Sunday 26 March 2023

UNIFORM NA CLOTH

 


I was thinking this morning..... I went for a visa interview last week and had to sit in queue waiting to be called to the counter. Ahead of me were different classes of Nigerians. Young and old, literate and illiterate. Of particular interest was a Police officer fully dressed in his official uniform.

I waited to see if he will use the usual Nigeria Police intimidation tactics, but no, he behaved and followed the queue. Then came the interview as he stood before the oyinbo visa officer. Will she be intimidated by police uniform? Usai! She asked a couple of questions and said 'sorry, we are denying you the visa.'

What? I was waiting for the Policeman to protest and probably arrest the visa officer but no, he put his tail between his legs and walked out quietly. As he shut the door behind him, I understood the line in Fela Kuti's 1974 song 'Alagbon Close' that says 'Uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew am.'

In Nigeria, we are so used to workers intimidating people with their uniforms. Some nurses abuse and intimidate their patients, policemen intimidate civilians, some cassock-wearing MOGs abuse their members, even civil defence have started using their uniform to intimidate. What they all don't realise is that uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew am.

Uniform is meant to certify legitimacy and suppress individuality, but many have used it to show oppressive authority. While uniform open doors for some, it closes doors for others. A man or woman is not made by the uniform they wear but by the person within. Afterall, uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew am.

Some pretend to be a sheep and suddenly becomes a lion with a uniform on. It's a lie. They've always been a lion waiting for a uniform to confer legitimacy. Stop defining your personality with your uniform or job because most people will look beyond the uniform for the person behind. Be good and upright despite the uniform you wear, otherwise when it matters most, the visa officer of Life will look at the uniform and say 'Visa denied.' Afterall uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew am. 1st Samuel 16:17 says 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature.'

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey

Sunday 19 March 2023

THERE'S ALWAYS A FIRST TIME

 



I was thinking this morning... Last Wednesday evening, I called to check if a friend who travelled to Abuja on a day trip had returned. He told me that on the flight to Abuja, he sat beside a young lady, in her thirties, who on arrival in Abuja did not know how to unfasten her seat belt. She struggled for a bit and looked to him to assist. He happily did without making her feel ashamed.

When they disembarked, he saw the lady standing by the foot of the aircraft, expecting her checked-in luggage to be handed to her. My friend understood what was going on and led her to the baggage carousel in the arrival hall. It was while they were waiting she confessed that it was her first time of flying. My friend smiled and said to her 'there is always a first time.'

There's always a first time at something for everyone. I remember my first time of sailing on a luxury cruise from Miami to Bahamas. My goodness! It was a wow experience for a Warri boy. My Nigerianess was on display from embarkation to disembarkation. The good news was everyone was willing to help without making me feel stupid or out-of-sort. I enjoyed every bit of my ignorant first experience.

In a just world, first experience should be fun and enjoyable. The problem is there are many who have made first timers look stupid. If a Warri man had observed me on my first cruise ride, he would’ve called me an Ogbori or a Jew-man or JJC (Johnny Just Come). There are all sorts of derogatory names for first timers out there which have not only discouraged people from asking questions but also from exploring new things.

When a first timer asks for help, give a warm response, whether he be a stranger, new employee or new member of your church. Do not put out the proud 'na we dey run things here' attitude. Always remember that you were once a first timer. Just make every first timer feel that it's okay to be a first timer. Leviticus 19:34 ESV. “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey

Sunday 12 March 2023

WHO IS DRIVING YOUR BUS?

 


I was thinking this morning..... Tragedy struck in Lagos a few minutes before 8am last Thursday when a passenger train collided with a fully-loaded staff bus belonging to the Lagos State Government at the PWD rail crossing, off the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. Six persons died and 96 injured.

As investigation opened to unravel how and why the driver went into the train tracks when other vehicles had stopped, I recalled the idiom 'standing in front of a moving train,' which means to sacrifice one's own life for a noble or loyal cause. But what could be the cause the bus driver was going to die for? No one knows.

The interesting thing was that the bus driver was not among the dead. In the last part of the chorus of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's 1985 Army Arrangement song, he sang '...You go die for nothing (ghen-ghen); We go carry your body go police station, you die wrongfully.....' The dead workers in that bus hit by the train died wrongfully.

Truth is many are being driven by reckless drivers to their death. We have seen people pushed and provoked by their partners or spouses until they commit suicide. They died wrongfully. Who is driving your bus?

There are leaders that have led their nations to unnecessary wars. The 12 year Syrian civil war is a case in point where over 300,000 civilians have been killed because the driver, President Bashar al-Assad has decided to drive into a moving train. The people died wrongfully.

Who is driving your bus? Whether in private or public life, sometimes you really have no control about who drives your bus, but you can add your voice to other voices of reason to call a misbehaving driver to order. Where you have control, then it is important to examine the physical and mental state of the person that will be behind the steering of your life.

If you are the driver of some other persons bus, what's on your mind? Like we say in Warri 'wetin dey work you?' Stay focused and be clear headed so you don't drive the bus in front of a moving train. If you can't save others, at least do not lead them to a wrongful death (Proverbs 24: 11-12).

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey

Sunday 5 March 2023

SHITTY DIARRHEIC EVENT

 


I was thinking this morning...... Weeks ago, I suffered a bad case of diarrhoea. What started as a mere indigestion quickly turned into uncontrolled stooling. I was losing fluid and getting weak with each visit to the restroom.

While waiting for medical assistance to arrive, I needed to do something to reduce the rate of my running to the toilet. So, I quickly thought of applying my knowledge of science. I thought of the principle of gravity and assumed that if I laid down in a flat position or with my head slightly lower than my bowels, maybe the stool will remain in position, since it cannot flow upwards.

I was so wrong. With my head in a lower position, the stool moved in the opposite direction. I learnt something new in 'medical physics' that it doesn't matter the direction the head is facing, 'shit' goes in only one direction, down the intestine.

There are many people that have made themselves like shit. They have a good leader headed in the right direction but they have decided to go the wrong way. Knew a great and upright man who was a role model to many in the society, yet had a son that was a menace to society. The young man was like shit programmed to move in one direction, irrespective of where the head is facing.

In the run up to the February 25th election, the perception was that the President (the head) was poised to ensure a free, fair and credible election. What happened proved the theory of my medical physics that 'it doesn't matter the direction the head is facing, shit goes in only one direction, down the intestine.'

If there is anyone you are mentoring who is bent on going the wrong way, don't despair. Do not let the action of a few delinquents make you feel like you have failed or not doing enough. Don't allow one shitty diarrheic event spoil your day. Our efforts in doing right will not be in vain. Galatians 6:9 'And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.'

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey