GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Monday, December 9, 2013

NELSON MANDELA, WHY HE STOOD SO TALL.

Icheoku says of all the many things Nelson Mandela did right to deservedly earn the global encomiums being poured on him following his departure, the one thing that stands miles apart is his spirit of forgiveness. Like Jesus Christ he took pity on his traducers and said to them 'your transgressions are forgiven;' and with that he earned an indelible place in the annals of history. Did he forget what happened, no. Did he like every human-being wish he had taken revenge, Icheoku does not know the answer but suffice it to say that Mandela was very pragmatic and tactical in approaching the issue the way he did. Having calculated that his persecutors were still much entrenched within the then South Africa society and that their backers in the West were trigger-ready to respond to save them in case of any anarchy, he called a truce and strategically disarmed both of them in one fell swoop. Icheoku says the reconciliation was more a calculated strategic necessity than a genuine generosity from a magnanimous heart. However no one can begrudge Madiba's judgment and for being that wise under the circumstances of 1990 South Africa. 

One other lesson from the life of Mandela is that service always triumphs over wealth. He was not a multi millionaire yet world heads of states and governments are lobbying hard to be part of his final and last send-off BUT only ninety were so far shortlisted and approved to attend including four American presidents. He was not the richest African or African former head of government to amass most stupendous wealth, yet four American presidents are en-route Johannesburg to be part of history that will bid farewell to a man that indeed truly lived a fulfilled life. Madiba's life is a teachable lesson that the wealth one accumulated is not as important as the service one rendered to fellow mankind. Just ask yourself, how many once-lived gazillionaires are remembered today compared to men and women of moderate means and chaste, whose lives were tunneled to helping humanity's lot. Think of Jesus, think of Martin Luther King, think of Mahatma Gandhi, think of Mother Teresa and now Nelson Mandela - all these people shared one thing in common:- they refused to accept the evil status-quo and gave it their all to affect a different outcome and succeeded; and thus left the world a better place than they met it. 

So ask yourself today how you would want to be remembered. What kind of legacy do you want to live behind after you are gone? Will it be a person who tagged along just for the juicy life and in order to get along or one who answered or at least attempted to answer the call to change what could be made better. He was described by the United States of America as a giant of humanity; by China as a towering figure born in the African continent and by Brazil as belonging in the pantheon of humanity. Nelson Mandela. like the elephant to the six blind men of Hindu, was so many things to so many people; but above all he was a MAN, a real one indeed.

Remember that Mandela also first freed himself before he was freed by his oppressors and then later re-freed himself one more time. First to effectively mount the freedom campaign for South Africans, Mandela prepared for only two possible outcomes - death or prison; and to do this he divested himself of all his earthly possessions including his wife and children. Once freed from slavery to material possessions, Mandela was finally ready to trek the long treacherous road to and for freedom. Like Jesus said that it will be difficult for a rich man to make the kingdom, it is also always difficult for a man of butter and bread to do the heavy lifting that is fighting for freedom. The threatened always employs every tactics known to man to break resolves including drying the wells that water the fortunes of the vanguard as well as coming full throttle after his wife and children. Mandela was fully aware of this, so he helped make the job easier for the apartheid oppressors by telling them that he didn't care anymore. He was later freed after twenty seven horrendous years stay in a six by six prison cell and then he returned the favor by freeing himself of bitterness and anger by forgiving those who wished him ill. 

Also another lesson learnt from Mandela is that being different is okay because if you blend in then you become invisible and nobody will remember you; as you become an ordinary footnote to be mentioned as an aside instead of the topic or headline for daily discussion. Mandela also thought the world that being principled is a virtue and that you do not have to always agree and be agreeable just for the simple convenience of being acceptable by the society. Finally that one can become the lone hollering wolf in the wildness of a society of compromised lot and let posterity be the judge. Mandela refused to be a company-yes-man and also refused to sellout on his people and for this reason, his people are celebrating the ever fulfilled full life he lived. He stood up for his people and today his people are once again standing up for him as his feet yielded its last strength and cannot sustain his weight any longer and forever. Icheoku wishes that world leaders particularly those within the African continent can imbibe 'Mandelism' in their approach to governance so that they can transmute and become leaders and not just presidents and heads of state. Icheoku prays the lessons of his life will not be lost on present day political leaders or interred with his now transformed body. What a charismatic and enigmatic man that walked this earth. Adieu Madiba.

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