Nigeria is ours, Nigeria we serve

My great country is 48 years today! Some call her the sleeping giant, others say she's crawling but I disagree with the above. Nigeria's a giant, yes and one going places. Agreed, we are not there yet and it's easier to see all that's wrong with the country but if we all, especially the youth of this country choose to see the best in this country and work towards it, by the time we're celebrating our 50th, things would be considerably better.

God bless Nigeria, God bless her people, God bless her leaders, and make Her a great nation indeed.

Reminds me of the clarion call to the youth in the NYSC anthem. Goes thus:
Youths obey the clarion call
Let us lift our nation high
Under the sun or in the rain
With dedication and selflessness
Nigeria is ours Nigeria we serve

Would we all make this our watch?

Proud to be Nigerian anyday!

Eight lies of a mother

~EIGHT LIES OF A MOTHER~

1.The story began when I was a child;
I was born as a son of a poor family.
Even for food, we lacked what to eat.
Whenever it was time for food, mother often gave me her portion of rice.
While she was removing her rice into my bowl,
she would say "Eat this rice, son. I'm not hungry".
That was Mother's First Lie


2.When I was growing,
my persevering mother gave her spare time for fishing in a river near our house,
she hoped that from the fish she got,
she could give me a little bit of nutritious food for my growth.
After fishing, she would cook the fish ,
which raised my appetite. While eating the soup,
mother would sit beside me and eat the rest of the fish,
which was still on the bone of the fish I ate.

I was touched when I saw it.
I then used my chopstick and gave the other fish to her.
But she immediately refused it and said "Eat this fish, son.
I don't really like fish."
That was Mother's Second Lie.

3.Then, when I was in Junior High School,
to fund my study,
mother went to an economic enterprise to bring some used-match boxes that would be stuck in.
It gave her some money for covering our needs.
As the winter came,
I woke up from my sleep and looked at my mother who was still awake,
supported by a little candlelight and with her perseverance she continued
the work of sticking some used-match boxes.
I said, "Mother, go to sleep, it's late,
tomorrow morning you still have to go to work.
" Mother smiled and said "Go to sleep,
dear. I'm not tired."
That was Mother's Third Lie.

4.At the time of final term,
mother asked for a leave from her work in order to accompany me.
While the daytime was coming and the heat of the sun was starting to shine,
my strong and persevering mother
waited for me under the heat of the sun shine for several hours.
As the bell rang, which indicated that the final exam had finished,
mother immediately welcomed me and poured me a glass of tea
that she had prepared before in a cold bottle.
The very thick tea was not as thick as my mother's love,
which was much thicker. Seeing my mother covered with perspiration,
I at once gave her my glass and asked her to drink too.
Mother said "Drink, son. I'm not thirsty!".
That was Mother's Fourth Lie.

5.After the death of my father because of illness,
my poor mother had to play her role as a single parent.
By holdinf on to her job, she had to fund our needs alone.
Our family's life was more complicated. No day without suffering.
Seeing our family's condition that was getting worse,
there was a nice uncle who lived near my house who came to help us,
either in a big problem or a small one.
Our other neighbors who lived next to us saw that our family's life was so unfortunate,
they often advised my mother to marry again. But mother,
who was stubborn, didn't listen to their advice,
she said "I don't need love."
That was Mother's Fifth Lie.

6.After I had finished my study and then got a job,
it was time for my old mother to retire.
But she didn't want to; she wanted to go to the marketplace every morning,
just to sell some vegetable for fulfilling her needs.
I, who worked in the other city, often sent her some money to help her in fulfilling her needs,
but she was stubborn by not accepting the money.
She even sent the money back to me.
She said "I have enough money."
That was Mother's Sixth Lie.

7.After I graduated with a Bachelor Degree,
I then continued my study up to Masters Degree.
I took the degree, which was funded by a company through a scholarship program,
from a famous University in America .
I finally worked in the company. With a quite high salary,
I intended to take my mother to enjoy her life in America .
But my lovely mother didn't want to bother her son,
she said to me "I'm not used to that life."
That was Mother's Seventh Lie.

8.After entering her old age,
mother got cancer and had to be hospitalized.
I, who lived miles away and across the ocean,
directly went home to visit my dearest mother.
She layed down in weakness on her bed after having an operation.
Mother, who looked so old, was staring at me deep in the eye.
She tried to spread her smile on her face;
even that looked so stiff because of the disease.
It was clear enough to see how the disease broke my mother's body,
thus she looked so weak and thin.
I stared at my mother with tears flowing on my face.
My heart was hurt, so hurt, seeing my mother in that condition.
But mother, with her strength, said "Don't cry, my dear.
I'm not in pain."
That was Mother's Eight Lie.


After saying her eighth lie, She closed her eyes forever!

The above was sent into my mail box and I thought to share it. Cherish your mom if you have a biological one and/or your mom by marriage. Mothers are wonderful people.

My mother. My friend?

Funny how other things take up the time your primary passion should. Hmn. . .

How many of us ladies think of tomorrow? How many of us think about our children? How many of us desire to be mothers in the very near future? How many? Hmn... I've seen, read about and spoken to a lot of ladies who would rather not have mothers than have the one they have presently. Duh! What would make someone say that?

How many mothers are really friends to their daughters? How many of them can really say they know their girls? How many of them are really friends with them? How many mothers are the first lover, friend, companion, confidant, etc etc to their daughters? I'm of the opinion that if more mothers took care to nuture their daughters emotionally, physically, psychologically and all the 'allys', we'll have better girls and young ladies in our society who would not need any man lying to them and they being that gullible to accept just any 'validation' from any man.

Take stock

It's cool to have a last impute for this year. I'm not quite put together at the moment but I'll still drop my message briefly however. One thing that's worked for me at this period is taking stock of the year, where I failed and where I succeded. I have made plans for the coming year too. Not resolutions but guiding principles for the coming year. Try it, it would help you too.

Happy new year in advance!

Feeling left out?

Do you have this strong feeling of being left out? Or do you feel like you don't belong? Or is yours a feeling of being useless? Like time's passing you by?

Aight, I'll share another true story with you. Mine as I said.

In the last post, I gave you a general overview of failure and my own experience with failure. Okay. In this field of being left out too, I've some story to tell.

I told you already how I missed out of the service year with my colleagues and twice, when I could have met up with them again, it just didnt happen. What comes out of this naturally? Depression. A sense of loss. You could feel a lil inferior to your mates. You might even want to give it all up. You might not want to try anything again. Self pity. The list is endless but this is not the solution.

The one year of waiting to proceed on my service has not been the best one year of my life. I've seen better years. This period feels like I'm just there, not in any employment, I hear news from friends and they share what they're doing. Naturally, I feel very useless and like time's just swooping past me. But I've come to learn one thing too. This is the best time to review my life plans. Oh, wait. Do you have a life plan? Something that kinda guides you as you go along? If you don't, draw one up today. It would really help you. And if you have, if there's an unexpected occurrence somewhere, it is time to review such an occurrence and you plan. Get better! Think better! Don't underestimate ourself. Change your thinking pattern. It isn't easy, yes I know. But you can do it if you set your mind to it.

Get out of that pity party and see the lag as an opportunity for you to avoid mistakes your peers might have made in the 'straight, smooth sailing'.

Starting with realities

I promised to share my real experiences with you. Here they come.

I'll start with my first contact with failure. This came in my University years. I wasn't leading my class from the primary school through the secondary, but I wasn't lagging behind either. Infact, I somehow stood out in my class. Interesting to also note that I got into the university immediately I left the secondary school. All these combined to give me the confidence that I wasn't dumb.

So you can imagine my shock the first time I failed a course in the university. And though I didn't have to repeat the class, I had to take the course again. It was a whole new feeling for me. I had to attend classes with folks that were a class behind me. Okay, being the 'tough' girl that I am, I braved it and retook that course and passed it. But that looked like the gateway to other courses that I had to retake. Somewhere along the line, I kinda got used to it, it didn't bother me anymore but the big one was yet to come!

That was when I failed a course in my final year and I knew that translated into an extra semester. It shook me real hard. I realized my colleagues were leaving me and going off. I had gotten a lot toughened by this time and by the processes I had gone through that I really didn't 'react' to the situation but stood up to it with the hope that I'll meet up with my colleagues after four months at the National Youth Service program. But a bigger surprise was waiting for me. By some error (not on my part), I had to stay back again for another semester! That made it an extra session! I hadn't, in my wildest dreams, imagined this possible. Okay, so I had to face it. By the time I'm leaving school finally, my colleagues would have just 2months to complete the Youth service scheme. That meant that I was a full year behind them!

It's interesting to read this now. But I tell you, the process wasn't palatable at all. I didn't add that by the time I was taking the second semester extra, I was taking the course with my younger brother who had never at anytime met up with me academically till this time. You can only imagine the psychological effect. It was at this same university time that a lecturer told me I was topping my class. In essence, there was no logical reason for me to have failed at all.

I have taken time to share this with you because I don't know what failure you might have faced. It might not be academically, it might be financially, business wise, family wise (oh, do I have a story here), whatever. Just know that you may fail, but you're not a failure. When you give in to the thought or feeling of being a failure, that's when you've actually failed. I'll like to say this also, when your emotions are pent up at these low times, if you feel like crying, please do, if it's screaming, do it. Just let out the emotions, don't get them piled up. And one day, you'll be encouraging others with your story. Only when you dare and choose to live it out!