RANDOM THOTS

By Chude Jideonwo A lot of Nigerians who want to try and change their country and who have a zeal to do so are being discouraged by the myriad of challenges that abound.  There’s the school of thought that there’s so much to do but few people willing and able to do them. The idea is that the situation in the country is so hopeless and there is nothing we can do. I have been there many times, and not too long ago. I have spent the past eight years of my life working for country in one way or the other, and trying to sell hope and working to build platforms for my generation to impact the country, but very frequently I find myself so terribly disillusioned. It feels like I cannot succeed where, to rely on recent history, Gani Fawehinmi, Chinua Achebe,Aminu Kano and others have failed. At those times, I have managed to inspire myself by reminding myself of five times in my life when I have felt such an incredible sense of hope and faith – in myself, in my countrymen and in change.

I get the whole prosperity thing, I really do. But whatever happened to contentment? Whatever happened to being thankful and grateful for what you have right now instead of perpetually clamoring for more? When is enough enough? When do you say, okay, I’m rich enough now. Lemme start to be content and start to help the less privileged? It does not exist! That time…not for everyone at least. A very small percentage of the world’s population controls half the wealth in the whole world. Truth is, nobody hands it to them and they know the price they paid to get there. But you, yes you! You want a private jet and you still want to sleep for 8 hours a day, and then spend 5 hours praying. Pray tell, how much time is left for you to work? But you, yes you! You want a private jet and you still want to sleep for 8 hours a day, and then spend 5 hours praying. Pray tell, how much time is left for you to work?You want to graduate with 1st class and you spend 6 hours at the prayer garden,

By Penshy The new year comes with its own brand of drama. The world is never really drama free is it? We find ourselves asking questions like- will Kim Kardashian ever marry again? How many men does it take to screw in a light bulb? Is it now socially acceptable to expose children to nudity? It’s a known fact that we should adopt some kind of caution when it comes to exposing children to matters of the opposite sex and sex in general, but it seems with the age we are in, extra care has to be taken. We have the fashion industry, which looks more like its American and French counterparts day by day, promoting the showing of more skin, and then the music industry that more often than not teach our kids words like: “sarkodie” which means a vulgar and inappropriate thing in English. Not that these songs aren’t hits, but they have PG written all over them. Your kids don’t know what PG means, but you do. My aunt would definitely agree with me after her 5 year old told her friends “my m