Be Right Back!

Hello! So sorry i have not posted anything in a while. I'll post one as soon as i can. Cheers!

Where Did We Go Wrong?

Hello there! I'm back again, but this time around with a heavy heart. Do you think Nigeria is getting better or worse? What do you think our generation has to offer? Do you think we'll make our dear nation better or leave it worse than we met it? How many of us are thinking of leaving the country in search of greener pastures to come back to retire in Nigeria or with no thoughts of coming back at all? Well, the question is, at what point did things really start getting bad? Do you remember your primary school Social Studies classes? That we were taught that the family is the smallest unit of he society? Then, if there is something wrong with our society, it boils down to the fact that there is something wrong with it's constituent units. It means that families have become dysfunctional and are the starting point of everything that is wrong with our society. A typical Nigerian/Lagos family starts its day like this: The mum wakes and wakes everyone else, around 5:00 am. The parents set out in their car(s) while the children set out with the driver in another car, around 6:00 am. The children eat breakfast in the car, manage to get to school on time, closes around 2:00 pm, waits for ballet class or swimming class or extra lessons etc, leaves school around 4:00 pm and gets home at 6:00pm. The housemaid gives them food and ensures they do their assignment, some kids might be lucky to have a live-in aunty or uncle (who is awaiting admission to the university or waiting to get a job) to help with their home work. The parents come back around 9:00 pm, when the children are tired and ready to sleep or asleep already. They come back tired, retires to bed immediately and the same mad rush starts the next day! Now, these children, tomorrow's leaders, at that early age barely gets 8 hours of sleep, barely have time to relate with their parents, to have them play games with them, discuss with them, help them with their home work, correct them and so on. Why? Their parents have to work long hours to make ends meet, the roads are bad, they have to queue to buy fuel, traffic is terrible, etc

I, by the grace of God, have written a number of aptitude tests and have never failed any. I realised most of those questions were almost like those ones i treated while preparing for common entrance! You remember? I am fortunate to have parents who had time to coach me all through those elementary stages - my father with Math and Science related courses and my mum with others.

For some of us, in those days, the thought of what our parents' reactions will be was enough to keep us from misbehaving. But these days, how many parents have the time to sit with their kids and find out what they were taught in school? If we do, is it not absent mindedly 'cause of our tired bodies and minds?

To my sisters out there, the greater responsibility lies on us to redeem our society. In Genesis, the Bible records that after the sixth day of creation, god looked at everything He had made and He said it was "good". The same God, in Genesis 2:18 said "it is not good that the man should be alone". Meaning all of creation was incomplete till the Woman came. A woman by nature has the ability to nurture and to bring to completion. However, this same woman has the ability to misuse such potentials and when she does the outcome is always grievious. We are basically, homebuilders and if we go back to esteeming the values that the family as the smallest unit of the society should uphold, Nigeria will be a better place. If we can learn to strike a balance between our quest to help the man with putting food on the table and our primary role of building and molding lives. Remember Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Carson, T. D. Jakes, Bill Clinton etc? They all have their mothers to thank for the leading roles they played in their lives.

My brothers, i have not said you do not have any role to play. We all do, if we can create time out of "no time" to invest quality time in the lives of our children, in our homes and make sure our homes (as the smallest unit of the society) become really functional and represent what our dream Nigeria is, then the society at large becomes a better place. Together, we can redeem our society, our beloved Nigeria and make it the envy of the world.

Shallom!

The Pearl Oyster

The name Oyster primarily means any of several edible bivalve mollusks that live chiefly in shallow marine waters and have a rough, irregularly shaped shell or any of various similar or related bivalve mollusks, such as the pearl oyster.

(Mollusks are large phylum of invertebrates, without segments or limbs, usually having a fold of skin that secrets a shell).


Pearls, usually, are highly valued gemstones and objects of beauty. The word "pearl" has also become a metaphor for something rare, fine and admirable.


There are basically two categories of oysters that i will be discussing, the "true oysters" and the "pearl oysters".

The true oysters are highly prized as food, are a favourite among exotic foods and can be eaten half shelled, raw, smoked, boiled, baked, fried, roasted, stewed, grilled,........, or even used in a variety of drinks. (Are you salivating already?)


The pearl oyster, the one we are basically interested in today, produces pearls by covering an invading piece of grit(small hard particles of sand or stone) with nacre. This is where the gist starts! There are natural and cultured pearls, and the difference between the two lies in the fact that natural pearls are created spontaneously by nature, without human intervention, or with human aid. The pearls are formed as a response to an irritant inside the oyster's shell.

Well, the common belief that a grain of sand acts as the irritant that hardens to become pearl is, in fact, rarely the case. Typical stimuli include organic material, parasites, or even damage that that displaces mantle tissue to another part of the animal’s body.

In a layman’s parlance, when a pearl oyster opens its shell for feeding or respiration, small particles or organisms like those mentioned above, enter the animal. The presence of these foreign bodies makes this animal uncomfortable, causing it to secrete some minerals to cover the irritant. This secretion process is repeated many times, thus producing a pearl.

After a careful study of these wonderful animals, I learnt a few lessons I would like to share with you.

Lesson 1

In the pearl oyster’s seeming disability lies ability. The oyster has no limbs to ward off “unwanted guests” but it secretes something to combat them and that something becomes a gemstone!

What do you make of the “unpleasant” situations in your life?

Lesson 2

Pearls are either created naturally or cultured. In cultured pearls, processed shell beads are inserted into the oyster; it then secretes a few layers of nacre (mother - of – pearl) around the outer surface of the implant. In three to six years, the oyster will produce a “perfect” pearl.

Whether naturally or otherwise, you can produce pearls; just keep your “valves” open!

Lesson 3

All types of oysters can secrete pearls, but those that sometimes form in edible oysters are unattractive and have no market value at all. Well, no hope is lost on a true oyster (edible oyster). Edible oysters can be eaten in a wide variety of ways as I mentioned earlier, they are generally expensive food and are often eaten only on special occasions. Research has also shown that this shellfish is a rich source of zinc, one of the minerals required for the production of testosterone, an essential hormone for procreation!

We all have great value inherent in our natural endowments!

Lesson 4

These animals produce pearls by covering an invading particle or substance with nacre. It is over the years that enough nacre is secreted to form what we know and treasure as pearl.
So buddy, give it time because it does takes time. Remember, slow and steady win the race.

Lesson 5

Quality natural pearls are very rare jewels. The valuation factors include size, shape, quality of surface, orientation and luster. If you therefore, allow those unwelcome situations of your life bring out something valuable and treasurable in you, you simply end up with pearls – with the valuation factors depending on the size, shape etc.

There are more lessons to be learnt from these beings and the stones they produce. Just never forget that in disability lies ability.

Cheers!

Thanksgiving in all!

Have you heard that old saying, '' God never does a thing without leaving room for thanksgiving''? Well, it is true, because no matter what happens to us in life there is always something to thank God for. This post was inspired by something very painful that happened to me this evening. I put my stew on the electric stove, went to the next room and was so engrossed with watching a soap on TV and surfing the internet that i forgot totally about the stew that it all got burnt. It had big chunks of meat in it and it was still much. As painful as that was, i still thank God because anything else could have happened. The whole house could have got burnt, cos it was an electric stove. Someone could have choked. The other day, we were boiling water in the garage and left the boiling ring on all night, thank God NEPA cut off electricity supply. There was this other day that i was on a bike on Lagos Island, i fell off the bike and was almost run over by an oncoming vehicle. I, however, was not hurt, i had only a scratch! All these experiences have, however, thought me to be more careful. The bottom line, in all things, if we look hard enough, we'll have cause to be grateful to God. All things work/are working together for our ultimate good. The next time something not so pleasant happens to you, remember to look for something worth thanking Him for and send praises up to Him. Shallom!

She's A Rare Gem!

Hi there!

Some call me petite, others call me cute, still others call me ''smallie''. Whatever you choose to call me, i know (somewhere in my sub-conscious, though) that i'm small sized and that i look younger than i am. I also know, that my stature in life is not in my physical size! One thing i equally know for sure is that God has a reason for making me a size 's'

I have secretly wished i was bigger, especially on those days when i was going out and well meaning mothers would ask why i wasn't in school (secondary school definitely) and where i was going? There is, however, something i look forward to: those years to come, when i'll be in my fifties and i'll look thirty two!

I currently lecture at the Department of Accounting, University of Jos. I enjoy what i'm doing as i find it interesting. The most interesting part for me, however, is the thrill i enjoy when i see the expression on students' and other peoples' faces when they discover i'm a lecturer. In fact, most times they say it to my face that i look like a year one student.

The truth is, you are who you are inside out. I am beautiful, intelligent, smart, ....................................... and PETITE.

Enjoy who God has created you to be. There are no greater limitations apart from those we've imposed on ourselves!

Life is beautiful.