Everyone and their beagle has pondered on the question - why are we here? I have spent so many sleepless nights try to make sense of this chaos. Are we here to feel happiness and sorrow? Are we here to enjoy each others company? Are we here to be wealthy, or better yet attain all the knowledge this world has to offer? I think I found my answer be looking to my African roots. As a Nigerian, name is of utmost importance to us-we are given names with meaning; your name could be reminiscent of the conditions of your birth like my brother whose name means God has done well-he almost died at childbirth. Your name could also be indicative of who you are expected to become-my name means the power of God. But irrespective of what ever first name you have, as an African your most important name is your last name. So why am I talking about names? I'll get to it in a second.
As a kid my dad always used to tell me that upon his death he would leave me nothing-not a cent or even a shoe; he'd say that he had already given me something of more value-my last name. A name created by my great grandfather, made great by my grandfather, and even greater by my dad. He'd say he'd already given me a name that commands respect and affords to me a level of dignity that I must unequivocally uphold. He was always so passionate about the subject and I realize now what he was trying to say. Those before me were asking me to help them live even after their death-to help the live on by continuing what they started. After much thought, I realized how very alive all deceased great individuals are- Washington, Franklin, Rockefeller, Ford, Hamilton, King, Benz, Johnson, Kennedy, Ghandi, and many more; they are all still very alive in our minds, our thoughts, our vocabulary, our lives. Some were president, some were captains of industry, some were pastors, some were politicians. But whatever they were, they were leaders who either made a name great, or took the greatness that was given to them and propelled it for their descendants. I can not imagine Dr. King, or Henry Ford doing ANYTHING half heartedly-we MUST be passionate about achieving greatness; we MUST be passionate about becoming leaders-we MUST!
So why do we live? So we can leave a name better than it was given to us; so we can continue to live even after death in the thoughts and minds of those we leave behind. Oh what a meaningless life to live only to be forgotten after a generation. We must live to leave our mark! We must do everything with passion and greatness-we are not just living for ourselves, but for those to come. And we must be great so our children and our children's children, and their children, will will never be forgotten; if we do this neither will we! We will never die but rather achieve a sort of immortality that men have sought for all their lives!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Beautiful
If all the flowers in the world were a rose, then the rose would cease the posses all the color, vibrancy, symbolism, and affinity that it currently proclaims. Does it mean the rose is more beautiful than a lilac? This is an unequivocal and resounding no! And without question the same scenario applies for the lilac; you see if every flower where a lilac-it would cease to be beautiful. You see, in the world we live in variety is what affords beauty-difference is what warrants allure-distinguished is what commands elegance and loveliness!
So why do we fight so hard to become the norm?! Why do we fight so hard to be a rose-when we could be taking in all the glory afforded us as lilacs and lilies?! I'm a baffled at this phenom. Everyone wants to be blonde-everyone wants to have bigger breasts-everyone wants to weigh exactly 100 pounds-everyone wants lips the size of grapefruits, everyone wants lighter skin (for those who are dark) and darker skin (for those who are light)! Have we gone mad?! We all want to become the trend without realizing that who we are is a trend in and of itself! We must not want what others have, but rather realize what we have been given, glorify God, and then take pride in what we've got! Face lifts, eye lifts, breast augmentation, cosmetic procedure, hair dye, hair cut, hair straight, hair curl-all these are meaningless. Don't believe me? Then watch the guy at the flower shop spending ages to pick out a selection of roses amongst roses. You see all those roses have the same color, number of petals, and the same length. What make some roses stand out from others is not the physical attributes, but their charisma, their finesse, their character! So what do us guys do-always pick the one in full bloom!!
As human beings we need to be in full bloom at all times-BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE! Remember that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder-not every girl wants tall, dark, and handsome; and not every guy wants skinny, blonded hair, with atypical breasts and lips. My girlfriend (pics to the right) is so beautiful in my eyes (and I'm sure others eyes also) and I let her know all the time. We've known each other since we were seventeen/eighteenish and even today I still piss myself every time I look at here because she's so pretty. So you can imagine my surprise every time she expresses to me concerns and insecurities about her physical appearance-she's freakin hot?! Sometimes I wonder if celebrities where dying their hair red, having breast reduction surgery, and gaining sixty pounds intentionally, if the world would follow suit! At the end of the day, the punch line is we all need to stop trying to be roses! You never know-Mr. or Mrs. Right may just be in the market for a lilac and not a rose!
So why do we fight so hard to become the norm?! Why do we fight so hard to be a rose-when we could be taking in all the glory afforded us as lilacs and lilies?! I'm a baffled at this phenom. Everyone wants to be blonde-everyone wants to have bigger breasts-everyone wants to weigh exactly 100 pounds-everyone wants lips the size of grapefruits, everyone wants lighter skin (for those who are dark) and darker skin (for those who are light)! Have we gone mad?! We all want to become the trend without realizing that who we are is a trend in and of itself! We must not want what others have, but rather realize what we have been given, glorify God, and then take pride in what we've got! Face lifts, eye lifts, breast augmentation, cosmetic procedure, hair dye, hair cut, hair straight, hair curl-all these are meaningless. Don't believe me? Then watch the guy at the flower shop spending ages to pick out a selection of roses amongst roses. You see all those roses have the same color, number of petals, and the same length. What make some roses stand out from others is not the physical attributes, but their charisma, their finesse, their character! So what do us guys do-always pick the one in full bloom!!
As human beings we need to be in full bloom at all times-BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE! Remember that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder-not every girl wants tall, dark, and handsome; and not every guy wants skinny, blonded hair, with atypical breasts and lips. My girlfriend (pics to the right) is so beautiful in my eyes (and I'm sure others eyes also) and I let her know all the time. We've known each other since we were seventeen/eighteenish and even today I still piss myself every time I look at here because she's so pretty. So you can imagine my surprise every time she expresses to me concerns and insecurities about her physical appearance-she's freakin hot?! Sometimes I wonder if celebrities where dying their hair red, having breast reduction surgery, and gaining sixty pounds intentionally, if the world would follow suit! At the end of the day, the punch line is we all need to stop trying to be roses! You never know-Mr. or Mrs. Right may just be in the market for a lilac and not a rose!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Oh what a mighty Power!
It is my solemn and sacred belief that all individuals posses a mighty power. Power within ourselves that let us be free; power within us that makes us great! You see we become more powerful by ridding the world of its power over us. Like a slave becomes powerful by ridding himself of his owner; a caged beast has power by refusing to be controlled; anything that controls our welfare and our destiny has power over us. These are all forms of power either over our minds or our bodies-we must diffuse this power. Powerlessness and weakness have an older brother, smarter and bolder, he goes by the name of fear. To find our inner power we must remove ALL FEAR EXCEPT for the ones we CHOOSE to have.
On the dawn of my adult birthday, I outlined the ONLY fears I would ever choose to have. One of them I believed to be elemental for my success and it is a well warranted fear of the Almighty God. In Matthew, the same warns that it is imperative that we do not fear the one who can destroy the flesh, but the the one who can destroy both the flesh and the soul-for this reason and out of praise and adoration, I fear my Father in Heaven. The other too, is a fundamental fraction of my success and that is the fear of failing. It is from fear that we draw courage and this is one area wherein I wanted to hear, smell and feel fear all around me-the fear of failing I have chosen to have.
In this world there is darkness all around; everyone peddling fear like its going out of style. Terrorists, governments, educators, financial planners, analysts, researchers, news groups, and even our door-to-door vacuum salesman. But we must not be afraid for if we are afraid we give up our God given power to someone else to which they can exercise over us. Outline today the fears you want to have and be not afraid for your life for there is plenty of life after; neither be afraid for the lives of your children; for there is plenty of life for them after also. Do not be afraid of hunger, because even the man with the fullest of stomachs has problems; nor be afraid of thirst for even the man with water drenched lips has sorrow. Choose your fear wisely. When you choose your fear, the punks on the street corner have less power; the sadists, the criminals, the corrupt, they all loose power because fear is there elemental weapon.
When you erase that fear you receive some of the mighty power back. But merely being courageous is not enough! You must act accordingly. People have asked me if my refusal to consume ridiculous and unwarranted amounts of alcohol denotes my contrition towards Mormonism. To which I reply NO-it is my non-denominational desire to not let alcohol have power over me! People ask why not drugs-take a puff they say; here a puff, there a puff, everywhere a puff puff! And i reply again-it is my non-denominational desire to not let illegal substances have power over me! Spend ruthlessly, they say-what good is your money in a bank if you die?! Again I reply-I have been poor and destitute before and it is my non-denominational desire to never let money ever have power over me again! Break the law they say! Nobody will know! But then I realize that every offense is an opportunity for governments to have power over me; every offense is an opportunity to feel fear! You see to have true power you must have more than courage-you must act accordingly! DO NOT OPEN THE WINDOW FOR FEAR! Lock your doors and lower your shutters by acting accordingly-or you have my promise that there will be fear.
Some people say "Do not forget that we are ONLY human", like human is a definitive, limited, and pathetic state. I say "Do not forget that WE ARE HUMAN"! That means that we will make mistakes and fall, but unlike many of God's other creations, we have the power within us to learn, adapt, rise to greatness and overcome fear-Oh what a mighty POWER! We are more than ONLY, we are ALL. And we should wear human upon our breasts, like we are proud, fearless, courageous sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father who are prepared to act accordingly.
On the dawn of my adult birthday, I outlined the ONLY fears I would ever choose to have. One of them I believed to be elemental for my success and it is a well warranted fear of the Almighty God. In Matthew, the same warns that it is imperative that we do not fear the one who can destroy the flesh, but the the one who can destroy both the flesh and the soul-for this reason and out of praise and adoration, I fear my Father in Heaven. The other too, is a fundamental fraction of my success and that is the fear of failing. It is from fear that we draw courage and this is one area wherein I wanted to hear, smell and feel fear all around me-the fear of failing I have chosen to have.
In this world there is darkness all around; everyone peddling fear like its going out of style. Terrorists, governments, educators, financial planners, analysts, researchers, news groups, and even our door-to-door vacuum salesman. But we must not be afraid for if we are afraid we give up our God given power to someone else to which they can exercise over us. Outline today the fears you want to have and be not afraid for your life for there is plenty of life after; neither be afraid for the lives of your children; for there is plenty of life for them after also. Do not be afraid of hunger, because even the man with the fullest of stomachs has problems; nor be afraid of thirst for even the man with water drenched lips has sorrow. Choose your fear wisely. When you choose your fear, the punks on the street corner have less power; the sadists, the criminals, the corrupt, they all loose power because fear is there elemental weapon.
When you erase that fear you receive some of the mighty power back. But merely being courageous is not enough! You must act accordingly. People have asked me if my refusal to consume ridiculous and unwarranted amounts of alcohol denotes my contrition towards Mormonism. To which I reply NO-it is my non-denominational desire to not let alcohol have power over me! People ask why not drugs-take a puff they say; here a puff, there a puff, everywhere a puff puff! And i reply again-it is my non-denominational desire to not let illegal substances have power over me! Spend ruthlessly, they say-what good is your money in a bank if you die?! Again I reply-I have been poor and destitute before and it is my non-denominational desire to never let money ever have power over me again! Break the law they say! Nobody will know! But then I realize that every offense is an opportunity for governments to have power over me; every offense is an opportunity to feel fear! You see to have true power you must have more than courage-you must act accordingly! DO NOT OPEN THE WINDOW FOR FEAR! Lock your doors and lower your shutters by acting accordingly-or you have my promise that there will be fear.
Some people say "Do not forget that we are ONLY human", like human is a definitive, limited, and pathetic state. I say "Do not forget that WE ARE HUMAN"! That means that we will make mistakes and fall, but unlike many of God's other creations, we have the power within us to learn, adapt, rise to greatness and overcome fear-Oh what a mighty POWER! We are more than ONLY, we are ALL. And we should wear human upon our breasts, like we are proud, fearless, courageous sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father who are prepared to act accordingly.
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