On Humanity And Idiosyncrasies

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(My ideal place to be now!)

“Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” Dalai Lama

If we continually observe the world, it’s really filled with sad news, war, war, and war! Yet in the midst of the seemingly absurd, grotesque, insane, and obscene, we have to carry on living.

My husband and I were having one of our ‘philosophical chats’ when he quoted Dalai Lama, it hit me like a sledgehammer; am I working too hard?

However, after a brief soul-searching I came to this verdict: I love life, I really enjoy living even when I’m working hard and juggling multiple responsibilities with kids screaming for my attention, countless office deadlines and uncooperative plots ( my novels and several other manuscripts I’m working on).

I am absolutely certain that I enjoy my idiosyncratic attitude to living because life has no part two, there are no dress rehearsals or a delete button. We take what we have, use it wisely and hope for the best, and I think we ought to strive to find joy in life in any way we can.

December is a month of frenzy cum feverish spending, planning, office parties. Why not pause for a while, enjoy the snow-capped mountains, (if there’s one in your vicinity), the fake reindeer, and annoying Christmas jingles that normally grated on your nerves.

I intend to, I hope you’ll all enjoy everyday living.

Have a fantastic weekend friends!

Much love, always. 🙂

They Shall Not Age…

Jun6

Seventy years ago, Allied troops landed in Normandy, trying to recapture France from the Nazis. It was emotional watching real footage of the historic event and Laurence Binyon’s poem ‘For The Fallen’ came to mind. I watched open-mouthed as those young soldiers fought bravely and died so we could be free. I wish history would not repeat itself… There shouldn’t be any more wars, or murders or shedding of innocent blood. How I wish the world is a paradise!

********

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

For The Fallen By Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

• For The Fallen was first published in the Times on September 21 1914. Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) wrote it while working at the British Museum, and did not go to the western front until 1916, as a Red Cross orderly. The poem’s fourth verse is now used all over the world during services of remembrance, and is inscribed on countless war monuments.

NP: This was originally published by ‘The Guardian’ Friday 14 November 2008.

Have a peaceful weekend my friends!

Much love, always.

Seyi David.

Rich People, Poor People, All Got Dreams.

Jan14

(Photo credit: Alfred Bouchard)

”Dreams are the easiest part.”

My daddy used to say that even the devil dare to dream. He wanted to usurp God Almighty but he got a mighty kicking and landed his whiffy butt on earth!

I got dreams too… The good kind.

I want to make people happy, clothe the poor, feed the hungry and make people smile. If I could, I want to wipe tears off Peoples’ faces, I want nations to love one another (that’s a tall dream, sceptics may say, after all, there has been wars from the foundation of the world). All the same, love is important, it’s beautiful and could really save the world! I want the Israelis and Palestinians to let bygones be bygones. I want South Sudan to stop their stupidity and halt the senseless war looming over their innocent citizens. I want to dine with Prince William (and ask him to buy copies of my three books!) Kate, hope you don’t mind? 😉

I got dreams too…

I want to stop the uneasiness clouding people when they see someone whose skin is not as pale or as dark as theirs. I want Syria to stop the bloodshed, I want Nigerians to stop their corruption, I want all religions to be devoid of hatred, in a nutshell?

I want PEACE in all nations, among all people. I want this home of ours (earth) to be a paradise. We shouldn’t forget what’s important, and aptly put, it’s that four letter word, love! Love your friends, neighbours and I believe that would ultimately make the world a better place.

I sure got tall dreams guys! 🙂

Enjoy the rest of your week and I hope you’ll all have peace wherever you are in the world!

Much love, always. 🙂

A Loud, Noisy World…

Sep23

(Photo credit: Flickr)

A loud, noisy world.

Cacophony of sounds

reverberated everywhere.

Hatred danced openly,

while love is in remission.

Wars and rumours

of war danced freely on our streets.

Toddlers were afraid to chuckle.

A little peace, a little love

We Plead.

But instead

We got

Bullet wounds.

Snipers.

Terrorists.

And paedophiles,

Roamed freely.

A loud, Noisy World.

I hope for peace

and pray for love.

Elusive as it is…

I won’t give up!

It seems killings, deaths, wars has become a bit of a pastime in the world now, Kenya‘s mall killings, Pakistani Christians (women and children murdered), the naval base killings in the U.S, Syria‘s on going war, turmoil in Egypt, Philippine‘s rebels. The list is endless. My daughter asked me yesterday, ‘mum, why can’t we have peace in the world?’ I had no answer to her question. She’s just seven, yet, I can’t shield her from the cruelty of our world. The noise is a constant ringing sound… but you know me, I’m a diehard optimist – I still believe we can live in peace, we just need to start acting it. Like that picture, I hopefully long for peace and quietness in our world…

I pray you’ll all have a peaceful week, and please keep safe!

Much love, always!

🙂

Sitting On The Fence!

May29

(Photo Credit: Andrea Krappweis)

I really want to make this a short post, but I guess I’ll just flow with the current. I’ve read and watched with a growing amount of apprehension at the recent UN decision to lift the arms embargo in Syria… I know – some of you might scoff or even snigger, what’s Syria got to do with me? But please, just read on.

Syria is comfortably in the Middle East, faraway from your suburban street with well laid lawns and ripening flowers in their blooms. You watched your kids get on the school bus, (or you take them) like I do every blessed morning but Syria can really come to our doorstep to hunt us.

Remember world war 2? Most of you don’t, I wasn’t even born then. Okay, let me bring things closer, what about Afghanistan? Osama Bin Laden? Yeah, at least that should jolt your memory. What about the Soviet Union and their infamous treaty with Hitler? And Hitler is not one to keep to little flimsy deals, he didn’t and he still invaded the Soviets, millions lost their lives. Well, Soviet Union has not learnt its (her? he?) lessons! The Soviets are still supporting Assad’s bloody campaign, with Iran!

What am I driving at, you may wonder. People are dying daily in Syria, blood is literally flowing on the streets unhindered, and to make matters worse, UN has lifted the arms embargo, and Britain and France would be sending arms to rebels. I even saw John McCain ( he lost the Presidential race against President Obama) in the papers grinning with some of the rebels.

Some people believed CIA had a lot do with Osama Bin Laden, check this article here; http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/24198

I don’t care because the guy is dead, but if the report is true, won’t the same thing happen in Syria? If the rebels eventually overthrow Bashar Assad, won’t the rebels turn against the West, like Osama did and then we’ll be talking about another wave of terrorism? The Middle East is considered a volatile region, war is not pretty, thousands are dying daily, sending arms to a fragmented country on the brink of collapse is just going to make things bad.

There’s little or nothing I can do but write, after all, some said ‘the pen is mightier than the sword,’ (or the nukes) as the case may be. I’m not sitting on the fence, I’ve said my piece. I just pray and hope that one day, we’ll see an end to all wars, suffering, hunger, hatred, bitterness…

Do you notice the gathering clouds in that picture? It’s a huge contrast to the power lines and beautiful landscape. I hope Syria would not blight our lives, I pray they (international community) would find a solution to end the blood shed soon, but not arming the rebels. It’s not a comfortable thought! Fighting violence with violence can only result in more casualties!

I hope this beautiful world of ours will not drench herself in the blood of the innocent.

Much love friends, and thanks for reading this post!

The Unexpected

Nov24

Congo (Photo credit: robynejay)

I left work quiet late and rushed to pick my kids from school, when we got home, I quickly rustled some food together and we had a hearty lunch. I decided to take a nap before going back to my home office and get some work done but I couldn’t sleep so I came back to the living room.

6.30 pm:

Reclining on my favourite sofa while surfing through different television channels and suddenly the unexpected happened, we were plunged into darkness. My children looked confused because it’s never happened before and I was too.

I was not ready for that so for the first ten minutes or so I just sat in that darkness completely nonplussed and indecisive. My kids were firing fusillade of questions at me but I had no answer for what had happened.

By the time I sprang into action, my kids were getting used to it and after a series of phone calls, I was able to find out a few facts. We weren’t alone in that situation, our whole street was in darkness so it was a major problem and it would take a while before the problem could be rectified. Though we slept in the cold without heating, at least we were safe. By the next morning everything was back to normal but the experience stayed with me and brought a lot of scenario to the fore.

Life is very unpredictable and that is a predictable fact. Sometimes, what we don’t plan for could derail our lives in unimaginable ways. My electricity going off was a minor issue you might say but sleeping in the cold and not been able to cook for my kids wasn’t a pleasant experience but what about people in war-torn countries? How would they survive living in fears for their lives knowing the next moment could be their very last? How do they survive living in such inhumane and brutal condition?

In the Democratic Republic Of Congo, rebels are instigating another round of fighting and people are fleeing their homes, it was totally unexpected, lives are ruined because people have been forcefully ejected from their homes, livelihood would be none existence, it was like survival of the fittest and none of them signed up for it, just a few bigoted fools who believed they can plunge their country to war at will are responsible for such atrocities. I can go on and on but we should just be thankful for little mercies we have, many people aren’t so lucky and many of these innocent people did not ask for war but it came to them unexpectedly.

How do they cope? I have no idea but it breaks my heart knowing right now as I write this post a little girl might be living in fear for her life!

When life throws something totally unexpected at you, how would you react?

Thank you all for reading this post!

A Soldier’s Dream.

Nov16

Map of the city recently established and without walls. Circa 1550 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Drake dodged bullets flying past as he engaged the enemy in mortal combat, his platoon mate was shooting rapidly, his face contorted in war rage as they moved into enemy territory, by the end of the night, his friend laid beside him dead. They counted their losses, evacuated the wounded and retreated back to camp.

Lying down on his bunk bed, Drake’s exhaustion and the death of his friend temporarily took a backstage as he gazed admiringly at the picture of his bride of twelve months. She was his saving grace, the few letters she wrote to him gladden his heart but it wasn’t the same like seeing her in the flesh. Her picture was also his only source of comfort and in a way, he would survive his stint at the war front only because her thoughts gave him strength.

The war dragged on longer than expected and after twenty-four months, he came back home unexpectedly. The cab driver dropped him in front of his house and he walked slowly to the front door, his heart beating with excitement. But he held it all together and knocked the door, there was no response but he saw someone peeping through the window.

Finally after waiting for about ten minutes which seemed like ten years, Anna opened the door by an inch, Drake’s broad smile was met with stony silence.

”Hello darling,” Drake crooked out in what he thought was a normal voice, but his wife said nothing and she also had problems looking up.

Drake’s intuition was to push her back into the house and then he saw the protruding tummy. It didn’t take him long before he made mental calculations to know that he was not the father, his bag dropped to the ground with a thud and he felt faint.

And then he heard the unmistakable voice of his friend, who couldn’t be drafted to the war because of an illness.

”Honey who was that?” Jonas called out from the room and they both heard footsteps, Anna’s eyes was still drawing maps on the ground beside her husband.

Jonas pulled the door back to show his rumpled pyjamas and hairy legs. Drake doesn’t need a soothsayer to tell him what has gone on while he was away fighting for his country.

Jonas retreated back to the safety of the living room while Anna finally found her voice,

”I am sorry,” she said and wanted to touch him.

Drake’s dream was over, his visions for a happy family crashed like a pack of dominoes at his feet. Ever so slowly, he picked up his bag and turned away from his home…

If you were Drake, what would you do?

*****

Most of you must know by now that I am a story-teller and I guess it runs in my genes. My mum would keep you enraptured for hours on end about tales and rib cracking jokes, my dad would look on smiling just adding titbits to the tales.

And I have one good news, the second edition of my novel, ”The Feet Of Darkness” would be out soon and I would love the candid opinions of my friends.

Immolation? I Hate Fire!

Nov1

Thich Quang Duc (Photo credit: HopeTom)

I saw this caption, ‘I hate fire’ embedded in a picture on a blog I visited recently and I thought, why not quickly pen this down before returning to my Nanowrimo novel.

Yes, I hate fire and it was actually strange and saddening that some people could light themselves up in protest against oppression! Don’t get me wrong guys, I am not against people demonstrating, albeit, peacefully, but burning yourself? That is a bit in the extreme.

A few months ago, I saw the picture of a Tibetan monk literally lighting himself up! He was protesting against oppression and when I did a little research, I found out the story of Thich Quang Duc, a very popular Buddhist monk revered to this day.

Early in the morning on June 11,1963 at a popular intersection in Saigon, Thich Quang Duc had made his intention known to his superiors that he was going to burn himself to draw attention to the plight of the monks who were being severely oppressed by the US-backed Catholic regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam.

Now I won’t bore you with the graphic details but this Duc guy died for a cause he believed in, and I can’t begin to imagine the excruciating pain he must have felt when he was being burned alive! And so… he died!

The war finally came to an end and many people attested to the fact that his sacrifice was instrumental in drawing the attention of the world to the plight of the monks, and also in a way ending the war.

I don’t encourage anyone emulating that in any way, but that is just my opinion!

Life is a mystery and we can’t understand it all…

A Word War?

Oct30

English: Monument of Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish Nobel Prize-winning novelist and journalist, Okrzeja, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland. Village seen on the left side is Wola Okrzejska — writer’s place of birth. Polski: Pomnik Henryka Sienkiewicza na szczycie kopca jego imienia w Okrzei. Po lewej stronie widoczna jest rodzinna wieś pisarza — Wola Okrzejska. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have declared a war of words on the State of Noveliar (that is a new word I just coined right now!) I am going into battle from the first of November. The melee actually began last week when an email was sent to me about the National Novel Writing Month, (NaNoWrimo)

I decided to join and write a fifty thousand word novel in November even though my hand is full with projects. It’s strange but I find out I write more when I am under duress or let me rephrase… When I’ve set a deadline or a target for a particular project, it doesn’t have to be about writing alone.

Because I am currently reviewing a novel, and I have a lot of writing projects slated for the end of November, I wondered if I have bitten more than I could chew? After thinking for a couple of minutes, I looked at myself in the mirror and said out loud,

”Seyi, (I love talking some sense to myself sometimes, it does keep me sane ) who on earth are you kidding? Can you actually pull this off?”

After some deliberation with my muse (inner self) I decided to proceed with the challenge of Kill A Word Month! (my own interpretation of the literary month) I am sure I can nail it!

I don’t know if any other human being is like me but I would really love to find out because I seem to enjoy working under tight deadlines, and I also set too high a standard sometimes. All the same, I am in this for the long haul and I am going to enjoy myself thoroughly.

I have got three strategy which I believe if properly applied, I should be able to pull this off brilliantly, and here it goes;

* Tell everyone who cares to listen that I am writing a 50,000,00 word novel in November (so they can wish me well and won’t be mad when I don’t their pick calls)

* Talk less on the phone.

* Plan every infinitesimal details of my life starting from November 1st so there won’t be any distractions.

(I would still be blogging by the way, it’s like my way of life!)

If anyone has other ideas do drop a line but I am really, really excited!