad and must be isolated in an asylum? If that be the case
many a folk reading this must never get to certain parts of the world
because we are like such a fellow to many and in danger of being so
incarcerated. Pardon the analogy for its melodramatics but we do have
the tendency to isolate anyone we can not or not willing to or too
lazy to take the time to understand. So for brevity and expedience of
our unexpressed purpose we isolate and label them with a
fit-for-purpose nick name that would hopefully debase him/or her to
stay depressed, and out of our path at least enough to complete our
mission uninterrupted. That in my view is the essence of calling
people names that are not theirs that are uncomplimentary. In extreme
cases, people debase others to the level of animals and be
subconsciously justified should the brute’s behavior (in most cases
guilt of bad choice of words in moment of anger) warrants ‘it’s’
demise that it attracted upon itself! Needless to say, that human
beings are created equal and different and it would be utterly wrong
to determine the usefulness or importance of someone based on another
who is not the specimen or template from which the rest were created.
The differences do exit and sadly these seeming odd bed fellows are
gregarious in nature and as such must learn to live together despite
the differences. So we are taught from birth to learn how to share in
this give and take world from which no one will leave alive or carry
anything out of. Tolerance is not just an idea in machine design meant
to allow smooth movement of interconnected parts but it is a principle
people who occupy and share common space and values respectively must
learn to observe to be in harmony. Life is a song and a music of many
parts; sing yours and encourage others to sing theirs with the melody
you know you possess!

Band-with is another interesting scientific word that has deep meaning
outside its popular use. Segment comes close in my perception,
understanding and application of this word. We put things together as
in filing for easy retrieval. Instead of naming all the folks, one
could get away by saying ladies and gentlemen without offending anyone
in particular for having omitted any. Banding also make it possible to
be brief (which is painfully alien to me in wonderland),simple (single
package instead of many pieces) focused and thereby remain neutral
especially in issues where you are not 100% sure. There is always room
for exceptions and it is a good thing to have such wiggling room in
tight and unfamiliar territories where any blunt affront (which may be
an unintended blunder) could fetch an undeserved clobbering. Banding
or band-with could also be for classification purposes and that is
where things could go wrong! To be able to classify anything or things
that exist in a spectrum, you must be knowledgeable of what is being
classified to the point of knowing the limits and boundary lines that
make the entities unique to be so classified. There is no room for
guess work in classification; whilst you are at it, it either in or
out; right or wrong. The consequence of getting it wrong can be
visualized in the example of mistakenly calling a long haired man a
woman. Most women wear long hair but not all those who wear long hair
are women. So think twice when it becomes necessary for you to
classify those who share your collective space because a wrong label
often result in an under value. We are great misers when it concerns
others but very liberal in self assessment; we undervalue others and
over value our selves – to some; it is self preservation (or
self-promotion?) as in blinking.

Bond is another fascinating word as it relates to family or group of
people linked to a common heritage. The family ties that bind us
together and that which makes us to be so identified as a people; in
this case the Izon people. The blood line like some invisible crazy
glue makes one to identify with those of this common heritage; that
bond that makes one to defend another even if in some vicarious and
subconscious level by inaudible words of comfort or by intangible ways
of assisting another brother/sister in practical terms like in prayer.
Such bond is auto executed and quickly turned off at will. Depending
on the individuals and upon what is a stake, two, upon first
introduction could turn their magnetic fields so high to make parting
almost impossible. In some cases brothers and sisters stay so close to
end up getting married while some become best of friends and
dependable business partners. So when next you get introduced to
another family member, check your bond meter and be sure it is putting
out the desired level of (magnetic) bonding. We all have used the term
bonding with those that matter to us. The objective is to stay
connected and develop the correct mutual feeling. How about someone’s
word being his bond; what does it mean? To me it means the person’s
word carries a weight more than what he has promised. If he chooses or
situation makes it impossible to fulfill his promise, the loss the
person will suffer in whatever currency or medium of measurement is
far more than the loss I would experience for the failure. People of
integrity often move around with their bond in their persons at no
further cost or any need of an external surety or guarantor. It is a
blissful state to travel in such a portable cozy comfy coach of self
recognition the building of which takes a life time of discipline
embedded in a determined personal will.

The Pricky Question Of Patriotism

2012-01-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

Like fragmented pieces of clay pot found near an abandoned well in a
dessert which thirsty interest groups hurriedly put together as
temporary solution of collecting water; the fabrication called Nigeria
is threatening to burst at the badly constituted joints. The
workmanship is poor as the intent is narrow and myopic at best; the
concocted objectives not so noble lay in plain view conspicuously
naked, selfish and sectarian; while the temporary cheap glue that
gives it a semblance of an entity is overwhelmed as its authenticity
is put to the test by the true load it is purportedly designed to
bear.

So long as the bonds last and are effective, what is bond will remain
in place- bond. When groups of people are made to live together, it is
not a matter of having a strong center but of having a bond strong
enough to link the pieces that constitute the group. As in creating a
durable and useful pottery from pieces of broken clay, the bond must
be as strong as the individual pieces and in itself durable and made
of material that is compatibly safe for the desired use. A responsible
potter will think along these lines in his creation.

What were the thoughts of the Colonialists as they came up with the
idea of this contraption? The duration of a marriage of convenience
is as long as the time the convenience is convenient. If it was for
beauty, riches, status, faith, love etc; so long as the juices are
flowing from the C source; it is bound to hold. Was there any glue or
just an artificial mirage (there are natural mirages where all the
ingredients that create them are real) to make it seem as if there was
a bond? So as not to be mistaken for “colonial lambasting”; may I ask
what those who later inherited the ruse that is Nigeria did? Instead
of forming real bonds and establishing ingenious ways of reinforcing
the so called formation that was built on sand, we created classes.
The haves and have not , the ruled and the perpetually ruled; the
perceived conquerors and the hopelessly conquered, the elites and "the
too heavies that amount to noting", the class of oppressors,
compressors , the compressed and the chronically oppressed, the
dictators and the stenographers who typed their own death sentences;
just to mention a few!

Whenever a concept is based on injustice, falsehood or selfishness,
there is hardly any permanent device known to man that can keep such a
contraption in harmony; every entity that finds itself in disharmony
is bound to disintegrate as soon as the forcing function which keeps
it in quasi-equilibrium is no more. The leaders who rule for their
collective self interest will cease to rule when there is nothing of
common interest or when disparity in the shares causes a rift in the
artificial bond. Regardless of what the immediate cause of the
disintegration, the only true bonds that exist are what the individual
groups feel about themselves. Hence, like a good friend of mine once
said (and I agree with him); there have been no individual thoughts
like Nigerians (which is quite different from being called a Nigerian
or carrying a Nigerian passport or even representing Nigeria in
international platforms). Rather, it is open knowledge that we are
known and prefer to be identified by our tribes. So what holds Nigeria
in place? Self interests and those are as temporary and unstable as
quick sand – easily, readily and rapidly concocted and often executed
without consensus or legitimacy. Cookies do crumble.

Attempting therefore to compare Nigeria with any other country where
patriotism is the singular bond that keeps heterogeneous groups of
together is like a bald man asking for a stylish “Ajilo” cut of a
barber. The only concern one has is the uncertainty that does exist.
If and when the various groups that now see themselves as unique get
what they think they need (by going their separate ways); will the
required patriotism that forges homogeneity surface amongst my own
people or self interest would continue to be the bane? Time will tell
as it always does.

The Bane of “I” Service

2012-01-25T21:10:00.000-08:00

The eye is a natural feed back control mechanism which if used as
intended is very beneficial to the individual or the community the eye
represents. However if the eye takes upon itself to represent self and
attempts what other parts of the body are designed to or relays
something different from what actually is; disaster looms very close.
If the hand, guided by the eye and coordinated by the brain, picks up
a stone and hauls it at a predetermined target and misses and the
stone falls (without noise); it is the duty of the eye to signal the
brain that the target was missed and in order to hit the target in
subsequent attempts, the hand must shift its aim by the exact angle
the eye prescribes. What if the eye tries to do the throwing? What if
the eye is faulty and instead of telling the body, “I have a handicap
let us try an alternative” but instead goes ahead to send a feed back
of totally wrong coordinate? What if the target is the apple of the
eye, and the eye keeps feeding back the wrong coordinates to ensure
that the target is missed on purpose? What if the eye gets envious of
the hand for getting all the credit because it is hailed as the
straight shooter who never misses? But is that a true picture and is
it a correct picture? There is a difference. A stage managed situation
as seen by the public is a true picture of what took place but that
picture and what it represents is not correct. The motive makes the
difference.

Eye service is an expensive business; expensive to the artists and to
the society. This delicate act requires daily polishing and constant
vigilance on the part of the artist. Like a chameleon (but more
rigorously), the artist must be prepared to change color, tone,
purpose, strategy, trademark, style, demeanor, position under short or
sometimes no notice at all with changes. This requires limitless
energy and memory capacity of astronomical proportions. There is no
human being with such resources to fully function in a flawless manner
in such herculean service; hence eye service no matter how it is
disguised gets spotted in the long run at the point of flaw on the
spot! The eye service provider pays many other costly prices besides
being uncovered as a phony. How about the moral turmoil that rages
within and the conscience that continues to be seared as by a hot iron
every instance the eyes relay or superimpose what is not true? There
is no adult alive that was not raised by another and in the cause of
the development there must have been certain mores that were passed
down to the adult in question. If all such mores were against society
then this particular anti-social adult would not be alive because the
society in general would have gotten rid of this non-conforming
helpless and powerless child before it had the chance of growing up to
be the terror it was bound to be. Therefore, there must be some good
value system inculcated during the formative years in every adult. In
order to provide lucrative eye service, an individual must over-ride
such valuable upbringing in exchange of filthy lucre. That is an
expensive business which demeans and rubbishes all the efforts of
parents and all those who had carefully and meaningfully planted
sometimes under very difficult situations into lives. Society is made
of individuals and when individuals turn sour, the society gets sour
as broken bile in a fish makes the entire soup bitter .

I am not reluctant to ask myself questions when I encounter a problem
so I ask. If eye service is this harmful why do we do it or (better
put) why are there many providers? It is lucrative no doubt and there
are no qualification requirements. It is competitive , it is cheap and
the provider is made to believe to be of value and relevance.The only
way to attract a fee hike in this business is to outperform others and
previous personal performances like a horse that is made to grind the
mill by placing a promising delicacy right in front of it as it
salivates and grunts. This seemingly easy business becomes a burden,
an enigma and a curse to all who practice it because there is no
truth, love or justice in it. Both the eye service provider and the
client know that the services are rendered at the expense of others
which in most cases are innocent and harmless. When that happens and
those so affected cry to their Maker; it is bound to attract God's
attention. It becomes scary if those who participate in this business
name the Name of the Lord. The first Psalm paints the perfect picture
in my thoughts.

There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. Not doing
what one was supposed to do is a sin of omission whereas doing what
one is not supposed to do is a sin of commission and they are all
sins. There is also a third category which is; doing something one did
not know was sin. If both the provider and client of eye service are
guilty, one may argue that a client may inadvertently pay for eye
service just like someone could mistakenly receive or buy a stolen
good or accept a counterfeit. Given the premise that there are eye
service providers out there like there are counterfeits in
circulation, how could a well meaning client; be it a business
partner, a leader, or a father detect and must do when eye service is
being offered? The answer to the latter is simple. Upon detection,
unmask the masquerade and do not pay for the services, promptly
declare in front of the provider and afterwards the rendered services
as useless. This single act would reverberate to all other
practitioners of this dastard trade that this client does not engage
or pay for eye services. There were a couple of people in my circle of
friends who learnt it the hard way. Being new to their environment and
also being infested with the virus of exaggeration or outright telling
of ‘falsities’, they were requested to repeat what they had previously
said about others in their presence or asked others who were present
to collaborate their story beautifully presented previously.

The former question will take both time and soul searching and perhaps
experience born out of serendipitous cycle of being taken and later
discovery of truth and facts. One key thing to remember is the golden
rule; “do unto others as you would have other do unto you”. The next
question that may be asked is, “why is this individual offering these
services to me”? Depending on the situation, someone offers a solution
to an existing problem which sometimes the immediate custodian has not
or is yet to or will never see or comprehend. And sometimes the
potential client in his bid to engage the appropriate eye service
provider throws out bait as a fisherman would doss blood to attract
sharks. When the bait is taken, the proper handshake occurs and the
fee which is mostly unspoken and depending on the level of desperation
of the eye service provider is solely dictated by the client. How do
you detect eye service? Treat every free service with caution and
with respect since not all free service is eye service. Watch out for
the “I” when viewing the drossier of potentials candidates and listen
carefully as they present their reports and pay close attention and
watch out for the prevalent super presence of “I” in every phase of
strategy and execution. Think of the task in hand and what is required
to achieve it and consider what is proposed and is being reported; do
they tally? If the business at hand was to peep across a given seven
feet fence without boring holes, without electronic devices, no trees
to climb, the land flat on the other side, without anything to stand
on; the following thoughts would cross my mind if the potential
service provider says he saw something inside the fence. He has no
aircraft to fly across to see inside the fence. He had no access to
the premises,( it is mine and if he did it was illegal and I will not
trust him with the services). He is barely six feet tall, he could not
have seen anything standing his tallest across that seven feet
barrier. But wait a minute his report said he did it alone. Is it
possible that he engaged someone to stand or bend over for him to
climb on top and in doing so be tall enough to see across my fence?
The aim of the service could have been for me to eliminate every
possibility that was out there so that my premises would be secured.
But that “I” report prevented me from receiving the true benefit and
that is fraudulent practice. Those that were used and were sidelined
and maligned may not know what happened but the fact that they were
short changed and sacrificed at the altar of greed remains despicably
inerasable.

Incase the masquerade is multi-layered as it often is, sycophancy is a
mutant of eye service except this variant is a senior service provider
that often does nothing but praise sing at designated podia. Like a
ship ever ready to deliver its cargo making to and fro profit by
singing well rehearsed praises on cue to a grand maestro, the
deceitful heart. It is clear that, the vainer the client the more
gullible is the client to the antics of a praise singer; the cheaper
the client the more willing to engage and therefore higher the price
of engagement. It is very difficult to flatter a self assured woman of
her beauty; she knows that she is beautiful and every sugar coated
attempt to get her in a spot to compromise who she is, is easily
identified and appropriately dumped. Sorry to say, it is not so with
the insecure and seekers of cheap prominence. Error of judgment or
definition or that due to lack of knowledge is another but to have
someone say things about you and on your behalf which you know are not
true without correcting it, is borderline unethical but to willfully
engage and empower others to put out such window dressing for whatever
motive is criminal. The offence being that those who received the
window dressing were cheated of the truth they needed to know to
evaluate and make the decision you are so concerned if made with the
right perspective will not be suitable to you. If that situation does
not matter or is personal then there is no need to launder it but if
it is contrary then the people must know about it and by their
collective will let the people have the individual disqualified or
cause the subject to change to what is acceptable to society and
thereby be an eligible open book and a useful agent of progress!

Before I sound pedantic and all self righteous; let be state that I am
not righteous but I have a conscience and what you read is what is
racing through my head that I am under conviction and willing to put
down on paper. The reason I do it is my belief that a confessed sin is
powerless to the sinner and remains a deterrent to all sinners and
most importantly provides a way of escape whenever the evil tendency
tries to rear up its ugly head in a known fashion. For example, it
would be difficult and very foolish of me to go back and do what I am
writing about. Equally and hopefully there might be just one
individual who would find a word of caution or exposition that would
help prevent getting into this deadly service of the eye upon reading
my thoughts that I have painstakingly poured out with this exact hope
in mind. Have I ever done anything in order to attract praise or curry
favor? Have I accelerated/intensified or decelerated/diminished any
action depending on whether or not a significant other is present?
Have I ever embellished self to the exclusion of others to the point
where a cursory observer or non-vigilant benefactor accords me the
compound credit due to a significant but never cited contributors and
collaborators? Like the crowd that brought the woman ‘caught in
adultery’ before Jesus; with my eye on the ground in shame and the
stone slipping through my fingers, I answer my own questions, “I have
“. I too am guilty but I am willing to live what I know is the right
way. How about you; are you willing so help us, O God? All things are
possible to them that believe. Lord Jesus I believe I am free of eye
service, please help me where ever there is unbelief.

The Matter of Trust

2012-01-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

What does a donkey know about trust? Are you kidding me? The donkey trusted the owner as he released it and its foal to complete strangers to be ridden by a King that was coming into town.The King of kings trusted that the owner He had never met was going to grant the wish of the Master and release the beasts in his custody. The beast of burden trusted the King although it did not understand the fanfare amidst the cries of Hosanna; the casting of garments and placing of palm fronds for it to walk upon. It must be some joyful occasion and not a march of death for it and its precious foal. The King trusted His Father with the mission He was assigned to and the Father Trusted that The Son the King will be obedient even death upon the cross.

Whether a monarch or the poorest pauper, it makes no difference you will need to trust somebody.. Some may deny it while others would ignore this crucial fact and go on living as if it doesn’t matter. As I pick my way on this thought, I trust that all the systems put in place by others will work as I envisaged they are meant to and that someone will be able to read my thought as I trust they would. Whether you are sitting on a chair or standing on some platform which was designed by another which you trust your whole life upon is one simple illustration of the fact that trust is a key ingredient in life. Everybody has got to trust somebody; infant do, teenagers acknowledge later in life that they did, and the self assured lone rangers wished they knew they did and acted appropriately. There is a man Friday to every Robinson Crusoe.

Depending on the environment and the circumstances, it becomes very important to take notice and make preparations and exercise caution in things we ordinarily take for granted. Air is very essential for breathing but how many people would take the time to check out the oxygen content of a room before entry? However, it would be very foolish of a fireman to enter the same room without an extra measure of taking an external oxygen tank and mask during a fire incidence. Similarly, the diver who thought nothing about air on the surface must be fully kitted with a life support gadget while under water.

Desperate times demand desperate measures (actions?) they say. When push (which is supposedly collective) becomes shove (which in most times is a derivative of survival), it calls for the battle of the wits. In a disjointed environment of shove, every player is jockeying for the best position to place their best foot forward and take maximum advantage, the element of trust and interdependency becomes a logo without backing. Like a bad marriage, there is a semblance of collectivity but the obvious lack of connectivity and lack of singleness of purpose. Like a two-headed tailless snake engaged in a silent but lethal internal tug of war; going no where and thereby exposed to extermination. A divided house is no different from this; no trust, no cohesion and definitely no connectivity like neurons firing into empty space.

What should be a considered right approach in an environment where trust has been compromised? If we agree that water has no enemy; it is reasonable to say that there is no person who can live without trusting somebody. Like water, that trusted somebody is a lifeline. A wise man I once met had a funny title which had become his name; a couple of folks know him I suppose. “Ita ki owei” which translated means; I fear no one but my wife. This man knew that he had to trust his wife and there is anybody who could end his life as effortlessly as his wife could if she was so inclined. In order words, he trusted his wife. When he is asleep and vulnerable, the wife is awake; she cooks those delicious meals with the selective SAFE spices he loves which go directly into his system and does no harm to him! A wise man indeed! In a working environment the level of trust and interdependency is high and crucial. In management, the manager depends on the subordinates to be trust worthy just as they are depending on their boss to protect their interest. This symbiotic trust is a driver of every human collective existence. Groups are temporary close doors created with a goal to allow specific individuals with given talents to collectively concentrate and become productive without external distractions. Such close doors are necessary to avoid external and uncontrolled influence on the group. As a matter of trust, the discussions and strategies that are being forged are never to be divulged by any until such has become a policy or logo that can be made public at the prescribed time and by designated channel. If information within a group seeps outside the group prematurely, without authorization; it is breech of trust and dangerous to the entity. In such a case, there is an info bearer with a different agenda within the group that must be quickly identified without delay; to thwart the primary intent and forestall future attacks if left intact.

A simple but effective of way identifying a potential whistle blower or one who is a trigger happy informant is to test the trust worthiness of each individual you have need to trust. I personally like to praise everybody I meet and I watch out for the things I hear of others. Even if my words are carried to quarters I had no intention of them being sent and are echoed with distortions; because they were positive and no matter the degree of distortion, I am sure the words arrived and the truth remains. This is where care is needed. If you remember whom you spoke to, there should be no doubt who the info commissioner was. However, the situation gets complicated as the number of people increases as in a group or committee. Individuals could still apply the same principle amongst themselves to test the credibility and trust worthiness. Like minded people will always agree and in such groups, before long they are able to discover amongst
themselves who has a double tongue, trigger happy with inside info or has the disease of a basket mouth. A good leader and member of the group, the leader has to independently do exactly what the group members had done and more. The leader has the added task to test the group’s authenticity in a global sense.The system is compromised immediately this responsibility is delegated or reneged with the danger of sycophancy. The leader must know the trust wordiness of each individual within the group; this can not be delegated, transferred or assumed; it must be earned after independent acid test of the leader’s choice and timing that must not be postponed or overridden. Like a father that knows the capabilities of each member of the family in the assignment of commensurate duties and trust that the member will not fail out of lack of ability; a leader knows those to trust with confidential information. This becomes very critical and crucial when the only ace group have is the element of surprise which is exclusive to all outside parties.

One time tested leak test (the red dye test) is to tell harmless non vital “secrets” to specific individuals and tune to the appropriate stations for reception. Since the “secrets” are harmless and unique, you know the broadcaster that is “live” from the frequency.It would be in your interest to shut down that illegal station since you do not know the capacity or disposition of the enterprise that sponsors it.

Quest For An Unapologetic Malleable Unity

2012-01-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

Mankind always had and will always have a heart. The heart of a man, the heart of a woman, the heart of a child, the heart of a people, the heart of a nation; they all depict or refer to the behavioral state of the individual or the collectively group. The Bible says, “As a man thinks so he is” and thoughts are essentially musings of what pleases the heart. Pleasure is addictive hence once hooked, the individual is constantly drawn to that which pleases and as a result constantly think of ways and means of getting that fix like an addict would for whatever that provides the high. The thought of being what the heart desires, makes the individuals who they are as they constantly practice either consciously or subconsciously of what they think about. If the desire is to be a doctor, the thoughts are on ways and means of being a doctor (since you see what you are looking for but pay no attention to things you have no interest in) and if the desire is to have your brother killed, you will, like Cain find a reason and the opportunity to have him executed with an excuse and rock solid alibi that will crumble at the ultimate judgment.

“Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded, for out of it are the issues of life” – Proverbs 4-23 [BDT]. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” - [NLT]. There, Someone, God knows and here is what He said about the heart of mankind which means every human heart. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” – Gen 6:5 [KJV]. This indictment was repealed by the blood of Jesus on the cross of Calvary and those who accepted to go through the redemption process were set free and given the power to live as children of the Most High God just like the addict that agreed to undergo a rehabilitation program to be freed of that particular addiction. The former addict must make it a matter of choice and habit to stay away from that which had enslaved him to remain free. Thinking and dwelling on the former ways will send him back to where he was and sometimes worse. Since there is no vacuum in nature and perpetual blank thoughts is impossible; a new way of thinking must replace the continuous wicked old thoughts. Philippians 4:8 gives the following prescription from the Word of God: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things that are true, whatsoever things that are honest, whatsoever things that are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things that are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things”. Thank you Dr. Jesus for such a potent remedy for so superlative a disease (continual wickedness)!

When those of like mind gather they do what their thoughts guide them to do. The wicked converge to foment evil while the righteous or the ex-addicts study ways they might do what is right in the eyes of God and therefore mankind.This shift of attention from pleasing self and mankind to seeking to please the Lord whose Presence all is before, is what makes the difference in outlook, goals, aspirations, the methodology or approach to issues in life. If my desire is to please the Great I AM that sees me always then it would influence the way I act or react to any situation that I find myself in. There is a silent but cogent manifesto that each individual carries within them; these collective thought processes make the individual unique and is often portrayed or recognized as character. Where the characteristics of these compound thought processes are similar in individuals there is the tendency of convergence. Hence philosophers are attracted to meet with other philosophers; mathematicians and scientists seek platforms where they may express themselves or discuss what is interesting and pleasing. This rubbing of the mind is only possible if there is commonality in their individual “manifestos”. The power and the positive outcome of the willingness to come together to work towards a common interest is attested by God (though in a bad situation) in Gen 11. Though the motive for building the tower of Babel was ignorable, God has something powerful to say about unity of purpose of a group of people. If they unite to do evil nothing can stop them except God and if they decide to do what is good in the eyes of God then God is on their side so no demon from hell can stop them!

If I must be real and not be some phony parading as some patriot that plays up to the gallery of accolades and applauses with some under hand advertisement of self with a subtle goal to be compensated big time; I must examine my manifesto to see exactly what it is. I should not expect to have a consensus with others when I do not know what I am; talk less of allowing others to know what I do not know of what or who I really am; or what I want or envisage the group that I am part of to be by my being in it! The individual manifestos may be silent but those are the active agents that initiate gathering but the collective goal which is the groups manifesto must be clearly understood by every active participant. Hence when the decision is taken to build a tower of agreement the one whose lot it falls upon to carry the bricks upstairs is not in doubt what he is doing and there is no roam to complain and gripe because the stone polisher is apparently idle while he is breaking his back! The power of agreement is as powerful as the power of discord. This question and statement from the Word of God sums it all. “Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” – Amos 3:3 [NLT].

Which way is it? What is your manifesto? What is the Manifesto? It is utterly futile to say one thing and your body language to be saying another. One might train and learn other languages but the body language like other native entities is wired straight to the heart and no amount of coaching or training can totally disguise or garble it from the careful observer. Out of the abundance of the heart, man speaks. Whenever someone speaks amiss, it is more accurate or truthful to say; please forgive my foolish thinking or careless use of words rather than saying “I never meant that” in clear case of wrong choice of word and not disparity in understanding of what was said. The alcohol in a drunk often drops the natural guard of decency to say exactly what he had intended to say but could not in his guarded natural state. Until individuals honestly examine their intents and have them totally aligned to the agreed manifesto of the group they can not make progress. Anyone who has had the experience of rowing a boat (same as driving a vehicle) that is out of alignment (arau anka) would tell is unpleasant, risky and wasteful in terms of times and resources. The true test of capability, possibility and willingness is best demonstrated in a portable, available and controllable environment that permits repeatability without added cost.

I do pray for unity of purpose for every good cause in Jesus Name.

A Tree Does Not Make a Forest

2012-01-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

A tree is not a forest but the forest is made of trees and undergrowth. If the aim is to lay ambush to avoid detection and inflict maximum damage upon an unsuspecting foe then look for a good jungle with large trees to give aerial cover and pick undergrowth for cover from an approaching infantry. However if the goal is a good wood for a dug out canoe then you should be thinking of a good tree and not an undergrowth or an entire forest. A tree does not make a forest and all vegetation in the forest has a function.

“Bottom box” is a term our mothers referred to the valuable pieces of jewelry and clothing that are kept away for only special occasions at the bottom of the box. They are not for everyday use and they are kept secured like one does with his aces and joker in a game of cards. The poker face is essential to avoid detection of what you have until you make the surprise move. Everyday clothing are very essential, they provide warmth, make you attractive and hide your nakedness. On special occasions your competition or adversary as the case may be is not aware of what you have since they consider you to be the man or woman that is with the same old garb all the time. Since no one else is aware of your ‘bottom box’ there is little danger of it being stolen. At show time, the competitors go for their best unaware of what is in your bottom box and with all confidence think that you are an easy run over until they spot the dress-to-kill piece this ‘plain ‘ole Jane is sporting! Had they known of your joker and if they had more disposable income, what do you think would have happened?

It is more painful (a lethal weapon of deterrence) when someone who is considered an underdog or nonentity to highlight a rubbish or a booboo that a supposed rambunctious guru had paraded as a solution. People with big ego are easily flustered when this happens. In the midst of this confusion the opportunity presents itself to silently field unsung echelons of your own and show the sonorous non-performing and stale self-serving backstabbers how things are done. That to me is both class and tact. If we do the same things as others have done over the years (replacing non-performing individuals with new without changing the factors that breed mediocrity and chaos in the first place), we should expect nothing different and we have no moral justification to accuse any one.

To do the above requires tact and it must be done without fan fare. The slightest fore knowledge of the plans puts it in danger of it going the way of Nigeria. It does not matter who you send there, a determined and uncooperative group of people can make it difficult for the brightest star to shine. If in doubt just look back and see the background of all those who we are displeased with their performance. There are individual in the system that had performed very well in other places outside the Nigeria space and influence but on getting into the system, the story is different. It is very difficult to beat a system; it is better and easier to build a different simple system with a fixed goal in mind.

The weapons for this method of approach are determination, tact and the element of surprise. "Do you know who I am?" in whatever form it comes across is a threat but a smile and soft firm voice does not trigger defenses or an attack. Different strategy is required to occupy an empty position and quite another to displace or replace one that is being occupied; knowing which is applicable and using it is key. Let the ‘nonentities’, the archers and snipers strike at the empty balloons and dry clay pots that contain no liquid to create an overall public awareness of the need for substance and then silently locate and reposition those unsung work horses to deliver that which is desired. These trees need the protection from vicious infantry that is bent to first destroy the oaks and the entire forest. The undergrowth can frustrate that attempt by putting well aimed spanners at their wheels. Anyone who had encountered poison ivy or a thorn bush (igbali) in a forest would think twice before running wild in a forest. The water lilies (ekeregu) can cover the swamps to lure the unseasoned armored tanks get stuck for the snipers as targets and practice for the fledging. A good organization must have trusted foot soldiers who know what they are doing as well as tested mahogany trees to give the needed structure and leadership. A change is valuable only if it is better than what it replaces or it is just a recycle and nothing different should be expected.

Body Language, Formation & Structure

2012-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

One must eat to sustain life and maintain a posture which others may read as one may read a language to understand what it means. An angry look is a likely body language of moderately fed individual who feels cheated that may or may not have the power to do anything about it whereas a hungry look is the body language of someone who is deprived of food and is at the mercy of anyone that may have power to alleviate the suffering. When hungry looks outnumber angry looks in a society, the forces that contribute to the dissatisfaction get strengthened on the notion that the people are helpless and they can do nothing, so the hunger and smiling continues! However, if the angry looks get together and do something about the reason of the dissatisfaction and turn that discontentment into active positive work, things change. Bullying is never changed by making every body in the neighborhood to become bullies but it is by having a few angry folks who have had enough to organize a well thought out legitimate strategy to engage the bully with the full mass-might of the entire community which comprises mostly of hungry and seemingly helpless folks.

When an individual sells his vote to the highest bidder, what does that tell you? The one who bought the vote buys the voice which is the only power of the people. When the purchasers decide tomorrow to take the individuals who they have so bought to the cleaners and slaughters, there is no voice to shout. The hungry looks fair no better by standing aloof and doing nothing to educate the masses to understand what the stakes are. Instead you find them jockeying for non-existent positions and engaged in empty chest beating and breathing powerless smokes like a phantom dragon. The time of election calls for innovation from the ones with insight since it is a
matter of brain against money. The hungry people must be informed of what is happening knowing that it is difficult to reason when your entire family is at the brink of starvation which a few thousands from a contestant can temporarily alley. Lower laws do give way to higher laws! If an individual’s tactics is to get you enslaved by buying your votes, what stops the individual who is convinced of this fact to be proactive, chop the money, vote for the right candidate and put out the potential slave driver out of business? This single strategy is capable of minimizing the colossal waste in politics and drastically reducing the number of unsuitable money-bag candidates that may blur the selection of capable leaders. Put the anger to good use by educating the hungry and mobilize the entire citizenry in the right direction. Right at the time when there is no money sharing involved; a lot of promises and plenty of salivation so the tables are even for the free education by an elite core of angry looking people about what it is going on. Promises cause plenty of salivation but the hungry will still be hungry and they may just listen for an alternate plan to defeat every phony in the next election. A delay in this game plan is not a wise move because money will come into the picture immediately the elections begin and it will not be effective. Biting the hand that feeds you is different from eating and dumping those that fed you with crumbs to the dust where crumbs belong. The former is capable of infuriating whereas the latter will decommission and put the potential oppressor out of action for good.

It is time to identify and synchronize the two under class body languages of anger and hunger and merge them into an indomitable force against injustice. Anger will not do it and no amount of helplessness will do it but a careful formation of these two body languages of anger and hunger will produce a clear winner for democracy. This must start from the grass root and the sooner this formation begins the better. This is not time to read lips, let the manifestos do the speaking and anyone who is seen to entice a single voter with money is identified as the candidate that is not the right one. If the message is made clear without conflicting body languages from the informed angry volunteer group, the candidates will seat up and the elections will be fair and peaceful. A solid structure is possible when collective elements that are authentic form a suitable pattern or shape which in itself is a collective language or statement of the group. One man one vote is true democracy.

Wake up; what does a donkey know about votes?

What Do You Have in Your Hand; What Do You Want?

2012-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Snap out of it, there is no human being alive (or dead) that can be self sufficient and good old trade by barter just went through metamorphosis of some less visible form. In order words, everyone needs the cooperation (voluntary, forced or coaxed) of another. For you to need an individual, that somebody must have the something you obviously does not have and to get that you need the cooperation of the one who has the thing you need to become what you want to be. If this is true then you have something others definitely need. For that which you have to have value or worth, you must know what you have. The big question that faces mankind which every one must individually answer to add worth to the value is: “What do you have in your hand and what do you need?”. Men and women in the Bible had to answer this question to become successful. Moses, the widow of Zarephath, the student prophet with Elisha by the Jordan River, Elisha with Elijah’s mantle, the disciples at the marriage ceremony in Canaan, the little boy’s lunch at the wilderness, etc all had to identify what they had in their hands before they could get what they needed from what was at hand.

Coming back home, what do we have in our individual hands and collectively speaking what can we do with them and what is it that we need? Identifying what we individually have may not be too difficult because every one of us must have proven our worth and must be compensated and applauded elsewhere. The question is more of how honest we are willing to present the true value of our worth. In voluntary community endeavor it is more prestigious to understate your self-worth and let other’s by assessment identify the surprise asset gain by the community. If all the active members of the forum who are concerned about the issues that face us could so identify and present what they have in their hands and then collectively identify what we can do with what we have, we have a chance of getting what we need. I have been in the forum for over a decade, so I ask myself: “What have I and what do I think active members of this forum can collective achieve on behalf of Izon nation with what they have?”

I see very bright and passionate men and women with diverse background engaged in various fiscal sectors across the globe. We are instantly connected in cyberspace 24/7 in 21^st century state of the art fashion yet we choose to interact like those living in a cave; each shouting as loud as possible only to be drowned by our own echoes and the valuable messages we each has to transmit sadly lost. If I do not hear you because of my amplified deafening voice and ensuing echoes, how can I know what you have in your hand, talk less of seeing the need to plead with you or coax you into cooperation? If I do not know the value I may bring to the group, how can I present it? Knowing that the grain of pride is coarse and the humility like a fluid; am I willing to present what I know I can do in the group in a humble fashion to successfully pass through the fine filter mesh of the group to show what I really have to offer? It is useless and pathetic for individuals so talented to be in a close and bridgeable environment while each fire away on their own terms and frequency and getting heated up and seriously be in need of what they can easily have with what they have in their hands if collectively harnessed. Nothing can be more painful and shameful!

I do not have the answer to this problem. In my life time I have met people who think they know the answer until they fail to provide the answer when given the opportunity. Do we stop looking for the answer because others have failed? Definitely not, the point is we must be humble and frank as we we look for the answers. What is the matter with us? As an Izon man, I ask this question; what is the matter with me when it comes to working amicably with my fellow Izon people? There is nothing natural about unity; no society or group of people is born with it. Human beings are born individuals; twins and triplets are individuals in multiple births and Siamese twins are birth anomalies; hence a baby’s first cry is for self preservation: “How dare you disturb my cozy-comfy world?” Unity is a learnt behavior and to be able to adopt this important intrusive life style one has to learn the law of give and take without having a meter or balance to ascertain how much is given out. You can give only what you have so you keep giving and others keep giving as well. In this circle of giving there must be those who are receiving but that is irrelevant because you can take only what you need to do what the group has agreed to do. It is all in the house. Why then is it difficult to be so united?

Lack of foresight can make a youth to settle for a menial job instead of studying to become a professional that may influence others with a great potential of being self employed with huge disposable income. Sacrificing something today for tomorrow’s benefit is strange to many of us. They say cats die hard and they have nine lives but I think our egos are not as fragile as they say they are; like the cat our egos die hard! The perceived fragility is a desperate attempt to understand the reason why people try so hard to try to protect something which hardly dies that must sadly die to allow people to work together. For individuals(all of us are) who are naturally born selfish to work together in a united fashion, we must learn to be selfless and be accommodating. Whilst in close quarters, the rough places must rub and raw toes will inadvertently be stepped upon with an ever ready spirit of true remorse and unqualified forgiveness. Unity is a learnt behavior; it is collective but personally willed but must be pursued with a common goal in mind. The drive is the collective will of those so united. The sum of the aggregates makes a whole. Take the case of a concrete mixture consisting sand, gravel, cement, water and reinforcement iron bars for example. Given the frame work and the correct constitution one can build a bridge or a desired structure. If the gravels are coated with enough goo or viscous oil, there would be no proper bonding and the resulting structure is unsuitable for the intended use. Picture the difficulty in having a bond between individuals who are soaked in their ‘fragile’ egos.

If that may help, go ahead and get angry and dismiss it that you do have an ego problem and yet you have trouble discussing with others without a harsh word (echo?) or swearing with the hope of shutting others out and therefore hope to win the argument in your own eyes (to feed your ever hungry die hard ego- ever wonder it is die hard; easily fed by whatever means!). I am willing to admit, I have an ego problem and I am looking for ways to cut it to size so I may have the cooperation I need of others to do what I know is good for me and by extension others like me who have not gotten to where we should be. The knowledge and admittance of a disease is often the first step to receiving the cure for it. Without our dealing merciless with our ego problem, we can not get far. We may try but we will find us bursting in flames at the slightest provocation. The triggers may be many but it is counter intuitive to try to eliminate them instead of disarming the explosive within us, the sensitive ego. What a man got to do, a man got to do? How serious are we about the things we talk ever so passionately? Perhaps so until some unguarded statement, innuendo, insinuation, unproven allegation, a tale from the mill in rumor land initiates a course reversal. Perhaps until you see the register of the getters and the presumed guest list of the hall of fame and your name was overwritten. The answers are as private as those presented during an examination but they are made public by the individual by the way they interact with others. Unity is a learnt behavior; we are not born with it. (Next time you see little children at play, watch what is going on). Nature encourages unity as is evident in natural symbiosis and nature makes it possible for the entities to communicate properly for that to be possible. So when someone says I am ready to work together with others while the communication pattern is contrary, the other parties clearly understand the message and nothing happens; no matter the effort or scholarly rhetoric.

For the Talk-na-doers: Remember that there is no medium that is impervious to humility and the antidote to a die hard ego is a copious self prescribed daily dose of humility. And what does that mean? “Consider others better than yourself” What you consider, you do but what you do not consider you care less of and carelessness breeds accidents like accidents of the mouth and pen or key board. Whether I consider you as a king, a pauper or an equal determines how I address you! The 'get real' question is: Who ever tries to communicate with a fool, an idiot or a mad man and expect the appropriate cooperation? Does this tell us something? If it does, does it not call for a rethink in how we relate and communicate?

Just another angle of my thoughts on a chronic problem.

Nua

Why did the Donkey Speak?

2012-01-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

The Bible says “the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked”.
The heart will not stop at anything including deceiving the body that
supports it to achieve its objective. Balaam was supposed to be a
prophet of God who in the first place was called to speak on behalf of
God. He was supposed to be the oracle of God but his heart deceived
him to taking bribe from the wicked to circumvent the plan of God for
a people He was salvaging from years of slavery.

Balaam’s diversion was clearly outside God’s commission and even after
repeated close warnings from the Lord, he was bent on doing what his
heart dictated. The narrow path he was determined to proceed was on a
collision course with the angel with a flaming sword which the prophet
did not see. This was dangerous to the prophet and the poor innocent
loyal donkey. God in His mercy gave voice to the donkey and then
opened the eyes of the misbehaving prophet to see what the donkey saw.

On a certain day, a father was taking care of "not sparing the child
of a needed rod" business. Naturally this inflicts pain on both
parties but the one that suffers the physical pain often cries and the
one with the emotional pain endures the anguish of being the one to
inflict pain on someone precious. On this particular day, the father
ordered the child not to cry over the pain. The mother who was a
member of the discipline committee (the arresting and prosecuting
partner) made a profound observation as follows: “If you ask junior
not to cry as you inflict pain, what do you want him to do? As loving
parents, it pains to inflict pain on your own child for his good so
you endure and get on with it. The child who can not endure the pain
must cry as an avenue of release of the pain.” In an unrelated case,
as a parent was preparing to take care of similar business said, “this
hurts me as much as it is going to hurt you” and the child said, “if
so, why don’t we swap places?”

The donkey was not a party to the heavenly decisions and was never
aware of the instructions that God gave to Balaam. It was just a
donkey, a beast of burden; plainly put it was just a jackass, an
“ikitikiti” an animal known for its dumb loyalty. This is one animal
that can have its back broken with excess load by careless owner and
not utter a single cry but tears! Because Balaam’s mission was selfish
and outside God’s plan, the Lord did not open his eyes to the see the
impending danger but opened the eyes of the innocent donkey as well as
its mouth to warn the prophet of what it saw. The enraged prophet did
not pause to reason why he was engaged in a dialogue with a donkey
which ordinarily should not speak. Had the donkey not spoken to wake
up the prophet from his suicidal trance and change course, both the
prophet and the donkey would have been history as they get connected
with the flaming sword of the angel on their narrow path.

The sight of the angel on their path stopped the donkey. The
unjustified lashing it received attracted God’s mercy and the gift of
speaking was temporally given to the donkey to speak and cause
Balaam’s eyes to be opened. There has to be an avenue to express pain
whenever it occurs. Like the incidence of the hurt child, some cry
when hurt and like the donkey, some speak out of pain of what they see
even if they are not party to heavenly councils or high places to know
the details. When it comes to danger, the unprotected, by virtue of
their vulnerability are prone to sense and preempt impending
catastrophe far ahead of those who live in fortresses. Animals preempt
earthquake days and hours ahead of humans. Another angle is that
sometimes, “whom the gods want to destroy, they make blind”. As the
Izon people who are never outdone in sayings put it, “na gha fi ki
Kuleowei ba me e” which translated means, the plague that Mr. Kuleowei
never heard of took his life”.

The donkey was in pain and God gave it a voice to speak to attract the
prophet’s attention to an impending disaster. The focus should be on
what it said, disregard the donkey.

MEGALOMANIA

2012-01-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

I am not an economist and I am not sure if I see a billion Naira today, I can count the sum accurately; so I get flabbergasted as everything in Nigeria is in the billions. The befuddlement in the mind gets worse and threatens to shut down reasoning when politicians who are neither economists nor technocrats bombard the masses who are on the average unschooled in any of these fields with billion Naira ‘findings’ by consultants. This megalomania seems to have blinded so many of us to the extent that the truism of “good things often come in small packages” has become a byword or an anathema in our society.

When the mind is simple and you are accustomed to counting with the aid of the fingers and toes and are thankful for the ease of counting in base ten; it is difficult not to resort to first seek a simple solution whenever a problem is encountered. If you run out of phalanges, you have the option to summon your siblings and willing friends to provide the extra you need to do the counting. That is how some of us overcame the ubiquitous duo of Durrell and Lacombe’s during night school without slide rules (what is that?) or calculators. Simple solutions still work for those who believe in working from first principle! You just have to understand the fundamentals and then you build. You build whatever you need with the building blocks; you are the artist and it is only you who knows what it is supposed to be so long as it works exactly the way you have in mind; all others including peers are spectators and reviewers. If the simple solution works as well as expected and perhaps better and cheaper, who cares?

Let me return to the energy nightmare in Nigeria. Why do we have this crisis? The monkeys and other great mammals that share the geographical space do not have this problem except that we have steadily reduced their population by our various activities. We are driven by civilization and we are pursuing it to catch up just as a jet is likely to catch up with a pitot tube mounted on its nose! It is impossible to catch up with civilization; it is a journey, enjoy it and do not treat it as a race. Human beings are not rats. What drives and enhances civilization is energy. When human beings discovered the power of the horse and how to harness it, life became easier. Windmills and waterfalls all became sources of energy to improve standard of living, which ushered civilization. Remember the phrase “using what you have to get what you need”? It is still a very practical and simple way of attacking problems.

Why is it that we are so fixated on refined petroleum products knowing that we do not have the mega bucks to refine them? If we are not constrained to flare precious natural gas from nature’s refineries all over Niger Delta, why are we so focused on refined fuel and depend so solely on them as source of energy for industrialization? If mini refineries are not economical and non feasible, how about looking into other means of utilizing the flared natural gas at their source in as many places as they exist instead of waiting for the time when all can be gathered into a common header and transported via costly and unsecured pipelines to selected privileged industrial centers? Are there places that must not be developed or would not the decentralization of industrial centers near energy sources not an attractive solution? Instead of spending money that is hard to come by to buy fuel to transport human beings to and fro overcrowded townships; is it not better to locate small factories near energy sources and create decent suburbs close to these factories and let the workers live well as human beings. Compare that to the amount of refined fuel burnt daily on hold ups in crowded and polluted cities? This way, we are taking useful energy and creating no work by doing nothing - burning costly imported fuel in flashy stationary cars on dilapidated highways; very sad!

If people are given the choice between living in crowded and polluted cities without work, housed in cramp quarters without light in tropical heat and working in small factories producing items to support a 160 million population; where the living quarters may be humble, constant light from the near by factory, good drinking water, no transportation worries and joy of productivity; the choice is clear. This, in my naive thinking is the way to go. It is time for Nigeria to think outside the box. Instead of moving the people within crowded and polluted cities, set up mini industrial layouts near available energy sources of any kind and let the people migrate to those areas and find useful employment and live to experience the joy of productivity and open up the vast country side for healthy living. REVERSE Nigeria; industrialization is not a race but an art meant to improve life not to impoverish it. You use what you have to get what you need! Like a good artist, recognize your unique situation and adopt your own style using what you are so much endowed with to creatively meet your dire need.

The Bane of "I" Service

2012-01-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

The Bane of “I” Service

The eye is a natural feed back control mechanism which if used as
intended is very beneficial to the individual or the community the eye
represents. However if the eye takes upon itself to represent self and
attempts what other parts of the body are designed to or relays
something different from what actually is; disaster looms very close.
If the hand, guided by the eye and coordinated by the brain, picks up
a stone and hauls it at a predetermined target and misses and the
stone falls (without noise); it is the duty of the eye to signal the
brain that the target was missed and in order to hit the target in
subsequent attempts, the hand must shift its aim by the exact angle
the eye prescribes. What if the eye tries to do the throwing? What if
the eye is faulty and instead of telling the body, “I have a handicap
let us try an alternative” but instead goes ahead to send a feed back
of totally wrong coordinate? What if the target is the apple of the
eye, and the eye keeps feeding back the wrong coordinates to ensure
that the target is missed on purpose? What if the eye gets envious of
the hand for getting all the credit because it is hailed as the
straight shooter who never misses? But is that a true picture and is
it a correct picture? There is a difference. A stage managed situation
as seen by the public is a true picture of what took place but that
picture and what it represents is not correct. The motive makes the
difference.

Eye service is an expensive business; expensive to the artists and to
the society. This delicate act requires daily polishing and constant
vigilance on the part of the artist. Like a chameleon (but more
rigorously), the artist must be prepared to change color, tone,
purpose, strategy, trademark, style, demeanor, position under short or
sometimes no notice at all with changes. This requires limitless
energy and memory capacity of astronomical proportions. There is no
human being with such resources to fully function in a flawless manner
in such herculean service; hence eye service no matter how it is
disguised gets spotted in the long run at the point of flaw on the
spot! The eye service provider pays many other costly prices besides
being uncovered as a phony. How about the moral turmoil that rages
within and the conscience that continues to be seared as by a hot iron
every instance the eyes relay or superimpose what is not true? There
is no adult alive that was not raised by another and in the cause of
the development there must have been certain mores that were passed
down to the adult in question. If all such mores were against society
then this particular anti-social adult would not be alive because the
society in general would have gotten rid of this non-conforming
helpless and powerless child before it had the chance of growing up to
be the terror it was bound to be. Therefore, there must be some good
value system inculcated during the formative years in every adult. In
order to provide lucrative eye service, an individual must over-ride
such valuable upbringing in exchange of filthy lucre. That is an
expensive business which demeans and rubbishes all the efforts of
parents and all those who had carefully and meaningfully planted
sometimes under very difficult situations into lives. Society is made
of individuals and when individuals turn sour, the society gets sour
as broken bile in a fish makes the entire soup bitter .

I am not reluctant to ask myself questions when I encounter a problem
so I ask. If eye service is this harmful why do we do it or (better
put) why are there many providers? It is lucrative no doubt and there
are no qualification requirements. It is competitive , it is cheap and
the provider is made to believe to be of value and relevance.The only
way to attract a fee hike in this business is to outperform others and
previous personal performances like a horse that is made to grind the
mill by placing a promising delicacy right in front of it as it
salivates and grunts. This seemingly easy business becomes a burden,
an enigma and a curse to all who practice it because there is no
truth, love or justice in it. Both the eye service provider and the
client know that the services are rendered at the expense of others
which in most cases are innocent and harmless. When that happens and
those so affected cry to their Maker; it is bound to attract God's
attention. It becomes scary if those who participate in this business
name the Name of the Lord. The first Psalm paints the perfect picture
in my thoughts.

There are sins of omission and there are sins of commission. Not doing
what one was supposed to do is a sin of omission whereas doing what
one is not supposed to do is a sin of commission and they are all
sins. There is also a third category which is; doing something one did
not know was sin. If both the provider and client of eye service are
guilty, one may argue that a client may inadvertently pay for eye
service just like someone could mistakenly receive or buy a stolen
good or accept a counterfeit. Given the premise that there are eye
service providers out there like there are counterfeits in
circulation, how could a well meaning client; be it a business
partner, a leader, or a father detect and must do when eye service is
being offered? The answer to the latter is simple. Upon detection,
unmask the masquerade and do not pay for the services, promptly
declare in front of the provider and afterwards the rendered services
as useless. This single act would reverberate to all other
practitioners of this dastard trade that this client does not engage
or pay for eye services. There were a couple of people in my circle of
friends who learnt it the hard way. Being new to their environment and
also being infested with the virus of exaggeration or outright telling
of ‘falsities’, they were requested to repeat what they had previously
said about others in their presence or asked others who were present
to collaborate their story beautifully presented previously.

The former question will take both time and soul searching and perhaps
experience born out of serendipitous cycle of being taken and later
discovery of truth and facts. One key thing to remember is the golden
rule; “do unto others as you would have other do unto you”. The next
question that may be asked is, “why is this individual offering these
services to me”? Depending on the situation, someone offers a solution
to an existing problem which sometimes the immediate custodian has not
or is yet to or will never see or comprehend. And sometimes the
potential client in his bid to engage the appropriate eye service
provider throws out bait as a fisherman would doss blood to attract
sharks. When the bait is taken, the proper handshake occurs and the
fee which is mostly unspoken and depending on the level of desperation
of the eye service provider is solely dictated by the client. How do
you detect eye service? Treat every free service with caution and
with respect since not all free service is eye service. Watch out for
the “I” when viewing the drossier of potentials candidates and listen
carefully as they present their reports and pay close attention and
watch out for the prevalent super presence of “I” in every phase of
strategy and execution. Think of the task in hand and what is required
to achieve it and consider what is proposed and is being reported; do
they tally? If the business at hand was to peep across a given seven
feet fence without boring holes, without electronic devices, no trees
to climb, the land flat on the other side, without anything to stand
on; the following thoughts would cross my mind if the potential
service provider says he saw something inside the fence. He has no
aircraft to fly across to see inside the fence. He had no access to
the premises,( it is mine and if he did it was illegal and I will not
trust him with the services). He is barely six feet tall, he could not
have seen anything standing his tallest across that seven feet
barrier. But wait a minute his report said he did it alone. Is it
possible that he engaged someone to stand or bend over for him to
climb on top and in doing so be tall enough to see across my fence?
The aim of the service could have been for me to eliminate every
possibility that was out there so that my premises would be secured.
But that “I” report prevented me from receiving the true benefit and
that is fraudulent practice. Those that were used and were sidelined
and maligned may not know what happened but the fact that they were
short changed and sacrificed at the altar of greed remains despicably
inerasable.

Incase the masquerade is multi-layered as it often is, sycophancy is a
mutant of eye service except this variant is a senior service provider
that often does nothing but praise sing at designated podia. Like a
ship ever ready to deliver its cargo making to and fro profit by
singing well rehearsed praises on cue to a grand maestro, the
deceitful heart. It is clear that, the vainer the client the more
gullible is the client to the antics of a praise singer; the cheaper
the client the more willing to engage and therefore higher the price
of engagement. It is very difficult to flatter a self assured woman of
her beauty; she knows that she is beautiful and every sugar coated
attempt to get her in a spot to compromise who she is, is easily
identified and appropriately dumped. Sorry to say, it is not so with
the insecure and seekers of cheap prominence. Error of judgment or
definition or that due to lack of knowledge is another but to have
someone say things about you and on your behalf which you know are not
true without correcting it, is borderline unethical but to willfully
engage and empower others to put out such window dressing for whatever
motive is criminal. The offence being that those who received the
window dressing were cheated of the truth they needed to know to
evaluate and make the decision you are so concerned if made with the
right perspective will not be suitable to you. If that situation does
not matter or is personal then there is no need to launder it but if
it is contrary then the people must know about it and by their
collective will let the people have the individual disqualified or
cause the subject to change to what is acceptable to society and
thereby be an eligible open book and a useful agent of progress!

Before I sound pedantic and all self righteous; let be state that I am
not righteous but I have a conscience and what you read is what is
racing through my head that I am under conviction and willing to put
down on paper. The reason I do it is my belief that a confessed sin is
powerless to the sinner and remains a deterrent to all sinners and
most importantly provides a way of escape whenever the evil tendency
tries to rear up its ugly head in a known fashion. For example, it
would be difficult and very foolish of me to go back and do what I am
writing about. Equally and hopefully there might be just one
individual who would find a word of caution or exposition that would
help prevent getting into this deadly service of the eye upon reading
my thoughts that I have painstakingly poured out with this exact hope
in mind. Have I ever done anything in order to attract praise or curry
favor? Have I accelerated/intensified or decelerated/diminished any
action depending on whether or not a significant other is present?
Have I ever embellished self to the exclusion of others to the point
where a cursory observer or non-vigilant benefactor accords me the
compound credit due to a significant but never cited contributors and
collaborators? Like the crowd that brought the woman ‘caught in
adultery’ before Jesus; with my eye on the ground in shame and the
stone slipping through my fingers, I answer my own questions, “I have
“. I too am guilty but I am willing to live what I know is the right
way. How about you; are you willing so help us, O God? All things are
possible to them that believe. Lord Jesus I believe I am free of eye
service, please help me where ever there is unbelief.

"The Crying Band By the Nun River"

2011-12-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

Ice seed upon a heavy cloud looming overhead might just cause a down pour
.
I dream of cooperative farming in our communities.
Is there anyone out there who knows where the crying team may gather
for a good letting out of a few frozen drops of tears that may begin
such an avalanche? Sorry, I mean a heavy down pour of life sustaining,
thunderous, nitrogen fixating tropical rain.

Dreams; you see something, somewhere, you go to bed and get up
dreaming with a custom flavor that makes it difficult to let go even
after you are awake to a matching reality....

The pot bellied children are crying because of hunger
The desperate mothers are threatening to bare it all in public protest
The confused fathers are gnashing their teeth in fuming anger
The frustrated youths are threatening to return to the creeks
The city jobless are ready to shut down everything in the cities
The gavel is poised to land on the civil disobedient

There is hunger every where
There is fertile land almost everywhere
There is an unending supply of idle human resources everywhere
There is good seed money all over the place in government coffers and
private vaults
There is abundant knowledge of what to do everywhere
There is ready proof that agriculture is hunger’s enemy and potent antidote

What are we thinking as we wait for the big breaks while others continue to die?
Where are the agricultural specialists and what are are they up to?
Where are our strategists and what are our immediate game plans?
Where are the Josephs of our days to show the right direction?
Where are the leaders that would make the people to work together?
What is the cost of one agriculture tractor (per community or cooperative)?

Teach the people how to fish and they may get so addicted to the joy
of fishing and selling so much that they might prefer their cool mud
huts to standing by some iron gates under a dusty murky tropical sun,
hungry and mad. A farmer knows not to plant all of his limited
precious seeds in a single location; why must a government made up of
so many bright people be so myopic to focus on just few big projects
and neglect the very important and crucial endeavors that are sure to
bring immediate relief to them and the masses?

One might be naïve but how much is the total cost of farm equipment
listed above for sale? Is the cost more than the famous gas turbines
that are bought and never put to use? What are the functions of our
community chiefs these days? Are there cooperative farmers in Izon
land? Are our river and creek banks still fertile? Are cassava, yam,
potato, plantain, cocoyam still staple food and are they still
available to the point where they are ‘exported? Is it still a norm
that “he who is too lazy to farm should be ready to starve”? Is that a
fair statement if no one provides the enabling environment? Has the
government thought of providing this via the community leadership
serving as cooperative chairs? When are we going to wake up from this
crude oil induced comma?

He who is not ready to feed those he leads is not fit to lead since
without food there would be no one alive to lead. A people’s leader
must care that the led feed because a hungry man will continue to be
an angry man. One may decide to starve a few house hold servants and
temporarily get away with it; but the moment you leave things to decay
to the point where there is mass starvation you are approaching
critical mass where a few well fed henchmen can not stop from rolling
over you.

This is not a solicitation for individual engagement.
Are there people in the forum who see through my foolish thinking? Can
the various state governments at least consider bringing the
communities to work together and become self sufficient in their daily
food requirements and keep the people alive while they continue with
the planned mega projects of their campaigns. There are agricultural
equipment for sale, an advert says. Put things in place
for the hungry willing people to organize themselves and feed to live.

I am not a farmer but I know how things grow on banks by the creeks as they do in my backyard; I also know that food from farms prevent starvation so I make this plea to the
governments of the day on behalf of all those who are starving. I have
been there and I know the agony which I wish no human should go
through especially in the midst of plenty and immense possibility.
Somebody, please look that way and help…

Age - The Relative Past, Present & Future

2011-12-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

How you are wired affects how you tackle tasks. For those who can
attempt only one task at a time it is very clear that there is only
one thing to do given the past, the present and the future. It is a no
brainer that there is nothing to be done about the past except file
for positive reference; the future is yet to come and it would be
unwise to plan for tomorrow at the expense of doing your best today
with tomorrow in the picture or at the fringes of your plan for today.
May be it is old age betraying me in a novo fast world where
individuals, regardless of their mental or physical prowess are able
to fast forward, retrace and juxtapose the past with the present with
such ease that it makes the ancient feeble and dizzy. That is until we
realize that hindsight is like the eye sight counterpart of 20/20
vision. When you have all the facts (both past and present) at your
finger tips it is difficult not to be on top of things. So the
inspiration of the young and the antiquity of the ancient complement
as black ink on white sheet of bond paper; different but
complementary. Does the world turn?

Knowing that today was someone’s tomorrow which is going to be
another’s yesterday; and that the efforts that we make can only be
appreciated and credited only in the segment of relevance with the
prevailing factor of appreciation; how then do we conduct ourselves in
the business of today and our assessment of others during their
segment under todays microscopes and cheat sheets we possess that they
did not have? There are things that will not change and one of them
is, human nature especially on things we are taught by people we
trust. They are stubborn and indelible; on purpose to be so. Hence a
child grows up doing the things the parents taught or what he/she saw
the parents do. Given this background and the sobering fact that
nobody knows tomorrow or everything and that those whose segment is
tomorrow will pass everything we are saying and doing in today segment
through the 20/20 mill/fine tooth comb of tomorrow and pass judgment
in that time frame and standard should be humbling and frightful.

I personally do not worry about things that I have no control of; I
pray them away and leave them to Sovereign will. However, I go after
those things within my reach and do them as best as I know how and
then step aside like a farmer planting a good seed and watch the rain
to water it to germinate, grow and bear the expected seed. No one has
control of old age; no one knows everything. This means that the young
today will grow old and because they do not have knowledge of
everything especially fore-knowledge, they will make mistakes and
blunder big time. This is inevitable but what I have control of today
is how I react to those who are found to have blundered because of the
same constraints that I know everybody has in various degree. If I by
my reaction teach my protégées how to react to the past mistakes of
people before me in the appropriate manner, I have left a legacy and
laid a cushion for my old age. That is one less worry because I have
taken care of what I can do today and not wished it away or pretend it
will not come to haunt me if I ignore it. Doing everything one can do
today leaves no residues of regret for tomorrow because that which
could be done was done and there is no regret on that which you lack;
be it knowledge, wisdom or ability.

Sometimes, I wonder which is more important. Is it to prove that I am
correct and you are wrong or to collectively find the correct solution
to something that is wrong? Knowing the right choice is important
because the choice will determine the approach. You can not belittle
someone and expect cooperation and there is no need for cooperation if
you know it all; sadly no one knows it all and many a fine solution
are unavailable because of our approach. If we only know in parts and
if the person with the fraction of the solution is not involved, it is
a like a hung jury with all jurors stuck until they all come to their
senses and move in the right direction. How come two individuals would
say the same thing without previous discussion or assessment of their
persons and one person’s point is unanimously well taken and the other
becomes something else? Human beings are designed to cooperate and be
beneficial to the group. Whenever it is sensed that there is some
thing else that is said, not said or pushed contrary to the unwritten
but understood objective receives the appropriate response without
external coaxing.

If I listen to you, do you promise to hear me out? If I give you the
benefit of the doubt, are you willing to rub a little bit of it on
that crusty neighbor who is yet to know that benefit so he keeps on
grinding others with his doubt pad? If I say I was wrong when we get
into a stalemate for us to move forward, will you remember to give way
to another who is moving too fast to avoid collision? Knowing the size
of your big foot print; can a ‘smaller’ another ride in your shoes to
share accolades of encouragement while the foot prints remain yours
all the same? Winner may decide to take it all but never succeed to
eat it all. Something meant for everyone to share is often too much
for one; when monopolize or cornered, it is either thoroughly wasted
or thoroughly hidden without hope of recollection or retrieval by the
mono taker.
He who stammers and he who is tongue tied are the same; plenty to say
but constrained by circumstances with the same consequences-
incommunicado. So I sit on Bill Gate's rocking chair and soliloquize
facing the INF window cut out by Godfrey Okoro in cyberspace for today
and tomorrow segments.- Improvision.

Have a good day.

Akiroro

2011-09-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am not a politician. Neither am I an administrator of people. I am not a solider, but I am a cry baby; one who cries for all those who have cried until there are no more tears to cry. I am a coward; I do not want to have myself killed before my time. Why should I, when I know fully well that I did not bring myself into this world but God who in His infinite wisdom caused my birth by the meeting and combination of the genes that make me, me at the time and place I was born? This cowardice is rooted in the fear of disrupting (either by act of carelessness or arrogance) something so mysterious one has no hand in creating and not due to the fear of what man can do. This is because it is only what God permits happen in this state of being!

Such individuals are people of destiny with purpose of living full lives within the environment they find themselves. They are the survivalist and the fire lighters, the “die- hards” which some mistake for “those who smile without reason”. Even when it is raining, the sunshine within keeps the fire in their hearts warm to outlast and help restart the fires of the fair weather neighbors whose fires go out with every breeze or inclemency. The will to live on purpose often makes possible the way to survive against what the rest call odds. “We will make it” is not just a wow for such individuals, it is a repeat or echo of what their Maker through their make up says they are. Over comers and victors, are terms fit for only those who have faced adversity or trials and lived.

These “diehards” are found everywhere; I know some of them while growing up in the creeks of the Niger Delta. There is meaning in everything, the fact that you read this monologue is one proof of this unusual assertion. My life is simple and uncomplicated but the combination of events and the genes that made me and the intersection of my birth with the location of and the dislocation from my place of birth to where this piece is written remain a mystery. There is a purpose why I was born and raised in the creeks and I am beginning to see why I see certain things certain ways and think what difference it would make to those fellows I share similar genetic make up with. Today. I have a key board that helps me put my thoughts on paper and in a free forum where a lot of Izon people read what is posted. I am not sure who will read this thought of mine today but that does not matter, the survivalist are never known to leave a stone within their reach unturned. This is because you never know what lies underneath; perhaps a coin, some grain, some buried treasure, some map of route of escape or simply a tiny worm to keep alive until rescue comes! Who knows, some prime minister of Joseph Jacob’s cadre or caliber may stumble upon it and with some act of Providence he or she might apply his God given wisdom and adopt a fraction of this plea to the answer of prayers many including mine.

The Survivalist will choose food over clothing any day; of what use is a mink coat upon a dying man; who cares how he looks on his death bed? Give the man food; better still teach the man how to find food for himself and he just might bother you less tomorrow. Lend the people a helping hand in AGRICULTURE! This is top priority. The land may be heavily polluted and the harvest may not be as it could have been but a polluted field may produce at worst a polluted harvest which may slowly poison and kill over time (to find a cure) but not immediately as hunger and starvation will. Cassava, plantains, yams, cocoyam, corn, peanut, palm trees, fish farming are all projects our people can undertake if they are given the right leverage. Only one person can make a difference and you may be that person placed there for this single purpose of setting up a working cooperative that would change the destiny of many! You will have no rest until you do what you are purposed to do and I add my earnest prayer to God to aggravate that restlessness until you serve your purpose in Jesus Name!

The Izon people are survivalist so they are alive and they will live better if somebody hears their cry. I write what I am convicted to write. The next need (not want) is Power- electricity; yes that before roads and health care. If humans eat as wholesome as the goat, there would be no need as the goat does not have need for immunization or assistance during delivery (pardon the hyperbole). The availability of electricity would booster self help projects that would culminate into cottage industries to producing items. This will then attract buyers that will need access to the roads leading to industries/markets being developed by stakeholders to move their products and services. Power is heavy, so distribute it and make it bite size. Think of serving several communities with optimally smaller power generating units especially where natural gas is in abundance in clusters and being flared (such waste amidst dire need). Make one scheme to work and repeat the success in every similar community. They call this, using what you have to get what you need.

Somebody please settle my people with AGRICULTURE and ELECTRICITY. You may protest the method of delivery and mock the disjointed semantics (blame night school) but these two needs are highlighted for their practicality and importance and the relative ease of meeting them if the will exist. Hands –on- and doable; please hear the cry for help and do your bit.

My vas and my hanky, please...
--

Akiroro