We bring for your reading pleasure the following glimpses – observations reflections – into how year 2022 is shaping up.
Sam Amadi . Dike Chukwumerije . Nkem Denchukwu . Mike Asukwo . Ifeoma Malo
Reflections on the New Year 2022 – OUR ATTITUDES
Nothing will Change
Sam Amadi, former Chair of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is now Associate Professor of Law and and Director, Abuja School of Social and Political Thought
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Nothing really will change in 2022.
God will remain faithful. Human beings will be largely foolish. Few will truly love to do the right and the wise things. Fewer still will be able to do the right and wise things. Because of this, things will not change that much.
Still, the righteous shall flourish like a garden in rainy season.
Reflections on the New Year 2022 – INTROSPECTION
Many things we don’t understand
Dike Chukwumerije is a Nigerian spoken word and performance poetry artist and an award-winning author.
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Sometimes, being soft-hearted, soft-spoken, and willing to believe the best in others can make you appear a fool. But it is the foolish things of this world that God uses to confound the wisdom of the times. For if the solutions were known already, they would be deployed already. But even after centuries of exploring and researching and postulating and thinking, there are still many, many things about Earth that we know very little about. And that is just one planet – the one we live on – in an unimaginably vast Universe.
So, do not think that we are anywhere near exhausting the need for Faith as human beings. Too many paths we are standing on still lead through the Unknown. And you will find that in those dark spaces where the light of technology has not yet penetrated, Love – that capacity God put in all our hearts to smile in the face of our trials, to bear up, to persevere, to forgive and move on, even when we do not know tomorrow – shines through. Let nothing ever take it from you. For unlike an app you can download, use and delete whenever you wish, Love – like mountains, oceans, and the mighty Iroko – is from the more ancient sections of our world. You see? With these ones, you reap only if you have taken the time before to sow.
So, invest in books this year. Invest in your social network. Invest in your career and your business this year. But above all invest in your capacity to love. For while we are still looking for that eternally renewable source of energy to power our industries, we are not, in fact, without Power. You see? For, ultimately, this is still true. That the world around you is a manifestation of the world within you. So, turn those lights on in your heart. And shine.
Happy new year.
Reflections on the New Year 2022
Crazy Times. Wahala People
Nkem DenChukwu is a bonafide creative writer, an award-winning author and film producer, a woman whose strength is anchored on God, and a mother of four.
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While onboard to L.A from Oakland, an adult male kept removing his mask. One of the flight attendants kept reminding him to put it back on like he was a two year-old.
He was inconsiderate, senseless, selfish, and ignorant. He clearly lacked common sense. Before take-off, the lady sitting next to him nicely asked him if he was sick because he kept coughing without his mask on.
My eyes almost fell off in shock. I was panicked too! See wahala!
He said no.
While airborne, he removed his mask again a million times and he was asked again to put it back on a million times.
When we landed in L.A, he removed his mask, and the lady finally lost it. Oh boy! She gave him pieces of her mind. Not a piece! The man was speechless and put it back on.
Looking educated and very polished don’t mean you have common sense. The two flight attendants begged the lady to calm down. She was VERY angry. We all were too!
She took his photo.
When the door was opened, airport security came and escorted the inconsiderate man out of the plane. The woman too. We all stood/sat still, speechless, and only communicated with our eyes.
Na wa! Crazy times! Wahala people!
Btw – I wanted to fly the plane ? but they offered to take a shot of me like this, and I promised them a bowl of my signature Jollof rice, fried plantain, and stewed goat meat next time ?
It’s 2022! Don’t forget to reflect and give thanks because you can still feel your heartbeats too ?
No arrow for January
Mike Asukwo is a fine art graduate who majored in Sculpture. He is currently the Chief Editorial Artist at BusinessDay Media.
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Selfishness unbound
Ifeoma Malo is a Nigerian lawyer working in international development. Her work focuses on clean energy technologies, and energy access and climate change mitigation and adaptation across Africa
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It is a new year and there are a few things we should stop doing this year…. Like make it a part of your resolutions … I want to highlight two…
That’s how I turned into emergency church warden today at mass because people come to church and keep seats for their family and friends still in the shower at home. Mass starts at 8.30am and by 9.00am after the Gospel has been read— people are still keeping seats and preventing others from sitting there.
After the Gloria this morning, and seeing the umpteenth person about to be turned away from sitting on two reserved seats close to where we were seated —— my irritation got the better of me, and I intervened and made someone sit there. I then went outside to go get more people standing outside the church to fill up empty seats around me.
When I looked up because I felt I was disrupting the mass, I saw my parish priest smiling/laughing from the alter. Anyway I left immediately after mass so that those upset that their reserved seats were taken don’t beat me. They include the church wardens that were behaving like they don’t know their jobs.
Reserve seats all you want but if (in my own church) if you are not at mass by the Second Reading, please sit your butt at home. Or maybe stay outside the church. Don’t be inconveniencing the rest of the church with your tardiness.
Give the poor dignity
Similarly, it’s great to see a lot of outreach to orphanages and IDPs and hospitals and maternities during the Yuletide.
But I thought we agreed it’s not proper to take pictures of the occupants of these homes or health centers when we go? Please give them dignity. Don’t splash thier faces all over social media. If you must post pictures because you crowd sourced, kindly use the markers on your phone to completely blur out their faces only…
Let us try small this year. I come in peace…
Selah!!!
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