WHAT TIME IS IT?

Hello people, it’s been like 7days without any post. In reality, I wish I could update my blog daily, I truly wish. No thanks to my crazy schedules and several engagements. But for these, this passion of mine won’t be blinking; I will look for a way around it before long. Trust me!

Of late, I have been thinking. Thinking about my generation, our numerous acts of modernism and what we would be offering the next generation. Fact is, we truly can’t talk much about the present or the future without basically looking at the past. Can we please wind the hands of the clock backwards a bit?

Once upon a time...

1. There was dignity in labour, our people were proud to do something with their hands and feed their mouths from their sweat. Women didn’t ‘use’ their bodies to get whatever they wanted, neither did men seek for opportunities to criminally exploit and extort resources.

2. There was the celebrated spirit of communal living; everybody in the community lived like a family. Every child was the responsibility of every parent and every parent was every child’s guardian.

3. Values and morals were not strange to us; only those who were high in morals and values ever got to be honoured or decorated.

4. Our definition of leadership wasn’t different from the global view and civilization.

5. Those we LOANED our votes to did everything to improve our living standard. Because to them, that was what they owed us for the trust we bequeathed on them with our vote.

6. We were spiritual, there was nothing like humanism. We knew God truly exists and EVERYTHING we did was done with this consciousness.

7. We had a security system we could really call secured and safe.

8. We were a people who valued our words and promise; there wasn’t the issue of African time or ‘diplomacy’.

9. Education was the responsibility of the GOVERNMENT. There were [functional] public schools everywhere and education was seen by all as the RIGHT of the Nigerian child. Education wasn’t privatized with those who can afford it made to believe it is a PRIVILEGE. Talk about slavery mentality!

10. We had known criminals who robbed with guns, machetes and other weapons. Unlike now, the HOLY BIBLE wasn’t a prominent weapon of robbery; we didn’t have robbers in priestly garments.

11. We once had fathers children truly adored and respected, as they provided the indispensable father-figure and leadership qualities. Now, children look outside of their homes to choose “role models”.

12. Virginity was a thing of pride. Society didn’t make people ashamed of their sexual innocence. Mothers didn’t put their daughters under pressure to lose theirs before marriage.

13. It wasn’t very difficult to have a reliable and trusted ally. Trust wasn’t very scarce.

14. We did everything to prevent rogues from ascending leadership positions. No gift was big enough, neither was any lie good enough to buy our conscience. We valued leadership, thus we did everything we could to ensure that only people of value ever had the privilege of leading us.

I am wondering which age this is. My questions and worries are much. What age is this? What a blunder we have made of life and living! Do we call this the digital age, the age of Armageddon or have we strolled into to the biblical Perilous times? Are we close to the end of the time? Can life ever be worse than the way it is now?

Since these are not questions I planned to answer, I guess I have to pass them to you!

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Any Nigerian who is truly mindful of the future will be bothered about the present condition of things in this country.... I don’t want to over-flog certain issues, as such; I am looking away from the food crisis, unemployment rate and unemployability dilemma, financial corruption, insensitive political manipulation...

I am very vexed and deeply concerned about the moral future of the average Nigerian youths. At the moment, the picture of the future seems very bleak and depressing. We can’t keep pretending that it is nothing to worry much about. Fact is, each one of us will someday pay for our silence and docility regarding this issue. Sometimes one wonders if our conscience has taken sudden flight from us!

In today’s Nigeria, the average kid of 6, 7 and 8years is becoming very heartless, pitiless, brutal, ruthless and non-emotional. Visit our schools and you will hear of certain degrees of violence meted-out by these minors on their peers. Is this their reaction to what society has forced them to learn? When you hear how some of these violence and insensitivity is meted out by these toddlers, your ears will tingle, you will weep! One is forced to ask: “How did this start? What have we done to ourselves? How did we lose it? Where do we go from here?”

We can’t keep pretending this is not a problem that requires urgent consideration and attention. Deviously fighting financial corruption and other superficial vices without pondering on how to consciously build morals and instill values in the next generation of leaders is an exercise in futility... Insensitivity and moral bankruptcy is being handed down like some form of inheritance to the younger ones... The school system shouldn’t look away from this either; academics without character is not education!

In one of the ASA’s songs, she reeled her viewpoint this way: “There is fire on the mountain and nobody seems to be on the run.... One day the river will overflow and there will be no where for us to go, we will run, run… wishing we had put up a fight…”

Once upon a time, we were a people with high reverence for morals and values! All of a sudden, certain attitudes and actions we formerly considered as taboo, evil and wicked have suddenly become good, nice and right in the eyes of a lot of us... What's more, the spirit of communal living is dead. Everybody minds his/her private concerns... The days when every child was the responsibility of the community he/she lives in is long gone.... every parent now guards and defends their child from the discipline of others, notwithstanding the distasteful attitude he/she puts up.

Every sense of morality and values has since exiled from our midst. Our youths now live life like people who are beheaded; they don’t think before acting anymore! Our sense of the future is virtually comatose... If we keep hiding our heads and shifting responsibility, we may someday wake-up only to realize we have been wasting our national life, due to our downplaying issues concerning morality and values...

One wonders if there’s a future for any nation whose media constitute a deliberate threat to the moral fibre of her young ones. Our music and movies are not any good. Everything is being done with only financial gains in view... The belief of almost every Nigerian artiste and entertainer is that to make it big and rise to fame, you have to exploit the vulnerability of people... Unfortunately for our young ones, most of these morally bankrupt individuals are projected/endorsed as ‘ambassadors’ and role models... By these ones, our children and young ones are constantly bombarded with warped perspectives to life... We are gradually raising an MTV generation, in Nigeria! Nobody seems to worry about its effects!

While I am not [deliberately] trying to sermonize, I want to state here that any country that downplays spirituality, all in the name of modernization is sick and really needs help. It is evident to all that America started losing it when she opted for this path...

It’s time for us to tackle certain fundamental issues. We must hold the future dear to our heart and consciously work towards building it. A child not carefully and appropriately trained will someday become a treat and a dread to society. By this I also mean, an [awful] attitude not addressed in its infancy will someday develop to be a disgrace and a source of embarrassment to the ‘owner’ and her neighbours.

We can build a desirable future, if only we want to! We know exactly what to do, but have constantly focused on what we can do nothing about... It is time for the much needed paradigm shift – in our thinking pattern and attitude to life and our future!

We must speak against and fight anything [and anyone] that attempts to weaken and demoralize our collective future! Our younger ones [future] deserves something better!

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Self-imagery [HOW YOU SEE YOURSELF] matters a lot in the equation of success. There is no way you can be successful if you see yourself as ‘not-good-enough’ or a ‘never-do-well’. Our perceptions of life are what attract the circumstances of life to us... “AS A MAN THINKS IN HIS HEART, SO HE [and situations] SHALL BE...” This implies that Nigeria will NEVER be productive for those who think she is cursed!

From experience, I have discovered that over 88% of individuals in our generation suffer an esteem problem. Their lives have been wrongly shaped by the situations, suggestions and opinions of other people. In many cases, the opinions were intended to be a joke. But somehow, it had a negative effect on the person it was used on... Whatever goes into the mind must someday cry for expression.

Dear friends, the people around you are the ones who paint the picture you will have about yourself. This is why it very important you consciously hang around people who believe in you and who use good words on you. We are all made by words, what we hear and believe shapes us.... What we hear is what decides how we see ourselves...

The way you see yourself is what decides what you pursue. Your self-imagery affects your goals and dreams... This is why how you see yourself is as, if not more, important than how you see God. Ask the 12 spies and the 2 leprous men in the bible...

God never created an error. He never created a failure. Every man has a star, what matters is just SEASON. When Jesus Christ was born, it was His star that attracted the 3 wise men... Even Jabez had a STAR; he later became the one that saved his city...
Just as you have a unique STAR, you also have a SEASON. Make a conscious choice not to faint before your SEASON shows up. When your SEASON dawns, your success will be uncontrollable, uncontainable, overwhelming....

Against all odds, make it a deliberate decision to always see yourself in positive light as a great person and to always say good things about life and your Creator... Never create or allow room for regrets.

I am very confident that “THE-NEXT-BIG-THING-TO-HAPPEN” just read this piece.
You will succeed!

HOW TO END THIS YEAR ON A HAPPY NOTE...

As we slowly but surely travel towards the end part of the year, it is so vital for us to review our strategies and dispose of whatever isn’t working or producing for us...
I have always believed that life is more spiritual than physical; despite all the book knowledge, broad exposure and wide ranging experiences we may strive for have, nothing substitutes for God-knowledge and God-consciousness.

Therefore, to have a productive and happy ending this year, you truly have to make God a central part of your every step.
The Holy bible says: “Who is he that plans a thing and it comes to reality, if the Lord’s hand is not involved...” It further says: “Except the Lord builds the city, the builder builds in vain...” and “Promotion doesn’t come from the South, East or West, but from the father ABOVE...”

At the end of the day, “Except the Lord watches over a city [business, family, relationship...], the watchmen watch but in vain...”

Dear friends, as we live each day and go about our dealings, let’s hold firm to the Creator of all creatures so we can enjoy His creation and live life as He designed.... No doubt, you may still have huge challenges and goals you thought you should have achieved or risen over before this time of the year.... It is still very possible!

Folks, it took God only 6 days to create this entire planet.... including all the wonders in it that amazes you...
Between now and the end of the year, you still have over 74 days for a miracle to take place in your life... there is more than enough time for God to do the unimaginable in and through your life.... This year will not end until your story changes and your dreams achieved!

THE KEY? ASK, SEEK, KNOCK! Nothing comes from Him except you A.S.K for it.... “For I will give you the desires of your heart...”
Your asking Him is a proof of your total dependence, reliance and confidence on Him and a reflection of the fact that your hopes are not entirely on your strength.... It is only Him that can crown the efforts of our hands with good success!

When you A.S.K, He will give you direction and send relevant people into your life to make your dreams fulfilled and desires achieved.

Dear friend, you can still end this year very happily. The key is in your hand... “For God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you can think, ask or imagine...”

Your creator is interested in your wonderful and successful ending. But, it will never be possible when you alienate and keep distance from Him...
“FOR THE THIEF COMES TO STEAL, KILL AND DESTROY....” The goal of the ENEMY is to ruin your end part of this year. The ENEMY doesn’t fight your START; he waits for your END part. He doesn’t fight conception, he fights delivery... He didn’t fight January – September, he is waiting for October – December!
This is why it is very important to hold on to the one who came to: “GIVE YOU LIFE AND LIFE IN ALL ITS RICHNESS AND BEAUTY...”

You must happen!