Category: Columnists

7 is the new beininging. . .

The power of a new beininging envelopes me
The hope of a new dawn fills me
As I yearn for a lift
I seek in honesty the joy that dwells in the divine, knowing that it is neither controlled by the activities of the day nor the night.
The fullness of time brings with it resolutions and resolve
No further delays shall be known neither shall stagnation prevail
The light of the new day breaks and the darkness and fear has no more power over a heart beating in new strength of a new dawn.

Good thoughts of greatness accompanied by faith so promising
The time is now all things are made new and pleasant..
The lines are clear and decisive
The lead is firm and unbreakable
A blissful calm of moments so reaching
7 is the number of a new beginning.
And today the number 7 speaks
Now is the season of restoration
The reign of completion
The rise of perfection for number 7 is the reason.
Confirm the cheers, rejoice and make merry
Expunge the doubts
Cast all fears for the time is now, when better days cannot be held back.
The voice of love is all we need
To keep together what is far apart.

The number 7 speaks, no more shame in the land
Good courage and might a nature to behold
Holding dear the days of our lives
Redeeming thus the benefit of trust
Only shown to them that believe
Today is the dawn of a new beginning
Open your arms and embrace a new destiny.

I’m lost in the awe of the era
My eyes are lightened with the spark of life
Like a flute, I’m ready to play a new song with the new number of liberation
Endless wait it seemed with the cloud of worry always hovering around but it’s all in the past now…
So I look, with a gleam of the warmth only an enlightened mind can possess
Life isn’t without troubles but today is the dawn of a new season.
So I raise my glass to the number 7 knowing the time to blossom has come.

It’s all a matter of time. . .

Confronted with the bitterness that only truth can bear
Distressed by the unfriendly face of reality.
Beset by the contending thoughts of confusion
Thrust with the Unquenching desire to overcome
Each day breaks with its own storm

Filled with unimaginable shenanigans
Driven by pride
Seeking ease from strongholds
Check within you and you shall find
The answers you seek have always been within

Enrobed in compounding pressures
Threatening the very core of our oneness
Endangering our integrity and diginity
Enforcing hatred as the new dawn
Though difficulties may ensure but peace will always find its way .
Delivered in diversity yet one we will remain when we don’t give up the fight
We lose our grip when we compromise
Victory tarries when we relent
Perseverance speaks and confidence tackles our fear.

Lost in the embrace of time
Everything seems to be time bound.
Captivated in awe,
The beauty of life is truly great
Whether grace or grass the story is always one of its kind.

Though different faces we wear but our life experiences are most times similar in shades.
No one starts life from the end but from the beginning because it can not be reversed just like time. .

Lost in time as nature nurtures. . .
Clamped in the heavy weight of resentment
Calmly the power of green fills my mind
Instilling pleasant aura and healing without a bargain.
Nature a gift so pure and soul refreshing.

Healed by time
Reminiscing the spell of a love so strong
Doused with sentiments
Beclouded by arrogance
Repelled in anger

Listen to nature and don’t resist
Listen because its birthed in laws
For everything goes round in life
What you don’t want don’t engage
The rules are simple just obey
Be wise and reason
Its all a matter of time. . .

Endless carnage of pure souls. ..

My heart is besieged
My thoughts slain
My essences torn
For what has befallen humanity is indeed terrible..
The sacredness of life is violated
Each turn and each day unveils the true nature of man.
Surely, humanity has lost it’s way!

Turn by turn they plunder the nation
Breaking the heart of a mother already in pain
How can children concieved in so much love turn out this way?
Forgetting completely the way shown them from birth..
The love they use to share and the boundless joy they each experienced from being together as one household
The rest of the sibilings cry helplessly
Drinking from the bitter cup of several acts of unkindness…
Unleashed by nepotism, unpatriotic acts of individualism which have continuously been fuelled by greed in it’s rarest form.

The partisanship in the land has stirred the children against themselves..
Bad blood flowing freely and ceaselessly in their veins
Once again the heart of a mother is broken
As once upon a time upright children of a proud mother have become the reason for the tears in her eyes.

How did we get here? Where brothers no longer give heed to their fellow brothers? Where the love of a mother can no longer hold the bond and the cord already lost its grip.
The throne is submerged in blood, the blood of fellow brothers spilled without a reason
Unanimity has become a fairytale in the land that once spoke with one voice.

Attackers all around the household
Exploiting the opportunity created by disunity
The result of a poisonous relationship brothers of the same womb now share
The house is sinking because of the level of hate, contempt, ignominy and impunity prevailing in the land..
Brothers now side with foreigners to destroy their own fatherland.
What a shame!

Endless carnage of pure souls.
The soulful cries of women and children who are always the casualties of such unpleasant circumstances fills my head..
What an irony? They set the tone of the war drums yet, they are never the ones in the battle fields.
How have we betrayed our friendship and the love that has kept us thus far?

What do we now build as a people?
What has sentiments and broken relationships fetched the people?
Can there ever be any gain in misery?
What story do we tell the next generation?
What right will we have to judge them, when they probably give up on what is left of their heritage?
Why tear down when we cannot build?
Why breakup when we cannot bridge back?
The sets of why’s keep tearing down my thoughts to the point I have no more words in thoughts.

The Feeling of Rejection

The feeling of rejection is never an easy one to handle. It has ruined many lives and has also been responsible for many deaths. Some people really do not know how to deal with being rejected especially when it comes from someone they trust with their life such as parents, relatives or someone they are probably emotionally involved or connected to. The feeling of misery and inexplicable sadness occupies the soul of such one who has been rejected. It makes them lose purpose and run their thoughts so wild like the world has come to an end.

The above and more will always be the feeling of a young girl who was rejected by her parents and the entire family for falling pregnant in secondary school, an incident resulting from a rape situation while she was still trying to understand her body changes as a young teen still battling with the idea of adolescence, an error committed out of absolute ignorance and which she is going to live regreting her whole life. To her family, she remains a shame that cannot be erased and the only way for them to deal with such, is for her to be cast out and thrown out to the streets where she is made to battle with even more deadly situations such as trying to stay alive in the face of insecurity of abduction, human parts hacking, keeping safe from further rapes, drug use, prostitution, bullying and other juvenile tendencies. This scenario is just one among many unfortunate ones where individuals have to suffer continous taunts, shame and rejection not only by parents or relatives but by loved ones, friends and the society at large.

The feeling of rejection is so powerful that many people work their entire life trying to feel accepted, because they were once turned down, refused, abandoned and so on. . . A lot of people have gone through unimaginable suffering and shame because of rejection. Rejection has the capacity to resonate harmful thoughts and ideas in its victim. While its poison spreads in different ways such as hatred, low self esteem, poor or no self value, It takes the grace of God for such individuals to want to be useful again to themselves or even the society ever! Because as far as they are concerned, it has become everyone’s fault that they are in the situation they find themselves. Sadly, some die in the process before they can have a hang or get help on how to deal with the whole situation.

Rejection can actually be overwhelming. The bitterness that comes with the feeling of rejection is sometimes so blinding. Sometimes, it brings about the crave for vengeful acts. . . Which is why some people end up paying for other people’s wrong doings. Remember, a person filled with hate does not have the capacity to love anyone no matter who they may be, because right in their hearts they feel justified to hate without a re-think. Whichever the case may be, love surely conquers everything. The society is what we make of it as it is popularly said and it’s my candid opinion that until we start mending our hurts, our brokeness, untill we start feeling empathy for victims of undesired circumstances and reaching out in various ways to help, show concern and share their pain or help them to overcome their situations, by giving a listening ear, counselling, praying, rehabilitating, consciously creating awareness of the terrible effects of bitterness and hatred and the problems such could cause to health and good behavioural habits, we will continue to deal with a society infected by bitterness of all sorts. If we do not pay attention to other people’s cry, pain or situations, then we should be ready to bear the wrath of their venom.

OUR FATHERLAND IN AGONY . . .

Manipulated over time
Conscripted by space
Convicted by age
The end will always remain the real deal.

In great affluence and fair glitz
The rise speaks with deep influence
Whether in crisis or disaster
Humanity is a gift beyond compare

Spurned in depression
Chased by oppression
Gathered in confusion
Devastated by bad chains of political actions
Stuck in choices and vested in violence
The new age has invested in coldness and plain blur.

Rejigged in fear
Troubled in minds
Tormented by the past
A knowledge so vast and power so compelling

Calmed by hope
A belief so mutually conferred in trust
Knowing the strength of a bond so great
Fight for gain and work for sincere purpose
For there is no gain in blame, only bane and pain.

Entangled in shame
Resisting the tame
Compounding the strain, justifying the fail
Stripping the burden of a scourge unforseen.
Listen to the cries, the voice of the innocent is so loud in the rumble .

The noise of war everywhere you turn. . .
The hunger to kill now a sport …
The ugly glare of man no longer a rare
Peace now a forsaken option.

Grounded in wealth yet stuck in penury.
Afflictions and disease an endless theme
The poison of bad leadership slowly the kill
The morals once held has become the trash
Integrity and character no longer a pride
Characterlessness and greed now a song.

Displaced and homeless, the night is frightful
Abduction everywhere no place is safe . .
How worse can it get? Ceaseless plots and agitations, the divide is created and the people are dying.

Our fatherland is truly in agony, the young and old aching in great grief of broken dreams and frustrations.
Oh! God please come to our aid!

Living a good life is a tough choice. . .

Life sometimes brings us to the path we never anticipated, to a life we never thought possible. During such occasions, we are either frozen, confused, broken, desperate or even despaired.
The phenomenon of life is unconquerable and in different ways insufferable.

We struggle with being human, we question even our own existence most times, because we can never understand the way things are or will ever be. Getting through each day comes with a lot of demands, a lot of responsibilities and in all a lot of troubles. . . We keep up with a whole lot, trying to be who we think we are or who we think we ought to be.

Life leads us through thick pressures, some of which we are not able to escape no matter our strategies or skills. Life defines our existence while the ability to live a good and worthy life is a combination of determination, application of good sets self and moral values, experiences gathered from past antecedents and lessons.

Life has rhythm, there is always a pattern in the sound if we listen hard. Things are never the way they seem sometimes. In the garden of life are many different ridges on which different crops of life grow. Life remains the reason upon which experiences exist and on which the human life can be recounted in due time. Life is the reason there is history, a chronicle of encounters and events within which many societial values are embedded.

Twisted sometimes, manipulated at other times, there is always a twist to each story of life. There could even be more sides to the same story if you look carefully.

Whatever targets your means of livelihood targets your survival. Life makes us reckless at times. Sometimes, we may even turn rogues with the mind of dealing with it the same way it has dealt with us but at the end of it all, we come out bad in the eyes of all who saw us and how we failed. The battle of life and living a good life is a tough choice we must consciously make, else we will be defeated even before the idea is concieved. Life throws us in different difficult times or situations but it is our choice to emerge good or bad at the end of the day.

Fight this battle called life and never give up, make your mark so that your story will be told someday. Be careful with your choices because they will always hunt your conscience. The worst prison to ever find yourself in is the one you put yourself. Life isn’t easy and will never be. The rich and the poor struggle alike. Poverty is not the only thing that can plague a man, even riches has its own plagues too.

Try to be grateful for small things. Gratitude isn’t only for landmark achievements; your attitude for little things determines exactly the kind of person you are, for good people are those who do not only appreciate every step of their journey but also do not take for granted any and every help they may have had working their way up to greatness.

Life is not rocket science and life is more than logic. God gave us the brain, the conscience and included freewill so that we are answerable to our decisions and choices at the end of our tenancy here on earth. What you choose to do with your gifts, your wealth, your talent, even your poverty is purely your prerogative. No matter who you are or where you belong, never forget one thing: we are all loved and equal in the eyes of God, the only difference there can be, will be the one we create.

Remain positive and know that there is no gain in being bad or engaging in bad circumstances or habits. Always remember, nothing is permanent, even life is not forever but memories will last even in death.

THE PLACE CALLED LOVE. . .

Love is where patience is tested and sacrifices confirmed. . .
Love is where peace resides and pride is proscribed.
Love is where trust abides and worries are tamed.
Love is where wounds are healed and transformation occurs.
Love is where self love is established and self-worth is untarnished.
Love is where truth is expressed and free will is unbounded.
Love is where foolishness lives and wisdom rules.

Love is where each day brings to birth the joys only the heart can ever hold.
Love is where brokenness keeps adding value to strength and life without hurt.
Love is where the love of another is held valuable and relationships are treated with utmost courtesy.

Love is where the blind can see and experience the beautiful colours that lights the world of lovers.
Love is where dignity is respected and integrity restored.
Love is where wars never survive and the land is untainted with the blood of the innocent.
Love is where children cry and their voices are tended.
Love is where leaders do not go to sleep while their citizens are dying of hunger and insecurities.
Love is where safety is garranteed and freedom of expression is ensured.
Love is where human life is sacred and the fear of God is true.
Love is where commitments are kept and loyalty is real.
Love is where motives are pure and intentions are sane.
Love is where togetherness is a goal and oneness is achieved.

Love is where diversity is beautiful and ethnicism is not a divide.
Love is where colour is not a curse and race not a sentiment.
Love is where religion is not intolerant and its practices are not violent.
Love is where lie is not a culture and truth not a scandal…

Love is truly enough to heal our world if we let it. It can mend our broken hearts and relationships if we genuinely appreciate it in the true sense of it. Love cannot go wrong if it is operated in the way it ought to. Today, we are faced with the craziest crimes in human history, perversion of the human minds no news anymore. It is sad how most of us have lost our humanity to pressures and problems.
We get so lost in ourselves most times that we no longer care what happens to others around us. We talk of love only on lip value while our actions are completely void of love.

Love is enough, only if we are ready to make some sacrifices, only if we are ready to fight for it.
The place called love is where we all should strive to be to make our world a better place.

PROBABLE EFFECT OF LIES. . .

The effect of lies can be enormous, its consequences even more dangerous… Sometimes, it can last a lifetime but we still indulge most times for short term victories or satisfaction. We forget that words have life just like trees. They live even long after we’re gone. Lies can destroy an entire generation, even a whole nation can be misled by lies. People can go to war based on lies generated by a few and scores of hundreds of thousands of people can lose their lives. Many more hundreds of thousands may become displaced and homeless all because someone concocted a story that provoked tension which likely grew into a feud and became a blood bath.

Lies may seem an easy escape route or a simple resolution to immediate impending problem, but in the real sense, it is just a deference of a looming explosion which may happen at a place or time you least expect.

Lies have been known to be responsible for a lot of broken hearts, broken relationships, broken marriages, broken families, broken trust. Lies have been responsible for deaths of many, many have taken their own lives on the account of lies told them by their trusted ones, either spouses or parents. In the not too recent times, there have been several cases pertaining to paternity lie stories, which have made some men to start demanding for paternity test on their children to confirm if they are really the biological fathers of those children.

Lies remain a way of life for some humans.. They sleep and rise with lies, they tell lies right at the first instance of interaction. Their ability to pilot and peddle lies is so effortless. For these ones, lying has become a culture, truth can only be the odd side of their person.

Sometimes, it is difficult to understand exactly the motivation behind the lies that people tell, but to an extent, I have come to realise that some people just have a problem with being real. That is to say, bearing false information by creating a version of themselves that does not exist, is what truly makes them feel either special, important or better. The question now is, do they consider the fact that they can be found out at any point? Do they actually realise that being found out means they can hardly be trusted anymore by the person or persons they have lied to? How do they feel, knowing that someone looks at them as nothing but someone who is incapable of being truthful?

The intricacies of life to some has been the reason for their lies based life style, that some people are not just truth friendly. Many relationships end up falling apart because it was all founded on lies, but as the journey continued, lies could no longer sustain it and it had to die naturally because the life-force of the relationship is not sustainable by untruthful and unreal representation.

Lie is like a prison. It keeps you trapped within the confines of an invisible wall denying you of every right of a free born because you know you are striving on borrowed time.

UNFAITHFULNESS. . .

Unfaithfulness as a word or concept is most often related to or limited to a cheating partner in a sexual relationship. However, unfaithfulness refers to a lot more than just sexual disloyalty. Unfaithfulness is as old as man himself. His consistency in certain trends and practices are highly predictable. His unending desires to be associated with greatness, power and control is the reason he switches and snitches easily against the very one he probably might refer to as his best friend, mentor or even his family. The idea of being distinguished remains his biggest crave.

Faithfulness is a rare quality not every individual can boast of because it take a highly disciplined individual to stay faithful in a dynamic world like ours, a world characterised by constant changes in values and morals. It used to be a thing of great pride to stay faithful to a cause, a relationship or even a belief. Our integrity as respectable individuals becomes questionable when we can not hold on faithfully to our sides of any bargain.

Cultural diffusion has added quite a twist to man’s levels of unfaithfulness, and of course presented a window for irresponsibility. He now blames some of his unfaithful activities on civilization, on global transformation and evolution. The claim is always like, that’s how things are done these days ooo . . . (the world don change) but in the real sense of it, it is just to justify their failure in that path of unfaithfulness to whatever cause it may be.

Faithfulness is a very constant feature of a dependable individual. It defines one’s credibility, reliability and even integrity. Faithfulness depicts loyalty, commitment, steadfastness, consistency and much more.

A faithful person remains loyal to a cause… They try to do well in leadership no matter the level, because to them, it is an ideal way to go, the correct thing that appeals to their minds and consciences. A faithful person protects and supports the well being of others in his or her care because to them, it is a responsibility and must be taken seriously. A faithful person delights in the fulfillment that his or her loyalty brings.

Faithfulness is not a one way traffic. It demands a kind of reciprocation from the recipient as well. If we can all try to give our all faithfully to what we do, whether it is in leadership, relationship, partnership, friendship, or in managing human and material resources, whatever good it is we are into, the end result will be rewarding. . .Therefore, let’s all look inwards today and see where we have been or are being unfaithful.

KNOW YOUR SELF-WORTH. . .

Knowing your self-worth remains the springboard upon which an individual can gain the relevance that does not require anyone’s validation. Your self-worth is informed by your thoughts, thoughts of the good qualities that make you special, thoughts of the good things you know about yourself that no one does, thoughts of what makes you standout and unique, thoughts of your gifts and talents, potentials and capabilities, thoughts of love for self and life. Your self-worth or value delineates your confidence. Until you believe in your self-worth, you will always feel like an empty hollow gong. . .

Feeling low and irrelevant is habitually the problem with people who do not know their self-worth. They end up with self projections and low self- esteem. They literally struggle with recognizing their self value or with believing in themselves.They are always feeling unimportant, inferior and intellectually inadequate or unavailable as the case may be.

The issue of self-worth is basically an individual problem. That is to say, the value you place on yourself as an individual determines the way you feel about yourself, the way you carry yourself and even the way others would likely treat you. It’s true that a lot of people have lost their self-worth due to certain life incidents or occurrences, but life happens and we do not have to remain in that unacceptable position it might leave us sometimes. . . Because, when we give in, we probably might be throwing away our self confidence and when that happens we are definitely giving away our self value and creating within us an unworthiness that begins to control our mind and projections. In essences, let us be wary of the effects of lack of self- worth or value.

There are a few reasons that could be responsible for low self-worth in an individual and this includes; unhappy childhood, poor academic performance, unabating health issues, financial challenges, relationship breakdown, stressful life events like the many current realities of harsh life conditions where insecuriy is doting every second and every minute of the day, leaving one practically in a recurring state of anxiety where they are not sure what happens the next minute.

The practical danger of losing self-worth or self value is that you never get to belief that you are good enough for anything. You constantly suffer self hate and cannot forgive youreslf for even the simplest mistake. You drive yourself crazy with the thoughts of perfection because your desire for perfection is more like an obsession, just because you believe that it is only in finding perfection that you gain importance. The danger therefore remains that you will always be unhappy and unsatisfied with life, even if you are literally swimming in abundance, you will always feel inadequate, unimportant, inferior, not enough, simply put low self-esteem. Whatever the situation, know your self-worth and live it.
Never, let any situation or life circumstances to pull you down so low that you begin to lose your sense of self value.