Pages

Tuesday 26 February 2013

See Chinese Fight Kung Fu!

Few days back, after enjoying my delicious meal of greasy chicken, sugar packed soda and calorie loaded salad - haba, I had to eat Lagos KFC now - I couldn't help but notice a group of women angrily wearing the t-shirts you see above. Couldn't help but stop and ask, them fight with Chinese people in Balogun ne? Apparently they were campaigning against what they said was the exploitation of Nigerian markets by the Chinese with seeming support from the Nigerian government. They were complaining about easy access by the Chinese to Nigeria and Nigerian markets while the Chinese do not extend the same courtesy to us. They also said that too many inferior Chinese goods are being sold in the country as superior goods. They also said the Chinese were coming in and selling their own goods at cheaper prices than Nigerians who go to their country to buy, thus indirectly removing money from the pockets of Nigerian traders. In essence they are demanding that the Chinese traders do their trading in China. I later discovered that they are the association of textile dealers or something like that.

Now I don't know the whole story and can't tell truth from fiction, but I can imagine the pain of foreigners coming to ruin my market if I were a trader. Things may not be as bad as they put it or things could be worse than they put it. Whatever the case, isn't it time that Nigeria started creating, manufacturing and selling to the whole world instead of us consuming what the rest of the world makes? After all, we have what it takes don't we?

Friday 15 February 2013

Valentine Series: SEX: Whats the hype?

Sex on my tv, my radio, in the magazines and all over the damn internet
Whats the hype?
Two bodies engrossed in passion and desire, a temporary ecsatcy
Whats the hype?
Shyness, embarssments, heartbreaks and many more
Whats the hype?
A marriage breaks without it, a friendship ends because of it
Whats the hype?

Am I lost in a world of delusion when I think it comes 2nd place, 3rd or 4th
Is it a mere misconception when I see it as a tool that could be ignored and forgotten because the workman has other equally efficient tools

The men pay for it, the women suffer under it, the children get corrupted by it
So am I out of my mind when I ask
Whats the hype?

Passion, Desire, Love,
A bond, a language, a song
An act thats not a play, a scene written by love thats very real
Sex on my mind, sex in my heart, sex I desire
Maybe, just maybe it deserves the hype

Thursday 14 February 2013

Valentine Series: Love Is In The Air

There are some wounds that run deep, like a tree planted by the river they remain firm. The roots have grown so long and gone so far that not even the most violent storms can uproot them.

There are some hurts that are painful. Its a constant turning of the knife in an open wound. Every direction you turn carries with it a different kind of pain. A daily reminder that you have a past you wish you could erase following you around like a heavy load that cannot be set down because you're yet to reach your destination.

There's nothing that cuts deeper than the pain another being can inflict on you. If care is not taken it can tear your whole world apart and forever ruin what could have been. 

It often feels like the pain, the hurt, the bitterness, the anger, the depression will never go away. Often it plants the seed of malice which germinates and grows to become a formidable force in one's heart.

Fortunately, I have read enough winter stories, watched enough winter movies and experienced enough winters to understand how spring creeps in. No matter how harsh the winter was, how cold and dry, depressing and dreary, the spring always creeps up. A funny season it is - spring. If you don't pay attention you would wake up one morning and ask: where did spring come from?

Sometimes the possibility of healing seems impossible. But if only one can slowly let the negative go and slowly let the positive in, one would suddenly wake up one morning and ask: where did all this beautiful lightness come from and where did all that ugly heaviness go?

Love is a guaranteed healer. It can come from a brother, aunty, father, neighbour, lover or friend. It certainly also comes from our maker. The offender may not give the required love for the required healing, but that's the beauty of it. Love can come from another source and still do the job!

Whether its from up above or from all around us, love is in the air. So lets open up our hearts and let it in. 
Happy Valentines day!

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Valentine Series: The Pain of Letting Go

I hate having to forgive. Its a debt I never like repaying. To constantly love my neighbour who does evil to me - that is not how I like to pile my coals. I'd rather start a fire myself, physically remove the coals and pour it all on his head.

Why should someone do something bad to me and get away with it? When the insults gather up in my mouth filled with venom as if I were a snake what am I supposed to do with them? Swallow them and choke? No! I'd rather spit them out and make them sting. Let the guilty suffer the consequences of his guilt. Let him that offends endure the pain of rejection. To forgive is divine, well thank God I'm human!

I hate having to forgive. That is the most annoying debt to repay. Except that, if my constant excesses, errs and blatant rascality are not constantly being smothered by love by my creator, I don't know what would happen to me. So I'm left with no choice, to forgive or be ineligible for forgiveness myself.

I hate having to forgive, but forgive I must, forgive I do.