MORNING PILL:MY DREAM

 When your dream is clear, it is real. And a dream clearly dreamt should not be mistaken for a mere heart thoughts reflecting in the dream world. Simply put, whatsoever your heart wants positively, that is a challenge to transform you to a greater height. My dream, a reality, my dream world a room where the chart of my life is drawn. Fight to live.

IS PARENTING A HUGE TASK?

Somebody is at the door! says Teju a 5year old boy to his mother who was cooking a meal which aroma had taken over the breath of some neighbours in the neighbourhood. Alero replied hastily that she would get the door, and quickly she washed her hands and left the vegetable she was cutting on the chopping board to attend to who was knocking aggressively at the door.

Oh! honey, you were the one, says Alero to her husband whose face looked like a monster that was ready to devour. Emma got angry the more as he stepped into the house. He yelled at Alero saying; why is the sitting room so unkept! Zoe is a 9 months old baby who is learning how to crawl,  and her urge to stand and pick things got very high in her own bit to explore. Read through Alero and Emma's conversation....

Emma: I wonder the kind of woman you are?

Alero: Emma, you would have greeted me at least.

Emma:Greet you for not keeping my home well?

Alero: I was cooking in the kitchen and I told Teju to look after her for me. I was checking on them every five minutes  and each five minute I put all these things back in place, but they kept pulling them down.

Emma: Why did you not put them beside you?

Alero: Do you want me to pour hot water on Zoe, or Teju to keep opening the freezer to get all the foods defrost?

Emma: Do you want me to answer your questions?  You lack proper       management,  that's the answer.

Alero: Emma, I had a hectic day like you   had, and the day is still hectic for me, could you please let me have a breath?

Emma: If you're tired of your duties, there are many women out there to relieve you.

Alero: Emma! Remember that I work like you do. I take the children to school  every week day, rush to work, close from work to pick Zoe from the day care and Teju from school. I get to  buy some things from the market some time, and I journey home to cook for the family. These have been my routine my dear husband. I don't even get to enjoy my weekend because that is when I  always have time for my thorough cleaning which includes dry cleaning your own wears and Sunday for my God. I wake up before every other soul in this     house to prepare breakfast, and I  bath my children before setting out. Emma, in all these I have not asked for your assistance, and I am not complaining. If you permit me, may I take my leave because I have some foods on fire? (She leaves)

Emma sat on the sofa dangling his car keys with his head downcast. Alero got back to the chopping board to finish her vegetable cutting. As she did that, she began to ruminate on how to keep her children in order to avoid the house looking unkept. She thought;  should I pack all their toys? So what do they play with to distract them from disturbing me from doing the chores. Should I get a maid? I am scared to leave my children in the hands of a stranger. So what should I do? A loud noise came from the kitchen and Emma rushed to see why Alero shouted in pain. Blood had filled the chopping board and immediately it dripped down the cabinet. Alero had chopped her left hand fingers after the thumb finger with the vegetable, and she groaned in pain.

Emma carried her into the car, put Zoe in the baby car seat at the back and Teju sat beside her, and he hurriedly went back to the kitchen to put off the gas before zooming off to the hospital. At the hospital, Alero's fingers were stitched and she was given a sleeping pill that relieved her of her chores all through the day. Emma's baby sitting time had arrived as he finally took over from Alero. Alero in her dizzy mood was supported by Emma till she finally rested her back on the bed.

Emma moved downstairs pacing round the house, and shockingly, an oozing odour came from no where. He started checking for where it must have come from. After lots of searches, he passed by the sofa where he laid his sleeping Zoe, it was then it dawned on him that Zoe had pooed. Hmmmm! disgusting he said as he fetched another diaper and wipe to suppress the odour.

He was engrossed in wearing another diaper for Zoe, then Teju's cry of hunger from the other end. The air conditioner couldn't control the sweat rolling down Emma's face as he rounded off taking care of Zoe. He moved to Teju to soothe him with some words. Look after Zoe, and I will be done with mother's cooking in some minutes. It was 9 O'clock in the evening, Emma poured the vegetable in the sauce prepared by Alero in the afternoon before she sustained the injury. He made some garri in a bowl, and dished the meal.

A step he took out of the kitchen made him to sight Teju and  Zoe playing with his office suitcase. Oh thank God it has a lock! He collected the suitcase and they all set to have dinner. As he was dinning with Teju and Zoe sitting on his lap, suddenly Zoe started crying, she was hungry. Let me get your milk says Emma. He rushed to prepare her milk which he succeeded in feeding her with. Emma left his food to bath the children and put them to bed.

At exactly 4:52 am, Zoe woke up crying, Emma woke up angrily and started grumbling. He tried to feed her with milk, but she refused to sip it. This time Alero forced herself to wake up because of her baby cry. She could only make use of her right hand as she struggled to feed her baby. The couple's conversation goes thus;

Alero: Emma, bring the baby. She is tired of processed milk, she wants breastmillk.

Emma: Okay then ( handed her over to her mum).

As Alero fed Zoe, he hums....mother's love is the best and knelt down in front of her.

Alero: Definitely, it is.

Emma: Baby, now I know what you pass through daily. I promise never to yell at you anymore, to always support you. My half day of babysitting was hell, so I wonder your whole day and the year since we had Teju. No woman can take your space, it was only a threat. I wonder how you have been coping without a maid. I promise this day that I will always give a helping hand to put the children in order and i will always respect you. I will call your office to  notify them of your absence from work, and mine to notify them of   my absence to take care of my wife. The family is on holiday! I love you Alero.

Alero: I love you Emma.

THE GIANT OF AFRICA

It was a round dinning table discussion with my father as he shared his adventure/experience on how Nigeria was once a cherished and an enviable country. His lamentation were hinged on the fact that I and my sister have not gotten a job after serving our fatherland, then the chronicle of his breakthrough he shared to give us a brief knowledge of how Nigeria gave him several options to choose from on his job search table.

According to his certificate, he graduated from the university of Lagos, Akoka, and during his time, it was pay as you eat. This cafeteria basis method was so orderly that you had to pay as little as 45 naira per month to eat in excess because the federal government put the welfare of the people into consideration as at that time. I was surprised when I heard the meagre sum he paid at every stage to get food at the cafeteria compared to the value of naira we hold these days, and also shocked that the system is no more in existence in all the federal schools.

The story of his life adventure continued as we took the spoonful of rice to our mouth, sorry we had to break the table manner rule to solve the pressing issue of Nigeria that has its feet stretched to our home. He said companies' representatives were always visiting the school to find talents to recruit. And this gave him the assurance that before the conclusion of his National Youth Service Corps,  he was sure of getting a good job, even with his lack of connection to people at the authority level, because job was like fishes in the ocean that time when Nigeria had her economy well sharpened. After his NYSC, he got a referral to visit savannah bank and the central bank of Nigeria for recruitment as a graduate of economics. He weighed his options and eventually picked savannah bank at his convenience. Even though the bank is no more in existence, but thanks to the system that favoured graduates by giving them a sense of happiness attached to education which is getting to work with their certificate.

What happens when the giant of Africa sinks like the Titanic ship on the sea ? It loses its title, and joins the queue of the struggling countries. A story once told and reality once shared is now a history. The story of the boom in the economy of Nigeria, her achievements and her generosity towards other countries is now a thing of the past. The stability of electricity in Nigeria was a well known achievement in time past as it was recorded that it supplied Ghana electricity, but unfortunately, the case is however the reverse in recent times. The economy of Nigeria has crippled to a level where no vaccine has proven to revive it from a state of paralysis. Electricity is now a bargain, fuel has turned into gold, unemployment is the order of the day, the most ridiculous is the fall in naira which has given dollar the ego and pride to torment our dear naira by making everything less valuable and expensive. The giant is turning to a dwarf, and now pleading for mercy from other countries following the tour of President Mohammadu Buhari to other countries in the favour of our dear Nigeria. How then do we draw the disparity between the Nigeria of the old,  and the Nigeria of the new?  According to history, some of the leaders that ruled in time past are still the once featured in this new episode of Nigeria saga. Now, how do we draw the line? Should we blame it on corruption, or lack of leadership quality, or on citizens' negligence?  The cake is on our table to cut, and we have to know our onions.

The questions to answer by the people at the helms of affairs and the citizens are; How do we refine our oil, should we diversify by investing more in other sectors by disallowing our future to be judged by only oil, how can we curb corruption and make effective use of our money in the coffers of government, how will our naira fit back into the society, when will the clamour for foreign goods be reduced and attention shifted towards upgrading our locally made goods,  how do we create jobs for youths to avoid hooliganism, how do we proffer solution to ethnicity, religion diversity and terrorism? All these and many more are pushed out to us, the government, experts and citizens to view and review in consonance with the redemption of our image.

WHY DO I KEEP CHOOSING BARABBAS?

Pilate said; But you have a custom,  that I should release unto you one at the passover: will you therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews?  Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. John:18: 39-40. The Jews chose a hardened criminal over Jesus to be set free, but little did they know the might of Jesus until the sign showed forth. Not a bone was broken after Jesus' death,  the book of John has it in record that a soldier with a spear pierced his side, and immediately came there out blood and water. And they that saw it bear record, and his record is true.

I was in my closet one day, and something struck my mind, saying; why do parents arrested for their children's misdeeds always plead to be released and assuring security officers of finding those children and handing them over for law to take its course? Will mummy or daddy die in my position as a punishment for my misdeed? I gave myself a response; No, because there are still other three left to call their own. I kept wondering, what is it with this man we call Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and why did he choose to be punished for what he knew or knows nothing about?

John 3:16... For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,  that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Before Jesus Christ came to the world, animals were the sacrificial lambs made unto God, the type Abel made unto God that Cain became jealous of him because he found favour of acceptance from God and Abel was killed by his brother Cain afterwards.
Sin entered the world, people rebelled against God. Our sin went beyond boundary which made the almighty to wipe off the earth in the time of Noah with heavy downpour from heaven. After so many years, a messiah accepted to be the sacrificial lamb for humans' sake, and this lamb is the son of God,  Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the messiah, a man conceived without love making,  a spirit in form of man, suffered, died,  buried,  and on the third day rose again and ascended to the heavens. The true symbol of the man of Galilee is love, a true definition of love without any reasonable doubt. Love is life,  and it is all. But, do we love Jesus as he loves us?  I doubt it, because we keep dwelling in our sin, releasing the Barabbas and crucifying Jesus Christ each time. He makes intercession on our behalf, sending prophets to keep us abreast of his ways, but the more he tries, the more the existence of man makes it more complex to have a world free of iniquity.

 Jesus died for us, alas! He resurrected for us to be saved.  Are we still in sin, or we choose Barabbas over Jesus Christ? Recently, some of us did an easter of jollof rice and chicken which cannot redeem us, but an easter with sober reflection, and true conversion could have led to the merriment of the remembrance of his worthiness and love towards us. Going to meet Jesus in Galilee is a good way to remember his glorious might,  but if we be like the then Jews that said crucify him, denying Jesus of being king of the Jews, then observing an easter period wouldn't have been a necessity because we are yet to know the true meaning of His love for us.

I KEEP CHOOSING BARABBAS BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HOW HELL IS HELL TO BURN MAN TILL ETERNITY. IGNORING AN UNDESERVED LOVE OF JESUS IS YELLING IN HELL.

THINK YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LIVE FOR?

If you were his neighbour and your ward offended you at any time of the day, Alabi was the only option you could call upon to discipline the child for you- he's jobless.

Everything seemed grounded for him. He had all good ideas in the world yet no positive yield. What has he not tried to breakthrough: business? Petty Job? Investment? Alabi was just a consistent failure. A loser-cum-laud!

Perhaps the only thing working for him was that people were always there for him though one couldn't be sure if good thing would come out of the good gesture toward him.

For three days, he had been on fast as he was expectant of half a million naira from cooperative society his mother in-law enrolled in.

And now, he rushed in with a polythene bag; locked himself in, opened the bag, jumped up on his bed. At last! Then he realised he was hungry. He took a thousand naira note from the money, locked the rest in a wooden safe. Few minutes later, he was eating and thinking at a restaurant...

Unknown to him, his rented apartment was on fire due to power surge. He arrived on a bike and everyone was relieved that afterall he was not in the conflagration.

In disbelief, and before anyone could stop him, he dashed into the fire to pick the safe. He was so determined that he got there so fast not minding the severe pain. The box had disintegrated and the money.(May be someone would have helped had they known he had money inside)...the money he had planned for to change his life had turned to ashes...

He cried out loud in the fire and made his way back out...Eventually, he fainted and was rushed to hospital.

Dear friend, no matter what you may be passing through; loss of job, low income, loss of loved one, sickness or anything that can be classified as loss or defeat. PICK YOURSELF UP, you have everything to live for.

In trying times everything could seem to fail even the inner strength to trust God. When life dealt you one of its scary cards, it's not enough for you to turn yourself to a walking corpse. I have seen people who got out of muds of life- far terrible situation than you are facing. This is not time for you to get depressed: The table will turn for you and there'll be joyous shout from your camp.

Friend, when we are in trouble we seem to forget that God will do what no man can do. Of course, we may be sighted at religious centres but with little or no faith and that slows down your healing. Hold on to God, you're in His plan.

May i also encourage you to engage your mind positively. Positive affirmation everyday, and engaging in activities that will put you back on a right path.

Don't say no to life. You will see the finish line where champions are decorated. You will celebrate!

Odunmorayo Olalekan Matthew
Author and speech writer
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