Monthly Archives: December 2011
2011…in retrospect.
I don’t know about you, but I find that I’m nostalgic as the curtain falls on 2011. I’m grateful for what occurred and savouring each memory. Not everything was pleasant (normal) but in retrospect a lesson was learned at each stage and left me permanently changed as a result. It’s been a surprising year personally, nationally and of course on the international scene as well. The ugly, mundane, good, great, and lost-for-words was encapsulated.
Without a murmur and much ado the Arab spring was ushered in, Osama Bin Laden and Moammar Ghadaffi got their just desserts, the Syrian massacre still unfolds, Al Qeda continues its gospel of terror but with numerous defeats on several fronts.
Natural disasters like tsunamis, floods, quakes, forest fires and their ilk devastated Japan, Pakistan, Haiti, New Zealand, China, Thailand, Australia, the United States the United Kingdom etc. The political scene also had protests and women giving voice in lands where they had been hitherto silent e.g. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. The riots in Britain took the world by surprise and the woes in the European Union deepened with various solutions in sister nations eliciting different reactions that saw the removal of governments and support (or lack thereof!) in varying degrees.
We had a royal wedding (30 years after Lady Di and Prince Charles) with Kate Middleton becoming Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge. Their guest list was sprinkled with royalty, heads of states and celebs as well as the more common folks that were invited by the new princess.
NASA flew its last space shuttle mission, the Harry Potter series ended; Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World was shut down amidst much ado, whilst Oprah ended her 25year reign on daytime television talk show.
We also saw the demise of Steve Jobs, Amy Winehouse, Ashley Nwosu and the arrest of Baba Suwe without the hardcore evidence after the search of egested remains.
In Nigeria the normally ‘docile’ voters finally found their voice, and notified the political class ‘that business as usual’ was no longer the order of the day! Accountability has come to stay and sidon look by voters no longer their character. The youth were a major force to be reckoned with, thereby signalling that their passion is no longer in rhetoric but action backed by thought, strategy and an iron will.
2011 saw the economic times take a slight for the better in some clime whilst others started experiencing more hardship. A varied year, like the others before and it leaves valuable lessons behind. The most important should have been gleaned, distilled and become part of our repertoire for the New Year that looms.
We should not only be older, but much wiser as individuals, families, peoples and nations come midnight of the thirty-first of December 2011. Let us with an open mind of the events that have gone before, approach 2012 knowing that what we expect may not come to pass, neither what we plan but that something bigger and better than our hopes, dreams and expectations can occur and we’ll be loath to see the end of it all come the last day of 2012.
Happy 2012 in advance…may your dreams be surpassed!!
The Ebb and Flow
Action or inaction either state has its consequences, cause and effect you might say. The way something is done as well as the how also has its separate result. Much like the stone that’s thrown into water and the ripple created spreads out in ever widening circles until it finally abates, that’s the way relationships tend to behave. The people involved affecting each other and vice-versa and the circle of influence ever widening until only echoes remain.
During the tsunami that shook the world, I would have sworn that I didn’t personally know anyone that was affected…only to discover that a close friend had gone on holiday and ended up sleeping in a temple for a few days. This brought the tragedy up close and personal and made it more than another news item.
The same thing occurred during the Japanese reactor crisis earlier this year.
Times of celebrations or tragedy tend to draw us closer (family, friends, acquaintances and strangers alike) and we become warmer and more ‘real’. Defences are lowered and vulnerabilities revealed during these periods. Incidentally it’s also during such times that we come to recognise (and sometimes understand better) the other person (or people) involved.
The truth of the Yoruba saying, ‘omi leyan’ (i.e. people can be likened to water) is brought to the fore when incidents in far flung lands are reported and you discover that it’s not just the natives there that were affected, but in a small way you were as well because of that one person you happen to know. This knowledge might be tenuous at best, but that connection still exists and the emotion that it elicits is tangible and binds you to that occurrence, howbeit even if it’s only for a while.
When you make contact with another person (no matter the degree) and a bond is formed, the effect of this can be much deeper, bigger and longer lasting than the original contact or relationship. As is wont to happen in life, things happen and on this side of eternity we will not know the degree to which a chance encounter changed the outcomes of various lives. Some we may be able to trace logically e.g. when you connect a friend to an acquaintance in a new place to which they have relocated.
We meet to part and part to meet and this continues on a daily basis and it’s only in these meet-ups and break-ups that we eventually make sense of why you had to meet a particular person in order for others that would eventually relate to do so, in one way or the other and to benefit from that initial relationship. As complex as it sounds its simple enough and will continue ad infinitum. Nobody is an island and in this festive season more than ever we ought to appreciate these precious relationships and try and do them justice.
Merry Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year everyone!! God bless…
Drama Queen
Talk about the embodiment of it…she’s just full of it! No, not that (what were you thinking huh?) her drama is far too rich (and excessive!) for my palate. In the most mundane of chores (washing clothes, plates, sweeping etc), going to church or even the mere act of eating has become something of a production; the entire universe must know whenever she (or any percentage) of her family does anything that closely resembles the rudiments of living.
Like normal houses (although there are a few exceptions that beg this question in Lagos!) a kitchen has been provided with the apartment, but the plates, pots, pans and other utensils are brought outside, put on display and subsequently washed and cleaned in the presence of all and sundry! When fruits are purchased nko? They are peeled and diced out in the open, a reminder for neighbours to include as part of their diet perhaps? I’ve heard tell (she loves to share these tit-bits) that on a few occasions some cooking has been done outside the confines of the kitchen. Sadly though, I sympathise with her on this since the soaring kitchen temperatures whilst cooking is unbearable. The best time to cater to your hunger pangs without this repercussion is either early in the morning or whenever you’re ready to be temporarily displaced for a few hours.
Interesting, they aren’t the only ones in residence mind you, but the fact they breathe means we MUST all partake of their daily drama…whether we want or not! My conclusion on the daily shows that’s their life has become is that their lives are simply not as exciting as they would like and so they have to do something to spice it up. On the other hand if I’m wrong in my assessment then I’m totally at sea as to the cause of their behavior or maybe they delight in being the friendly neighbourhood nuisances…
Abby’s activities are carried out with great gusto and with no apologies to the sensibilities of others. On the other hand whenever something happens to the collective, the erstwhile situation subsequently becomes all about her and is magnified beyond recognition. Pray tell, of what consequence is the level of comfort you enjoy? Attending to your life’s necessities is your business and tending to mine my sole preserve. This prime lesson in socialization is lost on her and her kind so and we must grin (grit more like) and bear the outrageous behaviour as it unfolds.
Dear Abby, kindly keep your wahala to your corner of the universe and let us have some modicum of peace. In case you cannot do this, comedy makes for better entertainment and would lighten some days of the long suffering audience you have managed to amass over time!
Thanksgiving and Gratitude
I always thought it odd (and morbid) the slogan written on the back of long distance buses i.e. many have gone. Tragic as the statement is, it’s also true, inadequate precautions by motorists, dangerous driving, bad roads, accidents and the like have taken both passengers and drivers alike. Thus, for me apart from being a slogan it also serves as a reminder to take things easy and carefully observe traffic and safety regulations whilst using the roads.
I use this graphic illustration to remind us that although 2011 might not have been all that we required of it, we should still be thankful that we started it and are still here to see its conclusion. For me it’s that time of the year when I take stock and most especially give thanks…for everything that happened as I planned, those that didn’t despite much scheming and coercion and the unexpected GREAT things that did without instigation on my part.
It’s been a year of firsts on many fronts i.e. I started blogging for the Daily Times, forgot my phone inside a cab (thankfully got it back though!), attended my first writer’s workshop, my first internship experience (great learning curve), the sole occupant in a movie theatre, watched and attended LIVE football matches and I launched my dreadlocks. These are some firsts and will make 2011 unique for me.
My blessings are much more than these and I’m extremely grateful for them and attribute the fact that I’m alive and well to the Almighty. I believe and know that without Him my quality of life would not be what it is and I also know that I have much more to anticipate in the days ahead!
Interesting how past events have become nothing but vague memories (the good and the unpleasant!) and if not recorded easily forgotten. If not captured in written form or pictorial references they gradually fade away. Keeping these memories alive help you better savour and recall them at will, thus ensuring that you remember the blessings you received along the way. A lot has happened in eleven months and the last month gradually becomes old even whilst we experience it. The time slowly trickles away in the sands of time and the best we can do is to ensure we make the best use of each and every moment we have been given.
I’m filled with gratitude for this moment in time and receive each second with thanksgiving. What do you have to be grateful for? Are you bemoaning what has happened and not appreciative of everything you have now? Imagine that it could have been much worse, so chin up and know that if you have lost anything…it’s because of Him you have not lost everything. So take stock but remember to thank God for everything, He is faithful and will continue to remain so. 2012 bring it ON!
