A Rising Tide

I increasingly feel the need to make people happy. The need to show and share love...unbiased, in spite of the response from others. Love is the answer. It is the cure for all our hurt and it can't be locked inside. It bursts through the seams and pours itself out, spreading it's fragrance to all. It leaves a soft smile on the lips of those that it meets and warms the heart of the giver. It melts the heart of the avenger and cools the fiery furnace of anger and jealousy. In a cruel and cold world, love is a soft and warm glow. It is the syncline to all negative vibes! It is truth, it is forgiveness. It is a rising tide that lifts all boats!

Square One

I'm alone right here...

It's another cold night

I'm back in the house but I'm far from home

There are fingerprints on the walls

The smell of your hair on the pillow

The clothes deliberately left on the chair

The strands of hair tangled in my comb.

While I was away...

The spare key unlocked my doors

The kitchen was alive again

My shoes found their way back to the rack

I know you arranged my shelf

You helped me with my wardrobe

But while I was away,

The rains poured down too

They have washed away the footprints

The winds have taken away the fragrance

But my heart knows you were here

Even before my eyes could explain

I couldn't have folded my pyjamas that way

I know I didn't wear that white T-shirt

Neither did I leave those clothes in the dryer...

You put everything in order 

But you left my heart in a million pieces

All I have left are pictures, memories, a note on the bed and my spare key under the doormat.

Now I'm back to the start again

Alone...

Beautiful Imperfection! (Not Asa Please)

I walked into the room and i knew i was in trouble....
My wife's powder was on the floor and i could see the makeup table was scattered and things were in places she obviously didn't leave them.
Mascara, foundation, lashes sprawled on the bed and alphabets on the wall in different shades of lipstick.
Eye pencils had been sharpened and used to draw stick men on the table. I couldn't shout...I just couldn't.
That's when I saw her stroll in, swinging an eye pencil in one hand and holding a handbag in the other hand.
There was lipstick smudged on her lips...
A little gloss with glitters, meant for the lips but smeared all around the mouth
She had a hat that dropped down to her lower lashes and shoes that could take her feet and hands together
There was more powder on her dress than on her face and necklaces that hung down to her knees
One would wonder why I smiled endlessly at her
You would question my undying love for her
You wouldn't understand why that mischievous smile and those dimples made me happy and proud. The crazy combination of clothes and makeup that were applied in all the wrong ways but still couldn't mask the cuteness of the outcome. Perfect in its imperfections...the efforts of a child at being a grown woman...my two years old daughter, trying to figure out how to be a grown woman with the help of makeup, jewellery and mirrors! Creative in her own way but nonetheless mischievous.
Needless to say, I had a lot of cleanup to do and a lot of blame. Eventually, the pictures will tell the true story and we will all laugh through it all.

My Hope

I dragged my weary soul through the doors. It had been a long and sad day. My heart was heavy and I couldn't tell why. I felt He had forsaken me. I reminded myself that I'm not serving Him for what I can gain, but the conviction of that idea needed to be established by repeating it to myself.

I looked up and saw them take the stage...young, bright faces with robes that could pass as handed down cloaks. I smiled when I saw the young man take the mic. I sat down, fighting my inner critic to sit still while I prepared my heart for the ministration. 

  That's when it all began...

...I heard the choir....

...I heard the choir sing in unison

Like channels of water flowing peacefully into the sea, they gracefully poured out their worship.

They split harmoniously, like petals opening up to form a beautiful flower

Maintaining their distinct voices but uniting in symphony and synchrony.

Sopranos, altos and tenors, distinct and diverse but in harmony

Blending and intertwining seamlessly to form one multicoloured rainbow of voices, rising from the earth, like a beacon, shooting right through the clouds to the heavens.

Serenading angels and giving light to men on earth.

The Light of the world, illuminating the hearts of men through the praise and worship of His name.

This heartwarming and soul lifting experience is not even a nanoscopic fraction of an iota of His Glory! 

When they dropped the last note of the song, I was ablaze inside. I could no longer see the troubles that accompanied me to the gates of the church

I began to see life's struggles, relative to the promised Glory. I stretched out life on earth beside the length of eternity and couldn't find a dot...what on earth will I not endure, by His grace, just to see myself immersed in such Glory for eternity!? I didn't need to repeat anything to myself. I only asked "who am I that in my careless and selfish life, the one true God will reveal a piece of His Glory to me?" The author of all things, the one that out dates time, Has promised to share His Glory with me! 

This is my hope and ultimate heart desire...to be a part of the Glory to come!

The Nigerian Senate and the Game of Shame

Once again I feel the need to rant!!! What type of misguided decision making goes on in this our beloved country? The Senate want to make kidnapping punishable by death! Now, it looks like a good

decision, but I can't help but feel irritated by the comments of some Senators. The Senate Vice President said Nigerians cannot endure a little, that they are too quick to pay the ransom and that has become an incentive to kidnappers! Really!!!? How long will you wait for kidnappers to return your wife, husband or child when you know the security agencies are not properly equipped to find them? That is if your case is even given a second thought. These are people that tell you there is no fuel to come and help! How will they even find the kidnappers? Over 260 girls were kidnapped over a year ago in this country and till today there has been no news concerning their return! You think their parents wouldn't gladly pay a ransom to get their children back? Another Senator, said this law will serve as a deterrent for kidnappers. This is not the first step that should be taken! Before you decide to do this, won't you ensure that the security agencies are strengthened and properly equipped first? Nigerians have lost faith in the efficacy of these agencies and will rather do what they can to save their loved ones, which is to pay the ransom.

Our politicians have worsened the already difficult economic conditions we face. This has pushed many Nigerians into unscrupulous means of survival. This is not an excuse for the shameful act of kidnapping, but the death penalty may be a few steps ahead of the real solution. There are steps that must be taken before we jump to that. There are also more pressing issues that threaten the integrity of this nation like the issue of the Fulani herdsmen and their pernicious infiltration of the South! They should spend time trying to come up with reasonable solutions to this first!

The average Nigerian is poor and will not be kidnapped. So this whole thing is another tune to serenade the upper class while people grope in the dark in search of food and light in this information age! Giant of Africa? I dare you to even say it to a Rwandan or anyone from Botswana. Our leaders have started another round of this never ending game of shame!!!!

Fear. Pain. Glory

A little girl cries in silence

A little girl is groaning deep within

Her voice is not heard by her mother 

And her shame is not one to be expressed

She sits in a corner watching family-cum-predator

He turns to look at her while he laughs with the crowd

The comfort of family is the veil for terror

There are things going on in her head 

Those secrets she thinks she can't share

Memories of days of terror and nights of fear

Spasms of your touch, a bitterness she can't suppress

The height of your pleasure, the depth of her despair

While the world rotates, she stands, slowly sinking in shame

While you plunder her weary soul, her spirit remains...

Unbroken, unbroken, the will to outgrow this pain

She won't leave it behind, but will talk about it boldly till it folds neatly into her history

She will arm the young girls with her story,

If they see you on the way, they won't run

They won't fall, they will undress your tricks and send you home, naked but without shame

You met a little girl, you ravaged her soul but the woman within is unbreakable

She is a champion for others and a lasting reminder of your weakness...her conquest

She bowed a girl, right before you but she rose a Queen, the Queen of Kings.

Swallowed in Our Own Bellies

Nigeria's failing economy is not a secret. On the other hand, we have economists and policy makers who should be able to design a structure to salvage our dying economy. Many of them have strategies, models and policies which can change the fate of this nation. They have achieved remarkable success in other places where they have used this knowledge to create lasting solutions. We are left to wonder why they can't do the same here. Before we start a discussion on the lack of patriotism (which is true in most cases), let us talk of the more common issues.

First, economic theories and models are based on information. In Nigeria, the data is either not available or not accurate enough to be considered reliable. In the absence of better information, policies are formulated based on these roughly estimated figures and the result is what we see in the country; policies that are effective on paper but ineffective and rather disruptive in practice.

Secondly, for a policy to work properly there have to be checks and balances put in place to ensure the details are implemented accordingly. The ministries and government bodies that should help implement these policies are lazy, ineffective and usually overstaffed and over paid relative to the amount of work they do! People want to get paid for work they don't do. They sit in offices all day doing nothing. Falsifying records and using fictitious data to fill reports that would be used to assess the success of these policies.

The last problem lies right here. People like you and I who have seen the way things should be but decide to do nothing but talk and talk. A lot of small talk won't overturn the work of a lot of big time crooks! If you read messages like this every day but you still go ahead to destroy the system in your own way, what use is all the noise and clamouring? It is hypocrisy in its most healthy form! We are the termites that are eating up the system. The economists can only plan but they can never accurately predict the unsustainable greed and deceit of the common man. The failure of Neoclassical Economics in Nigeria is more of the failure of man’s integrity in the battle against his own greed than a failure of the system itself. This doesn’t mean that the system is flawless. It means that the flaws of the system have been greatly aggravated by greedy, power-drunk and selfish people. The sins of the past have brought us to where we stand today. Tomorrow we may be forgotten, but our greed and corruption will haunt generations yet unborn.