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Thursday, July 22, 2010

THE MAYFLOWER EXPERIENCE

This is the gist.

My siblings(some) and i attended Mayflower School.
Often times, we get into discussion and we dwell on a number of issues....
here are a few things (in no particular order) that sends shivers down my spine and leaves my body filled with goose pimple each time i remember the good old days............

1.)Last Light Out: Only God knows who invented this practice.Regardless, its an occasion you dont wanna miss out on save you are low on cash.Indomine is often the delicacy for the night.
its not unconnected with the joy that comes with leaving school for home.hhmnn

2.)4-4-2: I still enjoy the formation save that i perhaps consume five times the ratio now.Chilled water going down with garri(4) groundnut(4) and sugar(2), it was a marvellous experience.Turned sour when my 'hommies' were expelled for visiting 442 arena

3)Community gathering: aww! Enjoyed it when baky makes beautiful speeches and when our Merry mayflower is not been inspected.when i get destracted, its either am looking at the female section or the squirrels playing on the tall tree in front of the female sitting arena

4)Dispensary: ayama! i recall with ease the not so clean water, the miserable cup and the drugs without diagnosis festival that takes place in the dispensary upon resumption. A good number of us were smart not to swallow them drugs sha.Talk about the long queue, na die. no clearance, no entry.

5)Morning Drill: Very interestin! retrospectively though. Never had fun been rudely woken up and been chased down like cows to Junior school field.Breath in, in and out.I never led the session.Recall accusations of boiz getting naughty during the session among other things

5)Candle Night:i can only rememnber having one outing.Memorable.

6)Water scarcity and locking of buckets under the bed.Wasnt a common experience but life was hellish during those times.Imagine fetching water all the way from uren river to the hostel.

7)'Ghana': with an unusual manner of pronouncing the name, 'Ghana' provided a good substitute for some of our meals, though at the risk of suspension.Even girls sef, dem dey show face for that yard. i remember the black nylon and the pepper.Still recall the smell.Inviting(then)

8)Morning Lesson: dont exactly know why but i enjoyed this part.Perhaps the oppurtuinty of coming close to the girls hostel.Really cant say why.If not for anything, we were exempted from morning drill

9)Interhouse sport:i can go on and on talking about interhouse sport. i was in ibadan house and i remember the dedicated service of mojeed melemuku.kaduna, green and abuja are some others i can remember.i particularly love the abuja(pink) vest.High moment is the d-day where we get to buy all sort of food items.Dont make the mistake of washing ur vest though, else some olojukokoro will keep it for u.

10)Social Night: this is where you get to see the Potential P-Squares.Interestingly, we can only boast of a music star in Gbenro-GT the guitar man.But mehn, i remember there were lots of swagger back then.from the OJ crazy to...........Baky often cancelled some nights for reading.

11)Election: This is the part i love most and will never forget in a hurry.I look back and appreciate the electoral syste we had.Students will campaign as if their life depended on it.the most interesting post is the Social prefect where the contestants will have to ginger their swagger.Mehn, i love this part about mayflower.

12)Speech Making: i didnt get to make one but it was fun to see my people get on the stage and see them consumed by the teeming crowd.Not much of experience here for me

13)Saturday inspection: the scrubbing, bed sheet contest and the result of the neatest/dirtiest hostel.Interesting

14)Suppi/Dubble: We had experts in the game of dubble.Eat and que to eat again.They were victims in aiyedun's hand though. Suppy? wasnt my calling.

15)Self reliance: Story plenty here o.Imagine, it got to a point guys will contribute and buy live chiken when wer were supposed to kill bush rabbit and all...I love this part too.Spending days outta the hostel in the farm/bush.

Just so much to talk about.whats your experience and what do u particularly miss the most?

DEATH 101

Call it your most dreaded course in the ‘University of Life’ and be sure you have a plethora of course mates who share your sentiment. In fact, they (course mates) would rather it were an elective. Wait a minute…. why do I say ‘they’? It includes me!

Death 101 is a compulsory course we all registered for the moment we gained admission into the University of Life. The moment we are born, we unconsciously fill a course form where death is a compulsory course.

Who is the lecturer? When is the lecture? Where is the lecture venue? When is the exam holding? What do you have to score to make a pass in the enigmatic course called Death 101? Some might even ask how May I fail? Hoping that failure would mean immortality. These are perhaps few of the several questions running through your mind. Guess I am obliged to provide answers.

The lecturer is Mr Death. You may do away with the title ‘Mr’ to register your hatred for his guts like we do back in the days. We call unpopular lecturer by their first names. You often hear of Adeyemi, Mr Akerele, Olowe, Mr Ige, Onabule, Mr Cracker amongst students. If you had ever wondered what makes the difference, wonder no more.

The lecture holds everyday and everywhere in the globe. Each passing day we hear of the passing away of a soul, a lecture is taking place. The news of the death of a friend, neighbour, colleague, course mate is nothing but a lecture delivered! It provides a platform to re-affirm our priorities in the University of Life.

There is a great lesson in death but its message is simple! Death acquaints us with the evanescent disposition of life. Life of this world is but temporary. A place of illusion. It’s so easy and convenient to think life is a going concern concept, but it isn’t. Is it?

Often times you look at the problem of this world and you realise that quite a number of people are skipping Death 101 class. How so? When they live life as though there is no tomorrow. When all they ever care about is the life of this world.

One is propelled to name names of people who lived recklessly as though life of this world is permanent but I choose to exercise restraint else it be taken that I make jest of them. Abundant examples abound in the Nigerian Political industry of warlords. Alas, they didn’t win the war against Mr Death!

Here is a clarion call… let that man who would stop at nothing to get to power know that one day he shall go six feet under. Remind that man who imports fake drug about a day when all the ill gotten wealth of his will be useless. Tell that man who is in the business of kidnapping and ritual (for Nigerian readers only) to remember that he shall breath his last someday, perhaps soon.

Tell that man who is in the business of oppression, who thinketh that all men are not created equal know that we shall all be equal sometimes later, When the ‘common denominator’ comes calling .Trust me; the £1m pound gold casket makes no difference.

If only we could show some bravery, let us picture ourselves when we become ‘inactive’ and make an attempt to juxtapose our excessiveness in journey of life with the reality to come someday.

When we all realise that life is transient, perhaps we may learn to live in harmony with our neighbour. Perhaps we may begin to take life the easy way. Perhaps we may learn to shrug off certain wrong done to us. I particularly recall the story of a naval officer who ordered a fellow man to open his mouth and fed him with bullets for bashing his car. Ask me what model….Benz 190. The fear of God is drying up everywhere.

The remembrance of God in human lives is on the verge of extinction while some do not even believe in him, needless ask that he be feared! I choose not to talk about judgement day for earlier stated reason so that we can be on the same page with our atheist brothers and sisters.

We hate Mr Death. He is ugly. He shatters dreams.
You could hate Mr Death all you want. Be sure to remember there is a lesson in his course. You could hate Mr Death with every fibre of your strength; your hatred will not stop you from meeting him someday. His course is compulsory. He is an uninvited guest who would come at the appointed time.

Come to think of it, death is the reason we treasure life. It is the reason we strive to make meaning out of life. You often hear people say ‘life has no duplicate; life comes but once, make the most of it’. It is the reason we have some good people who ‘fear’ the day they cease to exist.

I guess I can’t make a case for Mr Death. He has probably snatched a friend, a colleague, spouse etc but I can make a case for his lectures.

Let all men acknowledge that a day will come when they shall be no more!

RE-ALIGNING WITH REALITIES

In life, there are two worlds. The dream world and the world of reality

The latter describe the world wherein we spend everyday of our lives while the former describes a world full of wishful thoughts.

In economics, similar classification can be found. Economists classify economics into two; Positive and Normative economics.

The world of reality is intriguing. There are things we can alter and there are things we cannot alter leaving us no choice than to contend with them.

Of the things we can alter are artificial inventions ranging from tangibles such as cars, houses to intangibles such as internet, software, culture, system of government etc.

However, we cannot alter nature or its law. Any attempt to do so will create an imbalance accompanied with consequences. Nature, a work of God, is balanced without imperfection. Such law covers gravitational force, the rising and setting of the sun, Rainfall, and indeed the physiological make up of man

Man (Generic name for human being) is an embodiment of natural laws. He feels the urge to sleep at night, to eat when famished, to sneeze when he comes in contact with dust or cold, sweat, excrete, to have sex etc

It is against this background that i am compelled to lay bare my mind on a topical issue else posterity convicts me of aiding and abetting.

I have exercised so much restraint not to speak on a religious matter as the catholic doctrine which exalt celibacy towards spiritual upliftment and dedicated service to God on the basis that all men have freedom to associate and worship.

It is no longer a religious issue. It is societal; hence I have changed my mind. I will speak. I am speaking.

I hope to have kids who will someday become members of the society. They shall use public facilities where they are vulnerable to inordinate activities of members of the society.

Only recently, BBC reported a case of sexual abuse involving the usual actors, a priest, co-starred by a minor.

This event probed me to conduct a further study and the outcome is shattering to say the least.

Allegations of sexual abuse by clergy have been made in many countries.

After the United States, the country with the next highest number of cases is Ireland. A significant number of cases have also been reported in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia

On 11 March 2010, Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, said that priestly celibacy could be one of the causes of the sex abuse scandals to hit the Catholic Church.

In April, during a visit to the United States Pope Benedict, admitted that he was "deeply ashamed" of the clergy sex abuse scandal that has devastated the American church. Benedict pledged that pedophiles would not be priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict also said he is ashamed for child abuse scandal in Australia

here is an excerpt from BBC:

The Catholic Church is now counting the cost of the revelations of sexual abuse by priests.
The growing scandal on both sides of the Atlantic has created a crisis of trust for the church, with claims that senior clerics failed to take action for years.
In Ireland, victims of abuse by priests have called for the resignation of the Archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Desmond Connell. The government has ordered an inquiry.
In the United States, some dioceses have already paid out millions of dollars to settle law suits brought by victims. And the abusers are now being dealt with by the criminal courts.
In New York, the church has handed prosecutors a list of priests suspected of abusing children. And in Boston, a "zero tolerance" policy is now in force.

I reckon that those who abuse innocent kids’ cuts across religious divide but the statistics emanating from the Vatican is disturbing.

I choose to speak of the priests not because i do not subscribe to their belief. Far from it.

Of a truth, I sympathize with them because their doctrine is well intentioned.

These are people who wish to be closer to God, the sovereign.
That is cheerful in the present society where vices have been substituted with virtue.

There is no denying the fact that the lack of the fear of God is the root cause of the numerous problems besetting us a society, continent and in the world at large.

It becomes immensely illogical however when an attempt to drift closer to God causes an explosive like departure away from God. Yes! That’s exactly what happens when a ‘man of God’ abuses the innocence of little children whom they are meant to teach to grow up in the way of the lord such that when they grow, they shall not depart

Regardless of the school of thought one belongs to on the theory of evolution, it is unassailable to say that all men obey the laws of nature. The creator of ‘nature’ and author of its law may however continue to be a source of debate in the study of science, philosophy and theology.

Perhaps its time we realigned with the realities of our human nature without prejudice to dedicated service to God.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Of John Terry's misdeameanour and Wayne Bridge reaction



John Terry, a formidable defender on pitch was found playing a stiker's role in an away match involving his national team mate and ex-club team mate's girl friend.

Its no longer news that John Terry (Mr Chelsea) was consequently demoted by Capello, a devout catholic.The correctness of Mr Capello's action is not the thrust of my discussion.

I wish to talk about the unsavory scene that played out at the opening ceremony that preceded what later turned out to be an interesting match.

The Chelsea-Man city match has been much awaited.

I wish to psycho-analyse the unusual expectation associated with the match.

No doubt Man-City is fast becoming a big side in the league.Hence, as with other big matches, adrenaline rate is bound to rise.

Fans across the globe particularly wanted to see how JT and WB would relate with each other, having not met since the revelation.

Then came the moment.East Land players filed across the Londoners shaking hands in the traditional manner known.John Terry streched out his hands and found it hanging in the air.Wayne bridge simply skipped his hand.

Wayne bridge action is understandable but arguably not the best course of action.

Dont get me wrong.I am neither a fan of John Terry nor adultery. For the spirit of the game we all adore, rejecting Mr Cheslea's 'adultery-ated' hands on the pitch is not the best.

Terry deserves all the embarrassment that comes his way but i am a follower of the school of thought that argues that personal matters should be kept where it belongs, Private!

Wayne bridge is also toiling with the idea of ruling himself out of the 2010 world cup all in a bid to avoid John Terry, a prominent member of the England national team.

I dare say to Wayne Bridge, Be a Man! The whole world sympathise with you.Move on with your life.Life is too short and beautiful to be wasted.

Yeah, i know it is hard for you. You may even forgive JT if you could. I shouldnt champion the 'forgiveness' campaign on moral ground cuz i will never forgive a cheating friend, but i have been around in this world for time long enough to know that when you harbor disgust for someone, you hurt yourself in the process.

Let it go Wayne Bridge! Let not Mr Chelsea unbriddled passion for 'attacking' off the pitch spoil your happiness and your career.

To John Terry, i am not a saint. I will therefore not pontificate like a Bishop.If i were a saint, i would have lambasted you using unprintable words that will make you quit footballing and live a low profile for the rest of your life.Thankfully, i aint. Dont stop looking for WB forgiveness.God help you.


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

CHELSEA V INTER

Let me state categorically, i am a MAN U fan.

Big matches dont come often hence the butterflies in my tommy.

I aint a match preview analyst, hence i will just keep it simple.

I expect to see good football. The 'special one' in his unrepentant loquacious mannerism has drawn all the attention to himself.

Chelsea are favourites. final apperance in 2008 and Potential finalist in 2009 ( i recall with disgust how they were cheated), they have got all it takes.

Interestingly, both teams are leaders in their domestic league. I see a lot of pressure heaped on the special one. Why? He was appointed beacause the Italian giant needed prominence on the European scene.His side was also eliminated at the quarter final of the competition last year.

Mourinho is a world class coach. I wish i could confidently say that of his team.

Nevertheless, It promises to be an interesting encounter.

May the better team triumph

LOVE X-RAYED

As i drove back home trying to manipulate my way amidst other road users on the characteristically trafffic plagued lagos road, my co-passangers, in a relaxed mood ,not under the kind of stress that enveloped me got into a discussion.

Their choice of topic is understandbly contemporary given the fever associated with the fourtheenth day of februaries.It was the third day after!

I dont believe love exist jor, its so Overrated! Another party disagreed and the discussion began

I didnt join in the discussion.I cant exactly tell why.Perhaps i wanted to contend with the complexities that comes with driving in traffic where you have ten lanes on a road designed for three.Ever experienced one?

Perhaps i honestly couldnt provide an emphatic position on the subject matter.More like the latter.

Until now, my position is that love does not exist.I cant say that anymore.Dont ask if am in love.

Love is difficult to define.How do you avoid confusing it with infatuation or lust? Philosophers and psychologists have both attempted to define love.'Me myself' have attempted to define love.

I need definitions of love..
Here is a guideline as you attempt to define love.Define love by thinking of what it means to you.Be bold and write down the feelings and thoughts you have about love.

If love is what you feel when you crave to be in the warm embrace of the opposite gender, Let me know. If love is what you feel when you see a well endowed lady or a smashing fine dude, i wanna know.If it is what you feel when you see a rich/intelligent guy/babe.. e je kin mo.

Quite a number of things just make me feel love dont exist.Check this out? have you ever wondered why celebrities fall in love with fellow celebrities? i.e 9ice and tony payne, Jay Z and Beyounce, David and Victoria Beckham, Ashley cole and Ex wife, Wayne Bridge and Ex- wife.

Rich 'pikin' more often than not fall in love with co- rich pikin.The Turai daughters fell in love with serving governors.

In this regard, i am persuaded to conclude that Love is nothing but choices. Not some tender, affectionate, unexplainable feeling .....bla bla bla. We dont 'fall in love'. We 'choose-in-love'.

Maybe love once existed.

Good old days when a man without money can express his feelings( the butterflies) to a woman.

These days, its not just about a car. What type?

Its not just about having a house address? What kinda apartment we ta'kin bout?

Lovers desert each other in times of tribulation.Where is the love?

My friend has been chasing a lady for a while without success and upon securing a lucrative job, She 'fell in love'. Coincidence? coincidence my foot!

This is from a guys' view point.To allow for a balanced analysis, the 'weaker sex' are allowed to state instances where men have left them wondering if ever they had come across the word; love.

I am sure about one thing though, they would talk about men and their cheating ways. God help them if they do cuz am here to remind them of the popular cliche that says it takes two to tangle.Not so?

There is only one sure love though, the love of God.Asides that, oyo looooooooo wa o!

Admittedly, i could be wrong! am i confused? Perhaps.

I am in love! Have you ever said that? or someone once said that to you and you smiled..i might need your help.What exactly is love about?