Friday 29 May 2015

Living an Addiction Free Life



LIVING AN ADDICTION FREE LIFE
Everybody values personal freedom and independence. One can never fully appreciate this basic, essential right in life until one loses it to incarceration, debilitating illness, disability or addiction. I am sure when you read the word ‘addiction’ your mind goes straight to drug addiction. But then there are so many others things we get subtly addicted to and do not view as a problem. So what is an addiction?

Wednesday 6 May 2015

Aftermaths of Xenophobia - I worry about humanity!

You don’t start living until you rise above individual concerns to humanity concerns.

- Dr Martin Luther King Jr.


You start dying when individual concerns rise above humanity concerns.

- Chigozie  Anuli Mbadugha (Camba)


Humanity is dying! I know this for certain. I used to hear the saying that companies have a human face (if they were big on family, philanthropy and social issues) or that someone should have a human heart. Today it is becoming increasingly easier for people to ignore the needs and pains of people in our communities. Xenophobia makes me wonder if there are hearts in some humans. There is definitely an organ pumping blood somewhere, but the organ is bereft of emotions!

How would your community react if you answered a spiritual call today?

Nigerians and Africans in general do not like to think about death. I don’t either, but sometimes events make me wonder about it. The recent loss of my cousin’s son Miracle Godson in Wigan UK (see previous post) has got me thinking about the issues of life.

 Miracle Godson may have spent only thirteen years on earth but he affected his community immensely. His death reverberated across Wigan, UK. Schools in the community were closed in his honour on the day of his funeral. Flowers, gifts and tributes were endless. People attending the funeral that boarded taxis were given free rides to the house by taxi drivers pained by such a tragic end to a promising life. Rugby teams paid tribute to a talent cut short in its prime. See some tributes and posts in the link below
Mourners at Miracle Godson's funeral

Our Miracle left us!

I got a phone call at about 8 a.m on April 11th 2015. It was sad news. I have had so many over the years that I can almost tell you how to suspect that something is amiss. I will leave those details for another post. May you not receive bad news in Jesus’ name. Amen!

The news I got was the worst I had heard in recent times. Our Miracle Godson was gone. He went out with friends but never came home alive. He drowned in a quarry near Appley Bridge in Wigan, UK and left a hiatus no one can fill and a pain that gnaws and throbs in our hearts. He was a promising child, a budding rugby player; he was just thirteen years old. I remember my last interaction with him some years ago when he visited my home. He was hyperactive, full of energy and wore me out within an hour. Click on the link below for details.
 Miracle Godson

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