IT ALL GOES BACK IN THE BOX

Now, my grandmother was a wonderful person. She taught me how to play the game Monopoly. She understood that the name of the game is to acquire. She would accumulate everything she could and eventually, she became the master of the board. And then she would always say the same thing to me. She would look at me and she would say: “One day, you'll learn to play the game.” One summer, I played Monopoly almost every day, all day long. And that summer, I learned to play the game. I came to understand the only way to win is to make a total commitment to acquisition. I came to understand that money and possessions- that's the way that you keep score. And by the end of that summer, I was more ruthless than my grandmother. . I was ready to bend the rules if I had to, to win that game. And I sat down with her to play that fall. I took everything she had. I watched her give her last dollar and quit in utter defeat. And then she had one more thing to teach me. Then she said: “Now it all goes back in the box. All those houses and hotels. All the railroads and utility companies... All that property and all that wonderful money... Now it all goes back in the box. None of it was really yours. You got all heated up about it for a while. But it was around a long time before you sat down at the board and it will be here after you're gone: players come, players go. Houses and cars... Titles and clothes... Even your body.” Because the fact is that everything I clutch and consume and hoard is going to go back in the box and I'm going to lose it all. So you have to ask yourself when you finally get the ultimate promotion when you have made the ultimate purchase when you buy the ultimate home when you have stored up financial security and climbed the ladder of success to the highest rung you can possibly climb it... and the thrill wears off - and it will wear off - Then what? How far do you have to walk down that road before you see where it leads? Surely you understand it will never be enough. So you have to ask yourself the question: What matters?"– John Ortberg

Check Yourself: Are You Numb to Slaughter?

Really, have we become numb to slaughter? Perhaps we are.  I am reminded the other day when I was to take a public bus in Lagos capital, no sooner than I entered to take a seat that a situation happened before the eyes of every one I met in the bus and passersby. There was an argument between (from my point of view) a 30 year old man and 11 year old boy, right in the middle of street. As we waited in turn for the bus to embark on its journey, the argument took a different twist, as the man kept on hitting the boy in the face and as he did I felt the pain right where I was seated. After handing the boy the forth slap, I could bare it no longer, I launched out of the bus with all my might and gusto; ready for a fight in defense of the boy.  When the “oppressor” saw me, I served him a warning: “if you dare hit that boy again you will have me to face!” He heard me, and immediately withdrew, relaxing is grip and hold on the little boy. Perhaps I saved the boys life, perhaps not. But I was able to stand against an oppressor, simply by acting on guts without the support of any other.

The point here is this, the people that walked by did nothing, the people in the bus where all looking, despite the fact that, all that it takes is for them to add their voice against a tyrant and oppression that’s taking place right before their own eyes. And such is the situation in Aluu, Port-Harcourt, where people who against the mob action fail to act quickly and decisively, (for there will be a at least one person who is against the murderous intent). Rather, they got lost in the crowd watching from the sidelines thereby aiding the gruesome murder of four (4) undergraduates of ages between 20 and 25 years old, on the allegation of a “petty” phone and laptop theft.

I do not know the magnitude of my action for that little boy, but I kept further oppression from been unleashed on him. As that moment had no power to defend himself.  Therefore fellows, don’t just stand there looking like a dunce or moron, or using your phones to take pictures of the scene, that tends to get ugly - Act quickly with boldness and courage to arrest the situation as best you can. Of all the times I have the opportunity to stand and be the voice for someone else, I realize the “oppressor” is weak, and his strength is in numbers; but he (they) cannot stand up to someone who stands against them with all boldness and courage.