A WASTE OF SUFFERING

 

Isn’t life the most unpredictable concept you ever came across? I wonder sometimes how it would be if everything was straightforward, no curve balls, no glitches in the works, no unforeseen circumstances… Would it be better then than it is now? Would we be happier? Would we achieve as much or even more than we do currently? Would there be less conflict among individuals, organizations and governments?

It is no secret that life will not always turn out as you have planned it. It is also no secret that every single person alive will have days they wished they never had, meaning that anyone crooning that life is particularly unfair to them is contained in a very small package.

Also it is no secret that times of misfortune will befall both those considered to be good or bad in nature, and not necessarily a consequence of bad behaviour on one’s part. Misfortune actually seems to be pronounced when it picks on an innocent person to show its character. But then, in reality, this popular items of knowledge hardly ever seem to produce a relief, and people go through various degrees of suffering just waiting for when it would all be over, and they can put the episode behind them. This is a lot like someone going to college, and just praying that graduation will come sooner than later.

Every person will chart his own course in life. Everyone’s life will have its high and low times. Why all humans will NEVER be the same is because of REACTION: how you respond to events in your life will define the structure of your life. Suffering, pain, misfortune; they are not billed as interesting moments in your life, but when you realize that there is so much you could gain from those periods, you will not look forward to them, but you would exploit every opportunity they present. An opportunity to develop a stronger mind, a lesson in patience and endurance, a chance to correct some wrongs in your life, a motivation to press forward to achieve what you want, a challenge to outgrow some events and people in your life; all these and many more would be harder to come by in terms of relative sanity and order. Someone once said that great men are never developed in moments of peace, but in times of war.

I have gone through A LOT in the past one year. Two things have kept me going: first, God’s Word. It has been like every single time I open my Bible I see something telling me to NEVER give up, and to always hold on, telling me my future will be bright, and even brighter than I can see. Second thing is, I have absolutely refused to see myself as a failure of any sort. Some things were not in my control, a few were, but I am still my biggest fan. God is going to give me my expected end; He wouldn’t lie about that. All I will do is put myself in the best possible position to be blessed maximally.

Do not waste your suffering. It would be a massive mistake. There are lessons that only suffering and adversity will teach you. You do not want to miss those lessons.

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Christmas...

Merry Christmas in arrears to y'all! I just wanted to put up some pics of what I and my family were up to this period... There is also proof here for Tahir that I do drink!

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The Fifth Sparrow

 

Currently I am reading a book by Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear. I first came across the book in my friend, Funsho’s house some months ago, and ever since then, after reading just the first two pages, I was sure I was going to own a copy of the said book. While reading, I came across some scripture passages that gave me some exposition I hadn’t seen before, hence I thought I’d build on that and share with anyone who comes across this blog.

In Matthew 10:29, the Bible says that two sparrows are sold for a farthing, yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Heavenly Father’s knowledge and protection; it goes on in verse 31 to say that we should not fear because we are of more value than many sparrows. This passage is a reassurance of God’s watchful protection over us and His keen eye for the details in our lives.

There is a similar passage in Luke 12:6, similar but with an interesting twist/addition to it. It says that are not five sparrows sold for 2 farthings, and yet not one of them is forgotten by God? Simple math: 2 sparrows would cost 1 farthing, so 4 sparrows should cost 2 farthings, but then in this recent passage, 5, and not 4 sparrows cost 2 farthings, from which we can freely suggest that there is a bonus sparrow, one which has no cost, no real value, but is thrown in there for being such a magnanimous customer. (It kinda makes you wonder how many free sparrows you would get if you were buying 10 farthings worth – might not even be legal to do so). This Fifth Sparrow is the crux of the matter.

There are a lot of ‘fifth sparrow(s)’ in our contemporary world today, people who don’t think they are worth anything to anyone except those whom nature has enforced the responsibility on; who get easily lost in any crowd, those who think they have no showcase-able talent, those who believe that if they stay in their houses for three months, only their landlords will come to visit them, and even that is to collect the month’s rent; those whose parents never call them and the only time they talk to each other is when they are asking for money, and their parents non-comittally give it to them; those who believe life has not dealt them a fair hand or given them a fair chance, while bestowing multiple talents and opportunities on others.

The problem with this line of thinking is that, the Bible has said that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he: whoever thinks that he/she is nobody will be nobody. This means that the individual will not amount to much in life, he will always despise other people, and will live in a constant state of depression, useless to himself and his society. He always sees himself as less than average. He will constantly pass up opportunities to progress and grow, thinking that such are only meant  for those who have been ‘well-endowed’ with skill and potential. He will also doubt the fact that God loves him, or has any interest in him, or might even accuse God of creating him as a defective product. The individual may not exhibit all the described features, but that individual is definitely looking at a lower quality of life.

Now, on a personal note, after hearing how much those sparrows cost, I’m not sure I want to be referred to as such, but at least the first four had some value. Imagine being the fifth sparrow, the one with no value among those with so little value in themselves.

God said in Matt. 10 that even the hairs of your head are counted (v. 30). Who counts hair? No one does, but to know that God has, that adds a sense of worth. If God knows detail as minute as how many strands of hair I have on my head, if He cares and knows about things that I don’t even regard in the first place, then He definitely knows about what I am going through in my life, about my weaknesses, my short-comings, my strengths, my social life, my academics, my workplace, everything. He also goes on to say that nothing happens to any one of these birds without His knowledge, and then He says that I am worth more than many sparrows. If God pays so much attention to these little birds, and I am worth more, it means, without any doubt in my mind, that I am special.

If I realize that God values me so dearly, then I would claim everything He has said about me; He has made so many promises to me, and I believe every single one for myself. I have no reason to be depressed about anything because the joy of the Lord is my strength; I have no reason to dread an empty pocket because God gives me power to create wealth. I am not concerned about how people perceive me or observe me because I am created in God’s image.

Unwittingly, many people have been called, and have referred to themselves as a ‘Fifth Sparrow’; but even then, God loves you, and He cares for you to pin-point perfection, taking note of the things you don’t and constantly looking out for you. God sees you as worth something; you should too.

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CHASING THE NIGERIAN DREAM

The American Dream, sometimes in the phrase "Chasing the American Dream," is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of prosperity and success. Historian James Truslow Adams coined the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book Epic of America. Excerpts include 'The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement…' The ethos simply indicates the ability, through participation in the society and economy, for everyone to achieve prosperity. According to the dream, this includes the opportunity for one's children to grow up and receive a good education and career without artificial barriers. It is the opportunity to make individual choices without the prior restrictions that limit people according to their class, caste, religion, race, or ethnicity. This coinage was meant to promote the United States of America as a land to be regarded as a beacon of liberty and prosperity (Wikipedia).

On the heels of this, I was challenged, especially in light of the fact that Nigeria would, on the 1^st of October this year be commemorating 50 years of its existence, to explore what this phrase could possibly mean for the Nigerian, to compare it with the concept of the American dream and see what similarities and differences there are with the 'Nigerian Dream.'

If I were to address an average, random group of people concerning this subject, having enlightened them on the American Dream, they would almost, always be unanimous in their voicing of the fact that Nigeria has no such dream. Sometimes it feels like God gave a different instruction to the developed world and gave a separate set to the developing world, telling the developed nations to take dominion over the Earth, while telling the developing countries to do their best to stay alive, and He would give a handful of them a lucky break every now and then. The first group has continually developed their spirit of adventure while the latter has learned to finely hone its instinct for survival.

If I were to phrase what I have observed to be the Nigerian Dream, it would go thus:

'The Nigerian Dream is the dream of a land in which every man and woman would strive with all the means at their disposal to get a tertiary education in a professional course (medicine, law, engineering, accountancy), get a job in either Abuja or Lagos, either work in government for the job security, or work in the private sector with some deep contacts in government, know at least one politician, one high-ranking police officer, and one immigration/customs officer; be affiliated to some spiritual leaders that would assist with spiritual attacks on your person/family because they will come, marry someone from your geopolitical zone to avoid any pressure from immediate family members, have children including AT LEAST one boy to avoid insult from extended family, rent a respectable looking house with the aim to buy yours one day, buy a generator to generate your own light, drill your own borehole to provide yourself with continuous water, buy a car that can handle random pot-holes and speed bumps, send your children to private schools run by people from any nationality except Nigeria, and then afterwards send them to any country outside Africa to further their studies; a land where survival is the keyword, with prosperity, education and security all in place to ensure this fact.'

Reading this, I can't help but suppress a slight chill, because even though everyone would have their own take on what the Nigerian dream is, we can all agree this is not far from the truth at all. This explains why we do not create, and we suppress creativity, because as far as we appreciate, a creative mind has lost its primary instinct – survival; this is of course, unless the point of such creativity is to enhance survival by providing financial compensation. I really wish I could get my hands on the documents showing what the founding fathers of this country dreamed for it, because I am sure this wasn't it. Even though the American Dream has been criticized for being too idealist and setting a bar too high, they haven't deviated much from it today.

I belong to the minority of people that strongly believe that Nigeria can and will be better than what we can see now. Many people seeing the preparations being made for this silver jubilee celebration have said Nigeria is celebrating 50 years of leadership failure, waste of potential and resources, as well as endorsing deeply entrenched corruption. My Bible tells me that I will have whatever I say, so I say that Nigeria is blessed, that God's plans for this country will be achieved, that this country will reach its full potential, and make all of us proud to belong to it. It also tells me that we should pray for those in authority, so I commit my President and his cabinet into God's hands that He will lead, guide and direct in the best interests of the population of the country, and may their hearts be yielding to his prodding, that they may put aside all pride, greed and self-gratification to serve the purpose for which God has put them in place.

I believe in and love my country. God bless Nigeria. God bless Nigerians.

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Been A While

Hmmm... I haven't done any writing ever since I got back home for this summer break. I have some titles in my head, but no strength in my hands yet. Oh well, I'll get to it - eventually. I look forward to my next most likely write-up: The Nigerian Dream. See you guys soon!

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A SENSE OF DEFINITION

Humanism is a worldview and a moral philosophy that considers humans to be of primary importance. It is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. I lifted that particular definition from Wikipedia. To break it down, a humanist is someone who believes that anyone can do whatever they want, however they want, provided the means and end would satisfy the individual involved, and lives by their own set of rules. This implies that institutions like the written rule of law, the Bible, and even other people’s feelings are secondary to the individual’s whims. Based on this, humanists define and defend themselves based on characteristics and features which more often than not are not justified, logical or considerate. This theory is not a necessarily domineering one, just one that sees an individual the way he or she is, accepts that what the person is cannot change, and will not change, so the rest of the world should either deal with them that way, or look in another direction.

It sounds interesting, and senseless too when you hear someone say, I am the way I am because I was born that way, and there is nothing I can do about it. Less appreciated is when they are referring to such characteristics like being lazy, careless, anger-prone, over-indulgent, or even homosexual. To further compound this problem, notable icons and celebrities whenever they are interviewed make such claims, and when such admissions are made, the listening public are enamoured by their openness and honesty, that it becomes a personality trait to emulate. While there is no argument against honesty, the problem with such an argument is that people stop trying to be better than they already are; they stop growing because they have gotten a definition for themselves based on where and what they are, and are open about it. The Bible says, As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

When one stops growing, he starts dying. When you feel you have reached your peak, your final definition of yourself, nothing will ever give you a different sense of whom you are. The truth, as I see it is that while I have painted a very unappreciable picture of humanism, most people without actually acknowledging their subscription to this school of thought, are humanistic in nature. Why, because they share a common trait with humanists – they are lazy, they are non-achievers, they have no true sense of self-worth. A man would only develop to the extent to which he gives himself room to do so. So many of us, either because we resist change, or are too comfortable with where we have found ourselves have come to define ourselves with specific tags that have become our limits, because if we do change or grow, we would have to get new definitions, and new identities for each change we make.

I think the best stance we can take is that we are continuous works in progress. Interestingly enough, most people who exhibit such humanistic views are within the age ranges of 18 and 45 years of age, which should be the most progressive years of life. We keep growing, we keep setting higher standards, seeking greater challenges, striving to be better than we were before. There is so much we can do, so much we can be. Why stop now because it is convenient?

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Champion.

In 2001, it was no secret knowledge that Agbani Darego was crowned as the 50^th Miss World, an award for a young woman publicly acknowledged to have the perfect blend of beauty and brains. Little known fact was that when she won that award, she was a student of the University of Port Harcourt. A less known fact is that I was in that institution at that point in time. An even lesser known fact is that I was personally acknowledged by the reigning Miss World at that time, Miss Darego. After she had won the award, she promised to visit UNIPORT being her alma mater, so to speak, and the whole school, plus some people from town turned up to see her. We waited for over 5 hours. She didn’t show, neither was there any concrete word about her arrival or not. One of my friends, impatient with waiting asked me to walk him to the school gate from where he would get a vehicle to go home. It was a long walk from the Arena to the main gate, so after seeing him off, I started my walk back. I had walked more than halfway when I heard a lot of vehicles coming behind me. I looked back, and saw a convoy of vehicles, vehicles of class, definitely carrying someone important. I knew she had finally arrived. Then I saw her, standing out of the roof of one of the limousines, and she looked beautiful. I stopped walking to watch the convoy go by, and when the vehicle carrying her was driving by, she looked directly at me, smiled and waved. I was the only one along the entire road, so I was sure it was me she was referring to with that gesture. Now, stopping the convoy, coming down from the vehicle, planting a peck on my face, and taking a picture with me would have left me with a permanent blush, but the smile and wave were just perfect – it was, and is my only private moment with a world renowned celebrity.

Watching her as she reached the Arena and it filled to overflowing with people, I couldn’t help but wonder about success and achievement. The whole school and its complete hierarchy, and later that evening, the whole town along with its leadership would acknowledge her, not just because she had won the title, or because she had schooled in UNIPORT, or because she was a celebrity, but more because she was one of them, and she had brought them happiness and pride by being successful, and being globally acknowledged for it.

I would love to be in that position. I will be in that position. I am going to attain something profitable for myself and as many people as it would affect, and I am going to be publicly and globally recognized for it. When Agbani was in UNIPORT, no one acknowledged her. There are a lot of beautiful, model-types in the school, so except for the cursory observation, no one paid her any special attention. Even when she won Miss Nigeria to qualify for the bigger tournament, most people didn’t even know. But when she attained, the whole world took notice. That’s where I am referring to. That’s where I will be.

It will take hard work. It will take perseverance. It would take depending on God to direct me, and not lean on my own wisdom, but it can, and it will be done. This should be everyone’s desire, not necessarily for the public fanfare, but for the widespread impact. Everyone should be challenged to affect positively as many people as possible, and if you are publicly acknowledged in the process, to do so with grace. I was challenged by her that day, and I am constantly challenged by people not too far from me. I will work to prove myself. I will prove myself to be a champion.

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