When I was a lot younger, I was forced into primary school, it was hell for me; having to see those seemingly sad teachers everyday of the week was a disaster for me, but I looked forward to the day we wrote our common entrance examination for admission into secondary school. It felt like life was at its peak, I felt like I had finally been relieved of this burden of education. That was it; I graduated from that wonderful primary school, the foundation of my academic pursuit, little did I know that that was just the beginning.
My parents had promised to send me to one of the best secondary schools at the time, unity schools were just out of this world, they had a way of exposing your children to the real life of struggle and perseverance, so it was that I found myself in a town hundreds of miles away from the place I had always known as home.
My secondary school was at the outskirt of a local town, we shared boundaries with the natives but we were enclosed in a sort of large expanse of prison yard where the rule of law was at the mercy of the marauding seniors. Seniors then were as old as my uncles and they had such nicknames that would automatically send shivers down your spine – Phantom, Orang-utan and the likes and just like the names, they were ferocious and bestial. I had no other prayer than, Lord please see me through this valley of the shadow of death, even though I fear evil, you will always be with me.
With every passing year, the seniors became more humane and younger; things were becoming bearable but having to survive on far too little provisions makes you get home sick. I got to the top class and it felt like the years should never run by anymore, but I knew some daring juniors would be saying the same prayers we used to say, we had to leave someday, sometime, plus we also had our eyes on that institution where you can wear what you like, eat what you love and you can hardly tell the students form the teachers - they call it tertiary institution.
For some, it was a smooth ride from secondary school to the university, others had to fast and pray for years, the first challenge was passing the qualifying examinations, and the second is getting admitted. As the years went by, the number of those searching for a space increased, it became who know who, where and how. Some of us were so unlucky that we had to wait some five years to get a slot, but however, we did get a slot.
Getting into the university was a different ball game entirely, it was survival of the fittest, you must have at least a 1.5 grade point (even though most of us did not understand what that entailed), some were dropped by the way side, some were eaten up by the birds of examination malpractice, some were choked up by the cares of fashion, gigs, movies and games and of course, some were deeply rooted in the soil of academics.
We thought it was a world of freedom, but it really was a life of fear, intimidation, hopelessness and maybe faith. Your class mates will make you feel like you are the dumbest fool that ever lived – they always had an idea of whatever the lecturer said even if their results would say otherwise, your lecturers remind you that no one can ever perform brilliantly in their courses no matter how hard you try or wherever you might be coming from. For the ladies (though some), you must warm up the lecturer’s bed or have your script wormed up. As you begin to think of how to make up with some assignments, others pile up, and before you finish it all, you get ready for your continuous assessment of course before the results are out, examination knocks at your door. There seems to be no time at all and you only wish you can do your bit and just graduate from the stressful life.
It seems to me like everything is but a continuous cycle, wherever you are, you always wish to just graduate and get to the next level, and just when you get there, you realise there is nothing there after all, or there isn’t much difference after all, then you want to graduate to the next level again.
When I was in primary school, my prayer was “if only I could get to secondary school I would be better”, when in secondary school, it was “I just can’t wait to graduate and go to the university”, and the story is not different in the university. Truly with a close look at everything, nothing seems to have changed after all; but I learnt something in this my last phase.
It is not how fast or even how well you finished your race that matters, it is how best have you been able to utilize the time you had there? What have you done within your time frame? How many people will be sad to miss you? How many lives have been better by having you around? What have you added to yourself as a person by just being there? Think about these things before you get into the next stage and maybe by then something would really seem to have changed at all.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
THEY SHED THEIR BLOOD – Nigerian Youth Corpers
They were led like sheep to the slaughter,
they grazed the walls of learning,
their hope was pierced with the sword of idiosyncrasy and
their fear was relieved in death.
Mother earth, her thirst was quenched with blood, - innocent blood,
Whose business let the ‘devil’ be enthroned?
Was it for this cause they were sent far away to die?
Were there no graves in their regions and homes to house their fresh bodies?
Was it their fault they could afford education?
Why must they suffer and die to serve their mother land?
Why must we be the scapegoat of an illiterate people?
Where is the face of justice even if her eyes can’t see?
Where is the hand to wipe their tears, the parents who succeeded their children?
Are we to sit and fold our hands as Nigerian Youths Suffering Continues?
Arise O! Compatriots, should we obey this call anymore?
In serving our father land, show me the love and strength and faith,
The labour of our youths present should never be in vain
To serve with heart and mind is futile
When a nation bound in freedom leaves us all to die,
Anarchy, PAIN and Disunity.
they grazed the walls of learning,
their hope was pierced with the sword of idiosyncrasy and
their fear was relieved in death.
Mother earth, her thirst was quenched with blood, - innocent blood,
Whose business let the ‘devil’ be enthroned?
Was it for this cause they were sent far away to die?
Were there no graves in their regions and homes to house their fresh bodies?
Was it their fault they could afford education?
Why must they suffer and die to serve their mother land?
Why must we be the scapegoat of an illiterate people?
Where is the face of justice even if her eyes can’t see?
Where is the hand to wipe their tears, the parents who succeeded their children?
Are we to sit and fold our hands as Nigerian Youths Suffering Continues?
Arise O! Compatriots, should we obey this call anymore?
In serving our father land, show me the love and strength and faith,
The labour of our youths present should never be in vain
To serve with heart and mind is futile
When a nation bound in freedom leaves us all to die,
Anarchy, PAIN and Disunity.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
RE: MY POINT OF VIEW: DILEMMA
Yinka is a beautiful girl with a great heart I am yet to fathom. Go for what you want, don’t rush for it. I guess I should start with what you ended your post with.
If you believe that someday your partner will come by divine design, then you should stay in a place where you can be found. Preparing for a relationship does not imply getting desperate, for example, preparing well for an examination does not mean you are desperate about it, it only implies that you intend to write it well, once and for all.
Like you rightly said, people expect you at this stage (final year) to bring forth an achiever or a successful man because you are in a level where you don’t want to play hide and seek games anymore. People may forgive you if you brought an unserious guy in your 100level, but not in your 500, even if they forgive you, I bet you won’t forgive yourself.
Take it or leave it, it takes only a successful person to complete a professional course such as Law. ‘We hardly notice how old we have grown or how successful we have become until we see our peers doing stuff, then we ask ourselves; what have I been doing all the while?’. This is why some girls don’t ever want to say yes, they believe they are still daddy’s baby girl who should not talk to guys even when they go about kissing them.
No one expects you to jump for just any guy, and no one says your ‘right man would show up like a super man’ but have you not chased him away with your – I must take my time?
You are young babe, enjoy your life, but remember also, some of your friends are married, what stops you if you think you are ripe for it.
Most of us don’t ever want to grow up because we are scared of commitments or we prefer the super star that will never come, but the truth is that we will never grow up.
Your friends may not have the convincing or the model relationships, but at least they settled for what they wanted, luckily, it could translate to what they actually need. And don’t be surprised when you get their IV’s, and you hear that they lived happily ever after – that doesn’t happen only in movies (even if they may have their grudges once in a while).
Rome was not built in a day, so are relationships, they are a bond of two imperfect beings, loving themselves perfectly.
I don’t intend to write another book here, but take time to go through the whole book before we know what next to talk about.
For the readers of this post apart from Yinka, you should get the book – MY POINT OF VIEW...relationships and love. YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE YOUR LIFE!
If you believe that someday your partner will come by divine design, then you should stay in a place where you can be found. Preparing for a relationship does not imply getting desperate, for example, preparing well for an examination does not mean you are desperate about it, it only implies that you intend to write it well, once and for all.
Like you rightly said, people expect you at this stage (final year) to bring forth an achiever or a successful man because you are in a level where you don’t want to play hide and seek games anymore. People may forgive you if you brought an unserious guy in your 100level, but not in your 500, even if they forgive you, I bet you won’t forgive yourself.
Take it or leave it, it takes only a successful person to complete a professional course such as Law. ‘We hardly notice how old we have grown or how successful we have become until we see our peers doing stuff, then we ask ourselves; what have I been doing all the while?’. This is why some girls don’t ever want to say yes, they believe they are still daddy’s baby girl who should not talk to guys even when they go about kissing them.
No one expects you to jump for just any guy, and no one says your ‘right man would show up like a super man’ but have you not chased him away with your – I must take my time?
You are young babe, enjoy your life, but remember also, some of your friends are married, what stops you if you think you are ripe for it.
Most of us don’t ever want to grow up because we are scared of commitments or we prefer the super star that will never come, but the truth is that we will never grow up.
Your friends may not have the convincing or the model relationships, but at least they settled for what they wanted, luckily, it could translate to what they actually need. And don’t be surprised when you get their IV’s, and you hear that they lived happily ever after – that doesn’t happen only in movies (even if they may have their grudges once in a while).
Rome was not built in a day, so are relationships, they are a bond of two imperfect beings, loving themselves perfectly.
I don’t intend to write another book here, but take time to go through the whole book before we know what next to talk about.
For the readers of this post apart from Yinka, you should get the book – MY POINT OF VIEW...relationships and love. YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE YOUR LIFE!
Monday, March 14, 2011
KNOW THYSELF!
It is so amazing how we feel we know other people when we actually do not know ourselves. Most of the wrong decisions we make today is an indication of the fact that we have not taken time out to study ourselves and know how we have been formed and created. Everyone is carefully and wonderfully made for a specific task which lies ahead.
To some the notion of being black is a catastrophe and a scary nightmare they always want to wake up from, but history has proven that most of the strongest men are blacks. Why not tap into that realm, realize how just important you are and what God would have you do by making you the way you are. No one is born by accident, even a bastard child or an unwanted pregnancy is right in God’s plan and purpose, only when you realize that your birth is not the function of just some sensual craziness or just the mere desire of some two lovers coming together and making love, you would not understand who you are and what you are here to do. In fact your identity and your self evaluation will be limited to who your parents are and what they have in store for you.
Hello, before you were formed in the womb, God had known you and ordained you, that implies that before your parents came together at all, you were known by God, he knew you and set aside a vacuum for you to come and fill and an assignment for you to carry out. The world is not a better place today because you have not taken your place, everyone has a place to stand, a vacuum to fill, a gulf to bridge and a position to occupy, and not until we all take our rightful places, the world will never get better, and also our lives will never have meaning even if we acquire all the riches of the world.
Man’s greatest enemy is not the foes, witches and wizard, it is not the haters or beefers, man’s greatest enemy is the enemy inside. Nothing hurts more than the wrong decisions we make for ourselves. Most wrong decisions are results of the fact that we do not know ourselves.
Life is such that the real and most important things look the least interesting, while the useless things get the most of our attention. Little wonder why we can choose to watch a television series that will last for almost a day and feel no pain or stress about it. Tell the same person to read a few chapter of a book that will change his life, he would feel like the whole earth has been placed on him.
Self knowledge helps us in forming our ideologies and orientations about life which in turn help us to make the choices or decisions which will push us to the place of our success. The Flemish mystic, Jan van Ruysbroek (1293-1381), wrote: "Knowledge of ourselves teaches us whence we come, where we are, and whither we are going"
To some the notion of being black is a catastrophe and a scary nightmare they always want to wake up from, but history has proven that most of the strongest men are blacks. Why not tap into that realm, realize how just important you are and what God would have you do by making you the way you are. No one is born by accident, even a bastard child or an unwanted pregnancy is right in God’s plan and purpose, only when you realize that your birth is not the function of just some sensual craziness or just the mere desire of some two lovers coming together and making love, you would not understand who you are and what you are here to do. In fact your identity and your self evaluation will be limited to who your parents are and what they have in store for you.
Hello, before you were formed in the womb, God had known you and ordained you, that implies that before your parents came together at all, you were known by God, he knew you and set aside a vacuum for you to come and fill and an assignment for you to carry out. The world is not a better place today because you have not taken your place, everyone has a place to stand, a vacuum to fill, a gulf to bridge and a position to occupy, and not until we all take our rightful places, the world will never get better, and also our lives will never have meaning even if we acquire all the riches of the world.
Man’s greatest enemy is not the foes, witches and wizard, it is not the haters or beefers, man’s greatest enemy is the enemy inside. Nothing hurts more than the wrong decisions we make for ourselves. Most wrong decisions are results of the fact that we do not know ourselves.
Life is such that the real and most important things look the least interesting, while the useless things get the most of our attention. Little wonder why we can choose to watch a television series that will last for almost a day and feel no pain or stress about it. Tell the same person to read a few chapter of a book that will change his life, he would feel like the whole earth has been placed on him.
Self knowledge helps us in forming our ideologies and orientations about life which in turn help us to make the choices or decisions which will push us to the place of our success. The Flemish mystic, Jan van Ruysbroek (1293-1381), wrote: "Knowledge of ourselves teaches us whence we come, where we are, and whither we are going"
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
CONFORMATION vs. TRANSFORMATION
“Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
The media has moulded our models, we learn what to wear and what not to wear, we learn what colours to blend and what colours will cause a catastrophe. Our ideal guys are the likes of Denrele, Lady gaga, the new Beyonce, even Sean Combs, we want to party hard and it gets so hot we want to take off our clothes.
Sharon Stone teaches us the art of making love, Angelina Jolie teaches us to kiss even if it is our sibling – passionately, Madonna sings our love songs, and even my beloved Pied Piper sings our worship.
Harry Potter models for teenagers, Justin Bieber sweeps the little girls off, Elen Degeneres is my favourite talk show artist, Oprah, our strongest and richest black woman living...INCREDULOUS!
I love Kendra’s smile, I even miss her role at playboy’s mansion, I can’t afford to miss Dr 90210 not that I want a pump up, but that will be a free sight if Modupe wouldn’t let us see.
Ok! Coming back home, P-sqaure reminds me of Usher, Styl Plus used to sound like boys II Men, D’banj and Durella, a clash of personality, and I just can go on and on. The Nollywood is aiming to become like Hollywood, and the movies from Ghana are gradually at that pace.
One of our major problems is globalization, there is an evasion of culture and morality, ours is a sane ethos but we have opened the door to perversion, obscenity and indecency. It’s easier to conform, it appeals to the eyes, appeals to the flesh and makes you feel high above all others – if you’ve never taken ganja, ask those in our music industry, its a norm...CONFROMATION!
Then I asked; where is Sammy? I looked for him at House on the Rock. Whatever happened to Infinity, been looking out for their album? Where does Keffi stand? The last time she was with this aggressive guy...uhm!
Where on earth is Segun Obe, Buchi and my beloved Kush? What’s up with the controversy about Bouqui? Not sure of what Dekunle sings, does he really like Jesu gan? Please where is Gyang? Was ‘Na ba ka’ an attempt to hit the spotlight?
Kore has been stealing my ears for a couple of weeks now and I pray he never stops; Mid Night crew are in a world of their own, they seem to be in another realm; Xtreme is going extreme with the praise groove...wow!
This is actually not about the music or the movie industry, but it is about us as a nation. We have opened up so many doors and the serpent has taken its bite. We get easily conformed that we lose our sense of identity. How can we get transformed? By renewing our minds through what we import into ourselves via the five senses. We must guard our heart because out of it flows the issues of life. Whatever we allow in is what will dictate our lives.
No wonder there is teenage pregnancy here and there, no wonder there is gayism all around, no wonder we can’t seem to stop shouting corruption, no wonder we all get so money driven, no wonder there is...no wonder there are... no wonder there will be... NO WONDER!
The media has moulded our models, we learn what to wear and what not to wear, we learn what colours to blend and what colours will cause a catastrophe. Our ideal guys are the likes of Denrele, Lady gaga, the new Beyonce, even Sean Combs, we want to party hard and it gets so hot we want to take off our clothes.
Sharon Stone teaches us the art of making love, Angelina Jolie teaches us to kiss even if it is our sibling – passionately, Madonna sings our love songs, and even my beloved Pied Piper sings our worship.
Harry Potter models for teenagers, Justin Bieber sweeps the little girls off, Elen Degeneres is my favourite talk show artist, Oprah, our strongest and richest black woman living...INCREDULOUS!
I love Kendra’s smile, I even miss her role at playboy’s mansion, I can’t afford to miss Dr 90210 not that I want a pump up, but that will be a free sight if Modupe wouldn’t let us see.
Ok! Coming back home, P-sqaure reminds me of Usher, Styl Plus used to sound like boys II Men, D’banj and Durella, a clash of personality, and I just can go on and on. The Nollywood is aiming to become like Hollywood, and the movies from Ghana are gradually at that pace.
One of our major problems is globalization, there is an evasion of culture and morality, ours is a sane ethos but we have opened the door to perversion, obscenity and indecency. It’s easier to conform, it appeals to the eyes, appeals to the flesh and makes you feel high above all others – if you’ve never taken ganja, ask those in our music industry, its a norm...CONFROMATION!
Then I asked; where is Sammy? I looked for him at House on the Rock. Whatever happened to Infinity, been looking out for their album? Where does Keffi stand? The last time she was with this aggressive guy...uhm!
Where on earth is Segun Obe, Buchi and my beloved Kush? What’s up with the controversy about Bouqui? Not sure of what Dekunle sings, does he really like Jesu gan? Please where is Gyang? Was ‘Na ba ka’ an attempt to hit the spotlight?
Kore has been stealing my ears for a couple of weeks now and I pray he never stops; Mid Night crew are in a world of their own, they seem to be in another realm; Xtreme is going extreme with the praise groove...wow!
This is actually not about the music or the movie industry, but it is about us as a nation. We have opened up so many doors and the serpent has taken its bite. We get easily conformed that we lose our sense of identity. How can we get transformed? By renewing our minds through what we import into ourselves via the five senses. We must guard our heart because out of it flows the issues of life. Whatever we allow in is what will dictate our lives.
No wonder there is teenage pregnancy here and there, no wonder there is gayism all around, no wonder we can’t seem to stop shouting corruption, no wonder we all get so money driven, no wonder there is...no wonder there are... no wonder there will be... NO WONDER!
Monday, March 7, 2011
YOUR CHURCH SUCKS!!!
There have been bombings and killings all in the name of religion and everyone is scared of his neighbour, everyone is yelling about the inhumane treatment of the faithful. We point accusing fingers at our Muslim brothers, and even the Muslim brothers can’t withstand our pride of calling ourselves God’s children, but that should be understandable.
Understandable, Yea! If not, then what should we say about the bloodless wars that permeate the Christendom? We fight for superiority, my church is ‘tusher’ than yours, God answers prayer more in my church, we administrate more in my church, my pastor is richer than yours... and the list goes on.
We are on a marketing strategy where the church with the best publicity department gets the most of believers. In fact, if you have the power of healing, you have an added advantage because your market would sell more than the orthodox bible believing folks. Also, if there are managers and top shots among your congregation, then graduates will flock there because you have just given them an avenue to secure plum jobs and trust, the tithes will roll in.
Peradventure your pastor happens to be a university graduate, he would understand how to put that godly swag on and portray the sophisticated Jesus. If however, he is a handsome dude, then the number of creamy chics will tripple that of the guys, well not because the ladies are more spiritual though this seems to be the case, but because they hope to get hooked and the guys only come for wife shopping.
By now, the youths would have been running away from their dry old fashioned churches where their pastors still put on coats or ‘shoots’, they would have become rebellious to their parents who are not sure of the spiritual stand of these new fast rising eclectic, according to them, ‘penterascal churches’.
The parents can’t imagine how young people could dress like those going to the disco with high heels, bomb shorts, tubes, jeggings and the heavy make ups like those from the deep down ocean.
When the children are forced to those old churches, they either play music on their i-phones or those who have the devil’s berry will begin to ping. Yet the parents still get blessed in their old churches even if it has gradually become a ritual, and the youth are the most blessed in their new generation churches at least even if not spiritually, they get jobs.
Then the war continues, pastors preaching each other down, religious bodies throwing words around, church leaders beginning to steal members starting with the instrumentalists, offering them jumbo pays (services that used to be purely a sacrificial offering to God), sadly it is usually the old churches that teach these young ones the art of music. We hide under the false name of CAN as if all is well; we know all is not well.
But can we just turn back to our elder brother’s concern? I remember he had a deep concern he cried out to the father – that they may all be one! That they may all be one! That they may all be one! Only the father knows what we can achieve when the Evangelical is a brother of the Baptist, and the Presbyterian is not suspicious of the Pentecostal, the Methodist is not bad mouthing the Anglican, and we all embrace the Catholic, stopping the protest we know nothing about.
Only then can we achieve all that he expects of us; that we may all be one!
Understandable, Yea! If not, then what should we say about the bloodless wars that permeate the Christendom? We fight for superiority, my church is ‘tusher’ than yours, God answers prayer more in my church, we administrate more in my church, my pastor is richer than yours... and the list goes on.
We are on a marketing strategy where the church with the best publicity department gets the most of believers. In fact, if you have the power of healing, you have an added advantage because your market would sell more than the orthodox bible believing folks. Also, if there are managers and top shots among your congregation, then graduates will flock there because you have just given them an avenue to secure plum jobs and trust, the tithes will roll in.
Peradventure your pastor happens to be a university graduate, he would understand how to put that godly swag on and portray the sophisticated Jesus. If however, he is a handsome dude, then the number of creamy chics will tripple that of the guys, well not because the ladies are more spiritual though this seems to be the case, but because they hope to get hooked and the guys only come for wife shopping.
By now, the youths would have been running away from their dry old fashioned churches where their pastors still put on coats or ‘shoots’, they would have become rebellious to their parents who are not sure of the spiritual stand of these new fast rising eclectic, according to them, ‘penterascal churches’.
The parents can’t imagine how young people could dress like those going to the disco with high heels, bomb shorts, tubes, jeggings and the heavy make ups like those from the deep down ocean.
When the children are forced to those old churches, they either play music on their i-phones or those who have the devil’s berry will begin to ping. Yet the parents still get blessed in their old churches even if it has gradually become a ritual, and the youth are the most blessed in their new generation churches at least even if not spiritually, they get jobs.
Then the war continues, pastors preaching each other down, religious bodies throwing words around, church leaders beginning to steal members starting with the instrumentalists, offering them jumbo pays (services that used to be purely a sacrificial offering to God), sadly it is usually the old churches that teach these young ones the art of music. We hide under the false name of CAN as if all is well; we know all is not well.
But can we just turn back to our elder brother’s concern? I remember he had a deep concern he cried out to the father – that they may all be one! That they may all be one! That they may all be one! Only the father knows what we can achieve when the Evangelical is a brother of the Baptist, and the Presbyterian is not suspicious of the Pentecostal, the Methodist is not bad mouthing the Anglican, and we all embrace the Catholic, stopping the protest we know nothing about.
Only then can we achieve all that he expects of us; that we may all be one!
Friday, March 4, 2011
If I Die Tonight!
I live my life like its all i have,
I am sorry it is,
I drink the hours like none is coming next,
but more crates appear,
I work the work now hoping to relax someday,
but that day has never come,
yet i know time waits for no one to undo what you earlier did.
If i die tonight, would i smile to my grave
or weep with the lot of how wasted i am become?
If i died tonight, would my epitaph read the truth
and throngs, flock my bed - nay he can't be gone?
If i should die tonight, would my work speak for me,
or some folks discover my unpublished works
and my pride becomes post humous?
If i die tonight, I want to gladly laugh at them that cry,
oh! what folly, I step to a greater realm,
where death is defeated.
I sure wont die tonight,
for there are more grounds to cover.
I am sorry it is,
I drink the hours like none is coming next,
but more crates appear,
I work the work now hoping to relax someday,
but that day has never come,
yet i know time waits for no one to undo what you earlier did.
If i die tonight, would i smile to my grave
or weep with the lot of how wasted i am become?
If i died tonight, would my epitaph read the truth
and throngs, flock my bed - nay he can't be gone?
If i should die tonight, would my work speak for me,
or some folks discover my unpublished works
and my pride becomes post humous?
If i die tonight, I want to gladly laugh at them that cry,
oh! what folly, I step to a greater realm,
where death is defeated.
I sure wont die tonight,
for there are more grounds to cover.
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