UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

 

He ought to love me anyway

The selfish spouse dreams away

Its called Unconditional love

To be given by my love

I can get fat like a ball

Cos Humpty sat on the wall

He’s going to bear my weight

Cos I bore the baby’s weight

My hair has got the fritz

My nail is chipped to bits

But I could care the less

And he won’t love me less

The house has picked the stink

My throat can give the clink

The bunk has lost the thrill

And funk has gone the sill

I wake up to a call

So dry has gone his balls

My beloved drifts away

There’s so much of deray

My hands have lost the rope

But my heart will pick the hope

I pray that I can cope

And trace the steps to scope

PS: I’m sure I suck at poetry, I just hope I’ve not made an utter fool of ME

I’ve been thinking about unconditional love for a long time- its boundaries and limits, where does it start? Where does it end?

Are we to demand for it? Where do we draw the line in our demands?

Are we to give it in return? do we give it enough?

I’ve come to ponder on the reason why spouses lose their figures

Why we irritate our loved ones and make no efforts to stop

Why we indulge in many bad and unattractive habits

I think I know the answer, or something close to the answer- We think we deserve to be loved by them, Unconditional love is our right

Truly you are supposed to be loved, flaws and all, you ought to be yourself with no pretense in front of you loved ones, but most importantly if you love the people around you, you need to make conscious efforts to show them that you love them by getting rid of filthy habits

When you love someone, you have their interest at heart and sometimes you put them before you

This is why you need to think about them and make choices that make them feel good

Get rid of that excess weight

Get rid of those nasty habits

Clean up after yourself

Drop those cigarette sticks (when you come down with cancer, they suffer more than you do and when you die, they grieve more than you, do you grieve anyway- the gods may be angry, but dead people don’t go crying, or maybe they do at St. Peter’s gate)

Sometimes, life puts us in situations where we may seem helpless, in those situations-they understand, they help

But what about people who have all it takes to live a desirable life

Hands and feet to move around and take care of themselves

I think insensitivity should be made a punishable offence

Yea- They are supposed to love you anyhow, but must it be anyhow?

GETTING TO ZERO

Are there days when you want to talk and no words come out?

when you want to speak and there’s no inspiration,

when you want to live but life doesn’t want any part of you

Those days happen, to me, to everyone, but they happen most times to some people.

Imagine what it will be like to have to take your bath with your cloths on,

To have to make up before every selfie,

To have to take permission before you pass ‘flatus’

Many people don’t have to imagine it, they live it……. maybe not exactly

But it doesn’t have to be so.

For many awesome years, few people have been on the forefront of a war that is for everyone- the war against HIV/AIDS

In the words of Charlie Sheen “ everyday of every month, of every year, countless of individuals go to work, man their stations, fulfill their professional obligations with a host of disabilities, diseases, imperfections, hurdles, detours………….treated, HIV is no different".

Today’s message goes to everyone

To those who don’t yet know their status –Get tested

To those who know their status- Live right

To those on a vengeful mission- Lay down your arms spread the message not the virus

To our dear brothers and sisters who think being healthy is an exclusive merit of theirs, think about that positive infant who knows not the origin of his status, think about that girl child who was raped, think about that helpless victim whose life was saved with that blood transfusion, think about that ignorant spouse whose partner chose to keep a secret, think about  that young man who could only get a shave in the town barber’s shop, think about all those things you never did right but didn’t have to pay for them. Think about HUMANITY.

I think its time for everyone to join in the fight, not against the victims, but against the Virus.

Let us take it down to the zero level:

Zero new infections

Zero stigmatization

Zero discrimination

Zero deaths.

its WORLD AIDS' DAY 2015

LET'S GET TO ZERO

...........not my property

Ok, and every religion is disowning terrorism n divorcing killing of innocent people, that's a very noble thing to be done.
While growing up, even before Boko haram and ISIL became the new Happening groups, I have always heard that a CERTAIN religion believed that when they kill or die killing unbelievers, Heaven becomes their prize, I'm talking about 15 years ago, when although the only TV program my Parents made sure we watched was NTA news, we never used to hear about a lot of mass killings.
My question is, if killing of unbelievers wasn't part of the teachings of that religion, why didn't their leaders correct them, why weren't the properly indoctrinated, why didn't someone speak up, if they were misinterpreting the scripture, why didn't someone clarify it?.
I weep for the souls that meet their makers unprepared, I weep for those who mourn n are mourned, I also weep for terrorism, who has now become an orphan.
When an evil seed, perhaps a weed is sown, not uprooting it has the same effect as nurturing it- it is given a chance to live, and trust me, that seed competes well, it grows well, it brings to birth others of its kind, and together, they TAKE OVER, that is how bushes come to be.
It's a Monday to make a difference, Look good, Speak up and Soar high.

BLACK FRIDAY

 Its BLACK FRIDAY once again.

DO WE REALLY FORGIVE?

After relishing some events in times past, I started pondering on 'forgiveness', it’s a topic I’ve prided myself in being so conversant with, in thoughts, words and deeds, but right now, i'm in doubt, do I really understand it like I thought I did?.

I’ve seen people say “I have forgiven her, but I don’t think we can be friends anymore”, I have heard my own voice echo those same words, maybe paraphrased, but today I excogitate and ask myself, did forgiveness really take place?  If it did, at what point did it take place. Where in-between not caring (about the person), and getting along like before can forgiveness really be found, where in-between oblivion (towards the person) and care lies the forgiveness.

I try to think about the Man in whose footsteps I walk today, the Man whom I imitate, I dwell on my relationship with the Cross-bearer, I’ve stumbled countless times, but when I go back, He forgives me, even when I don’t notice that I’ve strayed from the right path, He draws my attention to it. I know He truly does forgive me because I feel it, I sense the peace and love that flows in the blood and water gushing on me. He forgives and holds it no more against me. He acts like nothing happened, he pretends like I didn’t just drive in those nails deeper into his hands again. If he forgives like we do, wouldn’t our relationship with him be strained forever?  Did we really forgive? Did I really forgive? DO WE REALLY FORGIVE? Even when I finish this text, I may still not have found an answer to my question

PEOPLE are definitely going to hurt PEOPLE, PEOPLE will definitely hurt YOU, YOU will definitely hurt YOU and YOU will definitely hurt PEOPLE. Finding a place in your heart to acknowledge the hurt and let go of it is what really makes life beautiful and PEACEFUL. Amnesia may not be possible, we will definitely remember what has been done, but remembering them with a shrug on our shoulders and a smile on our faces shows that we have truly conquered hate. I think those who hurt us including ourselves eventually realize it and pay for it in one way or the other, I think sometimes, even those walls of ice round those hearts eventually melt and life returns back to those hearts and they bleed. Even if they don’t break or melt, I think someone already paid for those offences, Calvary already did collect enough blood for that hurt. Making THEM pay again, making yourself pay again, putting them on trial again, restraining yourself behind the dock for a case that has been heard and concluded with a “GUILTY BUT ACQUITTED” isn’t even possible, it is called DOUBLE JEOPARDY.

May our weekend be filled with peace as we go about doing good.

DIGNITY IN MENTAL HEALTH

“If I can remember one hundred and thirty lines for my part in a movie, then why can't you see my ability.........."

These words from a person with ‘Down Syndrome’ rang and echoed in my head like the chiming of an invisible clock for ages.

As someone who believes in ‘Judgment day, and in ‘life after death’, I’ve tried countless times to understand how, just how people with mental health challenges will give account of what they have done, but I’m yet to decipher, though I catch a glimpse in those crazy moments when we all get mad, yell, and scream, throw things and end up having a lot to be sorry for because for one minute, we just couldn’t get it together, in those moments that all the explanation we could give amounted to - “I don’t know what came over me”.

Those hours we get on the bus from the east of Nigeria to the far north, the times we are stuck up in the traffic after work, those days we get through the busy and ‘linefully’ strenuous process of registration in the camps before we settle down, do you know what they all have in common? - We all end up with sticky bodies, and more than food we all want the feel of water on our skin (like our sins could be washed away by it), and do you know one person who wishes to be like us after that, that man on dreadlocks who we passed by on our way back from the market, that very popular one.

Dear leaders, isn’t it unfair that we let our brothers, sisters, parents and children roam the streets when we can give them homes and rehabilitation, when we have the option of equipping our psychiatric centers and giving these people a life? Isn’t it iniquitous that the rest of the public have their lives endangered because we can’t do what is right? How do we manage to get some sleep on our beds when they have their crib on a pile of dirt? I wonder how we lost it all- OUR FEELINGS. Don’t think you are left out. You have a mental challenge when you don’t treat those who are open with theirs right.

You know those movies we watch, where one forgets his name, and where another keeps getting lost cos they can’t remember their way back home, those movies are real, they happen too. These people aren’t faceless or nameless, they aren’t non-existent either, We have them everywhere around us, even in our families. They need more love and care than we need.

Let us give them something that isn’t impossible, let us give them DIGNITY,

If you can smile at everyone you meet on your way to work, do you know that you will end up happier?

If you will seek confide in someone when you feel low instead of trying to keep it all together, do you know what you will save yourself from?

If you know when to stop and get some rest when all your head says is “there’s more work to be done”, do you know you’ll have one less person to be bothered about?

If we can get high on some deeds and not ‘high on some weed’, then a lot can be avoided.

Eat right, keep fit, exercise your brain (puzzles and games), live, love, smile, talk.

Anxiety, Stress, Depression, Alzheimer’s, Down syndrome, Schizophrenia, Substance abuse………….

 Let’s stop the abandonment, let’s stop the isolation, let’s stop the discrimination and stigmatization. Let’s all give love, let’s all gift DIGNITY.

It’s WORLD MENTAL HEALTH day 2015, it’s all about DIGNITY IN MENTAL HEALTH.

The man at the gate

It was a Tuesday Morning, a Beautiful day, though not all could see it, but all could appreciate. I sat comfortably restrained at the passenger's side of the shuttle- like it was my private car, no one dragging the space with me, except the driver. There he stood at the gate, Shades over his eyes and cane in his hand, the tall man aging just fine, flagged down the car, asked to be taken to the bank. The driver agreed and just as the man was getting to the car, he drove off. I could only ask why, 

 "why did you leave him?"

" I no fit go that side"

 The man from the gate obviously needed help. I wondered what composite was the driver's heart made of maybe a mixture of stone and carbon fibre,  maybe  graphene and copper, maybe steel and concrete or maybe a composite of all of them. Then it hit me. I kept on thinking, fuming, pitying, but I never took a step, I had the option of giving the driver a bitter pill of words but I didn't, I would as well have insisted he picked the man, I didn't, I would have dropped and offered my assistance, but I sat there and did nothing. I definitely got over it but not without a thorough beating from my conscience.

How often do we feel without acting, what load of unexpressed feelings do we carry, how do we get through d night knowing we should have said something but kept mum, knowing we should have reached out but held back. Most times, we never get the chance again, and opportunities slip away because we didn't act according to the desires of our heart or according to rightful thinking. How would that man have known I felt bad, I wanted to help, that I wasn't vain, if I didn't reach out. Sometimes it hurts us forever, sometimes we can't retrace those steps. But we can begin afresh, to declare our love, to declare our support, to give a helping hand and to speak words that reflect our thoughts.
I got my chance back, not with the man at the gate, but with YOU whom I tell my thoughts exactly.