Fearfully Inspired

Years back, one particular type of video was circulating. Everywhere I go I see people watching this or that about 'the illuminati' or 'free masons'.
I have to confess, the videos got to me at first and I was their number one supporter. But it got to a stage, the videos stopped coming, people stopped talking about it.
It seemed if you did, you are termed crazy and paranoid.
Someone always used this as a defence when I tell him to discontinue his love for secular songs.
He would say, "I don't mean what they say". "The song mean what I want it to mean."
Which is 100 percent wrong.
Because, if they did represent the illuminati or free masons, it would mean they had to dedicate the songs.
Yes!
And it doesn't matter even if the lyrics were saying something good.
So that when you sing the song you're praising the devil himself.
Have you ever heard of the saying, "evil is sometimes done even when you have the best of intentions".
The devil knows for sure his target population( christians or religious people) would not sing a song that makes it exceedingly clear that they are praising him.
So He does the best next thing dedication.
It doesn't matter what the object is, if the spirit of God is not in it, it will and can be possessed by evil. And by evil, I mean demons.
MUSIC
Many people do not really understand the huge impact music plays.
Music is more spiritual than is physical.
So much so that people turn to music when they are sad to make them happy. To make them sleep when they can't.
And an even more devious one of luring the opposite sex in an attempt to get them in the mood.
Music is very powerful.
Most of those songs we sing are either getting us closer to God or away from him.
I once wanted to delete all worldly songs on my phone but then I just couldn't.
For days I was struggling to do it. But finally, I deleted them. That is the power music holds. Each time I wanted to delete the songs, the devil picks my favorite song and plays it. And if that one doesn't stop me, he'll pick another one. So I had to scream as loud as could, and marked all the songs and deleted them quickly.
I'm not saying shouting was the best option but I'm saying it was worth it.
Because at a time it was frustrating having to give in to the temptation of not deleting them.
Remember, "the kingdom of God sufereth violence, and the violent take it by force".
This was my own way of taking it by force.
I do not trust, these musicians to not dedicate their songs to the devil, so to be on the safer side, I'll rather sing a sing that glorifies God than the one that does not.

The Ingrates: South Africans

I'm terrible at history but my Dad is relentless.
When I was a kid I was told that our government(Nigeria), I can't actually specify which regime, helped the South Africans in their struggle against apartheid.
I was also told that we had serious issues with the British because we changed the name of a company they owned named, British Petroleum(BP) to African Petroleum (AP). Please do correct me if I'm wrong.
At a time, Nelson Mandela was giving a refuge here(Nigeria). (Correct if I'm wrong).
And now another article I saw online which allegedly said we spent billions of naira on bringing down apartheid.
Now I'm not saying we should brag about the good things we have done for them DIRECTLY.
But what have they ever done for us?
I heard someone say they gave us MULTI-CHOICE, MTN, SHOPRITE ETC.
The last time I checked, I paid for the recharge card(MTN) I bought.
If they think they are doing us a favour, they should fold up.
I bet three more companies will take their place.
They even have the impunity to say we take their jobs, their women et cetera..
You can't blame anyone for being lazy or ugly.
I'm being frank.
It's purely rooted in jealousy.
It's painful they don't know their brothers.
They'll rather kill other Blacks( I don't say this with spite for other races) and embrace other race while claiming DIVERSITY.
HYPOCRITES!
The real people they should be angry about are the other races who makes up more than 50% of their upper class.
Do you even know that in some places in South Africa they still practice apartheid, though, informally.
In a place called maritzburg(not sure of the place)
Coward South Africans can't speak for themselves but turn on other Africans.
It's very fun. A Nigerian will never harm a foreigner.
You absolutely have no justification for extrajudicial killings.

Kissing: Is It A Sin?

Someone asked. What do you think?
Is it a sin?
My reply was, "for you to even doubt that it's not a sin has given it up as a sin".
But I guessed that, that answer was too ambiguous and based on faith.
So I decided to explain why it was a sin.
To be utterly frank, it's not kissing that is the sin.
It's what goes on in your mind that is the sin.
So if in your mind you like that fact that you're kissing someone (sexually) then it's a sin.
There are other fewer times when kissing is not a sin.
Like kissing a sibling on the cheek or mum on the head.
Or gesture of kissing that laid it's foundation on other emotions like Happiness, friendship (nonsexual), etcetera.
My point is, if your body told you it enjoyed it or you know your partner did, you either committed a sin or shared in a sin.
You shared in the sin in the sense of making someone commit a sin when you know doing that(kiss) would make them commit a sin. Even though you felt nothing (sexually) by kissing them but the same could not be said of your partner.
So kissing as a sin is complicated but in the Nigerian and African scene, where it's not a culture to kiss our loved ones, it unequivocally points to a sin with very little exceptions.

Homosexuality

To what end can we accurately and precisely determine what is, and what is not. Who is this and who is that.

There are heated controversial debates surrounding the issue of homosexuality. I'm not here to discuss the morality as pertaining to such acts. Although I might add that personally I see it as an act contrary to natural principal and thereby wrong. Be that as it may be, as I said earlier, I'm not here to discuss ethics..

I am here to discuss attributes we do consider and reasonably assume that determines who is and who is not a homosexual. I have tried to see whether of all these features, there is any unique one that specifically apply to only such group of persons, I came up empty handed.
Why?
When you study this features, and analyse it just as I did and will put down here. You will either agree with me or not, that you cannot conclude without being told that a person is indeed a homosexual.

Why am I so bothered to know this unique feature. Well, it boils down to diplomacy. When you can discern them, you know how to associate with them, what is and is not off limit, to what extent can you tease them, weary whether you may have unconsciously led them on, vigilant as to what they can and cannot do. You name them.
I may have an unadulterated hatred for what you do, that doesn't mean I cant tolerate you and have a reasonable conversation with you... Who am I to ostracize you because of your proclivities?
With respect to those attributes I spoke about, they include:

Firstly, is the issue of Tomboys and Effeminate guys.
This is the one 90percent of persons use to erroneously reach a conclusion that might be far from the truth. She acts like a guy (I like that in ladies a bit), he acts like a girl (I detest). Does that make him or her gay? Have we bothered to know what made him or her like that. It could be a number of things. For instance, some guys grew up in houses filled with girls, and the opposite could be said of girls who grew up in houses full of guys. At times, which is not always in all cases, the attributes which they are most surrounded with rubs off on them and they see themselves unintentionally exhibiting it. Its hard to stop.
I'm not ignorant of the fact that there are certain gay people who use that as a beacon light to attract mates.

Still, you will find guys so high on masculine traits that there is no single softness in them and some girls so filled with feminine characteristics that there is no strong will in them, turn out surprisingly to be homosexuals. Will that lead you to conclude that any person that acts normal is gay?

Secondly, is the issue of Dress Code.
As I said before, I like girls who act like guys a little. But I have a thing for girls who dress a lot like guys while retaining there 'Feminity'. It's so cool. Same can't be said by me for guys.
She cuts her hair low, puts on plain nice shirt, slightly loose jeans, a pair of sneakers, papa's cap and adorns her hand with a masculine wristwatch. Wow. Making sense. Dont blame me, I'm a guy, I'm not expected to be that objective.
The question is, so what?.
He takes an hour to come out from the bathroom, paints his face, puts on earrings and spends another 30 minutes with the mirror. He then wears a bracelet, puts on unisex shoes over tight pants(trouser) that is expected to show what, contour? Yuck.
The question still remains: So what?
As noted before, it could be a beacon. It could also mean they have a weird and silly sense of fashion that tends to shift to a gender not theirs. Since you cant be sure, why would you conclude that he or she is gay because of dressing

Lastly is Speech pattern. When you sometimes witness guys and girls talk, you can't help but wonder, if you were not to be seeing them, which voice would you think belongs to the guy and which to the girl.

I was walking from Law faculty to my hostel one day using the pedestrian walkway. My mind was processing the fact that two girls were walking behind me, because of their voices; how they were chatting and giggling. I decided to reduce my step, so that they will pass me, and leave me to appreciate God's creations. They walked over only for me to realise that they were both guys. To say I was surprise would be putting it mildly. I had to look back again to confirm that my mind was not playing tricks on me. What a shocking encounter.

Also is another encounter were i was waiting for keke(tricycle) around mass communication department. Three guys and a girl were discussing while also waiting for keke. A girl passed disturbing their discussion and my concentration on my phone. She was indeed beautiful. So we couldn't help but turn our head to the point of twisting our neck while following her movement. That's how beautiful she was. What got my mouth agape and captivated was the speech the girl with the guys made. With a loud deep voice having no iota of 'feminity' in it and in a manner hard, if not impossible for a female to use she said. 'O boy, this girl major ooh. Chai. See that kind rack. God help us ooh'. If i was not looking at her literary while she was at it, nothing will make me believe it was a girl that spoke that way and with such voice.

Should I conclude because of their speech pattern that they are gay? Nope. Certain things can contribute to that ranging from where they grew up, how they grew up, with whom the grew up to their temperament. You never can tell.

A classical example of a person that exhibits all the alleged traits of a homosexual is Charlie Boy, the most open and weirdly oriented guy. But he has a family and time and time again, he had made it clear to everyone that he is not a homosexual.

Some students, just because they had exhibited this attributes I mentioned, have been the subject of victimization, sheer hatred and ostracism for alleged believe in practice they might dislike with passion which had constantly led to their traumatization.

My advice is this. Since in law, it is better that ten criminals go scot-free than an innocent person sent to prison. Same way is it better to mistake ten homosexuals for straight people than to erroneously accuse one straight person of being gay. Be Wise

Article by Chukwuma Udoka Prince

FROM A CRAZY ARCHITECT'S MIND

I gave it to you...my sketchbook...my most prized
possesion. You told me that you'd make sketches
n drawings for me...beautiful ones...of flowers,
trees n parks...n of sunsets n sunrises...n of
course, buildings. So I gave it to you whole
heartedly.
But when I saw the first sketch...it was nothing
but scribbles...ugly ugly scribbles...like the
markings of a demoniac.
And so I took it from you. I took my sketchbook
back...though I didnt want to.
But then...you came back...n said u were
sorry...that you wanted to make it right...
...n just like God taught me, I forgave...n I gave u
my sketchbook...again.
But when I got it back, i saw worse
markings...very bad ones.
...n each stroke I saw tore at me...like the claws
of a fiery dragon...n sunk beneath my skin...like a
vampire's fangs.
Heartbroken, I took it from you...again.
But you wouldnt stop coming. You came back,
each time looking more contrite...n I thought you
really were...so I gave freely...but you only got
worse...
But I believed in you...so I still gave...
...until...
...there was one page left...just one page.
Then came you again...asking for pardon and one
last chance. And I told you...I had one page left. I
could not take that risk.
Then you promised. You promised to make it up
to me for all the wasted n lost pages. You swore
you were going to make it all right...that you'd
tend to my broken heart.
Then, I, vulnerable...n hungry for something
beautiful, gave it to you. I gave you my very last
page...because I believed.
But then...you didnt change...just like a leopard
can't lose its spots.
You not only scribbled on it. You neglected it...n
my heart with it.
It was drenched in the rain n scorched by the
sun. The little boys on the street played with it.
Drunks fought over it...n then you came along...n
with your very own hands...you tore it up...into
tiny bits n pieces...
...n the wind carried it away.
Then you came back...asking for one more clean
sheet...even if only a scrap. But I had none to
give...for I gave all I had to you.
So you left...sad and beaten.
And I cried...because I was hurt and heartbroken.
I cried because the were no beautiful
sketches...or even memories...just sad heart-wrenching memories.
And I hope you learnt something here: to use
every opportunity to create beautiful memories in
the minds of all you meet...because if you dont,
one day, there will be no more opportunities, just
sad sad memories.
Good bye.

Article by Hope Eboh E.

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Rejection

Being undergraduates and students in the university exposes us to a lot of happenings around us. We react and act based on the strong emotions we feel. At times we find ourselves thrust upon certain experiences, unleashing on people and being unleashed upon certain emotions. Ranging from Love, hatred, anger, betrayal, obsession among others. But the emotions we are here to discuss is the feeling associated with REJECTION.

Rejection is a bitch. That's the only statement i can think of that perfectly qualifies it. You can qualify it your own way.

In our passage through life, we are expected to face rejection one way or the other. It is an inevitable and undisputable fact of life. No matter what you tell yourself or how you tell it to yourself, if you are rejected, no matter the reason, you must sulk. How long you do that is another question you will answer yourself.

We know that rejection really hurts, but they can also inflict damage to our psychological well-being that goes well beyond mere emotional pain. Here are known facts that describe the various effects rejection has on our emotions, thinking, and behavior.
Let’s begin by examining why rejection hurts as much as it does:

The technique for measuring brain activities called Functional Magnetic Resonace Imaging (FMRI) shows that the same areas of the brain become activated when we experience rejection as when we experience physical pain. This is why rejection hurts so much (neurologically speaking).
The emotional ache you feel on being rejected particularly in relationship is similar to that of physical pain. When we relieve such painful memory, it seems to hurt much more than physical pain itself.

Some people are so used to rejection that it hardly pains them at all. They have developed  a thick skin for it and what I consider a shock absorber to cool down the pain. You break their heart, to see in the next few days they are out again smiling and eyeing the next person.

In some it creates the surges of anger and aggression. Some don't seem to take rejection well. Fear those. You are in for it if you mess with them. It's either they beat you not even black and blue, but orange and purple, or they stalk you. Pray they don't unleash the aggression you triggered by going on a killing spree or inflicting pain on your friends.
Pray harder your testicles are not severed or hot water or acid poured on you or your house and cars set ablaze

Some I refer to as idiotic few tend to internalise the anger and go ahead to inflict self harm on themselves as coping mechanism that may lead to serious health issues. They even contemplate suicide. They are big time crazy to me.

Your academics is not exempted. It takes its toil there too. Your ability to concentrate on your studies is affected. No matter how detached a person you are and how you are able to separate your emotions from your books, you will still feel your thought slightly drifting away, recalling how you were dumped or turned down. Not healthy for studying at all.

Finally you will agree with me that rejection shatters our self esteem. You begin to question yourself. 'Am I not good enough'. 'Maybe its my fault', 'its like I deserved it'. 'I brought it upon myself' and on and on you go
Imagine when you approach a person with your swag or catwalk just to have that person dissect all your flaws at a go. Na die be that. You can kid yourself you don't give a damn. Story!. The 'damn' you give is extremely high. No matter who you are, your self esteem must definitely reduce at least a notch

We pass through the university, not only for the sake of acquiring academic knowledge but also practical reasoning as to how to handle each situation thrust upon our way with diplomacy. The Igbo name for university is Mahadum (know it all)

You are a guy or a girl, you want to end a relationship or turn down the advances of the opposite sex. There are a thousand and one arts you can master for doing it without looking down on the person, being rude, insulting, annoying and arrogant about it. If you don't know, a good place to start is with euphemism.
If you plan on doing otherwise, just pray the only persons you try it on are those like me that will go inside withdrawn for a couple of days. If you try it on other set of persons i mentioned, pray your second name is Miracle. Because you will need the grace of God to come out of it unscarred

Also, the sign of maturity, education and what differentiates you from every other person who may display primitive characteristics, is your ability to take tough things that comes your way in strides.
He or she broke your heart,dumped you, rejected your advances,.shattered your ego, lowered your self esteem and the likes. Calmly do yourself the favour of walking out with your self respect intact

The best thing you can do after such experience is to discuss it over with your friends. I bet they must definitely laugh at you, tease you, but you might also see them discussing about their own experience and encounters. Making you understand you are not the only one that has been there nor will you be the last to be there. Such discussion really goes a long way to making you feel better.

Having read all these, i have one advice to offer.
Rejection sucks, your ability to overcome it and move on makes you a bigger boy or girl. Be wise

Article by Chukwuma Udoka Prince

Being Relevant

I use to think laying low and being quiet sounds
cool and great. But seriously, I tell you, it's not
all that cool. I called a class mate from my
secondary school and tried explaining myself to
him, but it was taking him time to place me.
Why?, because I was so aloof to almost
everything those days. Though it pissed me off it
took him time to place me, but I am more to be
blamed
I knew then that being quiet was overrated. Why
exactly are you being reserved and keeping to
yourself? Try being significant in one aspect or
the other. Let it be said you were annoying,
funny, sharp in dressing, stupid, a Casanova,
smart, informative or any other thing. Just don't
come across as somebody who is known for
nothing.
Being significant is what matters. A time will
come when the question will be, what exactly is
he good at? Let it be said you were known for
something. Although you will be better off it being
a positive stuff.
Article by Chukwuma Udoka Prince

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Utopia: City of dreams (Rebirth) Chapter 1(i)

The wind ran through the trees. Making them whistle as it did.
Startled by an orange falling down from a tree, Chike quickly turned thinking it's an invader.
Hurriedly he ran into the bunker with a basket full of vegetables and fruits he was able to scavenge. The mangoes were almost all rotten but that's all that remained after a squadron of Biafran soldiers collected all their fresh fruits.
Chike had this stern countenance like one seeking revenge.
Tear drops left his eyes seeing his mother eat those rotten fruits.
But there was hardly anything he could do.
His Dad that went searching for food was yet to return. His mother can not bear the thought of not having him near her.
It's harmattan season. And the cold was apathetic.
It felt like everything was against them. It was getting dark. He walked round the compound to make sure they were still safe hiding there before he headed back to the bunker.
"Nwa m, I see how you stare at thin air. God is not asleep. Go to bed. Tomorrow is always worse than yesterday. Yesterday will never happen again but tomorrow is yet to come. O? Inugo?" He nodded in the affirmative.
"A man does not cry. A man is a man"

Melancholy's Epiphany

Mid-sweet talks on newspaper word cutouts got his heart pounding and he's scouring for any possible clues to prove him wrong or to prove him right. Either way it would be a win win.
It's easy to say he's crazy if you had walked in on him at that moment.
Tear drops hangout from his eyes half formed like a semi sphere.
You could unequivocally tell he's dying slowly from the inside out.
What is he searching for?
Clues.
Clues that would prove he's right.
Clues that would make them see what he's so afraid of. He found it. He tore it out from the whole newspaper. It would be the first time he's reading a whole newspaper.
He couldn't Google it. He had that kind of phone you'll spell as 'hone. With the letter P before the letter H, removed.
It wasn't internet enabled. He tore it out violently and with no finesse whatsoever. Filed it up with his other findings.
He started lecturing everyone who had the insane patience of giving him the 'benefit of doubt'.
But in the end they all told him, "get some sleep." "You're acting so paranoid."
He so badly needed to believe that. But to believe that he had to see it first.
It was he's first act of defiance of naivety. He recently stopped believing without doubt what people told him after he proved someone he so much believed in, wrong.
He peered sternly at the ceiling, lost in a place Alice would dare not wander into.
A day came when he gave up hope. He had consigned himself to fate.
He was so lucky to be able to do that.
It was God's grace.
Because in the end, and for the first time, everyone else was right and he was wrong. And ever since then, he believed people other than himself could also reason intelligently.

Heroes don't look like me

It was supposed to be fun. An outdoor function for legionaries.
I was so looking forward to it.
Disaster strikes at first light.
After been checked in, I sat close to a girl who I was having a crush on. As soon as I sat she said she wasn't going to sit there any longer. As she made a move towards  a friend of mine I felt immensely embarrassed. Was I so irritating?
I didn't ask for long though as she was a side attraction. The bus zoomed off. We finished the whole rosary as this was a prayer activity.
Before long we arrived at the cave/water falls.
It was magnificent!
As I was water shy, didn't go swimming. Taking photos and selfies was more than enough fun or who was I kidding.
So I sort of swore never to visit places where people go with their girlfriends alone.
As I sat wondering how pitiful my scenario was, I heard a scream.
It sounded like one out of a Hollywood horror movie.
Twas a swarm of bees. The MC told everyone to calm down and indeed they did.
I looked at myself. I wasn't having fun and I was looking after peoples' cloth who went swimming.
The movie "final destination" started playing in my head.
I didn't want to panic as everyone wasn't. But as soon as I remember the treacherous stairway we climbed down with. It dawned on me, if I didn't leave now and things get worse, I won't be dying from bees; I would die from a stampede. So I tried warning as many as I could but just then a bee stung me on my head. It felt so painful. I threw all the clothes I was holding; ran up the stairway as fast and as careful as I could. Outside the cave I started hearing screams of different kinds. I remember the girl who jilted me in the bus while coming and somewhere in me I feared for her safety. There began a huge battle in me. Multiple voices were talking. One said, "you truly love this girl and you'll let her die?"
I responded, "it's just bees!" "She isn't gonna die joor."
I was still watching people come out when I saw a friend of mine come out and go in again. And I screamed in my head, "is he mad?"
I started searching for the girl among the people who had come out but she was no where in sight.
There I made up my mind to go back in. Then something said to me. "This girl will not make it to your funeral if go there and kill yourself." I stopped there. Inert as if held down by a force.
Turning around I saw the said girl: hale and hearty.
In the jacket of some macho guy.
Then I said to myself, "look at me going to save a celebrity".
I'm not all stupid after all.
People had a bump or two somewhere on their body except me.
The only thing I had was a headache.
I don't regret not going down because I realized two things:
1. Someone else wants me safe.
2. The one I was trying to save doesn't care or need my help.

So you want to see my heart?

I can't sleep.
Insomnia.
I guess I've blamed this state of mind too often
though.
Well, where do I start?
At the beginning I guess.
There's a blackout though.
But it's this girl's reply that has got me thinking.
She clearly doesn't give an eF.
But I find myself doing the unthinkable: going
after a girl after she said no to me.
I've got to find my Ego.
She absolutely has no idea what she's doing to
me.
But I guess like all other girls, she thinks she has
me figured out.
I come and go as I wish.
She probably thinks and believes I'm dead and
helplessly in love but she doesn't know she is a
lab experiment.
I'm experimenting on my mind. I want to find out
if I can ever be polygamous.
But she somehow has me following my normal
curve.
I'm trying to divert my interest from just dating one
girl by dating FIVE.
But to be frank, she has my full attention while
the rest has a little over 5% which they compete
for unknowingly.
I gave her, her last chance last night when she told
me she's gonna call me back.
You know that scenario when you call someone
and each time she says, "I'll call you back"
immediately after receiving the call.
It's boldly written, "she's so not into you".
What the heck! I'm making the number two girl
number one.
And did I tell you the number two girl was forming
'not interested' until I abandoned her case.
Now she does all the calling and all the talking.
Exactly their medicine.
I know some will be wondering and saying, "this
guy sef". "He doesn't value these girls."
If I told you I do, you wouldn't believe me though.
This is my therapy session.
I realised the more I talked about my problems to
strangers, the more happy I become.
Fun fact about total strangers: they don't give an
eF!
And when someone who doesn't know me judges
me, it means nothing.
Now unto the next thing.
I'm not different from you. It's just that I've got a tinny figure, two big incisors, I talk about me a lot and I've got these eyes that run in the family.

The loner inside

I'm trying to write the perfect story but the hardest thing to wrap my hands around are names. The names of characters. It's really that complicated. Yes it is.
I tried using Ifeoma, Ifeanyi, Chioma, Chima and their likes but it sounded stupid to me. Probing further, I realised that it's because I've been acclimatized to foreign movies and that's why the names Jack, Anderson, John, Robert, Jenny etcetera comes to mind effortlessly.
You're wondering why our native names sound absurd in the said story.
I can't remember the last time I saw a Nigerian movie with passion or verve as I would do a foreign movie. You can hardly blame me for that. When one acts a movie without passion (not the romance movie kind of passion) or verve how do you expect your viewers to develop passion for it?
So when one gets his muse from a foreign movie you can hardly blame him if all the names that come to mind are foreign ones.
Don't get me wrong. I love our native names.
I'm just stating my state of mind.
And it's pathetic.
Try writing a science fiction novel with the names Chioma, Chidimma, Chinonso, Chukwuma etcetera.
Excerpt...
...she stood at the gate watching him walk away and he saw a little boy standing in front of a car in motion; it's occupants: dead drunk. Dave quickly threw away his bag pack, ran to were the boy was, grabbed him and threw him just in time for the little boy but there was no time left for him.
The car hit his rib cage and smashed him to the ground. It drove past his half dead body. He could guess all the bones in his body were broken. The sinusoidal palpitations of his heart was reducing drastically. His vision was becoming blur. The last thing he saw was Jenny running and screaming towards his direction, then it all went white...
Yes it went white instead of dark! Want to know more?
Sorry it's an excerpt.