YOUR GREAT ARRIVALS ARE INSTRUCTIVE….

Every first day of May in every year is usually a day of sober reflection and firm gratitude. It remains a day I have learned to balance merriment with the impact of every complete cycle God has graced me to experience on earth. Taking this path of gratitude today does not imply that I have not had my fair share of pains, losses, weirdness, and those moments we sometimes feel we did skip to only the perfect chapters of lives around us. However, it isn’t banal to uphold that a life journey void of challenges and great puzzles isn’t so promising for our lives or generations to come. Consequently, these hills and valleys that feature in our daily living come in handy when passing the baton of resilience, value, discipline, integrity, and purpose to generations behind us.

In our world today, we have had great arrivals of great people who have championed their cause, and even those who have passed on are often still remembered for the dreams they were able to live and achieve. The fulcrum of life finds us on constant steads trying to make sense of our lives as our capacity has been built over time. Today, I realize that I am also caught in the same quest which has over the years made me chase after principles, attitudes, personalities, and will that announce great arrivals.

In perspective, great arrivals of dreams are usually enduring and need no loudspeaker to announce their arrival before maturity. As young ones, sometimes we are often in a hurry to skip the process by showcasing those gifts, talents, ideas, plans, and innovations without holding firm timeously on it by building true quality and capacity to help it survive and flourish across at least three generations. Just like a baby in her mother’s womb, every great dream needs to be protected from several forces of externality to survive quick exit upon her arrival. Every great dream, purpose, plan, and aspiration must pass through a proper gestation period before its arrival. In essence, the birth of a child ushers the commencement of a purpose still at promise, awaiting full manifestation. To ascend to this height commands a high level of nurturing through quality people and a lot of time for all lines to intersect well.

Wealth of deep understanding can also be drawn from the circumstances that surrounded the birth of Jesus Christ. Christ was born to the world to execute the will of God on earth. His arrival was no doubt so great that the three wise men sought after him. On the flip side, was a king Herod bent on quenching this only bright shining star that ruled the sky that cold night. Afterwards, these three wise men had found this great child, worshipped him, and presented gifts to honor him. However, upon angelic instruction, these men refused to feedback King Herod about their success in finding the savior of the world. God’s angel did convey a crucial silent message to who is insistent of this decibel of truth that it is not just enough to be born great, there is a time for isolation, nurturing, building, investing, training, learning, and putting great quality into perspective in order to attain our full potentials. Jesus is great and God can protect him from King Herod regardless; even if God’s angel didn’t mandate them to keep mute and avoid Herod. God did teach the world the principle of building in silence and avoiding the temptation of expending our unique qualities on small things that belittle those great materials God put to usage to build us. He did endear us never to pursue cheap popularity or be in a haste to shine at an ill-time when there is so much that can be achieved by us having built the frame and stature via discipline and consistency.

This day, I admonish you that it is sometimes okay to be comfortable with the fact that others may not see your seed because when a seed is covered it is being protected. Sometimes, our human nature always wants so badly for people to see our seeds to the very extent that we are in a hurry to remove the covering before it is ready to germinate and flourish in the ground. In an attempt to engage our imaginative ability, a farmer can be diligent enough by going outside to bury a seed in the ground and then every single day he goes to the field to uncover it because he needed other people to have early sight of it and seek their immediate validation about it. He then does this so everyone can see his seed instead of allowing the seed to do well under the ground and avail the result to speak for itself. In our life journey, every hasty attempt to unveil our seed out of time and season will not see it do well because for a seed to grow, there are some things that need to happen while it is being covered. Hence, what you should be concerned about is nurturing the seed and wetting the seed with water when others cannot see your seed. A point will then come when that seed will come through the ground and you would not have to ask anybody to come see your seed because it would have broken the surface of the ground. However, even if people do not want to see the seed, they would see it because it’s time has arrived.

There lie sprinkles of wisdom in this piece for a great mind awaiting or nurturing his own great arrival. If your mind has amassed the capacity to dream big or carve big pictures, you must mine deep through the maxims embedded in these letters. Every instruction is gold for every phase and season. Don’t just want to be the fire that cooks the food when you are still in the forest assembling your sticks. Don’t just set up your sticks to cook in a hurry when it is yet dry enough to burn the sticks to the maximum. Make do through patience by learning so much effective enough to stand the storms even on every big stage. In silence and temporal hiding; build stature for people can’t destroy what they don’t know. When your time comes to lead and dominate, your sweat and blood in the secret will keep you tuned.

Thank You. See you next year for another inspiring message.

Written By:

Bright Ndimele

ondimele1@gmail.com

NIGERIA @63: ANOTHER TEARFUL CELEBRATION

Just like an individual within a family formation, Nigeria is one amongst the comity of Nations. As that individual grows into maturity, he begins to take charge of his own destiny with, without or with little support from others. Every birthday in an adult’s life is not just a day of merriment rather a day of sober reflection or what can be termed personal stock taking. On this day, the journey so far seems to resonate in the minds of the celebrant and well-wishers with each sharing their experiences thus far.
Today all global angles intersect on Nigeria with lot of mixed feelings amongst her people. The national quest to independence that was concluded this day in 1960 raised new hopes and faith about a brighter future at the aftermath of a successful colonial project in Nigeria. This day alarmed the start of a banquet all over the country- alas the heroes who fought through colonial dominance were the talk of many towns. Nigeria became the industry where happiness was manufactured and exported to the rest of the world. Her abundance was envied on the global stage well evident with the massive presence of western countries in Nigeria’s commerce, agriculture, education and tourism. It can be said Nigeria casted a spell on the entire globe and it caught them well.
However, Nigeria failed in one key industry over the years which is political leadership. It is one thing to be freed from chains, another thing to take courage and lift those chains, also another one never to think like a slave any longer rather like a free man who now has the access to explore the beauty of freedom to its benefit. Nigeria got her independence but keeps acting like a slave to an already unbind chains. The question posed to us now is who is to be blamed? Is it our colonial conqueror who freed us? Or Nigerians who have failed to use their freedom to their own advantage?

Our God of creation as engraved in our national anthem was never drunk to have deposited natural resources, good weather conditions for our crops to flourish as well as great human capital to thrive on the Nigerian soil. Consequent upon this, this has from time immemorial been the supreme attraction for developed nations of the world to not only tap from Nigeria’s materials but also her human resources.
Today, with tears in our eyes we have seen Nigerians live in penury amidst plenty. We have seen our teaming youths take arms and perform other criminality out of frustration in a failed system. With tears we have seen state’s apparatus and instrumentality eroded, abused and used against the common man outside the confinement of the law. With tears in our eyes we have seen an intentional effort to maintain a defective and spoilt system by political leaders to use these ruins as tools for constant political influence. With tears we have seen brutality of government officials against the Nigerian people when civility would have done better. Soaked with tears Nigerians have witnessed a total collapse of the constitution, constitutionalism and electoral process. All of these is evident as a result of lack of political wills by political leaders which have regrettably left meaningful Nigerians to suffer from high cost of food, lack of credit facilities, bad infrastructure, poor and high cost of education as well as insecurity that have scared away both local and foreign investors coupled with an incoherent fiscal/economy policy to stabilized an improved exchange rate.
All these connotations if gotten right with the right political will, would have gone a long way to make a huge difference in the quality of Nigerians. Hopefully, instead of having a tearful celebration, we will be celebrating Nigeria with huge gift presentation, respect and accolades.

Political leadership is very important in politics and politics is termed the most lucrative industry today in the world because at the centre of it is political power. Good students or enthusiasts of politics are of the know that political power controls everything- be it the economy, health, education, family system etc. No one can escape the influence and potency of government without contestation. This in turn makes political leadership a delicate and huge ask from anyone aspiring or already filling the shoes of governance. It takes vast knowledge, wisdom, ideologies, will, fairness, to get political leadership right because poor governmental action can only put a nation on fire, put family apart in times of severity/crises, close down companies, make people lose their jobs at the detriment to fend for their families. It will lead to outbreak of diseases without proper orientation by government agencies. There will be huge children drop-out rate from school without sustainable governmental policies.
Hence, having created the picture of power sensitivity, it is logical to maintain that a country that allows itself to be ruled by improper leaders that lacks the personality/credentials to handle power will only see herself sitting on a time bomb awaiting destructive explosion.
In recent years, after 63years of Nigeria’s adulthood, Nigerians have failed to take crucial lessons from their past experience and put aside what kills them like sectionalism, nepotism, ethnicity, religious bigotry, dirty political gamesmanship and focus on the most important asset. That is, getting the right people for the job outside unnecessary sentiments. We are our own doing and undoing because we have failed to be masters of our own history: handlers of our own destinies and determinants of our own breakthrough as a people. If every resources have been given to us as a people to coordinate our wealth, to create a safe haven and we fail abruptly; we have become our own curse. No one will take it away until we collectively decide to free ourselves from our own bondage.

What does good leadership do? Good leadership helps to reform and create good institutions to make everyone irrespective of their leanings to achieve their own dreams and aspirations. Good institutions help to coordinate the economy and politics where justice, fairness and integrity are core ingredients of democracy. Good leadership brings about transparency and accountability and it is never a huge ask from governmental institutions/agencies. It ought to be in their daily responsibility to the Nigerian people. Every Nigerian deserves to know how much revenue NNPC gets from petroleum products as well as expenditure on their website every day, same as Custom, FIRS, NAFDAC inter alias. Governance is the business of both the people and their government. All hands must be on deck to build a nation and it is never an abracadabra affair or this charade being run under the guise of popular government. Nigeria at 63 is shedding uncontrollable tears and blood as a result of the precaution she failed to follow. Poor leadership and Followership is a cancer. It brings undeniable pains. To be free is to maintain a good diet and through discipline act well when it calls.
Today, we have to agree we are reaping from the seed of ethno-religious insensitivity, discordance, corruption, electoral and academic malpractices that have constituted our daily living. With recent happenings, Nigeria’s immunity is at the verge of collapsing as the aftermath effect is already traceable within the African continent with military and terrorist manifestations taking its own pound of flesh on African States. At 63, this Nigeria is likened to an old man gradually losing his grip on his family. It is high time he confronted his reality instead of flagging a faux celebration in the name of national rites and rituals. Instead, a state of urgency must be accorded to sincerely tackle those pertinent issues that are clogged on the wheels to our collective ascendancy as a people lest it defies possible solutions going forward to nowhere.

Written by
Bright Ndimele
(ondimele1@gmail.com

TIME

Immersed in great Joy today, it has become a ritual to reach the globe in the best way I can possibly do every year to mark the commencement of a new chapter in my life. This is usually a time of true reflection for me to evaluate lives around me and inject a new energy into my world bearing in mind that there are more crucial and strategic take-offs ahead to focus on as well as ugly experiences to bury deep down the earth and leave them disconnected from our soul. Many a time, we are plagued with afflictions spurred by heating momentums while we are left very helpless at the center of it. We then constantly fail to appreciate our small breakthroughs and look beyond our phase of vagueness, cluelessness and temporal rest or wait. This background that resonates in my heart has established the jingle of today about “TIME”.

It is true that our Holy books, Great prophets alongside noble Philosophers have one way or the other espoused this theme in many shapes and forms that they deem fit to inform human conscience and consciousness. It is widely known to man that time is the currency of life. This ultimately implies that the life we live here on earth is great asset and just like the money in our pockets that we spend to either make or mar our lives and destinies, so is time of inestimable value to everyone here on earth. Today, each time we place life on a microscope, we see people that lived or still living who have/had spent their time so badly. Some invested their time and resources in their personal development, business ventures, career, and family across seasons waiting for a time of huge returns. At the other side of the same coin, some people wasted their precious time on wrong things and dwelled too long in them. Regrettably, man has been caught in this dungeon many a time. Where do you fall My Dear?

A great warrior and leader in the bible proved himself to be a master of the principle of time and great effort invested in his army (seed). The war between the people of Israel and Canaan spanned for long bent on lingering into the darkest night. Joshua in his knowledge exercised his priesthood on the battlefield by asking the Sun to standstill. This would sound so foolish to the man that fail to understand the rhythm of time. For a fact, Joshua had the insight that an effort to the seed planted in his armies to be well skilled and fired up for battles as this one was going to go down the drain as the night approaches. A true warrior Joshua ensued himself in wisdom that to conquer there must be symbiotic relationship between the effort on your investment (seed) and time to get his desired result which is to win the war which he did eventually.

Another fashion that time plays in our lives are in natural events which we do not have total control over. Time places us at different tempos of emotions either at the same time or differently. These occurrences must happen to everyman if not yesterday, it is today, and if it then defiles today, certainly tomorrow is the catch.

Many a time we go through happy experiences that see us through different expressions as merriment, celebration, alms giving etc. Possibly we have everything working well for us- our family members are doing well, career is rising to the peak and our general wellbeing is at a great place. In this summer season, we have the clarity, courage, acceptance, radiance, confidence, passion and energy to continue on our bullish run. We all love this part of the story and hope it stays forever.
On the flip side is that moment of pain and anguish. This moment is expressed by crying, anxiety, dryness, cluelessness, rejection, confidence and courage drain etc. Man in this season of coldness/winter then finds himself caught in that realm of darkness where his own shadow retreats from him and betrays him utterly. He may be forced to give up and hurt himself in the process not trusting that tomorrow will be gay again and all that is needed is for time to establish itself as the game-changer. The grass field called life on which we all play on has at one time either leave us lying on a green or dry grass; we all have earned our experiences.

From another angle, time is allocated to be spent in different stages of life and failure to expend or make good use of it in that phase leaves man in many moment of regret going into the next stage; Time waits for no one. Unlike the secular school system where one can have the privilege to re-sit for a carry-over course failed in the past session, the school of life has different rules application. Once man misses out to take due advantage and initiative to make hay while the sun shines, he is likely to continue walking into the night when he should be resting his bones and feeding young minds with folktales under the tree during moonlight with the deliberate attempt to lend them valuable experiences of people who had journeyed through life and excel in it without immorality and compromise to Greatness.
The childhood stage is a time to receive fundamental teachings from people ahead of our time. Children are very reliant on others for everything. They are always in constant search to seek external validation about their lives and look up to people to solve their own challenges without worries. This stage is for babies which allows many trials and errors which in turn have little or no effect on them later in life because others forgive/pay for their mistakes.
The adult stage is a time of self-realization, exploration, passion, energy, creative, responsibilities and focus to write our own history. At this phase trials and errors have more effect on us because there is hardly a chance for amend especially when our own mistakes have crushed the clay pot in our hands. This is usually a time of intentionality, investment and calculated risk taking for a good cause in our life. Efforts are made to keep a balanced life in marriage, career, governance, family and so on. Regrettably, it is possible to be an adult and exhibits traits and lifestyle of a baby, spoon-fed on everything. This is ugly for a man who did allow time messed him up.

The last stage is the elder’s stage. At this time there is a deliberate move from competition to empowering the younger generation. A good elder has seen it all; he has exhausted his passion, energy, creativity. He does not compete with anyone again. He is all about legacy; that is successfully passing the baton down. This signals a good way to close the show of life for every determined man that is keen to finish greatly.

However, any man that misused his childhood and adulthood can hardly make any difference because he is already weak and dry to adopt new life as well as new things. It usually ends with regret. Today, we have elders that wasted their own currency of life with hope of returns before bidding life farewell. They failed themselves, family, relationships, business, career etc.
By these revelations, by litmus testing our own life we did see ourselves in many moments- the cold, heat, seed, harvest times; day and night seasons. Being alive put us at compulsion to be tried for our life to be meaningful and of great value.

How do you then treat your times of dryness, loneliness, rejection, darkness, daylight? Do you get so excited and satisfied about some wins or you are ready to go for more? How do you treat your cold and night season when everyone rejects you and all God wants you to do at this time is to wait or rest temporally? Do you lose hope or you brace up? We all regardless of our status in life, would have a share of these times but if you are determined to be a master of every time, moment, season and stage; you will assuredly finish strong like every legend that have lived.

I offer you a warm handshake my friend, I encourage you to be courageous at all times. When battles gets tougher, it is an indication you are not made for small things but if you will rest when necessary and rise up when you should, you will reach the latter days of your life fulfilled on the throne called Legacy. Thank you for digesting; I will see you soon.
God Bless you

Bright Ndimele
Ondimele1@gmail.com

IN THE ARMS OF FAITH

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11 vs 1)

Special days in peoples’ lives are usually celebrated in ways they deem appropriate. To some, they did prefer to open their front door for merriment, give out gifts to the less privileged or spend their time with friends, family members, neighbours and colleagues at work. Today unveils a fresh pathway for me where it has made me my own pathfinder; a day I feel very graceful to have the whole world celebrate me in a 21st century far reaching fashion. All thanks to phases of scientific breakthrough alongside man’s exhibition of God’s nature of creativity and consistency as exemplified by our all-knowing creator.

May 1st of every year isn’t just one eating and drinking galore for me and loved ones, rather with the command of maturity over time it has assumed a veritable atmosphere to be more reflective of the past years characterizing of those wins, failures as well as the people that added meaning to my life. Life isn’t just a sweet passage for anyone irrespective of social status, race and ideology. At one point or the other, one will have to taste from every delicacy prepared by life; learn from this school called life and respond in certain ways to produce either good/bad results through which their faith can carry.

The past year seemed like I had a master plan hidden somewhere upon which my journey through the highest mountains, lowest valleys, torrid and cold weather, good and lonely nights were patterned. However, I make bold to say that no perfect plan exists anywhere under the sun if not there will never be random calls on scholars of various field to be committed to paradigm shifts within their intellectual community or even that burning quest for modifications by several organizations, policy makers, governments, families as well as persons across time and spatiality.

In lieu, what makes one look like they had that perfect plan to pull huge success or attain their goals is the hand of God. Remember today isn’t boastful in itself but very reflective.

Faith means different things to different people but for today this appeals to be the only theme God has laid in my heart as the most vital catalyst that drove me in the past year. Everyone in life needs that perfect stance to stand firm when life throws excruciating jabs on their chin; not to be overwhelmed when things may be going to other directions outside their blueprint. What faith does, is not promising that everything will be made easy rather that everything will be made possible. Faith steams in us the inner strength and courage to hold unto the ladder of life in perseverance. Sometimes, we are meant to miss our steps and prolly lay our backs on the ground. What Faith does is set out our mind to the zenith of our goals, aspirations and target by ensuring we do not at any point keep our hands in our own pockets while climbing the ladder of life even when we have all the excuses to be relaxed and unproductive every day.

Few moments in the past year came like an arrogant rolling stone to rumple me up and then finally crush my bones to no awakening point. Day unto days Faith brought it raw dimensions in a bid to help me whittle down roar of those rolling stones. She presented to me inner strength, courage, sweet peace, stability in chaos and then solace within myself and the rest of the world. Faith in God and faith in all of man’s enterprise helps a man to be focused on the gold and not the herculean mining process that pervades the hearts of mediocres.

To concatenate, there are times we are susceptible to the tides of the moment so unpleasant and what ordinarily comes to mind is to walk away and abandon the golden path of fining and mining. At another time we are swept away by the pleasures flourishing at the bottom and average level. We wished we could leave our fold of faith in the bigger picture and process which was once conceived to condescend into living within a cave of another fool’s paradise.

Happy birthday 2022 celebration Mr Bright O. Ndimele.

Faith is putting yourself into quality as originally ordained by God. Seeking after greater things at the disposal of the faith that ought to be operational in our life. A mental representation of one joining in the race of chasing after milk when one ought to have crushed bones. Sadly, the innate desire of man to feel things easy pegs him at the climax to underutilize his faith in error. This was a major character of the past year; a lesson hurriedly learnt by me. Many a time that we could have just gone on our kneels, ask God for a whole paradise rather we were caught in the web of the moment; built a giant wall against our own mind and were reduced to seeking after a portion of that paradise.

Afterwards, what then happens?? We get to that point of counting our blessings and wished we asked for many more in bigger package. We begin to know that the strength, effort and ideas garnered in the past could have acted as slugs to kill bigger meats than what we have in our hand. We then begin to feel the guilt of underperforming the faith we carry when more could have been put into perspective and accounted for.

Hence, taking those calculated risk of building our arsenals; solidifying our base against external forces probable in the future to contest against our best can regenerate into a more sustainable milestone only if we can at least translate our mustard sized seed of faith to chase bigger things with finesse for better results. Our life needs to rest upon those building blocks upon which faith rests (such as courage, confidence, productivity, high optimism and patience) so well in order to make climbing the highest mountain of life possible and only possible in the fashion it may come.

For me, I look into a better year for everyone celebrating this humble day with me. May God continually spur his growth in us with excellence installed as monument for generations to lay hold unto before our light goes out.

Let keep our faith explosive than ever. Thank you; many thanks!

WRITTEN BY:

BRIGHT O. NDIMELE
ondimele1@gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/britelens/

https://twitter.com/ndimelebright

ALL THE DAYS ARE NOT EQUAL

All the days are not equal
A day presents a blast of awe
The other day, a long one and sometimes a sharp short one.
Some days brings comfort and the other days pains patterned on ugly fabrics

All the days are not equal
Yesterday seemed gloomy like no other
Today has sparked a candle of hope
It has had our palms burnt excruciatingly.
Tears spilling from the window of our heart like the wind in the desert.

All the days are not equal
Someone’s yesterday are tales of his lessons and ordeals
Another day is another tellings of celebration and success.
Today someone is born into the world; by night fall another great star falls from sky and pitted to nowhere

All the days are not equal just yet:
Today we gather praises for a reigning champion
Tomorrow his back is on the ground and striped of his glory
At these days, his ears are feed with tales of his latter fall.
The days of his reign vanishes into abyss and his best form forgotten.

All the days are not equal
Some days there are food on the table for the family
Some nights they soak their bed in the ocean of their own tears
Awaiting the day of brightness and plenty of rain
And by themselves master the art of sticking together in their different moment.

All the days are not equal
Yesterday we shared our happy moment
Craving for a brighter picture the future is yet to feature us
Today we look and can’t find those people.
Some we lost to the cold hands of death😭😭
Some just like seasons faded like they were never in the map of our world

Oh Well!!!..
We shall always recall the days that separated our fairweather friends and family from the loyal ones behind us.

@BriteLens
http://www.britelens.wordpress.com

RUMBLE OF SHADOWS

It is during the thickest moment of the night that the morning can only come. When we go cold in the darkest time is when morning is around to conquer the night.

1/5/2021

Everyday is memorable when our heart assembles in self love and gratitude credence to the premise that we alone make our own history. Often than not it is trite to subscribe that with life on the roll hope unfolds. Life is likened to that road in between mountains full of dangerous twists and bends and the past year of my life had been a plot of these two strong characters (twists and bends). Although, I am not where I want to be at this very time but the significant news is- I am not where I used to be. The past year of my life which started in the midst of the famous Covid 19 pandemic saw host all of my principles, values and attitude to life in a jury of tensed trial. It became a time all of my words, convictions and belief came for my head to check whether I can at any rate stand firm to those things that I feel gives me that heavenly inclusion. Lot of times I was caught in between the devil and the blue sea. Darkness paraded around my apartment and it took too much to find myself in the dark. I could not take a gander at myself nor hear my voice echo even in a world set aside for it. Life began to say various rhymes that our older folks neglected to instruct us. In this manner I began to appear to be an outsider in the planet of humans.

By nature’s ordinance, a garden remains beautiful since there is a hand to trim it even as the Sun and rain comes to drench it in a fierce fashion yet it survives all moment and engage colourful butterflies, gets the profound respect of two lovers bond by genuineness even thereafter. Challenges as widely perceived is an integral part of life. Upon due reflection I came into full realization that the past year of my life would have been so empty, useless and purposefully zeroed void of those hard puzzles to solve. A time I didn’t see anyone but God to help me out of the centre of deep oceans. Part of the times, I went extremely silent from everyone around me and wore the best of all smile to deprive anyone an update about a thing. I already knew what it looks like to be in situations but this time I needed to start doing what I would have told my loved ones to do if I am to advise them in similar way. One big hard work for me was helping people out of their pit while I had the sole of my feet bleeding excruciatingly. Most people look up to me and realizing that dealt out signs of weakness in my eyes and gesture.

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As bright as today is amidst the compulsory rest; a noble tradition of every first day in the month of May enjoyed by diligent workers; I look at today and smile with pride that I perhaps used the past year of my life to learn how to be a man. How to be my own warrior. How to approach life in it’s totality like a warrior and not as a soldier. Warriors even in the highest tempo of a war fight all battles with their heart. They do not not necessarily have to approach the battle with their guns and bullets. What then happens to them in a prolonged battle when all slugs are exhausted?? Where shall they hide? What will they say drove them all the way long??….. A secret page of an ancient book was always brought to me in the middle of every night. She says because it is her who inspires me each time motivation fails too bad. She whispers ” Dear ardent disciple, be happy for your little success but do not allow it get into your head; feel the pain for human you are but never allow it get to your heart”. The affront of mounting everyday as a commander in high spirit and optimism gained triumphant entry and victory today is ascertained a ritual that must be observed.

Graciously in this new start, I don’t regret any single part of the rising and falling episode as man is naturally a falling creature who must always make it a duty to rise immediately after a fall. Nevertheless it wasn’t all full of shadows, I had other new banners raised high and this confirms the status of life in the light of it’s ups and downs. I lost my dear friend last year December and a cousin early this year. They matter to me a lot but the only consolation is to make this world pause and stare for a long while one day. In this same polluted world, even if everyone leaves the site of sanity, sanctity or lacks the potent drive for value and integrity I want to always brace up; stand on that ancient stool and spray my fragrance around until it touches every dying soul. The world is too grossly deficient without a distinction; so help me Lord of all host.

To everyone who had a way of lightening my fire when it faced waves. To everyone who shined their lamp during the moment of thick darkness. To everyone who gives life to their dying neighbour when it mattered the most. I am very grateful for partaking in my small world and creating substance in your own little way. Today is a special year for me and I choose not to downplay it. We shall all see at every point of celebration and enjoy it together. Happy birthday to me!!

Bright O. Ndimele

ondimele1@gmail.com

LETTER TO MY ANCESTORS

Dear Ancestor,

So many questions I wish to ask. So many questions bothering my mind. So many scrambled words to arrange and one is “HAVE I TRULY LIVED?” Have I truly lived in this world where the word “LIVING” is determined by “SUCCESS” and “SUCCESS” is determined by “FAME” and “FAME” is determined by “WEALTH”.
We now live in a world where success is no longer tied to the sweat produced from machines of honest toil or the hard work produced from factories of Labour. Life is now insecure with civilization and with civilization our privacy is now public. Cameras are installed everywhere and your past easily haunts you.

Success is now sold on the trays of Ritualists and today, young men now live expensive lifestyles while the ladies in the quest to gather the crumbs that fall off the tables of our eligible bachelors end up stark naked just the way Eve was in the garden of Eden. The youngsters are sent early to the grave by carrying money producing calabashes.
My ancestor, meet my friends who walked with me on the path of hard work, the path of integrity, the path of discipline and the path of honesty. Look at the pictures, those paths were dry, they were stony, they were rocky, we rarely saw any Oasis but every time we looked back we had not achieved much. Our accounts held the amounts the other party used as toilet maintenance.

My Ancestor, When do I truly know I have lived?? Is it now in my youthful years when I am still struggling to walk on that dusty rugged road to fulfilment? Is it when grey hair starts growing and I smile because of memories made? Is it when I smile because I finally created souls that benefitted from my honest toil and those souls decided to follow the rugged path?

When have I truly lived?
Your Concerned Descendant- A Young girl

WRITTEN BY: OKIYI ESTHER ONYINYECHI. Onyinyechiokiyi449@gmail.com

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BEYOND THE GATES

MONSTERS

Beyond the sunshine that first gave a delightful ray of hope to a crying baby or the cold night that conveyed her to a deep sleep on her early arrival on the brute soil of a faceless world yet she was unable to see outside the thick walls of those that first wrapped her in their warm arms; chanting several melody and dancing from that depth of love which birth a comfort in the home of her heart. She came from an unknown land that took her nine months to arrive only to be regarded as a life that has come to be in a faceless world from that very day she wrote her first cry in the language she knew best at the aftermath of a fierce strike by her first set of saviors in a labour room.

In her infancy she was yet to know what really transpired in her first arrival and what also seemed to paint her world in different bright and ugly looking colours yet it had no face. Albeit, that signaled the first conspiracy, for out of pain she was made to cry and from the pretence of her supposed life host that day she was made to sleep over it. It has taken days and nights to deepen the keys of her first account into the Dead Sea instead it became a fertile place for her first horrific experience to strive well. I am her and she is me because we choose to remain faceless but not voiceless; you maybe her because we were all schooled upon our first cry to wear robes of many colour. My profound announcement flowing like a fluid this day is that nothing has changed ever since. The only thing that has changed that I see clearly in another hemisphere of this same plane; a world not longer faceless but this time with a huge neck carrying many scary faces into different phases of my being.

Just like a keyboard with different keys and tempo, their faces had several messages to her that come close. To some it spits fire; to another it invokes raging storms and then another it injects her cruelty into the bloodstreams of those to replicate them in their hideous affairs. At the verge of my life it got the description of those fairy tales of monsters that we enjoyed under the moonlight as cradles and now we have been living amidst monsters I groaned in a drear fashion.

Enclosed in several versions of our latter we have been inflicted, we have been sent to unfair battles, you have been denied of life without any explanation or maybe you have/had made someone a monster outside your world inflicting and gifting misfortune at the doorsteps of people’s household as well as their unborn generation. Today my pen has decided to walk with one foot leaving astray all chains that wish to let it snooze just like that very first day in the labour room. This is not to declare my innocence/saithood rather it is to tell a truth that even if I look like a monster, do not quickly treat me like a monster because I may have a good heart to your inadvertence.

Hence you maybe lacking the right recipes to make me your desire. I have seen people who were forcefully given food monsters feed on, caves were monsters live in and at the end became the making of the brutality of their world. When you want to build, do not destroy or else those victims will be your time bomb. If you cannot create a life with your tongue desist from killing it with the same tongue. If to produce knowledge is a liability to you do not kill its application for it remains an asset to someone. Some had met monsters and failed to treat others the same ways they were treated. Unfortunately not everyone has that proper posture to withstand the storm when it comes. Instead of being the cause of someone’s curse, wear a heart of humanity anywhere you may find yourself for the training ground of monsters needs to be incessantly starved so as to bring credibility to our society while allowing social vices, corruption and ultimate death/wickedness to domicile in the grave forever. Henceforth, be a worthy leader of sound judgment; uphold sincerity in your relationship, treat business on the level of trust; work “with” your employees as a boss and do not treat them like they are working “for” you. Restore a world of sanity for the world of monsters has not done us well rather it has begot a whimsical world full of ugly creatures that is placed at disequilibrium standstill.

WRITTEN BY
BRIGHT NDIMELE
(ondimele1@gmail.com)

THE SCREAM 🗣🗣🗣🗣 OF LIFE'S ANCIENT VOICE(TIME🕒)

Just like the tale that brings two opposing forces to a place of different defining outcomes.
Just like a banquet of the honoured hosts the true legends of mighty battles
So does the ancient wide door of the earth gather the remnants of the unclad warriors whose nobility is laid questioned in their silent graves.
Like a fluid that flows with ease so does life extinct like there was never a start of it.

Unto man a life was given
Unto life a time of seasons and harvest had risen
Paired with the currency to life
In whose hand is a giant sword to smite
Or to self inflict by man’s onerous affairs

Man and time are two separable twins
All products of the same womb of life
All end products of same tomb
Different species to templates of grandeur
Setting two bridges with the same road
A sole seamless transition to the height their weight could either carry or not

At the reflection of man’s tribute to life
It will be dug out as either a fine gold or as a dice of randomity
But may it be said that amidst the scars and twisted bones
At a time life came like a wild dam; I sat on it
And made of it a footstool to reign at the peak
While refusing to be at the mercy of that vapour called time.

*Written by ~Bright Ndimele ondimele1@gmail.com~