tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82472354493882021332024-02-20T03:54:25.833+01:00Chronicles Of A Student Who Knew Too LittleMy thoughts, complete with the jazz handsGbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-53655137962853289942017-06-18T23:06:00.001+02:002017-06-18T23:08:56.955+02:00I went running today: one full month after my body went rogue <div class="p1">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSVLqhcLQUfD5MWy5JvRYhhyphenhyphenfYh437pvMqdsujUAsfj__HS5a3Dw45qvOrnU7QPfTmiFXBE4jclSRse73IL5k8hxlkLH64KyG5zfEbR6f9m8bqUiGusRr6T5sBjvkS2PF5qxxL6iPSOkT/s1600/tyler-mcrobert-234957.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSVLqhcLQUfD5MWy5JvRYhhyphenhyphenfYh437pvMqdsujUAsfj__HS5a3Dw45qvOrnU7QPfTmiFXBE4jclSRse73IL5k8hxlkLH64KyG5zfEbR6f9m8bqUiGusRr6T5sBjvkS2PF5qxxL6iPSOkT/s640/tyler-mcrobert-234957.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Treading the undulating asphalt that coil around my neighborhood - city breeze threatening to pull my earpods out and the kick of my feet against the ground sending vibrations back through my joints - I told myself I wanted to document this; to write about my return to a way of life my body stole from me. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is foolish, of course. I write like my body and mind are two different things. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps they are. These past weeks have left me contending it seriously. For many times in the last month when my eyes settle on my running shoes and my mind wills my hands to go for them, a nerve, I imagine, snaps back in annoyance to say “I’m not your slave, I’ll reach for your shoes when I am well and ready.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">After one of these conversations, I reached for those infernal running shoes and put them in storage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">—</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This evening, my other brown trainers are running points. They are for the mountains, not city roads. I don’t care. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Planet Money purred in my ears and fuel-effecient Japanese cars rolled past. Tired Indian workabees - chauffeured by big-bellied Nigerian fathers on minimum wage - on their way to warm mattresses or wet mistresses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Jillian, an economics grad is interviewing for 250 jobs over a weekend in Chicago. He’s running in a starched flannel shirt and patent leather shoes through high rises in the gilded streets of that tinsel town. It’s the largest recruitment racket for the brightest economists in the world. And thousands of recruiters and applicants descend on Chicago for that weekend for this yearly ritual. Jillian clocked 22 interviews at the end of the three-day sprint. Everyone loved Jillian. Didn’t mean Jillian got an offer. Everyone thought Jillian was too good for them. He’d probably end up in Harvard so no one offered him a position. It’s like how super-models are lonely. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I’m sitting here, my Mac resting on the pillow with my legs propped in a lotus under it. The gen is turned off now and the water is still drying from my hair. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Jillian ran because; to meet as many employers as possible is to sometimes know that “perhaps we aren’t well suited for each other..” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For Jillian and me, I don’t suppose our races were that different. Jillian ran to condition his brain for rejection. I ran to prove to that rogue nerve that I lay down the law around here. Component of our being needed stimulations different than they are used to if we are to grow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">-- </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">In the morning when I wake, I’m going to hear that rogue nerve protest. “Hey Gbenga, I can’t lift you off your bed right now. I’m not ready yet.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But I’ll be ready for that dance, you see. I’ll put on a wild cynical self-assured smile and say; “I can see your future. Close your eyes, and stick with me. We are going to conquer the world today, you and I.” </span></div>
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--</div>
Featured Image: <a href="http://unsplash.com/@tylermcrobert?utm_campaign=photographer-credit" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: black; border-radius: 3px; color: white; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; padding: 4px 6px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Tyler McRobert"><span style="display: inline-block; padding: 2px 3px;">Tyler McRobert</span></a>Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-73594316733254173932017-04-09T16:28:00.001+02:002017-04-09T16:29:48.051+02:00Askew <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3_JR9O1aCcVyXlmMPShn9HunF2bt180he3mSJtjMlEQ_icKUBuGP1-XZOWCep3u6wqEfPgFZ8PkxIwFWVR1jdI9I5-ULCRdAm7QiAqwfColl2t5kY569lafD5Q-nD99U2ZrJTCyWDFOm/s1600/20160912_180115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK3_JR9O1aCcVyXlmMPShn9HunF2bt180he3mSJtjMlEQ_icKUBuGP1-XZOWCep3u6wqEfPgFZ8PkxIwFWVR1jdI9I5-ULCRdAm7QiAqwfColl2t5kY569lafD5Q-nD99U2ZrJTCyWDFOm/s640/20160912_180115.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking through a village in southwest Nigeria (c) 2016 </td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">God, you made us so strong</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Intricate and complex </span><span class="s1"></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Us, your work of art </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Brightest jewels in your crown</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Till we started etching long lines on your face</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">God, you are not wrong</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I am telling you what you already know</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Us, your work of art</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sharpest thorns in your crown</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rulers of a sooty subspace </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="s1"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">God, you made us so strong </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Intricate and complex</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Us, your work of art</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Loudest assholes at your barbecue</span></span></div>
<style type="text/css"> p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 14.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} </style>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We are what you made us - askew </span></span></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-31193781654917629152017-04-08T23:28:00.002+02:002017-05-17T21:57:20.267+02:00no mouth, little money and lots of concealed madness<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Stop moving,” I said.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">My own voice sounded </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">strange</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> to me. Although I meant it as a gentle whisper - a quiet plea to the man to save himself from further suffering - the wind carried it differently. It was almost like hearing an angry demagogue through a spectral speaker in a panopticon.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He winced. And then spit in my face. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">30 minutes earlier</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A middle-aged man in a whitewashed gray t-shirt strolled into the terminal. When he pulled out the little ticket machine, I knew he was the ticketer. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I took two long strides toward him and dispensed a back-handed slap on his left cheek. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He swiveled twice on his right heel, the ticket machine clattering to the ground and his head swayed like it lost its life force. After a few seconds, he crumpled to the ground. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost to the ground, to be more accurate. Before he hit the ground, some animation returned to him and he grabbed one of the railings you’ll find all the BRT bus stops and held himself. His face is inches from the floor.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The breeze was still that morning. It was 6:40 and the traffic along Ikorodu Road had started building. A school girl in the back of an SUV looked with mouth ajar. A grown man in skin jeans and faded tee-shirt doing a slap-induced pirouette on a Monday. She’s probably only ever seen things like this in the movies.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I too. The one who had slapped the poor man was surprised. I guess I didn’t know my own strength. The hope was that this heavyset man would take it on the chin and maybe try to retaliate. Having my slap knock his senses out was the last thing I expected. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Arrgh,” my victim grunted. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I looked at him as though he should be ashamed of himself for having such miserable sense of balance. He had ruined the purpose of this whole show. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The point was that the slap would refresh his senses - rewire his brain to understand his responsibilities and take them seriously. But right then, he was just on the floor looking at me like I just left a giant turd on his front porch. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is a look of death in his eyes now. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And what are you going to do</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I thought. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was up on his feet in a beat and was making his arm into an arc - he was going to return the favor. I smiled then. This big hapless bag of meat was going to slap me. I must have got the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hapless</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> part wrong.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bad idea. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I met his arching right hand with my back of my left arm, twisted and grabbed him just under his elbow while turning the inner side of his elbow towards my right palm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Arrgh!” He was in pain. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wuss</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I thought.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was doing all these methodically like you would at karate training for beginners. My hope was that he’d come to his senses and stop the aggression. His </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">chi</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> must have marked him for very specific sufferings that morning, because he brought in his left hand into the fray. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I saw that from miles away and with the edge of my right palm, I chopped at the bicep of the charging left arm. It went limp to his side.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By now, the little crowd at the BRT stop had grown into a little human mass. A man in a navy blue suit pulled out his phone to capture this moment. His big eyes twitching behind his low-budget 5-inch Tecno phone. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of them seemed to have forgotten it was a weekday and that I was beating up the man who was to sell them tickets. The tickets they needed to get to work. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even though they didn’t say it, they agreed the ticketer deserved every punch to his face. They had always hoped in their collective hearts that this day would come. Someone mad enough would confront this madness and give the system or its representative their just desserts. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He struggled to free himself and I pressed harder on his elbow. I made to smash it in from under with the bottom of my right palm - a move that would break that arm cleanly. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would be the end of aggression from him. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what purpose would that serve?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I thought. He wouldn’t sell tickets again and I would have beaten a poor man for nothing. Why teach a man a lesson without giving him a chance to apply it?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Stop moving,” I said.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My own voice sounded </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">strange to me</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> to me. Although I meant it as a gentle whisper - a quiet plea to the man to save himself from further suffering - the wind carried it differently. It was almost like hearing an angry demagogue through a spectral speaker in a panopticon.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He winced. And then spit in my face. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That certainly earned him a broken arm. I drew my right palm to deliver the joint-breaking smack. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My prefrontal cortex must have been in an overdrive. Because then I began to wonder … </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What about his family?</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I thought. He doesn’t look like he can afford a surgery by himself. A mother would have to pay for his stupidity. It would probably mean some of his sibling staying out of school for a session. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I won’t have that misfortune on me. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I twisted his arm back and pulled his face toward me while bringing my knee forward. His nose got a good rendezvous with my right knee and his head snapped back. I made sure it wasn’t too hard. Bleeding nose meant he won’t be able to sell tickets - also bad. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I pulled him closer and patted him on the cheek - the way some doctors do in movies to check if a victim is responsive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was responsive. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Sell the tickets,” I whispered into his left ear. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This time, the wind didn’t carry my voice. This time, he was more amenable, too. He nodded and picked the ticketing machine. He looked like he was in a great hurry. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Who knew big fat stroppy men could hurry so much?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good book says a fool does tomorrow, what a wise man does today. (Or was it John Ploughman who said that?)</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If only the poor man left his house two hours earlier. He would not have kept people - including a mercurial runaway martial artist - waiting at his bus stop for one hour. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I pulled out my phone and hailed a Uber. The app tells me my Uber Select was four minutes away. I waited.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New passengers stepped onto the BRT tarmac and the big blue BRT buses swallowed them in batches while they threw side glances of suppressed appreciation my way. The poor man kept glancing furtively around hoping to not attract another whopping from a glass-faced psycho. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wouldn’t be on the BRT again that day. Too many stupid people that might awaken the beast in you. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Resist the devil and it will flee from you.” Yes. I’m sure that’s the good book this time. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was resisting my demons. They won’t flee. At least they’d know to relax and wait till the next time they are willfully summoned. </span></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-88366447882387678572017-03-12T16:01:00.002+01:002017-03-12T16:02:09.070+01:00Don't blame the Nigerian man<div class="p1">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfC6oQS2g6kdIIPRdkRIguogdzApNZyFQIXrH9FeW_f2USzZkVUdiAq1hSFZ89l98VkSK0gKG7A_XsHZbbBWFOTYRHY2UY9BsuQC9_ZaiuE8CmPS0q-ubsSfBMiRoeMF0BQIrH5UdnpzqL/s1600/20161012_140548.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfC6oQS2g6kdIIPRdkRIguogdzApNZyFQIXrH9FeW_f2USzZkVUdiAq1hSFZ89l98VkSK0gKG7A_XsHZbbBWFOTYRHY2UY9BsuQC9_ZaiuE8CmPS0q-ubsSfBMiRoeMF0BQIrH5UdnpzqL/s640/20161012_140548.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The diminutive white banker next to the Nigerian man is sweating. Big, ripe lumps of liquefied anxiety. His matted hair glistens and his leather jacket lays limp on his shoulder. </div>
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He’s from New York, he had told the Nigerian man back in the lounge. This trip to Lagos is his last before he returns home. </div>
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After a 2 hour delay, the airbridge too had stopped working, and two FAAN officials in oversized suits had directed everyone to the foot of the aircraft. </div>
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This was how we got here. </div>
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Everyone looks up at the open entrance as though willing themselves to levitate to its mouth. </div>
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It is 11 am in January and the sun maniacally lets lose its celestial heat. Against the tarred tarmac, the heat multiplied by many notches.</div>
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As an airstair made its way down the foot of the plane, towards where the Nigerian man stands - the little white banker still beside him - a scene begins to play out not unlike the ones at Oshodi bus stations on a Monday morning. </div>
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Nigerians - men and women in native dresses now packed up so as to be unencumbered - run up the stairs. </div>
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At the foot of the airstair, jostling arms flew every which way and truculent tongues traded curses. </div>
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If one happened upon this scene without a context, one might be tempted to assume it’s a free plane ride to an exotic unknown place.</div>
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It would appear that everyone was not checked in, counted and assigned uncompromisable seat numbers before they got to the foot of the plane. </div>
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The white banker invokes a wry smile and pulls out his iPhone 5. He will preserve this patent absurdity for his friends back in New York who will throw their heads back in self-righteous laughter when they see it. Like they just didn’t elect a racist wank-bucket into their White House. Like they don’t cheat on their wives and watch porn movies when they are alone in the den.</div>
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I’d like to tell you the Nigerian man didn’t jostle. He did. </div>
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But don’t blame the Nigerian man. The one who has endured years of having to fight for the very air he breathes, and hearing often that the person who sucked the last air out of the room did so because she knew someone in Aso Rock. </div>
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Don’t blame the Nigerian man. For if it weren’t for the interminable betrayal constantly visited on him by his nation, he might be less inclined to scramble. </div>
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When his little white banker finally made it into the cabin, everyone including the Nigerian man yelled: “what took you so long?”</div>
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Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-27666480212491098322017-03-12T15:43:00.001+01:002017-03-12T16:58:51.925+01:00On being practical : A letter to my new atheist friend<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8i2r706jENaHwftDbpNwqfUV5kkU6aXlbXPpcQdYeMrkBrh5Gp4LUzrdQ-jHLdJl_MmN9i_yhV4WYIEBOmXTIgHtouP8c1Mu-rvh26URnH7iAV9j1vwAWBH2IiWQhV-_uBGYZLhUraz9/s1600/Stilt+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8i2r706jENaHwftDbpNwqfUV5kkU6aXlbXPpcQdYeMrkBrh5Gp4LUzrdQ-jHLdJl_MmN9i_yhV4WYIEBOmXTIgHtouP8c1Mu-rvh26URnH7iAV9j1vwAWBH2IiWQhV-_uBGYZLhUraz9/s640/Stilt+House.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A stilt house around Third Mainland Bridge. (c) Gbenga Onalaja, 2017. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12px;">Hey,</span><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></div>
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Hope you've been well? I'll get right to it. </div>
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First. Being a Christian is not a burden. It's a perk. </div>
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I would have been humble and kind to my neighbours anyway. It's simply more functional to cop the shine of a sovereign God while at it. (Call it brownie points if you like). </div>
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You don't believe God exists. Indulge me, though, as I touch on this brownie point idea. </div>
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It's bullcrap. </div>
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God has mercies on those he will, and for those he doesn't, he doesn't. So yeah, my brownie points count for shit. </div>
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His love and protection and all the unseeable little things he does are not based on anything I bring to the table. </div>
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And I feel compelled to mention at this point that I am not a great Christian. Church isn't on my weekly laundry list. And I am one of the most creative dissemblers you'll meet. (And, of course, those are only the misdemeanors I can admit publicly.)</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
And on the long run, this Christianity might only be an opium - a numinous analgesic to relieve our existential pain. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Maybe, like you said, we are a product of a random collocation of atoms. No heaven above or hell below.</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But here's the rub: when we die, peek behind the curtain and find God isn't the force behind all the action, we would have lost nothing. I would have lost nothing.</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
Me you both will subsist in this new reality. None of us the better or worse off. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
But what if God really was there and planned to make good on all His promises from, say, the Bible? I don't have the answers to all your big question, but riddle me that. </div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
What if God exists and he is who says he is? </div>
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Yours,</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p3">
'Gbenga</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-48242417268035304082017-02-08T08:10:00.001+01:002017-04-24T09:50:35.778+02:00On humans and illusions of control<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHaogrlzMVrn4VrXJwro13htSA5jqweP8ku6t_UCe4BAnfa3PLNHnattlXItKb1RXpuLgpN7i-eyKR-2Vn5OaQLR0GZQ5zoD8dXXtx1qJjQQrNJ3N3vI3LCvu7kuWXr8EkkoWQy5AabMK/s1600/vl4arrcfyg4-chuttersnap.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHaogrlzMVrn4VrXJwro13htSA5jqweP8ku6t_UCe4BAnfa3PLNHnattlXItKb1RXpuLgpN7i-eyKR-2Vn5OaQLR0GZQ5zoD8dXXtx1qJjQQrNJ3N3vI3LCvu7kuWXr8EkkoWQy5AabMK/s640/vl4arrcfyg4-chuttersnap.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am listening to a pretentious suit pontificate on how to make it in life.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The secret to success is .... </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" I stop listening now. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am thinking:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This speaker has no idea what he's talking about it - like most of us. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-547b1be2-1c82-34fe-e65c-c31fc0d75404" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He's just the one brave enough to make a fool of himself. And perhaps sometimes it's all that it takes.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">See, someone is paying him for this performance. He earns influence, cash or something else. There is no free cheese.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"So what's your purpose?"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Where do you see yourself in five years?"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"What are your short and long term goals? (Meh)"</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All these are questions we ask, and answer to deceive ourselves into an illusion of control. You are thinking right now about your answer, I imagine.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Newsflash: whatever you are thinking about is wrong. And you won't know that until five years from now. It's why it's all so sad.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reality crawls up behind you like a beady-eyed uncle on a night mum and dad are absent and goes: "BOO!."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your five-year plan makes you feel like you have your life absolutely, 100% together.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bah.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You don't.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one knows what they are doing. All we have is the task we got. We should be kicking ass at them and then see where they lead us.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">___</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">90% of the jobs we now have didn't exist few years ago. So you didn't have this all planned out.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are all led along a path willy-nilly. The universe is a passive-aggressive dictator who is repressive and liberal at the same time. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b> </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good (or evil) we get are results of unmerited cosmic odds. To make the best of what life places on our laps is the only real choice. And that's what will make all the difference. That’s why hard work makes sense even in a plane of existence where the universe cannot the defied nor coerced. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;">__</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Only stupid fools and dead people don't change their minds. So perhaps in five years I'll have a different view. But right now, don't ask me about my five-year plan.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a plan for right now. Right now, I want to publish this and go eat oatmeal.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are in control of right now. Your actions and inactions. But not the future.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are tired of your job. Move.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are tired of your job but you know leaving will send your family to the streets and leave you in the throes of hunger. Give yourself brain and stick around.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let's stop pretending like we can figure this shit out. Let's stop pretending that we have. We haven't and we won't.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You have no job controlling the future. Give God his job back.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">___</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ps. You have the right to disagree with me here and I'd like you to. This brain dropping came from a long-running skepticism I carry for people who like to portray the fantasy of control. I am learning that our dreams and missions are a product of the social canvas on which our reality is painted. And that continues to expand. When that canvas expands, our understanding of the world and the idea of what we can accomplish do the same. So every time we meet someone new, we set off a reaction that expands our social canvas and updates our dreams.</span></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-13047362374164602212016-12-31T23:54:00.000+01:002017-01-01T23:57:43.370+01:006 years that were far worse than 2016 and why you didn’t hear about this Ebola vaccine<div style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px; margin-bottom: 1.1em; margin-top: 2px;">
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2016 was god-awful. </div>
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We had: </div>
<ul style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">the shit show that was the US election</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">the rise of neo-nationalism</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">the death of liberalism as we know it</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">BREXIT</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">the many celebrity deaths</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">Aleppo</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">batman vs. superman</li>
</ul>
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On the local front (Nigeria): </div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">your cost of living doubled while your salary remained the same (cue recession and fuel money).</li>
</ul>
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So, yeah it was awful. But it really wasn’t as bad as our near-sighted social media denizens and CNN would have us believe. <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/02/leicester-city-win-premier-league-and-cost-bookies-biggest-ever/" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/02/leicester-city-win-premier-league-and-cost-bookies-biggest-ever/" style="background-image: linear-gradient(transparent 50%, rgba(31, 111, 153, 0.498039) 50%); background-position: 0px 1em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 4px; text-decoration: none;">The year threw up some pleasant surprises, too.</a> </div>
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Good news doesn't appeal to their business model. So, they rammed only the gory tales of carnage and police brutality down our throats. </div>
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2016 was the year we discovered the <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/ebola-vaccine-results/en/" href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/ebola-vaccine-results/en/" style="background-image: linear-gradient(transparent 50%, rgba(31, 111, 153, 0.498039) 50%); background-position: 0px 1em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 4px; text-decoration: none;">most effective Ebola vaccine</a> since this lethal pathogen wreaked pure havoc in West Africa in 2013 and 2014. </div>
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If you haven’t heard about that breakthrough, it’s not only because CNN didn’t make a splash screen out of it. It’s also probably because good news is boring. </div>
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Our brains which have been hard-wired to look out for danger are most excited about “dangerous” stories. We pay attention and remember selectively. So, though <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/what-caused-the-crime-decline/477408/" target="_blank">violence has decreased continuously in the last decade</a>, the social media has a fresh story of police brutality waiting for our primordial brains to gorge and dwell on. </div>
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By any objective measure, 2016 was pretty awful. It isn’t the worst year yet, though. </div>
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In fact, here are six years that are actually worse than 2016. Let’s cue in those bullet points again: </div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">1969, Nigeria: Thousands of southern Nigerians were dying of hunger and raids at the peak of Nigeria’s 3-year civil war. More than a million Nigerians had died at the end of that war. </li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">The 1100s: The Chinese invented firearms - enabling genocidal levels of violence for centuries. Thanks, 1100s* </li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">1918: in addition to the killing field of WWI, the influenza pandemic of September, October, and November of 1918 killed more people than AIDS has done since forever. </li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">1945: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">1993: The Rwandan genocide. </li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;">And if we are being air-headed with this worst year doohickey, how about 2013? The year of the Selfie, Selfie Stick and the Twerk. The worst. </li>
</ul>
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Was 2016 awful? Yup. Is it the worst year yet? You need to close your Twitter, get out of your echo chamber and stop watching the news. </div>
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Happy new year.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*For this quote, thanks to <strong>Baratunde Thurston, CEO and co-founder, Cultivated Wit; author, </strong><a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Black-Baratunde-Thurston/dp/0062003224" href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Black-Baratunde-Thurston/dp/0062003224" style="background-image: linear-gradient(transparent 50%, rgba(31, 111, 153, 0.498039) 50%); background-position: 0px 1em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 4px; text-decoration: none;"><strong><em>How to Be Black</em></strong></a></span></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-87496759656124669692016-11-05T21:54:00.001+01:002016-11-10T21:34:07.564+01:00Do it like a man <div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 1em;"><i>Or: unpopular thoughts about feminism from a cisgendered Nigerian male</i></li>
</ul>
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I have a sister, two nieces and was raised by a strong independent mother. But when a conductor shoves me out the back door of a bus at 20mph, I am reminded that this patriarchy isn’t all rosy for the patriarchs either.</div>
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___</div>
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The bus conductor was shoving me out the back door with a gentle push. “Se bi okunrin {do it like a man},” he bellowed again, increasing the force of his palm against my back.</div>
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His driver was slowing down, but he wanted me to get off fast. That way his driver wouldn’t have to stop at the bus station. Although it didn’t make sense for him to hurry along, Lagos BRT buses have inherited this infernal predisposition from the Danfos - their black-stripes-bearing yellow-coloured commuter cousins.</div>
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I stood rooted to my spot watching buildings sweep past. </div>
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Jumping off wasn’t a problem for me. I have perfected the art over these many years in Lagos; hang out the door with your side parallel to it, lean back like you wanted to sit on the road, then drop quickly while pulling your weight to the rear of the vehicle. The forward motion of the vehicle levels with your counter backward motion such that you don’t end up head-first into the ground. It’s a tricky rendition of Newton’s third law of motion, I think.</div>
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Back to the back door. </div>
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I stood rooted to my spot. Not because I was afraid to jump down a BRT bus moving at 20mph, but because this conductor - with his toxic armpits and dirty boxers - was questioning my masculinity. Because I wasn’t as eager to jump off a bus as fast as he’d like, I was somehow less than a man. </div>
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I wondered for a few foolish seconds if I should ask if he understood the sexist implications of his comment and action (of course, don’t forget he was shoving me off a bus.)</div>
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But because the feminism/patriarchy/gender roles topic is not one in which I’m well versed, I stayed quiet.</div>
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Moreover, a bus conductor listening to a righteous rant about his sexist comments - directed at a cisgendered Nigerian male - would have taken an enormous cake. It was not going to happen. And I was left nursing my stupefied silence.</div>
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On the one hand, his comment says “You are a man, do this already,” and on the other, it says implicitly; “Women can’t do this. They are fragile.” </div>
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A good friend and employee of the month, David, wrote recently about how gender roles spill carelessly into our conversations. In his piece, “<a href="http://ynaija.com/opinion-na-woman-dey-drive/" target="_blank">Na woman dey drive,</a>” he sent light aspersions towards “men” (I imagine) who chalk up bad driving from women to the fact that “they are female.” Not because they had bad instructors. Not because they are good citizens trying to keep the traffic laws. But simply because “they are women.” </div>
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David is right, gender roles (what he calls patriarchy) are systemic, and women often get the short end of the stick. And that sucks. </div>
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What we don’t often mention, though, is what expectations this patriarchy make of men. In a system where women are considered weak, but also to be cared for, while also chanting impassioned feminist calls-to-arms, what does patriarchy expect of the men?</div>
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I have a few from my few short years of being a man. </div>
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You see, the system wants me to put the needs of the lady before mine. It tells me “be a gentleman” when I try to look out for myself. “Ladies first,” it adds for effect. </div>
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The system would frown at me if I wanted to go dutch on a first date. It tells me with the now-familiar righteous indignation, “be a gentleman, pay the doggone bill.” </div>
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The system expects me to give up my seat for the lady on the BRT and shoots me dirty looks when I don’t.</div>
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The system wants me to get the door for the woman. Pull out her seat and pay for the meal.</div>
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The system wants me to come around the back to get the car door for the lady. (While she sits smug and comfy in the passenger seat)</div>
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I don’t oft hear women carp about these perks of “just being a woman.”</div>
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We don’t oft talk about how the system segments men into categories. Aggressive. Dangerous. Brash. Harsh. What Chimamanda “incredible hair” Adichie might call “the single story of men.”</div>
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The police will stop my three other friends and me (all boys) if we drove past a check point. They consider us a threat so they stop and search. </div>
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The system doesn’t want my friend to talk about how an Aunt molested him at age 12. It doesn’t fit the narrative of the weak, helpless female. </div>
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The system tells me to “be a man” when a loved one dies, and I couldn’t hold back the water works.</div>
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The system doesn’t believe my friend when he tells it he was raped at 16. It tells him it’s impossible. </div>
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The system holds its purses closer when I walk into a room. </div>
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The system wants me to work weekend because, well, I am a man. </div>
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Yes, at the root of all this is a system that thinks women are weak. Too weak to rob or wreck havoc on a neighborhood. Too weak to be overworked. And that’s twisted. </div>
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I don’t discount all that women have been through to achieve the level of equality we now take for granted. I have a sister, two nieces and was raised by a strong independent mother. But when a conductor shoves me out the back door of a bus at 20mph, I am reminded that this patriarchy isn’t all rosy for the patriarchs either.</div>
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__</div>
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In a follow-up rant-ticle, I will write about “my brand of feminism.”</div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-61080960966859619272016-10-27T13:30:00.000+02:002016-11-05T22:12:33.890+01:00The Crush Reckoning <div class="p1">
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I had forgotten she was once a crush till I saw her that Christmas evening. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">Old crushes were meant to look like a bad dream having snapped out of your obsession for so long. It was different with her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">She was as beautiful as that first day I saw her in Sunday school. I'm not sure. It must have been Sunday school where her mom taught us bible stories. She attended the private school where richer families sent their kids.</span></div>
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She had a simple scarf on, tied loosely.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">Flashes of memory flooded my consciousness like water through a broken dam. Few seconds before, I didn’t even remember she was on that notorious list of girls I kissed in my fantasies. Now there I was, recalling the day mother needed a volunteer to take festival meat to the Johnsons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">I had volunteered. A little eager now, I remember. They lived on the other end town. I remember walking into their house and forgetting I was there to deliver a festival meat. She must have known I was in love. For she also stopped in her tracks. I’m unsure if we knew what love was. But she knew I felt something our young minds couldn’t give a name. Something beautiful and bright fluttered in our stomachs. But we didn’t know they were butterflies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">She stood across the hall in her onesie, fresh out of the bath. She was the most beautiful girl to walk the face of the earth right then. Later in the day, she would wear the special festival dress all mothers made for their boys and girls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">It was hard to say “good morning.” I was stuck. And my saliva was drying in my mouth. Her dad - who played the big wooden piano for the church - finally stepped out from a side room. He saw the tray on my outstretched hands and got the signal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">“Mummy told you to bring this to us?” he asked. He collected the tray without waiting for an answer and removed the raw meat. “Tell her 'thank you' for me,” he said stuffing some money into my hand along with the now empty tray.</span></div>
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I wasn’t sure what happened next. Perhaps I went across the hall, stood closer and asked her to be my wife. I wasn’t sure how that would have gone down. Of course, I was too weak at the knees to find out. I’m surprised I remember these. He went back to his little electric piano, I think, and fingered the opening chords of a hymn.</div>
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Old crushes were meant to look like a bad dream having snapped out of the fantasy for so long. It was different with her. </div>
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Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-77031798186577475542016-09-07T21:19:00.001+02:002016-11-05T22:15:34.137+01:00Cloudy with a Chance of Freewill Gifts<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Or: An unplanned rant on wealthy Pastors and Churches</span></b></div>
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<em>"So Moses sent out orders through the camp: "Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!" The people were ordered to stop bringing offerings!" - Exodus 36:6</em></div>
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<em>The people gave freely to the work of the Lord. So much, the artisans had to complain of a supply glut. I desire to help those doing the Lord's work in my life have enough to work with. Lord, open my hands to give and my arms to embrace your work. Amen.</em></div>
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<strong><em>Hold Up: I can see your face crease in that questioning way it did when Trump said: “Obama founded ISIS.” So, the real article is down below, but I needed to share the above to give context.</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em>I join a few friends to read a passage of the bible every day and share our core lessons. On one fine day in May, we read Exodus 36: 6 and that (up there) was what I shared. But you see, I sat back down to write a long postscript that I didn’t share with anyone. Until now. So…back to scheduled programming.</em></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">I am thinking of Moses and the artisans, and what they did in that dusty strip where they had the job of building God’s Sanctuary.</span></div>
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There was too much material to work with. Easily, the artisans could have kept taking on gifts, accumulating them with the end-game being to appropriate the excess to themselves.</div>
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If the Exodus account is to be believed, they did otherwise. Cried out to Moses and told him to stop this rain of gifts.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 19.2px; letter-spacing: -0.7px;">By this single act, they did three things:</span></div>
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1: They kept the focus on the work of the Lord, not the gain in it. </div>
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2: They kept their integrity.</div>
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3: (I'll share the third later.)</div>
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You already know where I'm headed with this. How does the 21st century Artisan (read, doer of the Lord's work, Church, Pastor, Bishop...GO?) react to events like this?</div>
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Are they primed to save themselves from the temptation of an over-generous congregation willing to gift their very means of livelihood for the work of the Lord?</div>
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I don't know what those answers are for sure. If what we see on TV and observe around town is anything to go by, the answers are:</div>
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1: A lot of them do not react with integrity.</div>
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2: And no. Most of them are not prepared to insulate themselves from the temptation. If anything, they encourage their congregants to give and give. Preferably, till they are themselves impoverished from all the giving.</div>
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What does it mean for artisans to insulate themselves from the temptation to accumulate wealth?</div>
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As an extension of what Moses and workers in Exodus did, it is to examine the problem and figure how much it would take to solve it then stick with the plan.</div>
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I like to think the Bible is clear on that one thing.</div>
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"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? - Luke 14: 28.</div>
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Replace "tower" with anything churches spend their money on. </div>
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To do this, it will take the Artisans answering questions like:</div>
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<strong><em>"What are we doing?"</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em>"Where are we going?"</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em>"How long will it take us to get there?</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em>"How much does it all cost us?"</em></strong></div>
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Answering these would help them know when to say "that'll be all for this month, thank you."</div>
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I won't doubt that our Artisans answer these four questions among many others. In the same token, I won't doubt much that they are political about that last question – “How much does it all cost?”</div>
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They relax the brackets around how much they need. Saying some pseudo-spiritual things, turning the bible on its head and taking into consideration things like Hofstadter’s Law.</div>
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<em>“It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.” - <strong>Hofstadter’s Law</strong></em></div>
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Remember that third thing I was going to tell you the single act proved? </div>
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It is that these people know their onions. To appropriate the words of my new favorite rapper, NF the Narcissist, "these people aren’t driving around, they know where their lane is."</div>
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They understood that it was God's work and not a scheme to attain wealth. I can throw statistics around, but really, if Barthemeus were around, he'd see that the Church Industry is one of the most profitable Industries in the world right now. It's just another entrepreneurial pursuit. </div>
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I like how this Quora user phrased the idea of religious industry in response to the question; <strong><em><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-profitable-business-model-ever-made" href="https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-profitable-business-model-ever-made" style="background-image: linear-gradient(transparent 50%, rgba(31, 111, 153, 0.498039) 50%); background-position: 0px 1em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 2px 4px; text-decoration: none;">What is the most profitable business model ever made? </a></em></strong></div>
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<em>"</em></div>
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<em>In all seriousness, I think it is religion. What are some of the general tenets that make it so?</em></div>
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<em>First,</em></div>
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<em>1. 10% tithing of your earnings going to the church. </em></div>
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<em>2. Your "workers" are generally paid subsistence wages and work 24/7 (and are more or less happy to do so).</em></div>
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<em>3. You can franchise out to other countries and make modifications that work in the new cultures.</em></div>
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<em>4. When your customers die, they often leave a large portion of their wealth to the church. This may be due to honest "conversion" or because of "investments" made to help them earlier in life that result in them paying back a lifetime of accumulation.</em></div>
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<em>5. Your product is the promise of great riches in an afterlife. Zero manufacturing and distribution costs.</em></div>
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<em>6. The payout doesn't have to come from your Earthly assets.</em></div>
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<em>7. No lawsuits from unsatisfied customers.</em></div>
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<em>All this adds up to massive accumulation of wealth that can be used for other useful projects. As an example, during the English Reformation, Henry VIII became the head of the Church of England and appropriated all the amassed wealth. I haven't been able to find any reliable information on assets other than land, but at that time it was estimated that they owned 25% - 30% of the land in England. </em></div>
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<em>The biggest problems right now are competition and customer acquisition (and customer skepticism). </em></div>
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<em>"</em></div>
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<strong><em>Maybe a little over the top, but close enough to the truth.</em></strong></div>
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Some might argue; hey, but do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.</div>
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True. The Ox at the tread should not eat up the commonwealth, either. The Ox was made first to tread and not to eat. When the Ox interchanges these roles, it becomes an expensive toy. An unwieldy pet.</div>
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Some might also ask; what should Churches do when they have gifts in excess? Give it all back?</div>
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I won’t think to answer that question. Nothing is ever black and white. But here's what I know for sure; the Churches know the decent thing to do. They have chosen to do otherwise. </div>
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<b><i>__</i></b></div>
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Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-32557527092565921532016-08-27T12:30:00.001+02:002016-08-27T12:30:05.136+02:00First World (III)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9YtWAArP0_6QH-rl33bxoSpDkoY3iXNXaw5TCo8_fqRlDKOBAkc4fTbDhcnye8MzBnDUXXJKl_oVw4PUdJ6NxIGjZ_gMQLM45ErkKQGROtBpmpTps68Tlq6qEC1l3LvYeSPQO8Qms1t_D/s1600/photo-1464809064666-ef22abde2569.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9YtWAArP0_6QH-rl33bxoSpDkoY3iXNXaw5TCo8_fqRlDKOBAkc4fTbDhcnye8MzBnDUXXJKl_oVw4PUdJ6NxIGjZ_gMQLM45ErkKQGROtBpmpTps68Tlq6qEC1l3LvYeSPQO8Qms1t_D/s640/photo-1464809064666-ef22abde2569.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Travel far and watch the city<br />
Come to life beneath you<br />
Capture life in banal poems<br />
Empty portraits with watery lines<br />
Live the night in another's embrace<br />
Or drink soda over a vile romance<br />
<br />
Read a chapter press reset<br />
I'll be hereGbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-23108891222285706482016-07-31T20:23:00.001+02:002016-08-08T01:02:29.634+02:00First World (II)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_wB-js0dz2OFa3Xg-qgtLT-fxGR7dWcIrLCEv5mLEm5NDfbRmniYd5t4WnZSAnBZbwYV6V6cKMgIdOUAopb5lcp7vhDRbbJDIXOOJBjuY0ByHBcdpYqJds-4LQ-h-akMnsFel0wv91yq/s1600/Starta+Designs+%25287%2529.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_wB-js0dz2OFa3Xg-qgtLT-fxGR7dWcIrLCEv5mLEm5NDfbRmniYd5t4WnZSAnBZbwYV6V6cKMgIdOUAopb5lcp7vhDRbbJDIXOOJBjuY0ByHBcdpYqJds-4LQ-h-akMnsFel0wv91yq/s640/Starta+Designs+%25287%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Draw big smiles for the flash<br />
Gang signs made for ash<br />
Tongue out just because<br />
Trade warm hugs with cold hearts<br />
That make promises they never keep<br />
<br />
Read Zikoko to numb the pain<br />
I'll be hereGbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-3403394614772756512016-07-31T20:23:00.000+02:002016-08-08T01:02:11.259+02:00First World (I)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7eL4_bov7BuZlqxgMLRmiEPM1ds-fn9GHEP-JwcHSfbdu2qXFGcik_Ltt4OJnowPR2Mc2NfU59jbUjMOx_m5HtBQvb5FegcbcAzsqJB__BIxqA16Ci8LK4bIZAxvNnW8-bNmour98Zas2/s1600/Starta+Designs+%25286%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7eL4_bov7BuZlqxgMLRmiEPM1ds-fn9GHEP-JwcHSfbdu2qXFGcik_Ltt4OJnowPR2Mc2NfU59jbUjMOx_m5HtBQvb5FegcbcAzsqJB__BIxqA16Ci8LK4bIZAxvNnW8-bNmour98Zas2/s640/Starta+Designs+%25286%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
So you can go ahead<br />
And live your empty life<br />
Capture the few highlights online<br />
Deep lines on vacuous smiles<br />
Look backwards through filtered lines<br />
<br />
May the unlucky ones sob to sleep tonight<br />
I'll be here.Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-3771591879875776282016-07-03T22:43:00.002+02:002016-07-03T23:18:18.148+02:00Define Happiness!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMqny_SfITivMj3hmHQdPIgFmp4eYOtoXm8MN1uwZD1uvRx_tPZN0Uw2mzVYiR7SmNXEqSbnSmnic6p9o4S5sqertk4n2hotdnU1MfukEbum6EpQJrpgdW0BeEqsR6nt9unn-Mx5PvhPI/s1600/Starta+Designs+%25285%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMqny_SfITivMj3hmHQdPIgFmp4eYOtoXm8MN1uwZD1uvRx_tPZN0Uw2mzVYiR7SmNXEqSbnSmnic6p9o4S5sqertk4n2hotdnU1MfukEbum6EpQJrpgdW0BeEqsR6nt9unn-Mx5PvhPI/s640/Starta+Designs+%25285%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Is it feeding a hungry child?<br />
Is it Monday morning in a new town?<br />
Finding love?<br />
Or getting a new job?<br />
<br />
Buying a new MacBook with unlimited iCloud storage?<br />
<br />
Is it falling in love for the 5th time after you've given up on yourself?<br />
Looking in the mirror and seeing your body carved like of Hercules'?<br />
Is it a trip out of town, alone in a drop top?<br />
Is it lunch with your BFFs?<br />
Or dinner with the 'one'?<br />
Or ridding the world of a menace?<br />
<br />
Is it a masters degree in Canada?<br />
Is it karaoke night?<br />
Is it going to church?<br />
Meeting your favourite band?<br />
Is it a long warm hug from a loved one?<br />
A "good job" from a stuffy boss?<br />
A thoughtful comment on a Facebook post?<br />
Or your tweet that set the internet ablaze?<br />
Or a meme or a t-shirt with your face on it?<br />
<br />
Is it an old photo?<br />
Is it a sultry whisper if a paramour that promises a good night ahead?<br />
Or it's the good night?<br />
Is it the last breath before reality switches?<br />
Or the first breath when life begins?<br />
Is it watching airplanes take off?<br />
Hearing their soaring buzz hum over your head?<br />
<br />
Is it a roaring plate of Jollof rice?<br />
Or Garri with generous rations of groundnut and milk?<br />
Is it a bottle of Coke?<br />
Or a short sharp sniff of one?<br />
Is it God?<br />
Is it life?<br />
<br />
Is it all these wrapped in one?<br />
Is it none of the above?<br />
Is it happiness?<br />
Or it's nothing?<br />
The one rocks dream of?<br />
<br />
Define happiness.Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-9116477581850056562016-06-16T00:05:00.004+02:002020-07-17T21:36:55.745+02:00Victoria<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmdH1k5QCD8UEu-e9O7trdJs9wAMyTahDVlQktyoM7vuSZZzFiBa7mK7mNdrCzBxAQ0KlRZb0vGnEOdShkMqwVDWfSZIwbPJlkZHMOsvuDGxnK1-zRUxYvt7VKf_CAz3nnEybT_N7QaDc/s1600/Starta+Designs+%25284%2529.jpg"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmdH1k5QCD8UEu-e9O7trdJs9wAMyTahDVlQktyoM7vuSZZzFiBa7mK7mNdrCzBxAQ0KlRZb0vGnEOdShkMqwVDWfSZIwbPJlkZHMOsvuDGxnK1-zRUxYvt7VKf_CAz3nnEybT_N7QaDc/s640/Starta+Designs+%25284%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
So you sit there wondering<br />
What they look like<br />
What they sound like<br />
<br />
You can't think about them<br />
And you can't stop thinking about them<br />
These people you meet at shows with dim lights<br />
<br />
Their light paralysed you<br />
And what was easy became hard<br />
"I'd like to be your friend. Can I have your cell phone number?"<br />
Those words stick stubbornly to the roof of your tongue<br />
<br />
So you sit it out acting normal<br />
Till they suddenly up and say, "I'll like to leave now"<br />
<br />
You nod and shake hands<br />
You say nervous goodbyes<br />
Just so you end up on your desk gazing at walls of text<br />
And thinking only of them<br />
Of your idea of them<br />
<br />
You fail at the attempt to recapture<br />
The "hello again" with the "again" stressed the slightest bit<br />
The subtle swish of their hair<br />
Dark, acned face with round narrowing jaw<br />
<br />
Your feeble attempt to animate memories is a rock's dream<br />
You sell yourself a story and refuse the sale<br />
<br />
Then you mouth a silent prayer to the God<br />
"Maker. Make our paths cross again." Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-14864878961763647322016-06-10T20:39:00.002+02:002018-11-08T07:31:45.006+01:00It's the little things: Why cheap phones suck in 2016<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRaU-Nxw-c9G9q-lsJi4tH9e4I10hKvHTN39Vt4ozlnkSi-NSmPk27g1DbMOuGD09j_TFSJnd__yfS3pp8Sc12osnJB5P9er25J3pbfTRJqAUF88puzKcB99odZzTe_4pWQ7V7Ham_P7-/s1600/Starta+Designs+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRaU-Nxw-c9G9q-lsJi4tH9e4I10hKvHTN39Vt4ozlnkSi-NSmPk27g1DbMOuGD09j_TFSJnd__yfS3pp8Sc12osnJB5P9er25J3pbfTRJqAUF88puzKcB99odZzTe_4pWQ7V7Ham_P7-/s640/Starta+Designs+%25283%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
When my colleague walked in toting his new phone, I was impressed for all the right reasons. A shiny new Samsung galaxy-something is nothing to sniff at.<br />
<br />
Naturally, checking out the phone and lowkey putting it through its paces, the conversation seeded into how much damage the acquisition wreaked on his saving.<br />
<br />
"<i>120 thousand,</i>" he smiled.<br />
<br />
I smiled too, thinking this phone is so cool but come on, that's unreasonable. 120,000 on a phone. At once. More than half your salary? Don't be silly.<br />
<i><br /></i> <i>Side note: I am Ijebu and culturally disqualified from spending more than a certain 5-figure amount on a phone, at one go. </i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
......</div>
<br />
So the other day - yesterday - we found ourselves walking through two 20-feet tall lorries which were waiting, side by side, to offload at Marina. The little space, and reflective ground - from the rain that has just ceased - and the sun streaming in, left us with the kind of feeling you'll get walking through a muddy open-top cavern in the Grand Canyon.<br />
<br />
"This is unbelievable," he said pulling out his phone. I looked, bemused at first. I soon clocked on to his thinking and blurted: "Holy dumplings, this is surreal."<br />
<br />
We are millennials. With smartphones. With Instagram accounts. And a sense of balance. So we did what you've probably figured already.<br />
<i><br /></i> <i>Click. Click.</i> I was taking pictures with my phone. Not liking what I was getting I looked up from my phone.<br />
<br />
"Lemme see what you have," I yelled to him from across the strip.<br />
<br />
I saw the pictures he'd taken and my first impulse was to throw my phone under the tyres of one of those lorries. Clamber up to the wheel. And drive over it till all that's left is the flattened rubbery plastic that used to be its casing.<br />
<br />
My budget BlackBerry 10 phone camera hardware was a sore excuse for a camera.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
I love this phone, though. I am typing this little story on it. It's just, "<i>why can't it even make an effort in the camera department?</i>"<br />
<br />
Then again, it began to come to me; why that other phone came at such steep pricing. It's those little things as a camera that can capture details as minute as your nostril hair that make the difference.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
This is why I can wait for modular phones to be around. I will build a phone out of a BlackBerry outer-casing, Sony Camera, iPhone innards, JBL speaker, and a Nokia battery. I'll add other fancy stuff, and change things up and anytime I want.<br />
<i><br /></i> <i>Note: The modular phones - at least as promised by <a href="http://www.projectara.com/" target="_blank">Project Ara</a> - doesn't involve as many OEMs or allows this rare display of liberal inventor's asshollery. But hey. Let's dream a little. </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<br />
So you are asking: what does this have to do with you? Nothing. Not everything is about you. Get off my lawn.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
....</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Sidenote:</i> The headline for this article was going to be "It's the little things" but then I thought, <i>no one would click that, so boring.</i> So I added "why cheap phones suck in 2016" for clicks' sake. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Featured Image via: <a href="http://goodfon.su/">goodfon.su</a></i></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-14762008177820686802016-06-04T17:16:00.002+02:002016-06-04T17:23:32.426+02:00Please, what's that intense need to be original?<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpeYdnH1P3i-9Exq8Wggph5XqDJxgFSLme8BZXzWFmfk3XDgucZyQ96vrNbjKErXCwfz-EO5y5eCKkFSU47tpnlqysqeChF2hRPQQPaMvSGutMGnuBDYzeh-bHUwyoucB6bJyWuB2-Omc/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwpeYdnH1P3i-9Exq8Wggph5XqDJxgFSLme8BZXzWFmfk3XDgucZyQ96vrNbjKErXCwfz-EO5y5eCKkFSU47tpnlqysqeChF2hRPQQPaMvSGutMGnuBDYzeh-bHUwyoucB6bJyWuB2-Omc/s640/1.png" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Help. My Google is broken.</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since I started at this new place, I have had to sit in at too many product meetings. If one becomes adept at coding simply by hearing people talk about code and the problems it can solve, I'd be a durn good code whiz right now.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitting in at product meeting means you get to hear cool things get said, and cool stuff get built, pretty much real time. And every once in a while they listen to liberal arts brain droppings and actually move it forward for implementation.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At times like those, I do this:</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-98ddd933-1bf4-a387-7d1b-c5fc1989dc03" style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKVN9tJeEC2endY3xXS9tWhdIOIiFlkOLwqSzOkbKLXboWya7gdSMBKYjJsndyyAaJExX_JALp_2SqauR5djpBv0JPYuXgZXdbU93Js_uo5i_6QZPumBCVHdmzlzhmnz1M3Ezk7NRggvt/s1600/58130228.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="608" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLKVN9tJeEC2endY3xXS9tWhdIOIiFlkOLwqSzOkbKLXboWya7gdSMBKYjJsndyyAaJExX_JALp_2SqauR5djpBv0JPYuXgZXdbU93Js_uo5i_6QZPumBCVHdmzlzhmnz1M3Ezk7NRggvt/s640/58130228.jpg" width="640" /></a></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When our lead developer called to have my take on a new component on the website, I didn't leave my big mouth behind.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"This is pretty good," I said.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"But..." he preempted.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I think my experience as a user is broken here," I paused. I looked from the computer to him and back to the computer, using the time to corral my thoughts. "I like this lot, but I'll like to add businesses before I create a list."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"True, but just go ahead and keep using it."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I did. I clicked through and the site opened to a beautiful page where I was able to add businesses and edit other details.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You probably are getting lost at this point, but read on. Trust me, this is about to make sense.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had to admit, the process was smooth, accented with a top class design. And I loved it. But I still felt my user journey was broken. So I opened a different interface that looked like what I thought he was going for.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I like this one better, " I said. "Why don't you just copy it?" The interface looked to me like it can better get the user through the process than what he was showing to me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I don't completely agree with you, but you are quite, right," he said. "I can't copy it, though." He went on tell me he won't feel comfortable if his design is right out of someone else's mental repertoire.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He made great points and I knew he was right. I admitted as much until our conversation left product and fell on gadgets we’d used.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did we get from new components for our website to phones we used two years ago? No idea, if I'm being honest.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He was sitting back in his chair, with the confident smile of a man happy with where life has placed him. "I had the phones I used in the past because I knew not a lot of people were using them," he said. "When I realised more and more people were using those phones, I simply dropped them and got new ones."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I "hmm hmmed" and listened on.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I like to be unique as much as possible and I take that into my design work," he beamed. "This one time I created a component on our site and few days later I saw that this other site was using the same component and it looked as though we had copied them. So I changed it."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that was when I knew I was up to something. This my codehead colleague is not confident being like everyone else. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Yes, I see the oxymoron in that statement too)</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I surmised he'd do anything to be different. And he agreed.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"You have a condition," I told him. I didn't have the name so I told him to Google: "the intense need to be unique or different + psychology."</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was confident some psychologist would have figured an exotic, clinical name for what he had.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But nothing. The search returned nothing relevant.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that's why we are here.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what's the point of all this?</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am going to say this as honestly I can: I just wanted to drop this really cool quote I found in a Jon Morrow writing:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>The best writers are the best thieves. Shakespeare stole his plots from Greek and Roman plays. Thomas Jefferson practically plagiarised the Declaration of Independence from John Locke. Oscar Wilde stole from . . . well . . . everyone. And so should you."</i></span></blockquote>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The part about Thomas Jefferson stealing the Declaration of Independence cracked me up real good. I do not refuse to acknowledge my own internal conflict to be original. That fight has only become more difficult in a world where the internet exists and the norms are dictated by tweeting teenagers with perpetual acid highs.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I have learned, maybe a little too late, that "faking it till you make it" isn't only one good hack, it's the hack that made legends and might be the only hack there is.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think there is so much more to be said for imitating things and people.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, in my follow-up collection of my brain droppings on this, I'll share my thoughts on copying, adaptation and imitation based on Bill Wyman’s autobiography of his life as a Rolling Stones band member. It's the book I'm currently reading and it's teaching me much on the topic.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I'll like to know your thoughts. Are you faking it? Will you fake it? Or you will rather be original or be nothing at all? And if you found the name for that intense need to be unique, please epp.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">____</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This post was written to the sound of Jain's Zanaka. She's my new obsession. </span><a href="http://www.deezer.com/album/11375984" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Get a load of her here</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0d0d0d; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Disclaimer: Quoted statements featured in this article were paraphrases of the actual conversation. I mean, I wasn't recording our conversation or anything. That'd be creepy. C’mon.</span></div>
Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-61463889722172583562016-02-10T21:06:00.000+01:002016-02-15T15:50:26.916+01:00Sabo: Purpose and Obligation<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchZtxkYa2nC-QdvDLVnfxj7io4WFk8cHLjHdN034KzbfzuvE-HFv0cTew6_vUzW58Ydg16oZqU9wQIQnpX__BgGZ0yA8B_5YuvZKUbDTElqrnAod0kDsgVHts8HVjZ0gYmK-qIs95BgK1/s1600/5143542257_5c3d0af138.jpg"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchZtxkYa2nC-QdvDLVnfxj7io4WFk8cHLjHdN034KzbfzuvE-HFv0cTew6_vUzW58Ydg16oZqU9wQIQnpX__BgGZ0yA8B_5YuvZKUbDTElqrnAod0kDsgVHts8HVjZ0gYmK-qIs95BgK1/s640/5143542257_5c3d0af138.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
A nimble pirouette<br />
Leotard-less, dust-coated, clunky-shoed<br />
She's the general of the four feet square<br />
Elements melt at her bidding<br />
Move, stop, hop, skip<br />
<br />
She knows we are watching the performance<br />
So we get our ...<br />
<br />
Nevermind<br />
<br />
No one paid for this<br />
At least, others didn't give us that impression<br />
Listless gaze and janky negotiation of the arms<br />
We are not an audience to be pleased<br />
<br />
Taxpayers, yes<br />
Either they didn't know<br />
Or we are not paying enough<br />
<br />
I return to her<br />
She's marching now<br />
Measured steps obeying unseen straits<br />
Fluid steps like a hidden dance to an unsung tune<br />
A stolen smile under a sheer veil<br />
<br />
Her hands go up<br />
A patch of her neon strip catches the sun<br />
Impatient engines roar<br />
Metals chortling and gurgling<br />
One driver grimaces behind his wheel<br />
Then metal boxes hurtle forward<br />
Race dogs off the pen<br />
As her hands return<br />
<br />
Return to the bust<br />
Moving again. Fluid<br />
Like a conductor of an intricate orchestra<br />
Cars roar. Exulted sopranos and humourless baritones<br />
<br />
They long to please this master<br />
Unpaid. Undecorated street marshall decked in a Chinese wig<br />
<br />
<b><u>Where this came from: </u></b><br />
<br />
Since I left my editor work at the tech news website in January, I have found myself going to Yaba more. Yaba, of course, is the cesspool where tech talents find themselves getting drawn into these days. None of that is for me, though. I have only really enjoyed going to the mall. I enjoy the view out of the coffee shop on the second floor. Not great coffee, but good view. It's never quiet, so I never stay long.<br />
<br />
The real attraction is on my way back. If you've ridden through the stretch of road between Sabo and UNILAG, you've seen the fair-skinned traffic warden. The one with the immaculate uniform and gloved fingers. The one that controlled the traffic like she's dancing to a tune only her can hear. If you've haven't, keep an eye out the next time you are on the route. <i>Not that she's hard to miss anyway. </i><br />
<i><br /></i> You know. Now that I think about it, the sound of her tune is not so imperceptible. If one only listened close. It's the heady sound of purpose and obligation. Accompanied by the dance of someone doing what they were born to do.<br />
<br />
She looked like she belonged to a different police force. One different from the one her colleagues in Sabo - who wrestle 50 naira notes from bus conductors - belonged to.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, she kept the Danfo I was riding in long enough for me to really look. I admired this woman. I admired her uniform. Her glistening acned skin under the Lagos sun. And then I wrote.<br />
<br />
I wonder if her histrionics pay. Perhaps they give them special awards for this in the force. Or benevolent folks with higher income and kinder hearts than mine stretched extra monies her way. Does she do it for the money? Or perhaps she had dreams of being a ballerina when she grew up and this is her seizing the day. Making lemonades out the lemons she got? Or perhaps this is her little piece of "fuck you" to a patriarchal world that made a less qualified male become her boss at work. "I'll enjoy life no matter how much you fuckers want to make me hate it." Maybe it's what she quietly mutters as she keeps the cars at bay. A whispering Alpha to a pack of raptors. Unsure, but resolute.<br />
<br />
Cheers to purpose and obligation.<br />
<br />
PS: I wrote this in a hurry. I found later that her name is Josephine Okeme. <a href="http://pulse.ng/gist/made-of-black-guinness-celebrates-heroes-in-lagos-have-you-nominated-yours-id4152290.html">And that I am not the first to get enthralled by her rule of the road</a>. Here is a picture of her commissioned by Guinness.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4ygicZd7T3iBvbEfTwbqfw-rW1jxdjA-unrtBkRl0nadHryCxtxhxrdTWVRXq-_qbawX7o9LEH0JOFqIymh9SJ0YakgciL4juOrqlLlBsyA2ThPXmVPBKHi-rT_FC-nM4ZqlaA2K3z5H/s1600/Lead-Picture-2-.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4ygicZd7T3iBvbEfTwbqfw-rW1jxdjA-unrtBkRl0nadHryCxtxhxrdTWVRXq-_qbawX7o9LEH0JOFqIymh9SJ0YakgciL4juOrqlLlBsyA2ThPXmVPBKHi-rT_FC-nM4ZqlaA2K3z5H/s320/Lead-Picture-2-.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Photo Credit(s): <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/45409431@N00/5143542257/">marfis75</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>; Josephine Okeme via Pulse.ng.Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-53275651754579639212016-01-29T18:35:00.002+01:002016-01-29T18:39:30.965+01:00The Theory of Death<div style="border-width: 100%; direction: ltr;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVzoRRvCU64WjGivaOrquLA9gl1Xv9I_ql9kSwjZAZGvg5GnxBMp-m9L1wOUwXZArFPV7QCAKyYgFRte38WTx_sgqxdyHx5ss9PErxAzvfF1amT3WJ5ofVHUnWGKYWP2ugB2wtZ0kxJVH/s1600/5341152056_18cdc5ef73.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVzoRRvCU64WjGivaOrquLA9gl1Xv9I_ql9kSwjZAZGvg5GnxBMp-m9L1wOUwXZArFPV7QCAKyYgFRte38WTx_sgqxdyHx5ss9PErxAzvfF1amT3WJ5ofVHUnWGKYWP2ugB2wtZ0kxJVH/s640/5341152056_18cdc5ef73.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He heard the click-clack</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blaow!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A muffled cry</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A thud, gentle like a sack of socks hitting padded floorboards</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; margin: 0in;">
<b id="docs-internal-guid-600ec27f-8e6f-605d-290b-694fc6e53c90" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</b></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click-clack</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pause</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quiet</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One drip. Two. The infernal pit-pattering song of the project </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blaow!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another muffled cry</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Next door</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or so it seems</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They never get this close</span><br />
<span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">A gentle knock</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His door </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/45577381@N05/5341152056/">Nuria J.B.</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a></span>Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-54213179551130540682016-01-22T13:51:00.002+01:002016-01-22T13:53:10.669+01:00Killshot<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpK8-KrQv3Nja0SyUqYXaXrjCbFgjqq_uL0Wb8qHBq71lcA-LaubS-K96Q4kjWYDpjWQoBApicNWqa8wwnAkgRG6xP9InDPYQD6yo58xAV5sEGOevFPMwn1X94QHkzZAyHloS8PpUYvQ7y/s1600/20774028365_4924eca96b.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpK8-KrQv3Nja0SyUqYXaXrjCbFgjqq_uL0Wb8qHBq71lcA-LaubS-K96Q4kjWYDpjWQoBApicNWqa8wwnAkgRG6xP9InDPYQD6yo58xAV5sEGOevFPMwn1X94QHkzZAyHloS8PpUYvQ7y/s640/20774028365_4924eca96b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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You are not the one grace missed</div>
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Half-dunked </div>
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In the balmy baptismal pool</div>
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The wheel didn’t spin on your turn</div>
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When you said - </div>
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I </div>
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Am </div>
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Done</div>
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You clambered on to the bulls-eye</div>
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As the celestial marksman steadied an aim </div>
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It’s a hit. Once</div>
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A thousand files moved</div>
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In the shredder, sliced </div>
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Incinerator next, burned </div>
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Saved, done</div>
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A billion synapses ripped</div>
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Data pads held against 2-ton magnets</div>
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Razed, renewed </div>
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You are not the one grace missed</div>
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This foxhole is a plan, perfect</div>
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Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-51411033757866941472015-12-03T00:38:00.000+01:002015-12-07T10:08:59.957+01:00Mindsets: a short introduction to the 'success' trap<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6872046759_da20d391a0_d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6872046759_da20d391a0_d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of my </span><a href="http://www.thescoopng.com/mnena-achineku-what-it-means-to-fail-in-nigeria/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">favourite people wrote </span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">recently; </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Failure in Nigeria is an arbitrary set of rules written in shifting sands.”</span></blockquote>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I agree with her through and through. But I'll add that the arbitrary conception of success isn't a peculiarly Nigerian problem. The problem is with the word </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>'success'</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> itself. While the </span><a href="http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">OALD</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> tries its best to give us a definition, it refuses to tell us that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'the meaning of the word varies across different narratives, realities and individuals (especially individuals).'</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the Silicon Valley watchers (and pretty much everyone in the world) would consider owning </span><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/15/zuckerberg-now-owns-29-3-percent-of-facebook-representing-18-billion/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">29% stake in Facebook success</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Zuckerberg has hinted that his thinking around the concept is different. For him, success appears to be, </span><a href="http://techcabal.com/2015/12/02/mark-zuckerberg-plans-to-give-away-99-of-his-facebook-shares/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">giving back 99% of the almost-half-of-a-$240 billion company back to the world</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the form of an </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_investing" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">impact investing</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> vehicle.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Robin Williams led on a movie that changed many a life. For me, in his iconic role as John Keating in Dead Poets Society, he</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnAyr0kWRGE" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> challenged my perception of opinion</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, personality and individuality - the difficulty of maintaining my own beliefs in the face of others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">He impacted boys and girls from the glittery streets of Nollywood to the muddied streets of Ajegunle, but he had a different concept of success still. Alas, we'll never know what that is, because his inability to reach that success left him on a suicide bed. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Success is a personal affair. We never realize this until we've jumped every hoop and checked every box. It's then we begin to ponder; </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">there has to be something more</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://mindsetonline.com/abouttheauthor/" style="text-decoration: none;">Carol Dweck in her seminal work on mindsets</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> expatiated on success in the light of the fixed and growth mindsets: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">"In one world [fixed mindsets] — the world of fixed traits — success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other [growth mindsets] — the world of changing qualities — it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Success is not an X at the end of a man's journey. Success is the journey. The human mind is conditioned to want more. It’s why he’ll never be fulfilled. The fulfilled man is the dead man. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps in the coming years I'll think differently, but for now, I'll leave you to humor me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's telling how Solomon at the end of his years said;</span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge. Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.” - </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+1" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ecclesiastes</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How much more could a man be? But you could almost trap the grief in his voice.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Christian worldview that suggests </span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+37%3A34&version=MSG" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'following God first and letting success take its sweet time'</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> begins to unfurl sensibly when we see how hard it is to live life chasing success. Aside the fact that it's impossible to lay hold of it, the pressure that comes with preserving our idea of success is depressing. It's why supermodels always have a part of their body to adjust despite their being the very definition of perfection in the popular concept of beauty (even beauty is such slippery one but that's another subject). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Success and failure is an arbitrary binary trap. The trap has left us to believe that to fail is to be finished. To fail is to be, well, a FAILURE. And no one likes that. No one likes to look stupid. However, to fail is also to be set up for growth - an avenue to extend our existing capabilities. If only they knew.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">You want to succeed, or you want to grow?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I choose the latter, complete with a creed: "I will do all I can to grow. I will fail, fall, be stupid, but never settle at 'success'. I have no idea what that means." </span><a href="http://ctt.ec/hbc1U" style="line-height: 1.38;" target="_blank">Tweet this.</a></div>
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<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Endnotes: </i><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1: I was inspired to write this post after reading </span><a href="http://williamsoyindamola.blogspot.com.ng/2015/11/what-i-have-been-learning-ii.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">R's witty spiel on her life lessons lately</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Her lesson 19 reminded me of my Trello board with the overflowing list of story ideas. Check out her series on life lessons titled </span><a href="http://williamsoyindamola.blogspot.com.ng/2015/10/what-i-have-been-learning.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'What I have been Learning'</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>2: Okay. I also have one week to do absolutely nothing. So I have enough to time to do a roundup of my brain droppings and post them on here. I'll probably share more in the coming days. </i></span></div>
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<em>Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/76597495@N06/6872046759/">Stemack Street</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a></em>Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-83771890661884258862015-12-02T15:44:00.001+01:002015-12-03T00:23:43.307+01:00Therapy: the blessing of the bumps<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5259/5564280891_aba7aefc13_d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5259/5564280891_aba7aefc13_d.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was on one of the lazy harmattan evenings that usually have a blood-red sun hanging low. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the December of 2012, when I met </span><a href="https://twitter.com/AllTimeLow?" style="line-height: 1.38; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All Time Low</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were playing Scrabble on *O’s PC when my eyes caught a peculiar folder. In it; a collection of All Time Low's albums. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I got hooked on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcoM3GNggl4" target="_blank">Therapy</a> from the 2012 </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Nothing Personal</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> album. Nevermind it drove me deeper into the light episodes of depression I had during my project work, I hummed it everywhere like a potent little chant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Therapy, I'm a walking travesty, but I'm smiling and everything // Therapy, you were never a friend to me, you can choke on your misery"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The lyrics stung every time I processed them. They painted a picture much like my life in dark colours. They painted the fears I was afraid to share - the fears I painted over with shallow, eager smiles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">From my limited line of sight, the combined ‘trial by fire’ of my finals and project would break me. All that 'scholar' non-sense would become history. I was an impostor and everyone would know. I feared the labour market. I feared after all these years of relative success, I would be exposed for the fraud that I was. I would bungle my project and get an F, spend an extra year and lose face. No one would remember me. I would pass on like every other student - unmarked, unremarked.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I could feel my viscera rip to shreds every time I got back my project draft from my supervisor who always returned it with generous amounts of red lines and comments. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I must be the dumbest</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, I always thought while I smiled, asked for clarifications and later shambled out of his office.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Therapy was a dark reminder of those fears and more. The sound, however, was oddly comforting - like the sound of heavy thunderstorm, when you are tucked safely in an eiderdown. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I began my project, I convinced myself into thinking I had it all figured out. Of course, I kidded myself, I didn't. I was no genius.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My thoughts were too simplistic, crude;</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Mr. P, who was my supervisor, would tell me.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I listened to Nickelback to stay awake studying media theories at 1 am, I listened to All Time Low (with Therapy on replay half the time) to slow down the pace of the world every other time of the day - to push farther away the final year project deadline; to slow down the blinding rate at which the exams approached. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(I remember just now</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also listened to </span><a href="https://twitter.com/TheOfficialA7X" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Avenged Seven Fold</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the same effect.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it would take more than All Time </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">s</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Low to keep the sand of time from shuffling along. It all happened. The deadline came, exams too.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the results came back and I got a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">B</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on my research, I didn't quite know when I gave a loud, sharp "whoop!!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I had never given a 'whoop' about any result before. I had never celebrated before. It had never been a big deal. But this was different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the first time, I realized it wasn't just smarts. The 'B' against my name wasn't a product of IQ, but hands and knees buried deep in the mud. I realized the exams (read: memory quiz) of the three years before my finals only required so much. The finals however was a different beast and required a change in tack - harder work. For the first time, I felt I earned my keep in that school with no walls and too many dirt roads. For the first time, I met me - the blumbering and dim me. I also met the hardworking, capable, pliant and critical-thinking me. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="line-height: 1.38;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="line-height: 1.38;">Somewhere between Ma telling me: 'give it all you got, success is a bonus', and the school whispering to me; 'everyone thinks you are smart, act like it', I lost it and life became only a race to keep up appearance. I forgot </span><span style="line-height: 20.24px;">s</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">uccess wasn't the goal, but growth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">For a brief moment after the results came, I remembered what I had heard Ma say many times before. All that mattered was to give it all it took. Not to be pathetic. Not to give up at the first bump. Not to give up. Period. But our memories have the nasty habit of failing us. I have forgotten in the months since that day in July 2013. And today again I remember.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember on this third day of my 'very expensive holiday' that life is a pie and the best parts are the bumps. The chewy, juicy, meaty bumps. To survive the bump is to grow bigger than the bump. And now we are back to choices.</span><br />
<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">End notes: </i><br />
<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">- O was one of the most memorable college roommates I bunked with. He studied Geography and liked The Cranberries much. Ah! I can still hear his early-morning off-tune rendition of Zombie in my head.</i><br />
<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">PS. Not sure if Therapy saw me through that time, but noir or no, I still listen to ATL. My present addiction is Missing Out from the 2015 Future Heart album. Join me. This one is rather cheery. </i></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sfhbVUTZn7A/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sfhbVUTZn7A?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<em>Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/45325473@N04/5564280891/">blinkingidiot</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">cc</a></em>Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-59239099325856351012015-11-09T22:49:00.000+01:002015-12-02T15:48:32.618+01:00Cargo Cult: A story about education<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsdpf6kOVABvr2NvpbQ52Ds9ntnieo7kvlZm-cdognorJx4siToNWpKidbtak8MXF1_-j39TENgmJ80xDPpAkaYrQEeFt1hqSP2BFYRZFcYX_4eoue-Vzsfb7Wb_CTjg878YWHwdsV8-y/s1600/6856370872_14843c3472.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsdpf6kOVABvr2NvpbQ52Ds9ntnieo7kvlZm-cdognorJx4siToNWpKidbtak8MXF1_-j39TENgmJ80xDPpAkaYrQEeFt1hqSP2BFYRZFcYX_4eoue-Vzsfb7Wb_CTjg878YWHwdsV8-y/s640/6856370872_14843c3472.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-72c88f32-ee31-fc23-6e97-a20f9bdade55"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6.3.3.4</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-72c88f32-ee31-fc23-6e97-a20f9bdade55"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eighteen years to prepare for a life</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-72c88f32-ee31-fc23-6e97-a20f9bdade55"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The promise was comfort after</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-72c88f32-ee31-fc23-6e97-a20f9bdade55"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wife, kids, a house and a car</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A sinewy pension and a country home to boot</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The world was changing, no one was telling us</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6.3.3.4 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It won’t be enough, no one told us</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We heard of the 1.5 and the three to eternity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But not of the grinding unapologetic teeth of life</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The frowning heads on choked necks were the traitors</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Education is all you got. Your identity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We heard it so long it came alive</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They lied</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We got education and forgot to live</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our stars are really failed suns, no one told us</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The broken ones got the job of fixing us</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It would be fine in the end...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Retain and retain and you’ll make something </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of yourself, you’ll make a legacy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They lied</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px;"><b>6.3.3.4</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On that tawdry bed, w</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">e glided to Shangrilla</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We now look questioningly around</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not it </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our eyes are darting </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here, there. Here there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Somebody help!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reality bares its teeth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wife, kids and a pool house dissolve into wisps</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sweat, blood, tears and nails. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ahh!</span></div>
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<i>Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77334245@N00/6856370872/">10b travelling</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a></i>Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-19308262054586779552015-10-20T01:00:00.001+02:002015-12-02T22:09:16.325+01:00The Limbo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXEt-ecUSwXJeDm8QznEA4gENVQa_8naHsDHhLtAYkFO9qByPts44NkSWskQNZc9q-9dylwM-ycKvEqTDqwwPWYUT_PGG9AxpHXOwzGL3WgXsUxi6-diIhio_A0ht_aaVCDeKGOKo2_D2/s1600/12417238794_bbb722f21f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqXEt-ecUSwXJeDm8QznEA4gENVQa_8naHsDHhLtAYkFO9qByPts44NkSWskQNZc9q-9dylwM-ycKvEqTDqwwPWYUT_PGG9AxpHXOwzGL3WgXsUxi6-diIhio_A0ht_aaVCDeKGOKo2_D2/s640/12417238794_bbb722f21f.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Get a voice, take a stand<br />
There is a truth that pulls your mind<br />
That stings and heals too<br />
Hurt like the stone eternally churned by the sea<br />
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Open your mouth, carry a brand<br />
It will hurt, the truth<br />
It will pull back the blind, revealing burning Klieg lights<br />
Welcome the audience, it's your show for the first time<br />
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Your time to shine<br />
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It's your story, tell it<br />
There is a grand poobah running the show<br />
But the moves are yours<br />
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I will forget glory and kill with every move<br />
Be sorry, and say as much<br />
Be brutal, and own it<br />
Fail, fall, rise and speak again<br />
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You owe no one, but humanity<br />
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No one but conscience<br />
No one but the one who created it<br />
No one but your voice<br />
Find it, take a stand<br />
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Between relevance and obscurity<br />
Is the comfortable little place - the Limbo<br />
Between the latter and death is no option to speak of<br />
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The time to be Judy is ways away, if at all<br />
Stand.<br />
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Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/77173403@N03/12417238794/">The-s</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8247235449388202133.post-79906285188654673252015-10-07T20:58:00.002+02:002015-10-07T21:02:15.330+02:00Scientia potentia est<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3Kd5RoJPZbxcmy-eJN2fr-yfzONCod1UVXDkWYEaujWu4zPQkBHFy61ZIvBmrHmkLEdzU7zSinxR6vLuH7AruRvcfnCkox0Rm_EaOdC1CZXV9PaSumBFNzf2f8AvOnE8s4_srT7if3N6/s1600/7305597392_35141f5c37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3Kd5RoJPZbxcmy-eJN2fr-yfzONCod1UVXDkWYEaujWu4zPQkBHFy61ZIvBmrHmkLEdzU7zSinxR6vLuH7AruRvcfnCkox0Rm_EaOdC1CZXV9PaSumBFNzf2f8AvOnE8s4_srT7if3N6/s640/7305597392_35141f5c37.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There are a million things happening on the internet, simultaneously every second. </div>
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The temptation is to catch up with all the signals shooting up on our radar. Often, we fall. I certainly do. The mid-article link that gently whispers <i>"click me, you need to read what I got"</i>, links-bearing Twitter notifications, search results from the keyword you just typed in Google; all of them promising juicy information. </div>
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It's a link-fest; links bearing a promise of knowledge, a promise of entertainment, or in some cases, a combination of both. </div>
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Gently cooing at the back of our minds is the "fear of missing out", so we set out to catch the lightning in a bottle. We are jumping from one article to the next. Jockeying articles and installing speed reading apps. I have recently installed one of those. Maybe too early to say, but it's not helping.</div>
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Yesterday, Twitter announced Moments, a feature that will help users catch up on the most relevant stories from around the world in minutes. I like it. But I also fear it. It's another signal in an intimidating ocean.</div>
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An ocean that, along with voices around remind of how much there is to know, how much more to learn. Don't forget the stack of books in your library and the too little time. </div>
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Scientia potentia est; Knowlege is power. Nothing truer. Only now all I get from my attempt at capturing knowledge is a stinging headache and tired eyes. </div>
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It's a trend I love to hate. It's also one that makes me question what matters. What's worth knowing in this morass of messages? What's worth knowing at all? </div>
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<i>Photo Credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48503330@N08/7305597392/">Kurayba</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com/">Compfight</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a></i><br />
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Gbengahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238462313304568241noreply@blogger.com0