WHAT WOULD THEY SAY?

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

Many people who were doing very well in life before until some sort of misfortune happened are suffering in silence today, not because there’s nothing more they can do to at least have three square meals a day but because they are dwelling too much on “what people would say”.

Who cares about what the people would say?

If it’s the same people who would not give you a dime are the ones who’d always laugh when they see you trying to fight poverty off by doing some ‘humble’ legit jobs? Then let them laugh.

Nobody has any excuse to die of hunger!

You may not have that luxury car or other luxuries of life at the moment, but you have no excuse to die of hunger if you are not physically impaired,  ill, bedridden or something.

Just the other day, I boarded a bus but got held up in one ‘terrible’ traffic for almost an hour. Yes, an hour! Which shouldn’t be news for many in this part of the world.

Anyhow, the core of this post is not about the traffic but about the conductor of that bus.

While in the traffic, I engaged Tunji (by far the most respectful conductor I’ve ever encountered in my entire life) in a discussion.

First of all, I got on the bus; he greeted me and then asked if I was “okay”, properly settled on one of the seats before he asked the driver to move. Then he proceeded to collect his money in a very good manner “aunty please, your money”. I gave the money to him and he gave me my change and said “thank you”.

After a short drive, another passenger boarded and he extended the same courtesy towards the passenger, it was at this point I took an interest in him.

Unlike the many bedraggled ones seen on the roads, Tunji was well dressed in a simple traditional ‘ankara’ attire with hair well cut and of course no mouth or body odour, as I was seated next to him and furthermore well-spoken too.

In the course of the journey, I found out that he’s not only a graduate who had at a time worked in one of the blue chip organisations in this country but also a father of two.

He talked about how things went from ‘very awesome’ to ‘very appalling’ and then couldn’t stand to watch his family get hungrier than they later got so he decided to take up the job of becoming a conductor until something better comes up.

Of course by the time I disembarked, I was convinced without doubts that not too long from that moment, Tunji would get back on his feet again given some of the plans he talked about in the short journey with him.

What am I trying to say here?

Don’t die of hunger simply because of “what would people say”?

What is that thing you can start doing right now? Start from wherever you are and with whatever you have. There is nothing to be ashamed of.

It will pay off in the end.👌

©Stella Ene - Inyang

LIFE AND AGING

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

If you take a good look at all the beauty products in the markets today, including multivitamins, nearly all of them have as one of their essential benefits “slows down aging process” or say “anti aging” and then ‘boom’ everyone including men and women go for the products.

And I’m wondering “so nobody wants to get old”?

Unfortunately, nobody is getting out of this world looking the same way he/she was born or a 60year old looking like a teenager no matter how hard he or she has tried or tries in maintaining the “aging process” with all sorts of supplements or cosmetics.

 

A good example is to take a good look at the beautiful plantain you bought today, no matter how hard you try to preserve it, that plantain would still change overtime if you don’t use it. Hence the best bet is to make use of it while it’s still in its finest form so as to get the best out of it.

So is life and aging!

  

Many pray to live as long as possible and most importantly look as good as possible while life or aging process does its own thing as no one can stop that course.

However, one of the ways of remaining in good health apart from popping those multivitamins into your system including pampering yourself with the best of cosmetics is the ‘total avoidance of stress’ in any form.

What is stress? And what are the sources of stress? That’s a long focus for another time.

Till then, just hold on to this that ‘stress is anything that makes you unhappy’.  So avoid anything or persons that make you unhappy.

That would be all for now

©Stella Ene – Inyang

WHY WE ARE THE WAY WE ARE

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

For most part of this year 2017, I have had to commute to work and a few other places by public transport not because I do not have a car to run around but because I decided not to drive for most part of the year given some reasons including trying to keep my sanity having being attacked in broad day light in traffic right in front of a military cantonment and nothing was done by the patrol team who went into the building the hoodlums ran into. Another reason was until Governor Ambode sent those “special people” in uniforms off the streets who were frustrating drivers and car owners thus making driving a nightmare as no matter how hard you tried to keep your car documents together, they would always find a fault or two so as to give you a fine which many times do not come cheap. Unnecessary traffic in some areas was also a big “NO” for me including some other reasons which are best known to me alone. in this city called Lagos.

On some of these commuting by public transport, I would run into a couple of friends and foes alike who would ask me questions such as “why didn’t you drive? I saw you at so and so bus tops, what where you doing standing on the road waiting for a bus when you could have easily driven? Including a host of other cynical questions. My replies usually  included “oh I didn’t feel like driving too far today” or on the days when the car had a small fault “I took it to the mechanic” or was it when I was still battling with road safety for my drivers’ license? Too many instances when I had to be asked questions upon questions on “why did you not drive”?

On several occasions, some of these ‘concerned people’ would say “you like to stress/suffer yourself sha” and my immediate reply would always be “shey before we started owning cars and being driven around town, many of had to move around by public transport until God started blessing us with the wherewithal to buy cars?

Where am I going with all of these?

Dear reader, let me not bore you with long stories anymore.

My point is, we are where we are today as a people and as a nation because of the mentality of “what would people say” so many of us do things that we would not naturally do because we do not want people to talk.

Well, I’m sorry to be the one to re-echo that “no matter how hard you try, or what you do, people will always talk” so no point killing yourself just to please anyone amongst the crowd out there that think or care nothing about you.

Our leaders will continue to steal us “red” because even when the good ones are elected into power/positions, they are put under pressure by family, friends and those around him to steal from the ‘big government pot to prove that they have arrived’ even when they never intended to do such.

The incumbents look at the lives of predecessors who did not steal while in government and how society has all of a sudden forgotten them as they seemingly have nothing to offer being out of government. Their children are mocked and told such lines as “your father was in government for so and so number of years yet he couldn’t do this or that for himself yet see Mr A and Mr D who held the same position for just a few months, their properties, this that and so on all around the place but your father can only boast of that single flat you all live in at the moment”.

After such remarks, tell me why the next person will not steal when elected into power? That’s if he/she is not self-willed against all odds?

It’s really a terrible world we live in. where evil is applauded and good shamed!

The life that many of us live today is not what we ordinarily want but for the sake of society and what the next person would say, we tend to live our lives for people.

Dear reader, that kind of lifestyle must stop.

As 2017 grinds swiftly to an end, take time to access your life and decide upon how you want to run with 2018. If you want to live a simple life, by all means go for it and save yourself the brouhaha of trying to meet up with the bandwagon of those who want to live their lives to please others thereby killing themselves in the long run.

The awful part of joining that “bandwagon” is that if you drop dead today, many of them would not even notice that you are gone and even if they notice, they wouldn’t even attend your funeral. The least most of them would do is type ‘REST IN PEACE’ on your social media timeline for others to read when they visit your page and thereafter everyone would move on without you.

So dear reader, think about 2018 critically and run it at your pace.

Peace!!! 

STELLA ENE-INYANG   

NATHANIEL BASSEY: "OLOWOGBOGBORO" BROKE AND STILL BREAKING RANKS

Have you ever wondered why it is so easy to promote evil or immorality, yet so difficult to share and promote morality and any good form of experiences or things, tangibles and intangibles?

For the past couple of weeks, I have been holding back not to write anything about the ‘’hallelujah challenge’’ by Nathaniel Bassey which trended so awesomely in a magical way all through the month of June.

Before you start getting it twisted, let me clear the air. First of all, I’m  not a member of Nathaniel Bassey’s family or a member  of his church  neither am  a personal friend of his or even a friend to his friend. It would also interest you to know that I didn’t even take part in the challenge until three days before it ended.

And guess what? I wish took part in it all through the month and not just for three days .

Nevertheless, I didn’t miss out on the blessings of the month neither did I miss out on the blessings of the midnight praise because I was involved in my own daily/nightly prayers and praise sessions as organized by my local church. Yes! I am a Christian. Just in case you didn’t know.

So the month of June was indeed a month of daily mighty praise of God from millions of people across the globe. Believe it or not, many testified and are still testifying about the wonders  that came out of all the praise challenge(s.)

Now with that out of the way, dear reader, let’s move on.

Every move of God normally moves people forward and I believe that just concluded hallelujah challenge and all other challenges of night praise, prayer and worship which no doubts were moves of God moved a lot of people, individuals, families and businesses forward.

And so it was disheartening to see posts and comments on the posts on social media from individuals including Christians who were condemning the hallelujah challenge by Nathaniel Bassey claiming it was just a strategic PR for his next album or song. Phew! How condescending can people get when they see good things. When a few of these negative posts and comments were attacked by those who saw it as “uncalled for” the posters and communicators of course quickly moved to try in defending themselves.

That’s by the way though, even though it was what gave rise to this write up.

After seeing such comments the one thing I could ‘deduce’ from all such comments was sheer “envy”.

Yes I say envy or else how can you  find it so easy to ‘okay ’ programs and reality shows that promote all kinds of immorality including sex and nudity but shout when people spend their data praising God for just one hour or more every night for just a month? Yet we complain about how decayed the society has now become; including  politicians stealing public funds on a daily basis while robbers, kidnappers and ritualists are carrying out their activities all around the place at their various levels unperturbed, not leaving out the rapists, perverts and peadophites whose victims are also getting on high by the day.

So it’s okay when 90% of men go online on a daily basis to watch pornography for hours on social media and data is used for all these.

Some “enjoyers” of the bad news are quick to Google on the latest couples who are breaking up, who is cheating on their spouses, how one person was disgraced or who was rich and now broke and many more.

People or should I resound that “man” is naturally wicked and that it takes a lot of discipline to push down and suppress the spirit of envy and thereafter wish good for others?

Alas! It’s not always so with many individuals as the quest for always wanting to remain ahead of a friend or next person, seeks for ways to continuously put down every one of perceived their “competitor”.

Why am I not surprised at the negative remarks from many especially the co-Christians?

Imagine a Pastor or Christian artist/minister who’s been in the ministry for a couple of “donkey” years and yet still struggling, only for this “small boy” or “rookie” Nathaniel Bassey to come from "nowhere" and take all the “shine” with a small idea as “Halleluyah Challenge”. Kai! What a “whipping”!! I can only imagine how many of the “bad belles” bit and are still biting their fingers with expressions and thoughts such as “if only I had thought of this strategy and acted upon it earlier”.

Well deal with it dear, move on, join the challenge next time, ask God for your own “one small idea” and be rest assured that without any grudges against those whose bread have been “buttered”, your own bread will also be “buttered”. Just be patient and think positive.

Enough said already and you may be wondering why I’m just writing about that “Halleluyah challenge” when it’s been many weeks over. Yes it’s because many are still talking about it and testimonies are still coming out.

When next any such praise challenges come up, I will take full part in it even as I know millions of participants from across the world are gearing up for the next challenge. Nathaniel Bassey broke ranks with his Halleluyah challenge and it was a good ‘rank breaking’ let others follow in his step perhaps it could become a leeway in sanitizing what we do on social media with our data.

Carry on Nathaniel Bassey and by the way ‘Olowogbogboro’ is really trending already and of course, Gods culture is on the verge of taking over ‘pop culture’.

Olowogbogboro is truly turning things around!

STELLA ENE-INYANG

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY: OGA! ARE YOU THE GOVERNMENT?

andrevashaw.blogspot.com

Mr Egodi is a bus driver. He works from very early in the mornings, as early as 4am to meet up with early morning ‘rushers’ that is, workers and other business persons who leave their homes in the wee hours of the morning  everyday by public transport. Mr Egodi has a family of four, his wife and three young children, a girl who is just seven years old, boy 8 and the eldest boy 10. These children attend a public school just a few miles from the home and the trio walk to and fro the school every day.

Their mother Mrs Egodi sells roasted corn and sometimes plantains during the day by the roadside. She has a gutter right in front of where she does her business and oftentimes, throws the peels of the plantain and corn right inside the gutter and of course overtime, the gutter has gone from stagnant to a heaped refuse bin thus preventing any further flow of water. When she is cautioned by anyone to refrain from dumping refuse in there, her responses include “na you be government, is it your father’s house or what is your business”?

On the other hand, Mr Egodi buys a bottle of cold beverage drink during the day which most times is very hot hence the need for that drink. He gulps the content of the cold bottle and immediately, instead of leaving the empty bottles in the bus till he gets to a proper refuse bin, he would rather throw the bottles on the street which many times would eventually roll or get kicked into the nearest gutters by idle street mischief-makers. Again when a passenger scolds him for dumping the bottles on the street, his responses not anyway different from his wife’s will also include “oga or madam patriotic, what is your business, abeg when you get to your home or  office you can talk to your children or workers like that, this is my bus or are you government?”

One day while everyone was still at work and children on their way from school, it rained nonstop and heavily too, and of course the roads and many houses were flooded and since many of the gutters were already blocked with refuse from the likes of the Egodis, many people could not find their way home so easily including the children of Mr and Mrs Egodi. And while the children tried to wade their way home through the waters, given the current of the flow of water, the daughter was suddenly picked up by the flood even as the helpless siblings screamed for help as they couldn’t get hold of her given the heavy downpour. 

Luckily, it took the intervention of a man who was also at the scene to rescue the little girl whom by the time she was eventually pulled out from a spot was bleeding profusely from a big scar on her head very close to the right eye; it was obvious she had smashed her head against a huge and sharp object whilst the torrent of waters swept her away.  Sadly she lost that eye at the end of the day. Till this day, Mr and Mrs Egodi blame the government for the fate of their daughter.

Now some of the questions for the likes of the Egodis include “is it the government that filled the gutters with refuse or that makes the rains fall? And this brings me to my topic “Taking responsibility of our Environment".

A few days ago, it rained heavily in Lagos and some other parts of Nigeria leaving people stranded at home for as much as two days whilst many others lost so much properties even as a couple of lives were lost.

The thing here is, the rains will always come and when they do, one can never predict how much damages they would leave behind so why do we as citizens keep engaging in the wrong things when it comes to protecting ourselves from having to encounter the wreckages of an aftermath of heavy downpour every year?

Reports have it after what happened in the Lekki axis that apart from blocked drainages by refuse, many people built houses over drainage systems, who does that?

It is so insane the way we behave in this part of the world. The blame over such houses built should be on the town planners who either ‘okayed’ such plans or didn’t do their work by ensuring that such houses shouldn’t be positioned there in the first place. It is such scenarios that make some ignorant people quickly blame the government; after all it is the government who appointed those supervisors in the first place, right? What about you, the neighbour or citizen who turns a blind eye to such habits with the attitude of “it’s none of my business” and unfortunately, it becomes “your business” when the entire environment, including yours suffers the consequences of what was initially termed “none of your business”.

  

Now who and what is the government?

The government is made up of people from amongst us, right? hence if we as citizens can eat gala, biscuits, corn and throw the waste in the gutters, then what do you expect from our representatives in government? Of course they would turn a blind eye to such buildings and even do less or nothing when it comes to disciplining anyone seen dumping refuse in the gutters.

But then who cares? Nobody!

Instead everyone is busy looking for anyway to get their bread ‘buttered’ so nobody is held responsible for anything until the day of reckoning when all those involved or not involved in these irresponsible acts and habits are affected in one way or the other. Then once again, the government is blamed and the circle continues.

The truth is, we are first of all our own government before anything else. Let us speak against any damaging environmental act around us and caution anyone involved as in doing so we protect not just our environment but ourselves as well.

So when next you are asked “is it your business or na you be government? Be quick to reply “yes, it’s my business” or “yes, I am the government” without batting an eyelid.

Next time, we'll talk about the business of recycling, reuse and more!

(c) STELLA ENE-INYANG