This man...

Good taste is relative, but none can bury the fact that this man is the real deal. This man was thought to come and change nothing but the complexion of the White House, but he markedly reformed directions. This man raised the bar so high that America will no longer be satisfied with mediocrity. This man is a confidence giver - one who when he speaks gives you faith in the validity of your dreams.

This man is a gentleman, an epitome of hope, propriety, class, grace, charm, eloquence, and dignity - perhaps why this man is the most admired man in the world. This man knows the value of women and family, and he respects every person’s right to basic human dignity. In a world choked by un-presidential presidents, this man and his maintained a class of their own - so dignified and confident that they became the standard by which First Family demeanour is measured.

Even where circumstances got rough and real, this man was able to maintain equanimity - no mood swings. This man is as nice to his peers and the privileged as he is to the janitor. He is a man of many firsts, a man who blew apart walls of divide and built bridges of unity. This man is the coolest President of all time and my adoptive but in fact not-so-distant cousin. Now I’m getting all emotional, wishing this man was ours.

God's still....

God wouldn’t deign to come down and deal with individual excesses of this human world, but because it is He who allows them to occur, it is He who thwarts them whenever He chooses, usually by causing you to do things that will involuntarily work against your own, enabling you to self-destruct - sort of, and bringing about an ironic twist of outcome. Some will give it superstitious interpretations, some will say it’s a divine involvement, and those into modern literature will call it poetic justice, but I believe it is God’s still.

A piece of observation…

OBSERVATION: today, too many people are eagerly wishing to become supermodels.

IMPLICATION: negligence of the dire shortage of role models, and failure to notice how messed up it can get.

RECOMMENDATION: find out what it takes to be a role model and be one.

A piece of wisdom…

Muddy water is best cleared when left to settle. If you're badly thirsty and the water at your disposal is as muddy, you may have to hold up a minute - a restless wait sometimes. However, knowing that processes take time, it is best the wait than to divest oneself of all confidence in the process. Impatience, even where seemingly justifiable can render the water more muddy and difficult to drink.

Motivational Monday!

Converting any dream into reality is always exacting, but it’s the best skill ever. It’s exacting in the sense that the end is not always determined by the pace of the chase, but in knowing where to place your feet as you go. Someone said you need to “follow your heart but take your brain with you.”

My guess as to what the author means is this: listen to what your heart tells you but with careful consideration of all possible effects. When the road feels creepy like it always will, be focused, be hopeful, connect the dots and you see that you’re probably not as far as how far you’ve already come.

Circumstances create unexpected relationships...

From excursions, to scouting and basketball campsites; from the dormitories of Armitage to Nusrat High School's morning assemblies, and from yard to foreign, one thing I can confirm is that no place or time is so hopeless that you cannot cultivate connections.

As a matter of fact, circumstances and occurrences will almost always create unexpected relationships, rapport if you like, and friendships if nurtured, or even stronger feelings of deep affection - y'know, discovery of chemistry and all.

When you quote people, be truthful about it …

It is acceptable to quote one another in our daily conversations; we all do it. But then only if the chain of reference is not going to be as stretchy as: Skinny said that Spoonhead said that Dummy said that Bitchy said that Deejay said that Mouthy said that he heard Paco saying that he laid Slutty the other day.

Since what is being said to have been said is going to be on the credibility of the one cited as source, do him justice and let the quotation be accurate, otherwise tell Skinny to tell Spoonhead to tell Dummy to tell Bitchy to tell Deejay to tell Mouthy that Habeeb Akande said that the talker should fill his mind with all the facts before he empties his mouth.

You become what you think of what you read

The reason why some of us cannot see the objectivity in what others write on social media is because we tend to offer ourselves as default objects of contention.

So rather than seeking to overstand what we read, we end up looking for means to turn the argument against the originator.

If you ask me, each time you're tempted to assume that the post is about you, remind yourself that the mind is such that you may end up needlessly depressed for becoming what you think.

The denial in not knowing…

Two kids were talking facts and one said to the other: "Once a 7 foot 200 pound bull shark bit off a boy’s arm, the uncle dived in after the shark, wrestled it to shore, got it shot by a ranger, retrieved the boy’s arm and it was sewn back on."

Grandma overhead their conversation, paused her prayer like: "huh!" The kid insisted: "Belahi (I swear) grandma!" Grandma's now angry: "you'll place a curse upon your future with these your obvious lies, idiot!"

See, this is the problem with stating a fact that's too incredible to be true, only those who know will agree - and it turned out that the kid was right. The incident happened in July 2001 and the injured kid's name is Jesse Arbogast.

Like they say in Jamaica: so di ting set!

As long as humankind's thirst for worldly concerns such as wealth, fame, influence and lechery remain unquenchable, expect this to happen: Sense of consequence will dwindle. Some will prey upon others, and some, although present will be morally absent, mostly placing expediency above principle, lest they'll fall out of favour.

But there'll always be a few who'll be imbued with altruism. Theirs will be to seek to taper excesses by inculcating rational conduct. They'll be occasionally misunderstood by some of us, and their task too daunting but to them very necessary. May we know these few. May we be them. May we raise them.

Anger limits vocab...

Having had a temper or prolly still do, I can confirm that no matter your way with words, your anger will get in the way of your eloquence, because whatever you say in anger will have no power to produce the required effect. It would've placed a bound on your vocabulary beyond which, you're inarticulate, and anything you utter thereafter comes along with either profanity or an unhealthful urge to let everything go to hell… I know these things, and prolly the reason why I seem a bit introverted.

My way or the highway is no way!

Whilst some people are very good at reaching conclusions by applying rules of logic, others, irrespective of their academic background do tend to be so emotional in their process of overstanding - we are that different, I guess. So when you really and truly want to communicate, it's essential to either dumb down a bit or you occasionally raise the bar, depending on your audience(s)' exercise of reason.

When I used to come home worked up over the imbecility of certain people, my mom (RIP) will call me illiberal for expecting everyone to see things my way. She had this belief that be they fine minds or minds facing in the other direction, it's always possible to talk or even hangout with anyone and have a good time, and her prescribed means of attraction being the ability to use 'different strokes for the different folks' and not a 'my way or the highway' attitude - this helped me a lot.

E-combatants…

On social media, when a post arouses controversy, and you see sanity moving out, defeating all purposes, keep calm, take hold of your front-row seat and get ready for some very brutally hilarious comments. Y’know, like one big brawl of a wrestling match gone wild (lamb bu yaahoo); only that it’s virtual.

You’ll see e-tough guys, most of who will tend to diss for no logical cause, or exploit the situation to annoy someone that they all the time wanted to get at, but under the guise of keeping it real. Each e-combatant sits afar, sending leglocks (galgal) and punches at one another, but ultimately no takedowns and no tapouts.

If you ask me, when shit gets real and you’re tempted to go on the thread to squash the beef, think twice. It can initiate unexpected consequences. If you think you’ve gotten enough, best move’s to stay calm knowing neh mbeur bu torg computer’m mba tollu falleh di yornay galgal du tojj aren. P.S - I’m not passing any judgment. I’m only describing.

Relativism of opinions...

Those old-time NBA reporters when commenting will extol every player’s move as either amazing or incredible, even where one of the moves was thwarted by the other. For instance: “what an incredible crossover by Gary Payton, but did you see that amazing steal that Scottie Pippen just pulled.”

See, by that commentary, Scottie stole the ball from Gary, but that doesn't make the latter's crossover any less incredible. Same way, I’ll read one argument on here and in my head I’ll be like: “wow, he’s got a point you know!” Then on the same thread, or on a separate status but the same topic, I’ll read a totally differing notion and I will say: “hell yeah, she’s got a point too!”

Now how can two conceive one thing differently and both are right? I know, it sounds insane. But then unlike instances where an assertion is supported by evidence, it'll be unfair to attach absolutes to the formation and conception of opinions and preferences; those are relative to the persons holding them. So it's safe to say that on here, everyone's entitled to his, provided it is not a blatant lie, gross disrespect, or a transgression.

Couriers of misery…

When times are as bleak and someone’s tending to give up hope, overstand that people are differently built. So, even where there's evidently very little promise, try and keep the bad news, especially if revealing it wouldn’t make any difference. Let your words be so soothing that folks will feel at ease around you.

Let your conduct be conducive to instilling hope of a better situation after the hardship, because whether it was malice that you intended or not, forecasting doom out of a bad situation as if it’s already in sight can make the situation even worse.

If you cannot do all that, keep calm and let folks adapt. In fact, life sometimes takes a very unpleasant direction to happy endings – and in case your mind’s already in the gutter, by “happy ending” I don’t mean a handjob.

Let me rephrase: don’t be like those spirit-killing transistor-holding, BBC News-listening, pseudo-conscious, unqualified teachers, nurses, and those self-important almost-educated minor officials in the provinces who after listening to BBC Focus on Africa will be like: “Heey nyun! Allahu’Akbarr!” even when what was being said wasn’t as serious, causing innocent locals to feel so worried and anxious to know.