BROKEN CRAYONS STILL COLOUR

Yeah, I've missed you too. Of course, I have some gists for you. One gist, actually. 

We did our first online exhibition @ The Green Sheriffs from 26 August to 2 September. It was lit, if I do say so myself. Here's my piece. 

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t Humpty Dumpty together again
-  LEWIS CARROLL, Alice Through the Looking Glass.

The way I see it, we all have our not-so-lighted sides, the sides that still retain scars and stitches from our infamous brokenness. It gets sewn into us, into the very fabric of our persons, and like marriage, we become one with it. No doubt, it costs us an arm and a leg. Our feigned smiles and laughter do a nice makeup job. The makeup almost covers up the blood and sweat. If you ask me, I think it makes us thick. Yeah, I know you didn’t ask but it's my blog.

You see, we are humans and the offspring of our parents. We do well almost the only thing we’ve been taught; to fix everything that is broken around us or to die trying. But not all broken things can be fixed. Not all broken things should be fixed. It is not always true that when it’s broken it is bad. Don't jump to conclude that it's useless if it can’t be fixed, that it's hopeless. For that is the problem, the reason for our needless search for what already is. 

There’s hope for brokenness. There’s virtue in brokenness. Maybe all the king’s horses and all the king’s men shouldn’t bother fixing Humpty Dumpty. Maybe Humpty Dumpty doesn't need putting together. I like the thought that my friend, Ope, shared when we started this project, she says BROKEN CRAYONS STILL COLOUR and I couldn’t agree more!

Back in Ezoti Primary School, I particularly loved whole crayons, kind of the way short women love tall men. To me, they were beautiful until they broke, then I’ll cast and bind them into the least accessible region of my red backpack. The ugliness that it became when it was broken distracted me from seeing the glory of what could become my painting. To me, it was damaged. It was funny because right before my eyes, my friend, Eseosa bled them into colourful pictures. He often annoyingly said that they were even easier to use. As I write this now, I realize that the problem was not with the "damaged" crayons, but with me. Unlike me, Eseosa understood that crayons will not always come whole. But either way, they colour.

Life will give you your own fair share of yawa, so get used to it. Maybe you’ve carefully arranged your dreams, career, or business and life just crashes in and breaks them fairly bad. At some point, life will break you. I'm sorry, but it will. It will hand you a tragedy, the kind you’ve only seen happen to Cinderella, Okonkwo, and Mara&Clara. It is then up to you to pick up your broken remain and write a sequel. Scare life and write a comedy (again, a piece of advice you didn't ask for. Still my blog). 

Maybe, just maybe Humpty Dumpty ain’t gone after all.
...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...  ...  ...   ...

Until next time (hopefully soon, I'll miss you too). 

WHAT IS IN A DASH?

‘‘I’ll tell you a secret, something they don’t teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we‘re mortal, because any moment might be our last’’.
(Achilles speaking to Briseis in the movie Troy)

What is the opposite of death, life or birth? 

Don’t tell me the mention of death scares you too? Come on, any day now you’ll…never mind. 

It’s been three days since August began, and there’s already so much to talk about. Edo state branch of NULGE protested on Wednesday, one slumped and died. Orubebe was on the news again today, not for good, of course. Hope, Mmesomer, and Bibi never forget to remind me that it’s a new month, love it. The rain is gradually quieting down or maybe it’s just me. My old phone has this new bad habit, it goes off when I need it to be on and also stays off when I need it to be off. Yeah, it’s always off. BEDC has been raining on my parade. 

Do you ever feel like your life is swallowing you up? Maybe, it's going a little too fast for you? Or you are getting no enjoyment from life? I read once that it is sometimes worst than death. I may or may not know a little about this. 

I saw again on EBS, just before the evening news, a gone-too-soon announcement. The family said that he’s forever in their heart, but that one nor concern me. This is what got me really thinking, it was simply written; 1988-2016. Can you imagine? A man’s full existence is summarized like that. But really, what’s the summary of life? I guess it’s in a dash! The way I see it, there are 3days in person’s life; the day they are born, the day they live and the day they die. In my thought, other people fill a date on when you are born and when you die but leave a dash on when you lived because only you can fill it.

This dash between birth and death day is quite different. It’s not the kind you find in your red English language reader asking you to fill in the blanks nor is it the dash you put before you explain the formation of Acetyl CoA (Prof. Bamikole sha). 

This DASH is the summary of your whole life. That day you finally took your first walk after a lot of omomo kege. The days you started and stopped crying about school. How you crushed on Atitinugo and experimented smoking with remain from the customers' stick. That day you went on evangelism and prayed you to marry a virgin. All the time life took from you and all the time it gave to you. The days you can’t remember and the ones you can’t forget. The dash is all that and more. The content of the dash may differ. 

You see, people don’t cry about how you are born or die. They cry because they will miss how you lived, that's why we tend not to cry for strangers. I don’t mean to dash your hope and belief for long life, but any moment could be your last. Okay, Our last, if it makes you feel any better.

My advice (which you always don't ask for but I'll always) is to start living deliberately! Stop photocopying people’s existence and moonwalking your way through life. Pursue a dream with all your gut, however absurd. Gain mastery. Travel just to see snow and the ugly emu bird. Go on a mission. Give, take, and share. I’m sure you have your list, just go on and live. 

The beauty about living is that when you do, you inadvertently give others the courage to do the same.

MAYBE IT'S YOU.

Frankly, I think this I-am-sorry-I-have-been-away thing is already too old. So, why don't we try something new? How about I gist you a bit of what I can say kept me away? You like that, don’t you?

Here it goes, I’m now in 400L. While that’s final year for most people who aren't going for Songhai, nah one year remain for me. So, let’s save the bottles for later. I was not with the crew that went in search of the moon, exam kept me. My exam was fine, thanks for asking. You were going to ask right? And one of my pretty sister lost her maiden name. Yeah, they said I am not supposed to cry. They said it’s a good thing. They said I’m all grown up. Who else gets that often? 

And while I was away, I noticed everyone, including me, was blaming society for the several things they got wrong. That’s what I’m talking about today. Yeah, I’m happy to see you too.

I’m weary of listening or even hearing by chance the whining of men and women. Those, who will take the slightest window to dodge responsibility for their poor choices. Anytime they succeed, even when it’s by pure luck, they’d say they took the risk, took impossible decisions, made sophisticated plans, and this and that. But, when they fail at anything, someone is behind it! It has to be Iye and her gang of Azens and Osos. Pick a struggle, my friend! 

See, I don’t wanna use this to dispute the outside factor. No! I just want us to think together. Aren’t we giving too much credit to society? More than they even deserve! My friend, the cause of your troubles is not and will not always be external! Think am nah! Maybe we are giving society more credit than they deserve is all I'm saying. 

You blamed society for how you bleached your skin to mimic snow when your problem simply was a poor self-image.  You blamed societal opinions for how you picked a course you never wanted and will never want to study, hence the lack of drive. When your only problem was your sac full of insecurity. Your blame your age and how society will raise their nose at you for how you ended in a leaking marriage. When your problem was obviously inpatients and your nah-only-me-remain-wey-never-marry mentality. Are you listening to yourself now? Should I remind you more? That’s how you got here. You are afraid and Irresponsible. Are you offended? I’m not sorry. See, I know being responsible is not cheap, but it's the only way.

Let me tell you some truth;
(1) when you choose your path (any path!), you become responsible for how you end up. You don’t compare! You don’t complain! You neither throw nor honor a blame party!

(2) Society is many things but your problem. They are your spectators, onlookers, challenge, springboard, market, and reason, but never your problem.

(3) Remember 1 and 2!

Here’s for a fresh start. Take a thorough inventory of your life. Pick out the broken pieces. The part you are not proud of and you’d rather apportion blames. Those parts that you think are not your fault. Now, be responsible and accept that it’s your fault. Yeah…it's your fault.  Then, start again. You will prefer it, trust me.

I'M A FARMER

I'm sorry for staying away for so long. Only last week the Secretary in my fellowship said exam was around the corner. Now, Prof. is saying the same exam is knocking. But, I can't be tricked. Exams don't lurk around your backyard, they don't knock. They break down your door. So, that's why I've been away. Yeah, I miss you too. Wait oh, I heard Madam Aisha is neating Fayose's eye? But how will that reduce the price of tomatoes? *smh*

....

This one came out of the AGR3*zero*5 farm and the road that led us all there

I've heard your reservation and they almost make sense. 
But is it really out of care or you are just scared I'd fail you?
Yeah, I understand. I too wouldn't see over the fence
If I were you.
But you see, what I see is quite more than frankincense
It's like nothing on your pew

Our fear ain't the same
Not anymore.
I think I see a pharaoh in yours.
"Are you really gonna consider this?"
"But it's all sweat and sand!"
"And a bit of blood"
"It is mere agriculture!"
"You're gonna end up an ordinary farmer"

I see your fears
They are almost valid.
But they are also too old.
They are like dinosaurs now.
My teeth can't chew on your ignorance no more
You can join me on this side
Or honour the treaty you signed with fear 
Either way, you'll see
That a Communion with the soil and chlorophyll, livestock and weather 

Is not a necessary evil
But a call a holy burden
...

This is to the Agro Lords.

I WOKE UP LIKE THIS

"What happened to the black people of Sumer?" The traveller asked the old man. "For ancient records has it that the people of Sumer were black. What happened to them?"

"Ah" the old man sighed. They lost their history, and so they died".

No doubt, Nigeria despite the unflowered state, has its own romance. How do you make a fine soup of nationhood without the ingredient of history? How did we kick it out of our schools? Did all its teachers retire? Or did the students stop wanting it? Why is the university the only place history is heard? Faintly even! it is funny because our fathers,  who now claim we have failed never taught us about our past but expect us to respect, love it and move on. Well, it's clearer now than ever, we need a firm and an unbiased grip of history; family and nation. How did we get here? What have we tried? How have we failed? The easiest way to ruin a person is to make sure they don't tell their stories or to tell only part of it. To rise from this pit, we must tell all. Write all. Read all.

To all you visionaries who believe that to start afresh, we must forget our history, and also to everyone who thinks that the best shot at a perfect future is to deny the past; you are in the wrong. If you don't know what led to this moment, you will remain in it. Running from the glaring truth of the past is like a black lady applying blush; it's futile. We are who we are. Until we are courageous enough to learn about our history, we are not ready for the future. One chief factor why we as Nigerians can't effectively tackle trials is a thriving ignorance of the past. It is not enough to cram dates of obvious events and names of prominent forefathers. It is not okay to possess a detached knowledge of your root. How did all you've come to crammed come about? And why?

I think sincerely that one reason we don't tell about our history is that we don't have it. As a people, we have a very outdated manner of storing information. A terrible habit. We admit too many things to memory and chance. A historic happening is often undocumented and is left to the sparse mercy of hearsay. So, all the time, the truth of history is lost or often modified to suit the faction of the teller. It is almost always not correct. People forget they die, they lie. 

Ben Murray-Bruce (the "I just want to make common sense" crooner) in his book A Common Sense Revolution wrote, "Nigerians may be surprised to note that if you want to get accurate records of Nigeria Civil War, of supreme military council activities, of leaders that were deposed (e.g Buhari first regime), of defining moments of Nigeria's history, you have to go to either the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC or the British ITV". Can you imagine! Those melancholic evenings where we sat at Baba's feet and laid on mama's chest while single-edged stories were shoved down our throats were surreal. But it's no longer enough.  Their whole truth should be told and so, should be properly documented.

History can have its own weight, but ignorance is worse…it could tear us into unimaginable bits. We all seem to know who to blame, but how would that help?  In a few years, you'd become an ancestor. Then, someone would blame you. And the rat race continues. No more should blame can be bought and sold. We woke up like this. Let's bother enough to understand the past before changing it. Let's tell our story. Paint it on the walls of our primary school instead of Scooby doo and Barney. How is a borrowed English language more important than our native History? Adamu Adamu, please wake our schools. Our children should know that our fathers did not only marry many wives and practiced subsistence farming, they also carved, painted, and built empires. Take history back to our schools.

All over the universe, histories are the same! It contains a fair divide of both loathsomeness and loveliness. You must first embrace and understand it, then try to prune. Give yourself a gift this Democracy Day celebration, go buy yourself a bowl of interest on national history. Teach the young. Tell others to do the same.

....

Happy Democracy Day celebration Nigeria and Happy birthday Bridget.

OBSEQUIES.

Do we let any wind carry us or do we pick the one we follow? There's a girlie thing about 'naso them dey do am' (tradition), its attractiveness is as nippy as an office pin near a giant magnet. Like most things, it has a dark side and some colour to it. As per colour, there is this 'here-we-respect-our-elders' credit it possesses. The way it also permits us to fetch personhood from the tap of our past to water our 'now' into a green future. Then, there's the dark region. The part that èpà don't chronicle stories about, Akowè won't scribble about, Osayomore dare not play flute about. Even auntie Ewaen has never gossiped about it. That part we rather leave untouched because…we know little or nothing about it.

There are those who argue that we jettison the entirety of 'how they did it' and go for new ways. Well, I disagree. I think we should bring it forward and edit it. We don't need a sword to either protect or cut off the status quo. What we need is a brush and a pair of scissors to sometimes polish or at other times cut ties with it. Believe me, When you understand the science of progress, a lot of palavers are resolved.

I asked Alama (not real name) why we so much break out pockets and safes for funerals. She looked into space as one looking at the multicoloured poster of 'Ikenna; the blind warrior' for what seemed like a minute. Then she abruptly replied, "it's how we pay last respect here".  Well, our last respect is a little too expensive don't you think? If the dead could act, they'd slap us out of our burial-celebratory-mode into the mourning-realizing-that-we-are-dust-mode.

Now, every Thursday, you would hear the screeching of tires as though formula 4 is next door. But you'd find out that a family is trying to bury a loved one and so, thought it frugal enough that neighbours do not have peace. Well, the neighbours don't mind as long as the noise births take-away packs, beverages, and souvenirs. A lot of return-from-mortuary gyration has led to accidents that led to deaths that later led to another gyration. Note here that gyration is like an appetizer to the main course-OBITO. 

Burial is business now as families sell Ankara as though it's kilishi. It's common nowadays to hear things like "Epa, My elder brother don die, dis nah the second cloth wey we carry for the burial. The party nah Saturday" How about the owambe and Obito rockers who now take burials as food fare and Saturdays as a lucky day.

Iye no khua died 5 months ago of what the doctors described as heart failure. We all know what killed IYe…neglect! Her remains have since been deposited in Gods Care Mortuary, while the family prepares for a breathtaking burial. The afore disjointed family has been forced into halfhearted cooperation…for Iye's sake. Osakpamwan, the first son and second child has since issued orders from the Netherland (backed with some Euro of course) that what is now left of the sagging building that was once the residence of Iye be renovated and painted white. 'They need to know that Iyè's children are well off' he said.

Iye's first daughter, Imatitikua was the picture D'banj had in mind when he said 'importer, exporter, cocoa water!'. She had prayed two years earlier when Iye first fell sick that God should keep her alive. Not out of love as you would naturally want to think, but because her Dubai business just started off. The business was too young to survive a burial. But now, Iye died at the right time, "I can now give my mother a befitting burial" she boasted.

The other six children soon arrived from different parts of the country. The budget for the burial was 3.5 million Naira. This, of course, includes the list from the oka-egbe (the head of the extended family) who see burial as a form of seasonal employment opportunity to sift as many goodies as possible. After splitting the budget, Imatitikua being the eldest took the highest. Only her and Osakpamwan could afford their share, the other 6 had to borrow to make up and look good.

The burial ceremony surpassed their expectation, all 31 canopies where filled up with many more standing. This confirmed what Felix the last born said a day before, "make we only invite those wey fit spray oh, the rest go somehow come". Three bands played. Everyone ate, drank, gossiped, fought, and took away. Everybody applauded them. " This burial tough pass that Pa. John Ode own last week o" a 'professional burial analyst' commented. The burial was done, everybody was smiling, Iye's was gone, the children were indebted, and life continued.

Iye's death had brought crocodile tears, new Ankara, artificial unity, and long-term debt.

But how could Iye's children have done differently?  Was that not the way everybody does it? You see, I get the whole 'last respect part'. But, whatever happened to burial ceremony being solemn? It should be a time when we see the remains of our loved ones and remind them that we share the like fate. I believe we didn't start out like this. Even if we did, maybe it is time we stopped.

If you have been saving for any OBITO, just go and invest in a business and stop disturbing the dead and living with this craze. 

Enough! Burial is not an investment opportunity, it is a time of mourning and reflection.

THE ANIMAL SCHOOL

If you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, it will live

 all its life thinking it's stupid - Albert Einstein

I'm sure growing up, you must have read that fascinating story; The Animal School by George H. Reavis. Well, If you have, biko, join me and reread. And if you've not, oya allow me to introduce it to you.

Let us read...

"Once upon a time the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a "new world," so they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, ALL the animals took ALL subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming -- in fact, better than his instructor; but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn, so then he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but he had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class, where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed "Charlie horses" from over-exertion and then got a "C" in climbing and a "D" in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class he beat all others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there.

At the end of the year an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well and also could run, climb, and fly a little had the highest average and was named valedictorian.

The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their child to a badger and later joined the ground hogs and the gophers in order to start a successful private school"

In a planet where it is almost impossible to be you, a sin to be different, and a norm to conform; there's a foremost CALL for everyone to better our earth and ourselves by nurturing our uniqueness!

TOMORROW WILL COME.

Wait oh, did you watch the President's media chat yesterday? Don't tell me you missed it , we go talk am later.

...

"You don't consult the oracle 'on credit'" - Bini adage

As I write this, the excruciating hold of harmattan has loosen its grip. A good number of bulls are continually led to the slaughter. Kids in every nook are loudly blabbing about how surreal they'd look tomorrow. Many people are already declaring of how greater and better next year must turn out. Others are so busy writing unending list of resolutions as it has become aged tradition.

When I was still very small, I saw an interesting phrase on one provision store. It read, "NO CREDIT TODAY, COME TOMORROW". I was not surprise when i was passing the next day, the frail board still hanging with the words boldly written. I remember thinking to myself and smiling at the realization that there will always be tomorrow.

 Each new year flies out almost as quickly as they come. And I soon learnt that Life too does not sell 'on credit'. It is also boldly holding in its hands a sign, "NO CREDIT TODAY, COME TOMORROW". 

How many times have you gone to life hoping to get something for free only to be disappointed at it's refusal?

At the beginning of every new year, we meet life with so much energy only to beg it to give us something 'on credit'. Life will always simply says, "NO CREDIT TODAY, COME TOMORROW". So, some of us quickly take a chair and sleep, waiting for the following year, so we can go back to life again EMPTY...to beg! We literally pause our lives, waiting only for next year before we play the routine. Are you not bored and tired already? Whatever prize you seek in life has a price! Are you willing to pay it?

You can't buy from life 'on credit'!

Anytime you seek for change in the name of resolutions, you must pay in the currency of discipline. If you want a degree, you'll have to pay the price of study and tuition. You want a blissful marital life life? Pay the steep price of fidelity and unconditional care. Do you crave fulfilment? Then you need to pay with purpose.

The list is endless...the grammar is plain...the plea is clear; don't ask for life what you don't want to pay for!

The next you go to life's store, don't beg it to sell on credit. Ask "how much?"

So, if you haven't seen the sign yet, go now and get a legal tender to bargain with! If life has already put you out, I guess you now know what it takes?

And to those waiting for tomorrow to see if it will change;

 Life has vowed that there will be "NO CREDIT TODAY, COME TOMORROW". 

...

This piece is dedicated to Gloria, Pst Chris, Auntie Rosie, Achu, Sochi, Asem, Debbie, Yochabel, Aufuray, marvellous and other December babies around the world. We rock!

A LITTLE CRAZINESS, AND MORE.

Blessed are the crazy ones, for they force us to see the world differently! - unknown

You know those sweet counsel you get when you are leaving home for the higher institution for the first time? It usually goes like, "pls oh my child, don't forget where you are from oh, be quiet, be normal, don't look for trouble, only study and get d grades, stay away from boys/girls, be very religious so those gangs won't approach you, make good friends, don't show yourself, etc". Did you get one of those?

The counsel was cool, but it wasn't complete!

Maybe that's why even though we go to school, we don't get much education!

We were not told to dream with our eyes opened. We were not told that dissatisfaction with the status quo budded progress. We were never advised to take life by the throat until it vomited result. We were not warned that being average and accepting mediocrity have no place in the world. Maybe they should have added that the world is an adventurous place and 'sit-down-look' is a bore.

Have  you ever thought  of a better way to do that business? Do you wanna leave school with solutions or with only a degree? Are you sending CV or a proposal around? Are you thinking or breeding complaints?

See, the world has not always been like this! some folks were crazy enough to demand for a move forward. Do you wanna accept the erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it? Or you are gonna embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it?

In this life, you either go forward or backward! Stagnation is a myth. What we call stagnation is actually uniform backwardness. The world is too in motion to remain in one place.

Did you ever see that piece for the Apple company commercial? Well, here it is;

"Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you cant do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

"are you crazy?" is not so insulting afterall, because yes!...I'm crazy!

Martin Luther King jnr. was crazy enough to demand the death of segregation. Mother Teresa was crazy enough to dedicate her life to caring for the same people that society rejected. Mahatma Gandhi was crazy enough to fight the British with peace and nonviolence. Bill Gates was  crazy enough to change forever the way office work would be done. You are crazy enough to...? It's up to you!

At first they will call  you foolish, crazy, a misfit, unteachable...but later they will start to call you a genius, innovator, different!

So, to those kids who were called oversabi when they asked too many questions; to those girls who because they wanted more were called stubborn; to those fellas who were told it's unrealistic, because they dreamt differently....hold on and keep on, for it's your crazy kinds that have always given the world a new way to see!

Happy Birthday YESHUA!
Merry Christmas to the crazy ones!

TEACH HIM...

As a youth in this fast changing world, there are a lot of things about the future that we think and learn about. This has led the likes of 2pac and Bank W to write a song for their future children. It was one of  such leaning that led me to an immortal letter said to have been written by Abraham Lincoln to his son's school teacher.
Now, there's a petty debate about the author. Many say it's Lincoln, others say it was someone who was just trying to get a work some popularity by using a renown name.

My advice, whoever it was, skip that and grab the invaluable lessons.

The letter;

"He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just. That all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero; that for every selfish Politician, there is a dedicated leader. Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.

Steer him away from envy. If you can, teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that  the bullies are the easiest to lick... Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books.

But also give him quiet time  to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school, teach him  it is far honourable to fail  than to cheat.

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong.

Teach him to be gentle  with gentle people,  and tough with the tough people.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon.

Teach him to listen to all men but teach him also to filter  all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him if you can, how to laugh when he is sad. Teach him there is no shame in tears.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness.

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders but never to put a price-tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight, if he thinks he's right.
Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage to be impatient. Let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order, but see what you can do. He is such a fine fellow, my son!"

When I first read this, I thought for a second and wished to share. What better time than now! Dear teachers(you might not have gotten a letter), daddies, maybe you've not written one, children(even though it wasn't written about you)...I sincerely think there's a thing or two we can all learn from it.

Think about it, even as I take my pen and

...

SMALL, BUT...

Sometimes, when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I'm tempted to think...there are no little things! - Bruce Barton

Did you ever get to meet any of those guys who always said, "Nah small thing dey vex me"? I had many! And I always wondered, "whatever happened to big things?" There's another funny yet often  rendered cliché, "Nah small shit dey spoil yanch". Lately, I've been thinking, "how small is small?" Perhaps, one of the simplest lesson man is yet to fully grasp is that the weaving of small things result in  big things.

This is a story of conversation between a wild dove and a sparrow.
"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a sparrow asked a wild dove. "Nothing more than nothing" was the answer. "In that case, I must tell you a marvellous story," the sparrow said. "I sat on the branch of a tree, close to its trunk, when it began to snow-not heavily, not raging blizzard-no, just like a dream, without a sound and without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,742,952. When the 3,742,953rd flake dropped onto the branch, the branch broke of the tree". Having said that, the sparrow flew away.

Do you still think little things don't matter? Oya, think again! Screen the next 'small' words you offer. Watch that next 'small' deed. Be careful with that 'small' thought. In our world, anything great good or evil started small. Deliberately add to people and things henceforth. Start small too.

MY FRIEND.

So long I stretched forth my hand,
Coldly you tossed it aside.
I’ve tried not to turn my face to the sand
But, different time is set for every man to break inside.

For our friendship, let’s strive to be strong and fond,
And pray love, lest we slide.
So far a journey we’ve managed to come,
Taking for granted the grace that made us friend.

Forgetting the fruit we ate in the hill; the berries and pomes.
Neglecting the swell moments most royals may never find.
My hair’s kinky, wish you were here to help me comb,
Clear my dusty eyes by blowing a soothing wind.

I’m sick of staying away from our friendship
I’m sick of waiting for the right moment.
I wish our callousness a halt.
Old wine is indeed sweeter than all new elements.

I pray love to swallow our faults.
I’ll bless you more often than I lament.


*To all those out there who have felt the blessing of friendship and others who long for it*

ANOTHER MAN

General Buhari and Professor Osibanjo. God bless your term.

Have you met any soldier? I don’t mean it in the soothing figurative sense; I mean the most literal manner! I have! 

They go out every day to fight for the sustenance of our country’s unity and individual peace, even though they might not come back. They are a property of the state. They bleed and sweat so we could sleep, but all they mostly get is mutilation or death.

 I once heard a preacher said, “to appreciate the adults we now see, we must get in touch with the child they once were “. I hope you know that like you, they grew up in our streets! They too played ’ten-ten’, ‘boju-boju’ and monkey-post soccer games. They mischievously maim the nursery school rhymes too. They also sat in those cranky seats in our antiquated classrooms and nurtured a future. Like you, they envisioned a quiet and successful life.  They had plans and hopes...just like us! 

But now, they are soldiers!

Well, unlike you, they no longer need too much use of pen and paper, for they have been replaced with riffles and teargas. Walkie-talkie and pocket knives have since displaced the brightly coloured milkose sweet and speedy biscuits from their pockets. They now dodge bullets on the battlefield, not skip ropes on the playground! They can neither watch the sunset with their beloved nor experience their babies grow. All they carry around are pictures. They’ve lost the right to a civilian court, theirs is a  martial court. The word magazine has a different meaning to them. Yes, they are soldiers!

There was an intense gun-fight between our soldiers and some terrorists in a remote area in Bornu State. I was not there, but another man was there to take and return those bullets.

Folks, today is not the armed force day - do they have one? You might not be fighting, but you can do something for these soldiers. Say a prayer for them, bless their kids, respect their spouses, and give love to their guardians.

I sleep at night knowing that country is defended by another man!

 HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY!!