THIS SATURDAY MORNING

It’s Saturday and I am still in bed at 9.30am. I don’t work on this day of the week and when I am not on a trip, I usually have a late breakfast, go to the afternoon movies, hang outdoors for a while, eat lunch out and return home at night fall to watch the football games on TV.


However today, I am flirting with thoughts otherwise. I am considering staying indoors, do the school work I had planned for tomorrow and do every other thing homely! But I also have to go to the TV subscription office today...and there is a premiere at the movie theatre. I think I made one call too many yesterday in the evening, the tone of which led me bed early. Yea, I feel I am crowding my thoughts again, hence my drift towards being indoors today.

Also, I think I woke a bit too early this morning and have had extra time to loll under my duvet. I have invented my Saturday to free my mind from the monotony of work and of life all together. It’s my day to do my own thing, to add some variety to life, catch up on the events around me and see the life out there. I must confess that this too is becoming quite a routine in itself but until I can come up with something else, I shall rise to the rhythm coming from my bedside CD player and get this day started.

I have always find fun in everything after all. Today will be no exception.

EVERYONE IS DEPRESSED

A colleague called me a while ago asking how she could get antidepressants. Another friend of mine said he's just finally got out of depression. Someone spoke wth me yesterday wanting me to attend to a mutual friend of ours who is stressed out. All of these coupled with the number of cases of depression I have to deal with daily, I am begining feel that everyone is depressed.O yeah, I went to bed out of sorts the other night because "we" lost the game. Everyone is depressed.

I can't  say why, but seems it's sometimes quite a task keeping up with the fast pace that life has become in our generation. Goals,deadlines and desires of life that require our stretch everytime. And there are bills too - this loan-based modern financing approach makes slaves out of people you know. Man's drift towards wanting more; money, position, possession and the outright damn folly in the heart of some have left many a mind warped. People lose their sleep, their eyes akin to over-flooded dams at bed time, they  fight to concentrate on hitherto routines, bark at friends and family, enclosing themselves into a shell of solitude as they become worthless to themselves and everyone else. Alone and depressed. The zest for life is gone. Suicide becomes an option.

If the reins of life are not handled delibrately, it's almost natural, everyone tending towards it, everyone getting depressed.

TO MY FRIEND TOMI - MANY THANKS

I acknowledge I have not written much on this blog to start counting the number of posts. However, I got a mail from a friend today in which the central theme was about giving credits to whom it is due and this, early enough. So when another friend told me today she read, loved and forwarded one of my blog posts to a number of friends for whom it was a timely word, I know I had to do the bidding of the earlier email.

I will put it like this:

“I stumbled into your blog in 2008 and loved what I read. I was so fascinated; I made a bookmark of your blog site. I knew I could do something similar but for about a year, I nursed the thoughts using yours. To my friend, Tomi Lamikanra (www.olaoluwatomi.blogspot.com) thanks so”.

THE TOP

Below is the sequel to my blog post The Colours of War. It is an excerption from another author. Enjoy the read.


You are the top when you have made friends with your past, are focused on the present and optimistic about the future.

You are the top when you have made friends with your adversaries and have gained the love and respect of those who know you best;

When you are filled with faith, hope and love;

And live without anger, greed, guilt, envy or thought of revenge;

When you know that failure to stand for what is morally right is the prelude of being the

Victim of what is criminally wrong.

You are the top when you are matured enough to delay gratification and shift your focus from your rights to your responsibilities.

You are the top when you love the unlovable, give hope to the hopeless, friendship to the friendless and encouragement to the discouraged;

When you know that success, a win does not make you and failure, a loss does not break you.

You are at the top when you can look back in forgiveness, forward in hope, down in compassion and up with gratitude.

You are the top when you are secured in who and whose you are, so are in peace with God and in fellowship with man;

When you clearly understand that failure is an event not a person, that yesterday ended last night and today is your brand new day;

When you know that he who will be the greatest among you must become the servant of all.

You are the top when you are pleasant to the grouchy, courteous to the rude and generous to the needy;

Because you know that long term benefits of giving and forgiving far outweigh the short term benefits of receiving.

You are the top when you recognize, confess and develop your God–given physical, mental and spiritual abilities to the glory f God and for the benefits of mankind.

You are at the top when you stand in front of the Creator of the Universe and He says to you “well done, thou good and faithful servant”.

THE COLOURS OF WAR

I got the flick on my mind to fill my blog with the above title while going through the news headlines on cnn.com just before going to bed last night. Right on top of the home page was a colourful picture of a military parade from North Korea. As I looked closer, I thought to myself that if only the photo was showing the colours of battle, then war is beautiful.


What is the origin of conflicts, the extrapolations of which makes men want to kill their fellow men? From the age when all there is to war was about thrusting another man’s flesh with anything sharp to the development of the A- bomb, the weapons as well as the politics of war have evolved over time. It’s amazing that these days, the final executors of war, the ground soldiers and their like sometimes have no idea on why they do what they are doing. They are just following orders from a Commander-in-Chief who is comfortably seated far away in front of a screen. Hence, these “heroes” come back from the battle fields, become depressed or go the direction of the sociopaths we have heard about so often and again. The truth is, unlike the soldiers of the distant past, they never had a personal reason to kill another man.

I read some where while still a little boy that the first and foremost battle is that of the self. It said that no matter what battles we have won in life the most important will always be winning the battle within ourselves. Our inner convictions and peace is our greatest ally in life. As I glance over the same page on cnn.com, I saw a video of James Cameron saying he will not win an Oscar with Avatar. Indeed, the battles of our mind can suddenly make us look less invincible after a major feat. Winston Churchill had is doubts and went on to lose the immediate election after WW2, Adolf Hitler had his hesitations within the inner circle of his influence, Bill Clinton wrote about the demons in his “Life”.

It’s our conquest in the wars within us that make for true peace, the colour and rhythm of which a famous author has called The Top.

(Please refer to the next blog post; The Top)

THE GAZE

                A shot of the Thai Army in parade,2008.



MY EXTRA THOTS

 I remember it was a morning exactly 20 years ago when at the school assembly, we were told that there would not be classes that day. Instead we were to take a long walk, about 2 km to another school. A black leader had just been freed after 27 years in prison and we were to take this walk to the venue where other schools would be gathering for a solidarity rally. The name of the freed man: Nelson Mandela. I was in my 1st year of high school then and I didn’t really understand the value of that solidarity walk. Looking back now, I’d say I’m glad I was a part of a triumph to humanity. Here is a hearty cheer to the courage of Nelson Mandela.


LOL!
Love is in the air as Val’s day is 3 days short. So here is a laugh line on the subject of sharing love.

A husband, who is a certified public accountant, works 15-hour days for the first few months of the year. In spite of his hectic schedule, he took time out to order his wife flowers for Valentine's Day. While pondering what sweet endearment to write on the card, he obviously began thinking of the many hours of work still ahead of him. His note read: "Roses are red, violets are blue. If I weren't thinking of you, I'd probably be through."

MAKE UP YOUR MIND,PLEASE!

Some times I just get really irritated at peeps that seem never to make up their minds on what I consider the lesser objects in life. Whether it’s choosing to add chilli to one’s fries, preferring brown sugar to white at the coffee shop or hesitating between the hand dryer and the tissue paper in the Gents, the list is just ridiculous.


As a passive rule, I never order lunch to the work place- I take the break and go out for lunch on my work days. This is mainly because it affords me some time to free up my thoughts from the hassles of the job, allows me to breathe in some fresh air and see the sunlight out there. So I went out today for lunch and got on the queue for my order. The line never seemed to move forward for so long because some lady up front could not just make up her mind on what she wanted to be added to her main meal. From my position, I saw the attendant was making good efforts to be cheerful to her. But for those of on the line who wanted to just “grab” our lunch and dash out, it was tiring and almost unfair. I stood there and just marvelled on how people make so much fuss on the little things of life. The wait was long enough that by the time my turn finally came my lunch time was almost over.

Today, I agreed to when it is said that life is played as we make it. It is complex when we think it from a complex view point; it’s simple when we take it simply. I also accept that the customer is always right and reserves the right to his choices, however long it takes to decide what that choice is. But there is always someone else behind on the queue whose life is beyond a single purchase. I write this piece with some humour in my mind as I might as well be expressing my discomfort with some of my own closest female friends- whose hobbies include shopping. In fact, this is the only way one of them relieves stress!

But truth has to be told. We should never stretch our rights to the extent they disrupt the schedule of others; especially when those rights only serve to protect us from our inability to make up our minds. The point can be made that the reason some folks can not make up their minds on certain things is because those issues are not matters of life and death. But since we live in communities, kindness is almost a human obligation. So when it’s not a matter of life and death, step aside from the queue and make up your mind. Please!

When you have the opportunity to choose between being right and being kind, choose kindness.

LEARNING NEVER ENDS

My activities in the last few weeks have put me in the frame of mind that I have not had in a while. It’s about picking another institutional certificate. For 5 years now, I have been less active in day-day academic schedules, engaging my learning skills only in studying for the few professional examinations and these, mostly because I have had to change my work environment more than once. Of course there is the less regular check on facts here and there owing from the ever-improving virtue that my job imbibes. All of the above-mentioned have been atop the background undergraduate training I had those “many” years ago.


I am back to the class room, to assignments, deadlines, active (and almost -) daily studying, the application of facts, group discussions, fact-proving/presentations. And there is that log book to carry around and fill. All these with a profound web-based learning tool that could make a gizmo enthusiast like me become a real time geek. These thoughts flashed through my head when at a point during my first contact session, the co-ordinating professor asked the class to log in their individual ID, test run our discussion board by posting a piece on the how as post grad student we would combine studying with our regular “daytime” jobs. Then I had to compose another mini essay on myself to be fed into the school’s “who-is-who media library”. Shortly after, I heard one of my tutors advising the class members on the need to develop our individual thesis very early. The jolt couldn’t be more; I am back to school and my verdict- learning never ends (any way).

Here is a paraphrased excerpt from that composition about myself. I believe the best thing about being human is in the possession of a high intellect. Compassion is instinctive and Faith is acquired; both of which are gainfully channelled through a functional mind. I have found much fun and essence in the engagement of my mind, whether it’s observing a coach apply sound tactics to a game, following a brilliant plot in a movie or reading the skill in which a biography is told.

So for me, it’s the interplay of the mind that makes learning fascinating. Formal education does not only stimulate a higher intellectual process but in fact bring order to the intellect and in the end garnish the product of the mind. Yes, the joy of learning is in the use of acquired knowledge for the betterment of life. The formal school life is here again and this “adult education” has begun.



If I have seen any further, it’s by climbing on the shoulders of those who have gone ahead of me.


Extra Thots:

I have read that the latest kid in the techno-block, I Pad is a magnificent addition to Apple’s already witty kit.

The world witnessed in dismay the horrors of the earth quake in Haiti just before I went to school. Our hearts and goodwill go its victims.