Daddy, Do You Want To Die?

I was thinking this morning..... I visited Abuja this past week for a few days and decided to hang out with my Hussey College Class of 86 friends. We visited a Warri inspired restaurant called Enerhen Junction Kitchen at Gwarinpa to savour some Owo and starch and other orishirishi. After a scrumptious meal, we set out to earn our pay for the rest of the day.

As we drove back to the office, our main host accused us of not acknowledging his new haircut and how he had eliminated all the grey hairs he had. When we asked why he dyed his grey hairs, he told us a short story. 'Recently, my 8-year-old daughter had come to me and said 'Daddy, why do you have so many white hairs? Daddy, do you want to die? That statement from my little daughter completely changed my view about grey hairs.' He concluded.

The innocent 8-year-old believes the more grey hairs you have, the closer you are to the grave, and she was alarmed that her dad might be going. In recent years, I have taken notice of the rate at which young people grey. It is quite alarming. You see people in their twenties and thirties with grey, and you wonder like the 8-year-old, are they that old and ready to die?

To avoid giving the impression that they are ready to die, some have adopted the 'bololo' look by completely shaving off every strand of hair on their head, while others mask the grey hairs with black dye. For the few bold ones that are happy with the silver and shiny greys on their head, you should reflect on the question of the little girl, 'Do you want to die?'

Apart from genetics and vitamin deficiency, stress from the challenges of life is the biggest cause of greying. It's like when someone is overthinking his or her problem, the brain becomes so hot that the hairs get fried and manifest as grey.

The world is full of problems and may even be worse in Nigeria, because of a condition many call T-Pain Syndrome. Job 14:1 says, 'Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.' My appeal to you is not to overthink your challenges else you turn grey and an 8-year-old will ask you, 'Do you want to die?' Relax and make the best of life.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

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

THE SAD PAKISTANI

 

I was thinking this morning.... To commence my return from a recent trip abroad, I booked an Uber to the airport and was picked up by a driver who happened to be a Pakistani sojourning in a foreign land. As we set out, he struck a conversation by asking where I was from. I told him Nigeria. He followed up by asking if I was going home. I responded in the affirmative.

He paused for a few seconds and then said something profound. He said 'You are very lucky.' 'How so?' I asked. 'You see. Whenever I take someone, who is returning home, to the airport, it makes me sad reminding me of how much I miss my family back in Pakistan. My aged parents and wife are back home in Pakistan and I haven't been able to see them in about 2 years. My mum has a heart condition and can't travel, so my wife had to stay back to care for her and my dad. I can't travel as often as I wish because I have to work year round to send money home.'

As he spoke, I mused. One man's home is another man's farm or vacation spot. For some, Canada is home while Nigeria is farmland. A Nigerian with his or her immediate family abroad will board a flight from Lagos and say I am going home, while another visiting abroad will call Nigeria home. Home is where your loved ones are. A man without loved ones because he had chased them away with his bad character is a true definition of a homeless man.

The wife of your youth, loving children, warm family and loyal friends are the key components of a happy home. Cherish them today. My prayer for you is that of Proverbs 5:18 - 'May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.'

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

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

THE SOULLESS NIGERIAN

 

I was thinking this morning..... In the past couple of weeks, I had conversations with two of my friends on how it has become unreasonably expensive to drive a car in Nigeria. One that works in Port-Harcourt with his family in Warri, lamented that driving his car to Warri and back now cost him about N100k each weekend. The other revealed that in the last one month, just driving from Sangotedo where he lives to his office at Lagos mainland daily and then to Church in Epe on Sundays, he had spent a total of N400k on petrol. I was still doing my own calculation, when I heard that NNPC had again increased pump price of PMS to N1,030, with independent marketers in different parts of the nation selling for between N1,100 and N1,500.

As I pondered on the likely ripple effect of this recent increase, I stumbled on a passionate and emotional discussion by four ladies on News Central TV. One of the ladies was so emotional about the impact on ordinary Nigerians to the point of tears that she walked off stage.

One lady said that things are so tough that some families, once referred to as middle class, can no longer afford to send their children to school at the same time. The children now take turns to go to school. One will attend this term or this year and the other next term or next year. Chai!

Another of the discussant said she met a family where the mother of the children, who happens to be the bread winner, is now forced to eat every other day so that her children can eat one meal a day. If she eats today, she won't eat the next day.

Yet another added that she was told of a once well to do family that, with the current prices of food, the father and mother now shares one egg while their three children share another one egg, because they can no longer afford to buy more than a crate of egg each month.

If the hitherto middle class are groaning, it is difficult to imagine what the poor are going through. More heart-wrenching is that in the midst of this pervasive poverty and economic strangulation, you still see our political leaders wasting and obscenely displaying our stolen wealth. I was tempted to say they are heartless. Not a fitting description. Wicked? No. How best do we describe them? Oh yeah! They are soulless. Too many leaders and followers are soulless. Only a man without a soul would be blind to the suffering in the land. Mark 8:36.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

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

BETTER TO BE LOT

 

I was thinking this morning.... The year was 2007, and I was in the office singing 'Compassionate Jesus' as I broused my stock portfolio with glee. I had invested millions in the Nigeria stock market and was happy with the growth. Then came 2008, the stock market crashed like no one had anticipated. All our cash literally got burnt. There was blood in the streets as people bled across the country.

Most people immediately switched to real estate as a means to grow their wealth. It has always been the most secured investment to make, experts touted. We jumped in as well. Five years later, in 2013, I got a different perspective of real estate and life. A civil war had broken out in Syria, and within 24 months, the most developed cities were nothing but wastelands. As I watched, I asked within myself what happens to people's lifelong investment in those real estates?

In February 2019, I visited the well-known city of Ephesus in the bible, now in present-day Turkey. As I walked the streets of Ephesus, I saw what used to be the iconic library of Celsus, a huge theater and the temple of Artemis (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), all lying in ruins, undone by time. I paused and asked, 'What happened to the investment in those real estates?'

Years passed, and it was February 2023, a full year after Russia invaded Ukraine. The once admired cities in Ukraine are now in ruins. Factories, cathedrals, mansions, and apartment blocks, all destroyed by lethal munitions. With tears welling up in my eyes, I wondered, 'What happened to the investments of men?'

Tomorrow, October 7, marks a year since the Gaza war, which has now extended to Lebanon, has been raging. Investments that took years to raise are crashing in minutes. Oh my God, what happens to those investments?'

It's great to have material possessions, stocks and real estates, but let not your life be tied to them because it only takes two political or religious leaders saying 'I no go gree-I no go gree' to bring it all down. Whatever material possessions you have should be such that you can walk away from should there be 'kperegede.' Better to be Lot than Lot's wife. Genesis 19:26.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

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