TO REMAIN OR TO BE?

As I write this in an over populated classroom in one Nigeria's most prestigious university, I can see hundreds of faces laden with diverse expression. Many hearts asking, "how long must we continue?"
To those uncertain faces and troubled hearts, I write...

Until a few months ago, I used to mix up these two words, worrying and thinking. How many times have you seen people so enmeshed in thought  and eyes like they've just witnessed Armageddon. And you said to yourself, "Mhen that guy can think!" If w x-ray their hearts, we would say "oh my! That guy can worry sha".

Now, anybody that can at least still afford oxygen can worry. It is easy and almost require 'no sweat'. Worry talks like this, "kai, wetin person go come do nah!" "Hmm, maybe Nah so e suppose be sha". See, all of those touchy statements do not solve any problem!

My friend, Sweet Mokogwu said about worry, "it is to exaggerate what's on ones head  more towards the negative". Bottom line, Worrying is unproductive!

Now, thinking is different! It's creative, tasking, solution oriented. This simple definition by English caught my attention, "To communicate to oneself in one's mind, to try to find a solution to a problem. Success Daniel NDU defined thinking this way, "it is a process  of creation by means of engaging the mind". There's the difference!

Here's a funny statement I often heard while growing up, "The witch flew passed the house last night, the child died this morning. What killed the child?

Now, for years, it was believed that the witch killed the child.

Until the white men came!

Their own children died mysteriously too! But they didn't give credit to the witch. They researched and thought and discovered that it was malaria. So, they brought mosquito nets and insecticides, and the children stopped dying. I still Wonder what happened to the witch!

Laziness to think happened to us, not witchcraft!

This our perpetual paralysis in thinking has quickly led to a decorated bank of ignorance. Ignorance is worst than a legion of demons. What you don't know will hurt you! But, how will you know if you don't think and search? In almost every nook and cranny of Nigeria, everybody seem to know our problems. Yet, nobody is thinking out the working solutions. Problems grow so fat because we won't task our minds.

The truth - We can either blame our enemies or banish ignorance. You choose!

You've worried about those problems for so long, have they changed? Henceforth, deliberately set out to think out solutions.

So to those uncertain faces and troubled hearts... We shall continue like this until we think ourselves out!