What do you want out of life?

Hello again,

How are y’all doing? Hope all’s well. I am very well, thanks for asking. I have started a new job and so far, it’s ok. I’m seeing someone too so you could say my glass is quite full. God has been good. Over the last year or so, I’ve been thinking very hard about what I want out of life. Yesterday’s church service kinda hit home as a result and I was in a reflective mood throughout the day. The title of the message was “The Power of Vision”. The pastor talked about visualizing where we want to be in the next 20 years. I like to think that I’m a serious guy and I live my life on a mostly needs-based basis. I am intensely aware that I’ve been blessed to be born into the family that I have and that makes me acutely aware of the things that I take for granted. As a result, I have very simple things I want to accomplish in the next 20 years – I want a good wife, I want to be able to send my children to the best schools, I want to have my own business and I want to be able to help underprivileged people. These are the things that would make me happy 20 years from now. They are not lofty ambitions by the world’s standards – please note that I’m not bashing what we would normally call lofty ambitions. If you want to be the future president of your country or you want to be the future CEO of a fortune 500 company, more power to you. I was talking to a friend of mine last night and the conversation drifted to this topic. I told him that I would consider my parents to be very successful. My father has worked in government all his life and my mother has risen to the top of her profession. While that’s good, what makes them successful in my eyes is that they have given their children the platform to succeed in life by sending us to school and leveraging on the goodwill they’ve accrued over their careers. At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you would consider success in life to be. Insha Allah, I am on my own journey and it will end up well. My church has become a very important part of my life now – it constantly reminds me not to relent in the pursuit of the life that I want but that I should always put God first. I couldn’t always say that and my mother is a pastor. Go figure.

Like all good people, we want the good things in life. I think in this day and age, these things have drifted to the more superficial things. To me though, these things are usually what other people would consider good. Don’t get me wrong – I want to be comfortable and God knows that I cannot Imagine living off the Island. However, a lot of these things are things we don’t actually need (remember needs-based living?). That lavish wedding you want when you haven’t paid rent, that flashy car when something cheaper would do the job and the one that absolutely irks me – renting more space than you actually need. For what? So that people can say we are successful? Give me a break.. Sometimes, our self-consciousness as humans makes me so sad. I was at a friend’s place about a month or so ago. She just got married and she and her husband live in a one bedroom apartment. It is small but I absolutely fell in love with it and their situation. Just her, her husband and their tiny place. I’m an idealist and I don’t think there are many of us left so we always seem to be a bit off. I’m happy with that. Over the last few years, I’ve come to realize that the only opinion of me that matters is my own and it is liberating. I want to be rich but I don’t need to be. If it happens, it’s a bonus and it would mean that I can help more people. In my opinion, that’s what Nigeria needs – people who will stand up to be the examples they want to see. In my humble situation, I’m trying to do that. And that makes me happy which, at this point, is all that matters.

On an unrelated note, Arsenal drew with Man City on Saturday. I honestly thought we'd lose but hey, I'll take a point.  Nothing has changed though - looks like the FA Cup is the only hope for silverware this season. I hope they don't bottle that.

I haven't seen any movies recently and I don't know when I will again but rest assured that I'll let you know when I do. I just can't shut up really. I also finished reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It is a good book - very soft but very philosophical. It talks about fulfilling your destiny too. Kind of a running theme this weekend, huh?

That's all from me. Till next time, I remain your fantastic Mr Fox.

Death

The past few days have been very interesting to say the least. I've had a few surprises and I actually wrote another piece with the intention to share. But it is personal - intensely so. Therefore, I will keep it on my hard drive and look at it from time to time. Still, this one is pretty interesting if I do say so. Here goes. Today, I will be talking about death. Duh.

Don’t be scared. I know this is a bit of a departure given the nature of my posts so far but I’ve thought about death a lot over the past few years. I’ve always been fascinated by how people view it. Are you scared of it? Why are you scared if you are? I don’t think people ever really think about it. So once again I’m asking: Are you afraid to die?

Let’s start with a logical assumption: I believe in heaven and hell. I believe that I’m a good person and that if I die I’ll go to heaven. Since heaven is such a wonderful place, why should I be afraid? I should actually welcome it if I’m being totally rational. Given that we all claim to be so religious, we should actually subscribe to this view. But for some reason we don’t. We are scared – this is one of the reasons why we will always say “God dey...” when the time comes to actually do something about the situation in the country. To an extent, I do this too and I’ve been thinking about why I do it.

In a simultaneous action game, coordination is needed to get the best result for all parties. A good example is the Prisoner’s Dilemma. In this situation, we have two suspects being interrogated in different rooms about a crime they committed. They are each encouraged to confess to the crime with the reward being that one will go free if the other one doesn’t. Hypothetically, this is what happens:

·         If they both confess, they get 5 years each

·         If one confesses and the other doesn’t, the confessor goes free and the other spends 10 years in prison

·         If they each refuse to confess, they get 1 year probation but they don’t know this.

So, If player 2 decides to confess, the best thing for player 1 to do would be to confess (5 years is better than 10). If player 2 decides not to confess, the best thing for player 1 to do would be to confess (going free is better than probation). The same thing holds for player 2. Therefore, the likely outcome is that they both confess and get 5 years each. However, the best outcome for them would be to keep their mouths shut but because they cannot coordinate, they end up confessing. That’s the situation we find ourselves in with regard to the situation in the country. People are unwilling to act because they don’t know what others are thinking and are afraid of the consequences of acting alone which would likely be death or grievous bodily harm. So the government only has to make coordination difficult to maintain the status quo. Hence, bad infrastructure, bad record keeping systems, a partial judiciary and so on. I realize that I’ve digressed but I will tie things up.

Since people are not supposed to be afraid to die, what’s keeping us from taking control? I think the prospect of suffering and the consequences of death scare us far more than death itself. I was watching Robocop and someone asked me if I could choose to live after going through what he had gone through. I thought about it a bit and came to the conclusion that I would. People’s motivations for living come into play when facing death. They have people depending on them for survival or they have loved ones who would simply go to pieces if they were gone. Some just hate the idea of being made to suffer. That’s why most people would take a bullet in the head if given the choice between that and torture before being executed. The fact is that the end result is the same but people prefer one route over the other.

To answer my question: I’m not afraid to die. I am however afraid of suffering before I die and afraid of the effect my death would have on my family. Death is most felt by those left behind. Also, let’s face it: some people are afraid they’ll end up in hell. Ha-ha.

What about you?

That’s all for now. Till next time, I remain your fantastic Mr. Fox.

Pearls of Wisdom or Whatever…

Hello all,

First post in March… Whooooo!!! Hope y’all are doing well. I just thought I’d give you the benefit of my old age once again. A certain young woman always says I’m old… She doesn't know that I fantasized about having grey hair for a while (just like Richard Gere or more hilariously Abdulsalam Abubakar) so I love it when she says that. Ha-ha. I may actually be a little insane. Anyways, it’s good to be back.

To start with, I watched what may be one of the worst movies I've ever seen yesterday. Winter’s Tale is horrible. The dialogue is horrible. The direction is horrible. It was an all-around terrible movie and a waste of two hours of my life although it should be said that I had good company so it wasn't a total waste. (my arm died while I was trying to be suave. Don Draper, I have a lot to learn). What boggles the mind is that it was chock full of stars – Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly (who I absolutely love; she has the most amazing eyes) and Will Smith in a hilarious turn as the devil. I honestly don’t know what they were all thinking. Upon further research, I found out that the writer/director is highly respected (as a writer) so maybe that was it. The movie reminds me of The Counselor which was also full of stars but somehow left me wanting a little more. Ridley Scott is a well-respected director with Gladiator, Body of Lies and Kingdom of Heaven in his body of work. Cormac McCarthy is mainly known as an author with books like The Road and No Country for Old Men, both of which have been made into very good movies. But then Cormac McCarthy wanted to try his hand at screenwriting. It wasn't very pretty. The movie had some memorable lines but it fell a little flat. I liked it though.

I started watching True Detective recently. It is a good show with amazing performances. Woody Harrelson is very good but Matthew McConaughey steals the show. The man has become a powerhouse. He is absolutely amazing as Rust Cohle. The Tag-line of the show is “Man is the cruelest animal”. It is full of philosophical dialogue that somehow rings true. The dialogue is absolutely fantastic and it may be what I love most about the show. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I’m gonna be a little controversial here. I keep hearing that women today aren't allowing men to be ‘men’. What does that mean? I read one Facebook post today and the lady was talking about how women need to go back to being traditional. She said “When was the last time you asked God to bless your husband? Instead of praying for God to bless you, pray for God to bless your husband and cause him to love you.” I don’t know about you but I was stunned. Is that all women have to aspire to? The days are gone where we had clearly defined roles for men and women – when majority of the paying jobs involved skills that were mostly particular to men. These days, that line is blurred – people are competing for opportunities where the determining factor is usually how smart you are. In that respect, the playing field has leveled considerably. Therefore, it is only natural that women would aspire to be more than love interests for their husbands. To me, this is not a bad thing. In the home, there should be respect and love between a husband and a wife. More important is an understanding that they're are in it for the long haul together. This means sharing responsibilities. I couldn't marry a woman who would just stay at home, who would not challenge me intellectually or who couldn't call me on my crap. I just think we are in a male dominated society and these men are not willing to change with the times. Things change… deal with it. Maybe I'm looking at it from a different angle so please educate me if you can. 

One last thing – Lupita Nyongo. The media have been raving about this young woman. I listened to a couple of her speeches and she is certainly very intelligent. She is also self-aware – she knows that she’s been very fortunate to be where she is and she always tries to motivate young people. I’m all for that. But mehn… the hype is getting too much jo. I was on twitter during the Oscars and when she got out of her car, people were just gushing praise and I was like “what the hell is going on here?” The girl has done well… she was good in “12 Years…” and she may well be an inspirational figure to young people but let’s dial it down a notch, yeah? Thanks.

On that note, I’m signing off. Till next time, I remain your fantastic Mr. Fox.

Role Models

Hi there,

Regular readers of my blog (Laugh now. Haha…) will have noticed that I have done a little rebranding. For one thing, I have changed my name to Mr. Fox. I think it’s appropriate – I love the movie (Fantastic Mr. Fox that is) and the fox picture is cute so what the hell. Also, this is some kind of record – 3 blog posts in less than a week? Amazing… What can I say? I’m enjoying it.

Today, I’m going to talk about role models. Some people don’t feel the need to have one and that’s fair (Ms. B, I’m looking at you). However, I have a few. And one thing seems to link them all – a ruthless streak. I don’t know what that says about me. Some of them are fictional (Walter White and Don Draper) while some of them are historical figures (Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla come to mind). I’ll tell you why I find them so awesome.

Walter White: To put it simply “He is the danger... the one who knocks!” Breaking Bad fans will know what I mean. Anyways, I like Walter White because he is able to assess situations objectively and take the most appropriate action even if it is not totally ethical. He is willing to do what needs to be done. He is also a fascinating character because he is deeply flawed – watching Breaking Bad these last 5 years opened my eyes to the fact that humans can live with anything. I came up with a saying (I do that from time to time) – “Human beings are like elastic bands – stretch them far enough and they are never quite the same again.” Over the seasons, Walter White escalated his behavior and continued to find things he could live with. His character gives a fascinating insight into human nature.

Don Draper: Another deeply flawed character but also an extremely cool one. Don Draper is the kind of man men want to be and women want to be with. As I’ve said, he is flawed – he can’t seem to find happiness and is always looking for his next fix. And while I find that I’m generally a person who finds contentment in simple things, I cannot deny that I want to be as cool, smooth and suave as he is. A man’s man any day of the week.

Gaius Marius: He is a former Roman consul (what we would call the senate president these days but with a lot more power). He was consul 7 times. To do that in those days, you had to have your wits about you – a hell of a lot of it too. He was extremely cunning and that’s why I admire him. (I am contemplating naming one of my future sons after him. I’m still undecided since madam must agree. Haha)

Lucius Cornelius Sulla: He was a former Roman general and consul. As a matter of fact, he and Gaius Marius were close until his ambition drove them apart. Sulla was probably more cunning than Marius but in addition, he had a seriously ruthless streak and the will to push ahead with whatever he felt he had to do. The man basically took Rome hostage until he was declared consul – he became a dictator. At that time, doing that meant huge balls and brass ones at that. The man had cojones. (I am also considering naming one of my future sons after him. I feel more strongly about this one and madam will hear my argument when the time comes by God’s special grace).

So tell me: who are your role models? And why? I’d really like to know.

That’s all from me for now. Till next time, I remain your fantastic Mr. Fox.

Not Totally Random Thoughts.

Things are moving really fast these days. My friends (the guys!!) are getting married. Boys don dey old o. I guess it’s all good though. It’s the natural order of things. In the middle of all this, it’s hard not to think about it too and while I've always known that I would get married one day, I always seemed to be somewhat removed from the whole thing. And now, everyone around me is getting married and it suddenly seems to be in my face – and I find it hilarious. Don’t get me wrong - I love kids and would want nothing more than to have mine. I always look at my old man – he vexes me sometimes but if I’m able to do for my kids what he’s done for us, I’ll be happy. I’ll have lived a good life.

Why am I talking about this? Well, my friend is getting married this weekend. It’s a huge step but I have never seen him this happy. You know how people say that love changes a person? Well, he’s completely different, especially on social media. Haha… Anyways, I just want to wish him all the best.

I was in church yesterday and the minister was talking about faith. A lot of churches out there preach prosperity – “God will give you this and that”, “This is your year…” “You will get a visa” (this one is cringe worthy) and so on… But they never seem to emphasize that we have a large part to play in this exchange – It is an exchange; make no mistake about it. And when the pastor was preaching today, a lot of things started to make sense. Having faith is not easy. To totally trust someone you cannot see, touch, hear, smell or taste is a daunting task. Luke 17:6 says “The Lord replied ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’ and it will obey you’ ”. Trust me, I've googled mustard seed and let me tell you, it is tiny. I think that passage summarizes how difficult it is to have faith. And that is all God wants. The message really hit home and I pray that God gives me the strength to trust Him completely, to let Him show me the way and to be ready to go when He does. Faith is the sixth sense and it may be the most important one of all.

Sometimes, it is difficult for me to reconcile my philosophical views with my religious ones. This is because philosophy focuses on ‘self’ – self-examination, self-improvement etc. And while philosophy is a big part of who I am, my religious views have helped me become a more rounded person because it has helped me focus not just on myself but on God. I am a happier person these days because of it.

On a totally unrelated note, I saw “RoboCop” two days ago. It wasn't bad. Although I like to think that I’m a critic, deep down, I just want to be entertained. If work has been put into the production, I will probably enjoy it unless the story just doesn't grab me. Jose Padilha, who directed the “Elite Squad” movies (I've seen “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within” and it is awesome) did a pretty good job especially with the action scenes. To be honest, I watched the movie because he directed it. I also saw “47 Ronin” a few weeks back and I really liked it. Keanu Reeves was limited as usual but it worked for him. The movie was cheesy but I don’t care – I liked it. Bite me…

I’ll probably see “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” sometime next week and I’ll let you know what I think… if you care.

That’s it from me for now.

Till next time, I remain your fantastic Mr. Fox.

It's good to be back..

Hello again,

I guess I should say “Happy New Year” to everyone... This is pretty ridiculous because I haven’t been here in about two years. However, I’m feeling the impulse to write again partly because I see my friend, Dipo, writing furiously (He is a Man U fan so you all can understand the frustration. In my opinion, his blog is hilarious. Visit www.dipoogun.com when you have the chance). I have also been inspired by someone I won’t mention… yet. Anyways, things are changing... For one thing, I’m back in the country which gives me a first-hand view of how bad things are but I’m not going to talk about that today.

Those who know me know that I fancy myself to be something of a philosopher – I once took an IQ test (back in those days when I was obsessed with my own brilliance) that said I was a “Visionary Philosopher”.  I will tell you that my score was pretty high but that’s all I’m saying. Anyways, in the last 8 months, I've taken a very active interest in philosophy, especially in how it affects politics and shapes political systems all around the world. One thing that seems to stand out to me is that a lot of political systems are influenced by the way people see the world. I have been most influenced by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau so I will use them as examples.

Thomas Hobbes believes that the natural human state is one of war – that in a world with no law, we would constantly be at each other’s throats and people would only do what is in their own best interests. Being a believer in the fact that people respond to incentives, you can see how this view would be appealing to me. Thomas Hobbes’ solution was to give up some of this freedom to a third party, a monarchy if you will, who would make sure that there was peace. This would involve the monarch having absolute authority (apparently, he believed in the divine right of kings which is probably why he was against the French revolution in the late 1700s). So in Thomas Hobbes view, law is something that inhibits freedom. This makes sense because if we were constantly at war, we wouldn't have a moment’s rest and while we would be “free”, this “freedom” could be taken from us at any time and nothing would be done about it. It is therefore in the best interests of the people to limit their freedom so they can have peace. This seems to be in line with what one philosopher, whose name I can’t remember, said – “All laws are necessary evils” This is because every law will alienate some people and limit their freedoms… It is therefore the job of government to pass those which do that the least.

Jean Jacques Rousseau, on the other hand, believed that man’s state of nature was very peaceful – in fact, he compared us to wild animals. He believed that the introduction of private property created divisions among men and this led to the state of nature described by Thomas Hobbes. Apart from this though, the key difference in these philosophies of nature is that Rousseau believed that instead of limiting freedoms, laws enhanced them because they brought us closer to that state of nature. In creating laws, Rousseau also advocated a social contract with a ruling body but had misgivings about an absolute monarchy (which makes sense given what we are seeing in Syria today). He also advocated breaking the social contract if the ruling body was not doing its duties (It wouldn't surprise you that he supported the French revolution). It is also worth noting that Hobbes grew up in war time England while Rousseau grew up in peaceful (is there any other way to describe it?) Switzerland.

Why am I saying these things? Ultimately, it comes back to our political system in this country. Given what you know now, who do you think is correct about man’s natural state? Hobbes or Rousseau? And how would you apply said state of nature in formulating a political system for Nigeria? And if you don’t agree with either of them, propose a system based on your beliefs.

I’d really like to know what you all think.

Honestly, if I had only one wish (apart from constant power, law enforcement, good Wi-Fi… man, I miss that) it would be that philosophy and history are made mandatory subjects in our secondary schools. In my opinion, philosophy doesn't just teach you what to think about, it teaches you HOW to think. It teaches you to question everything and to arrive at conclusions that make sense to you.

From time to time, I’ll post stuff like this just because I can. Ahh… It’s good to be back.

See you around,

Moyo.

Looking to Myself - Ramblings

I have seen many things in my short time here on earth. In my own way, I have let religious prejudice and cultural prejudice dictate my actions from the time I was born up until this very moment. I have always believed that tolerance is the only way for people to co-exist. We may not totally agree with everyone else but if we can respect their opinions, we will be ok. While I still believe that, there will always be people who try to foster their beliefs unto others. I watched the movie “Agora” and I gained an understanding of what it means to be truly tolerant.

“I think, therefore I am”. That is a powerful statement. It has so many meanings – it could mean that we could be anything we want to be, but the meaning that most resonates with me is that the fact that we can think makes us who we are. I can think critically because I’m educated. I can dissect arguments; I can question authorities. I can make up my own mind.

Agora tells the story of Hypatia, a philosopher in ancient roman Egypt. Hypatia lived in a very turbulent time; a time when Christianity just started to gain a foothold in the world. The people of those times had their own gods – it was therefore inevitable that there was considerable tension in the air at the time. Hypatia did not believe in any god. She believed in philosophy – the ability to question what we believe. She was murdered because some people were not comfortable with her beliefs. This happened in the 5^th century. It is still happening today.

I am not an advocate of godlessness. I simply believe that people have a right to believe what they want and the right to question those beliefs. For instance, I don’t believe that a God who advocates mercy also says that it is ok to kill people who do not share your beliefs. It is inconsistent and the fact that I can recognize that is what makes me human. Whether we like it or not, Religion is shaped by men with agendas – from Christianity to Islam to others, men with motives have shaped what we believe and how to believe. If we believe that man is fallible, then why is it that we cannot believe that some of our religious doctrine may be wrong? 

I believe that God created the world. But I don’t believe it just because some pastor said so. I believe it because of what I have seen with my own eyes. The world is so finely balanced – everything is connected in some way or the other and each is important in its own way that it couldn’t just have happened by chance. I have come to the conclusion that it can only be God. I made up my own mind. Too often, we are guilty of blind faith. We are led by people, not just political leaders but religious leaders who go against everything they preach but we are unable to think for ourselves and identify these inconsistencies for what they really are.  I am going off on tangents but bear with me – I will tie everything up in the end.

The bible says that we must be like children to enter heaven. I gained a new understanding of this last week. I was at the grocery store and there was this black kid. He couldn’t have been more than two or three years old and he was talking to these white women behind him. At one point, he said “I love you” to people that he had never even met. I had no doubt in my mind that he meant what he said in his own little way. What was so sad to me was that I could imagine this same kid growing up with religion and society messing him up so much that even talking to a white person may become a significant challenge to him. 

In this same way, people have used religion to further their own agendas. I just believe that thinking about things thoroughly and reaching conclusions that make sense to us will make this a much better world to live in. When we realize that we are all different, that people may not always agree with what we say or believe in, but that they have the right to those beliefs and that we should respect them, we can start to change the world, one person at a time.

The same applies to Nigerians. Start thinking for yourselves. Trust but verify. These politicians have managed to keep a large majority of Nigerians illiterate and unable to reason. It is up to the educated among us to make sure that these people understand. Good leaders are more essential than we may realize because when there are no good leaders, people listen to whoever speaks loudest. We have a responsibility to this country. Let us do our part – God will do the rest.