Friday 29 February 2008

2Pac - Changes

This is the video of Tupac's thought provoking song, 'CHANGES '.The song aptly describes what I feel about human relations daily. Listen to it and make up your own mind about what the current system of things mean to you. Cheers.

Thursday 28 February 2008

IF I COULD TEACH THE WORLD.

When I wake up every morning these days, I usually wonder where the world is heading to. Apart from the news items that could send you back into your bed, I sometimes think about the events I see happening around me. I see humanity heading towards a destination I do not know about. The milk of human kindness is hard to come by nowadays. Being good is now seen as a weak trait. Being brash, loud and arrogant is celebrated by many citizens of the world nowadays. Sex, which is a gift to humanity by God has been turned into a weapon by human beings. It has been commercialised in a mostly negative manner. I don't want to be a judge on this matter, but I wish I could teach the world.

It is no longer the world I grew up in. I grew up feeling peace in the air. There was this Garden of Eden atmosphere back then that I can't describe now. Maybe it was because I was a kid back then. Maybe I was too young to notice the physical and spiritual wars going on among humanity then. However, I was given a lot of love then. I am talking about the 80's and early 90's, before things went awry. There were relationships then. People fell in love way back without too much material consideration. Nowadays it is all about the Benjamins. Money is mostly considered first before love or attraction. How sad. If only I could teach the world.


Marriages break up easily these days. Terrorism is virtually turning the world into a fortress. There is so much suspicion and Governments spend a lot of money on security. I feel this cash should be spent on the homeless and the poor who don't have food to eat. Man has not been able to understand the reason for various shades of skin color and has been sometimes animalistic when dealing with those who are not looking like him. Knowledge is rampant these days, but there is no kindness to back it up. And knowledge without compassion is like drinking cereal mixed with gravel. I wish I could teach the world.

I wish I could teach the world to change its ways. I wish I had the power to influence people to treat their fellow human beings better. I wish I had the power to bring peace to the world, stop hunger and poverty and make people realize the folly of stacking up money in banks or building external reserves of money when people are suffering. However, I have realized that the power to change the world does not lie with me. It lies with God. He is the only one that can redeem the world. I can only pray to him to touch the hearts of men. He knows where the world is heading to anyway, and it is all for the achievement of his grand purpose for humanity. The world lies in his hands and that is why we have day and night, winter and summer and spring and autumn. I wait in earnest for the new world.

Thursday 21 February 2008

AFRICAN IRISH

I started knowing about Ireland in 2003 when I met a young man known as Vincent Egede. Vincent was my course mate at the University of Ibadan. We were not close during the first year at Uni, but somehow fate [ or is it God? ] brought us together. It happened that after a particular lecture on a rainy afternoon, we both left the Faculty of Arts [ We were both students of History ], and walked to the Sports Centre. It was there that Vincent told me his story. I cannot for the reasons of privacy divulge what Vincent told me that day, but it all boiled down to the fact that he'd left the monastery to help the Irish Missionaries out when it came to Catholic Publications. Vincent introduced me to the work of the St Patrick Fathers. I am still protestant, but I admire the work of the Irish missionaries in Nigeria. They are quietly bringing succour to people in my country.

I started writing for AFRICA, St Patrick's Missions Magazine back in 2004. I have been with the Publication since then. Vincent is the Assistant Editor of the Magazine, with Father Jim Sheering as the Editor. Along with other priests, writers and contributors we successfully publish the West African Edition of the Magazine four times a year. I consider myself an African-Irish. I don't carry an Irish Passport, but I am somehow Irish. The colour of my blog was deliberately chosen to be Green. The colour of St Patrick. I look forward to visiting Ireland one day. I love the liberal Irish way of life and it's beautiful countryside. I guess this years St Patrick's day will be superb. At least I can be Irish on that day. We don't usually have St Patrick's day parades in Africa, but I know the day will be marked somehow at St Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Nigeria.

The Irish people and Ireland have come to stay in my heart. Ireland has a great history and I've got friends in Dublin. There is one thing about me. My dreams come true. So I know I will visit Ireland soon. Thanks to Vincent Egede for bringing into the world of the Irish. And how was your day?

Wednesday 20 February 2008

FREEBORN


There is a song that I love playing everyday. The song is titled ''I WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD FEEL TO BE FREE''. It was sung by Tunde Baiyewu and Paul Tucker when they were still known as the Lighthouse Family. They have parted ways but their songs continue to touch people all around the World. I have two of their Cd's- WHATEVER GETS YOU THROUGH THE DAY and OCEAN DRIVE. Tunde Baiyewu has such a unique voice and I bet that if he makes heaven, he will be drafted immediately into the choir there. Well, I've not been to heaven before but Tunde's voice is heavenly. He is just outstanding.Here are the lyrics to my popular song. Enjoy.

I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I can break all the chains holding me
I wish I could say all the things that I should say
Say 'em loud, Say 'em clear
For the whole wide world to hear

I wish I could share
All the love that's in my heart
Remove all the bars that keep us apart
And I wish you could know how it feels to be me
Then You'd see and agree that every man should be free

I wish I could be like a bird in the sky
How sweet it would be if I found I could fly
Well I'd soar to the sun and look down at the sea
And I'd sing 'cos I know how it feels to be free

I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I could break all the chains holding me
And I wish I could say all the things that I wanna say
Say 'em loud, Say 'em clear
For the whole wide world to hear [3ce]

One love one blood
One life you've got to do what you should
One life with each other
Sisters, brothers

One love but we're not the same
We got to carry each other
Carry each other
One One One One One

I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I knew how it would feel to be free (END)

Yeah, that it. I love the song. We need to set ourselves free from the hatred and racism that threatens to control the world today. We need to aspire towards certain goals without being limited by the deeds and discouraging words of people. Let us love ourselves genuinely without faking emotions for selfish ends. True love stands the test of time. May the good lord help us succeed in this world. Amen. And how was your day?

Monday 18 February 2008

BOOKS AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT.

I love reading good books. My father encouraged my siblings and I to read voraciously. I remember the day he came back from work with two big cartons of books, comics and Magazines. They'd been given to him by his Lebanese and Syrian friends who had kids studying in the United States. I still remember that one of the kids had his name on some of the books. ''Nabil'' was the name, yeah. My mother was also keen to fire our imagination with books. She introduced me to the FAMOUS FIVE series written by Enid Blyton. I started wondering where London was on the world map, after reading Blyton's books.

Books are very essential when it comes to Personal Development. Books provide us with a lot of information which we can use to transform our lives. We get to know about other races, countries and continents on the pages of books. Personal Development is what adds the extra value to us after we bag certificates from schools. Qualifications alone can not take us to the zenith of our careers. We always need to display enough mental skills that will set us apart. Books provide information that can enhance our qualifications. In short, reading makes a man. One of the reasons why Nigeria is stunted developmentally, can be deduced from the fact that most of our leaders don't read. How many Governors and Ministers in Nigeria have personal libraries? How many commissioners and State officials have read Ben Carson's books? I doubt if they even know who Dr Carson is. It is as bad as that in my country.

Personal Development is something we need to think about daily. Apart from praying to God, Personal Development should be our main focus. When we develop ourselves daily, we'll become indispensable to our enployers, communities and countries. Personal Development is a close relative of Books. Show me a man that reads and I will show you a winner. Reading is not a difficult thing to engage in. Just create time to sit down with a book for at least an hour daily. In no time, you would have finished reading the book. Then you can pick another book and start the process again. God knows how many books you'll be able to read in a year with this technique. And the sweet thing is that all the knowledge you garner from reading voraciously will be useful one day. Happy Reading. You can check www.shelfari.com to sign up as a lover of books. And how was your day?

Friday 15 February 2008

HEEDING THE CALL, THE JOY OF FOLLOWING MY DREAMS.

Guess you read my post about my birthday? I was a year older on the 22nd of January 2008. I am an Aquarian and I 've discovered that most Aquarians are very strong willed and creative. It is not as if I believe in Horoscopes or Spritism. However, I feel there are certain truths about those signs. Back to the topic of my post. I am happy that I discovered my calling early in life. I can still remember those days when I used to write stories and poems on sheets of paper. A great feeling of satisfaction usually descended upon me anytime I wrote in the 8o's and 90's. Sometimes, I wrote things I did not understand myself. I wrote about Cowboys and Indians in the United States. I wrote about Secondary School thugs, Junior students and their adventures. I wrote about people in other lands and their activities. The more books I read, the more my horizon widened.

It was after graduating from Secondary School, that this strange feeling came upon me. It was then I realized that I was born to be a writer. The easiest thing I could do was to write. I discovered that my friends respected me for my writing skills. To most of my High School mates, I was not important except when they needed me to write something for them. I wrote a lot of love letters those days for my mates who wanted to date some girls in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. I remember that one of the girls actually fell for Goke Solaja. Goke was my Junior. He approached me and told me to craft out a letter that would touch the girl. We called the girl 11-11. She read my letter and fell for Sir Solaja. Those were the humble beginnings.

From 1999, I started writing for a living with National Encomium Magazine. Though I was paid peanuts there, I made an impact before I left for more education. Before working for Encomium, I bagged a diploma in Journalism from NIJ. At the University of Ibadan, I joined Zikpress Organization and bagged some awards on Campus. My pen name as a Campus journalist was REDMAN. In 2004, the course of my writing career changed. I was introduced to the St Patrick's Missionary Society. I am happy I followed my dreams.

Thursday 14 February 2008

AT THE CROSSROADS

Have you listened to the American Hip-Hop group called Bone Thugs and Harmony? I started appreciating their unique style of rap, which is a mixture of south-central ebonics and strong rhymes. The four members of the group, Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Wish Bone, and Bizzy Bone were real tonguetwisters when performing their songs. Though I dont like some of their tracks, I love listening to ''THE CROSSROADS'', their Grammy Award winning song in 1997. The song is about man's existence and what would and could happen to him when he dies. It was a first class Rap performance.

There comes a time in our life when we come to the Crossroads. It is a time when we are faced with making a crucial decision about our future. It is a period of reflection. Deep reflection. It happens that you have two good options, and you don't feel like dropping any of them. However, you know you have to sacrifice one of the options for you to move ahead. Just like Jesus gave his life for humanity on the cross of calvary. He could have bowed down to the Devil and taken the ''Gifts and Prizes'' he was offered , but he chose to redeem mankind. What a sacrifice of love!

We all arrive at the crossroads at a period in our life. And we need to take that crucial decision. Something has to be sacrificed to move forward. However, there is the need for us to put the situation in the hands of God. This is to stop us from making grave mistakes in our race towards destiny.Let us move close to God when we arrive at the crossroads. I hope this piece makes sense to you. I am the crossroads as I write today's post. May the good lord continue to protect us. Amen.

Thursday 7 February 2008

THE COMING VALENTINE'S DAY.

I have tried to figure out what the Valentine's day means to me. I started witnessing people celebrating the event from my secondary school days. I used to notice the prefects and other seniors designing greeting cards that would be given to their Girlfriends on the day. Before you start grinning , I want you to know that my school was a Boys only School. Yeah, we were all boys. We used to be mixed until the 1960's when the ladies were packed [as I was told] into a bus and driven to a new premises that had been built for them. That premises became Anglican Girls Grammar School [AGGS], Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

So the seniors and prefects would sneak out to AGGS and other female secondary Institutions to see their girlfriends. There were always valentine parties held in town. These parties were usually thrown by students whowere not boarders and who came from rich homes. Hmn? I was not born with a silver spoon. I come from a humble background, though my Parents were not poor. I grew up in a middle class home in Ikeja, Lagos State. I have never really celebrated a valentine's day with a lady, you know. Though I have had female friends in the past, I can't remember taking any of them out for Valentine's day. To me Valentine should be a daily thing, not the February 14 frenzy that it is. It is not a day to get drunk, or have wild sex only. I feel it should be a day when lovers will spend quality time together to reassess their relationship. A day of talking about the future of the relationship or marriage. A day to share gifts and a day to thank God for the relationship.

Well, I don't know how my Valantine's day will be, but I would definately be enjoying myself. And don't ask me who it will be with. That's a top secret between me and my creator. Have a wonderful valentine's day in advance.

And how was your day?