Alams has been arrested.......so why am I not happy?

Hola peeps. Otro desplome plano. Triste. Woke up buzzing on Saturday ‘cos the thief Alams got impeached and arrested on Friday 9th December. Found out late in the evening, and though I’d planned to do some work the joy I felt that Nigeria’s finally acting right took precedence. As a result, I thot it best to ignore work for TV so I’d enjoy this feeling for longer. It’s a crap way to act I know, but find myself doing stuff like that now and again……especially after sporting events. For instance, after Arsenal win a game by a huge margin I find myself watching highlights over and over again and regaling peeps with tales of goals scored. Yes, I know I need a life. Anyways, the buzz quickly dissipated when I got home. If I wasn’t pissed enough that Arsenal lost (yet again!) I got to find out that another plane crashed, and though there were survivors, 103 peeps died.

Saturday, 10th December 2005 shoulda been an ace day as two separate family friends had engagement parties planned, and for weeks been looking forward to getting stuffed on nice food. Then, heard about my mate’s wife’s death during the week. Didn’t make it to either party ‘cos decided to go along with other mates to condole him. Woulda gone on my own, but didn’t have a clue on how to get there. Scratch that; if I’m honest I’d say the main reason I wanted other peeps there is ‘cos I’dn’t have known what to say at such a time. I mean what does one say to someone who’s lost his life partner? “It will be well; God has a plan for everything”?

I honestly do believe God has a plan for everything, and even though my mate has a strong relationship with God I decided it was one of those times when it’s more appropriate to shut up. Whatever words of encouragement offered would sound trite. Glad I went ‘cos the dude appreciated it and said he needed the laugh. Yup, ladies and gentlemen meet Tunde, ur friendly neighborhood clown. Kinda reminds me of another mate of ours called Tony. The worst tragedy could happen to u and just one look at Tony would make u laugh. He doesn’t look weird or nothing, it’s just that his mannerisms crack me up. Once he told me about a time he walked over to console his fav cuz after her dad died. The girl had been bawling her eyes out and peeps surrounded her and tried to console her by offering trite statements like one I mentioned earlier. Anyways, it doesn’t work and she’s shedding more tears. Suddenly she hears footsteps, and with tear-filled eyes looks back to see who’s approaching. Soon as she picks out Tony’s silhouette she cracks up and laughs like crazy. Tony said he felt awful with himself, but told him he was beating himself up over nada. Hey, maybe that’s Tony’s gift to the world. We’d take him along to funerals and charge for his hysterics-inducing services. Sorry about the last sentence folks, the paucity of cash in my wallet’s making me dream up all sorts of money-making ventures. Damn NYSC.

So back to my beliefs: I trust that God knows the big picture and tsunamis, wars, plane crashes are all part of the equation, but………..wait, what I am trying to say is, doubts emerge when u hear stories of another plane crash and most on board are young folk. Went to church on Sunday and the preacher musta read my mind ‘cos she spoke about the same thing and gave an instance of where a fellow pastor – who, by the way, was observing a fast at the time – died in a plane crash. She cried to God and complained about the unfairness of life and she said He left this phrase with her: Use ur faith to trust my integrity as God that I know what I am doing……. Kinda dovetailed with the underlying message of a daily devotional I’ve been reading. A few weeks ago there was a teaching on being strengthened in the weak places. The gist of it was God knows our weaknesses and is there to help; the best we can pray for is that our time of weakness helps in strengthening someone else. Didn’t get the point ‘til I heard someone else say that whatever we going through God gets the glory. Hence, if u having a bad patch let someone else observe that and see a reason to thank God, and when u having a good patch let there be a reason for someone to give thanks to God about that too.

Funny ‘cos drove to work on Friday in a foul mood, and was surprised I didn’t run over someone, ‘cos was pissed when I heard about the tactics the government used to kick people outta their houses. Couldn’t figure out how Nigeria got so unlucky as to have utter bastards as leaders; how our leaders don’t even feel what the common man’s going through. Seems God kept telling me to chill out; kinda like saying, “cast no stones…”, but didn’t wanna listen. Probably didn’t help that Linkin Park was playing on the radio. Ha. Kept hoping to get Obasanjo in a dark alley so I’d throw a few punches. Then, I got home and heard about Alams’ arrest and thanked God that Obasanjo had the good sense to appoint Nuhu Ribadu as head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Later, I recalled some of the bad things I’d done in the course of my life that I thot were downright unforgivable, but God forgave me, and so did those I hurt (mostly my family, but haven’t had time to contact my exs. Ha). That’s why after getting over my happiness at Alams’ arrest I also prayed he’d be forgiven by God and that others can learn from his mistakes. Moral of the story is no one’s totally good and no one’s wholly bad……even Alams. Most Africans prefer Clinton to Bush, but the latter’s donated more aid to us than Clinton did. I mean I felt disappointed when I found out years ago about Rev. Jesse Jackson’s extramarital affair. “This dude’s the lightning rod for the Black community in the States, he walked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., how could he allow this to happen?”, I asked myself. Then, got reminded of the number of people I’d cheated on. See what I mean about praying that ur weakness helps in strengthening someone? That doesn’t mean we should not criticize our leaders or shout out whenever they do something wrong. Maybe if we put ourselves in their shoes we’d have more empathy for some of their actions. That said most past leaders in Nigeria should be stripped naked and flogged for what they’ve done. Ha huh ha huh ha huh

I am a voracious reader and consume most stuff I see around me….when I have the time of course. Ha. Anyways, the recent tragedies reminded me of an article I read about Arthur Ashe. After he contracted AIDS via a blood transfusion he went through that Job phase, i.e. “God, why me?” He had a li’l girl and knew he wouldn’t get to walk her down the aisle or see her kids. He knew she wouldn’t have a dad to call her own later in life. He couldn’t get why he’d been struck by this incurable disease. Then, it occurred to him that if he always said ‘why me?’ about bad stuff that happens to him, shouldn’t he say the same when good stuff happens as well? I mean why was he chosen to be the first black dude to win Wimbledon? That left a deep impression in my heart, so when I heard about my mate’s wife and then, the plane crash my first thought was to rail at God, then I chilled. I am not saying I have the answer to everything or I’m consoled by the fact God knows what He’s doing, all I wanna bring out here is I have accepted that I’ll have doubts now and then, but God knows. I don’t know the reason for the plane crash, but I pray God consoles the families of those who died, hears their cry and offers them some form of hope.

Think I’m now at a point where I just try to remain humble when tragedies happen………now all God needs to do is explain why Arsenal are having such a bad patch……hey, at least we still in Europe unlike Man Utd….and our soul hasn’t been lost to money like Chelsea……and we have skillful youngsters unlike most Premiership teams…and…..hey, yup, God knows what He’s doing after all. Tot ziens and God bless.