So? What About Lent and Ash Wednesday

Yesterday, Lent began, a period of forty days of almsgiving, prayer and fasting (from food, festivities, luxury, habits, tendencies), which normally begins on a Wednesday known as the “Ash Wednesday”. This period is very important for the Christian faithful, it’s a time of soul searching and repentance in preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

I attended morning mass and got the ash which was made from palm from the previous lent crossed on my head. The priest while doing this said “from dust we came and to dust we shall return”. Rain fell heavily in this region and that made the day dull for most people. I cleaned the house which the morning rain had made a mess and prepared for school and left home.

But my Lent did not just begin with Ash Wednesday and the preaching in church, one of the things that began this period for me was a story a friend told me about good attitude. I realized, that we had left out attitude in the preparation plans for lent. The story goes.

A young lady was waiting for her in the boarding room of a big airport. The flight was delayed and since the departure time was still hours away; she got a book to while away time. She bought a pack of cookies also. She sat in an armchair in the departure section to rest and read in peace. Beside the armchair where the pack of cookies lay, was a man sitting right next to her on the other side of the arm. The man opened his magazine and started reading.

 

When she took out the first cookie, the man took one too. She was irritated by that but she said nothing. She just thought to herself “what a nerve!, if I was in the mood, I wound punch him for daring”.

For each cookie she took, the man took one too. This really infuriated her but she didn’t want to cause a scene. When a cookie was left, she thought; “ah! What would this abusive man do now?”. Then the man taking the last cookie, divided it into two halves, took one half giving her the other half. This was too much! She was too angry now. In a huff, she took her book and her things and stormed to another section of the departure room.

When she sat down in her seat, in the plane, she looked into her purse to take her lenses and to her surprize, her packet of cookies was there, untouched and unopened! She felt so ashamed. She had forgotten that her cookies were still in the purse. The man had divided his cookie s with her without feeling angered or bitter, while she had been very angry with the thought that she was dividing her cookies with him. And there was no chance to explain herself nor apologize.

Let’s take the path which the man took, we should improve on our attitude toward things. This goes a long way to show that the change one needs begins with himself or herself. If we all go about our different businesses with good attitude, we would make this a happier world for ourselves. We might never have a chance to explain ourselves, so why not avoid it instead.

HOPE! It's all we have

HOPE! Its all we have

Shall the east bear the sun
On his shoulders early every morn
Shall the birds herald dawn
Every time the stars are gone

Shall the sweat on my brow ever dry
Or the tears at midnight that roll down my cheek
Shall I find reward for my daily try
Any coin for my wounds and my bones now weak

Shall there be rest at dusk
For we now covered with dust
Is there a price for the battles I've won
For the hurdles I've passed on this great run

Shall the crying child have a reason to smile
Is there a bright future for these feeble minds
Shall there be bliss in the world tomorrow
After today's bloodshed and grim that bends my shadow

Shall the morning come
When you'll know what to say
To the one who whispers your song
Or shall his voice fade like the dew someday

Shall the flowers wilt
In his hands as he would tilt

Is there life in tomorrow
Or shall our children find where to borrow

Will we find rest
After our struggle,after we've done our best

Shall we eat
Of our labour's meat

Shall the sun always rise
At dawn,in the skies

All we can do is hope

by Aniekan Etetim

A Night in My Cousin’s Room

It’s a really dark night and I’m sitting in my little cousin’s room, watching her sleep and listening to the faint sound produced by the inhalation- exhalation cycle as her bosom rises and falls.

The generators keep up their quarrel just outside, the PHCN peace keepers have as usual, abandoned their outposts, the last time they were sighted being two days ago. I take a quick time check; 2230 and the low glow of the Kerosene lantern illuminates the room. I awake to my sleeping cousin, Edidiong, Six months old who has been with us for the last one week. My lil cousin, Edidiong, is really a beautiful girl, full of excitement, life and superb abilities to keep one awake all night!

She has taught me some great lessons. For instance, one ‘Pampers’ (a diaper brand) is not necessarily equal to one dry night as advertised by Procter & Gamble on Nigerian television, there are other factors that need to be considered. It’s like what Nigerian Telcos do. They’d scream: ‘Load NGN 500 and win a trip to Dubai, NGN 5 million in cash and monthly salary for life’. And just before the advert runs out, they’d add in almost a whisper; ‘Terms and Conditions apply’. So according to lessons I’ve learnt by Edidiong, the Pampers Ad should say: ‘One Pampers is equal to one dry night, all things being equal’ J

Edy could also be very annoying! She sometimes refuses to sleep, crying and causing a huge fussL. There’s this particular special stunt she pulls; she just starts crying for no reason and when you carry her, she just keeps quiet and acts as if nothing occurred. Return her to her cot, and she just resumes the crying stunt for about a minute before she keeps quiet and finally enters into the blissful realm of sleep. Talk about holding the house to ransom without firing a gun!

So sitting at my table this evening and watching my lil cousin sleep, in the darkness that is only partially defeated by the Kerosene lamp and the duels between the generators outside, my mind begins to wander, flying over planes, planets and orbits. I begin to ask myself questions I hope answers would be found for. Taking a cue from Que Sera, I ask, what does the future hold for my lil Cousin? By the time she’s 20, would the generators stop their agbero fighting? Would she school at UNIUYO and have to sit on the floor for a MTH 111 class because the hall was fully filled before the lecture even began? Would she still have hope? Would she believe in God?

Forgive me for my seeming rants, but by July I’d spent 20 years on Earth, all of them in Nigeria and I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. Like the BBC’s Shina Okeleji (@oluwashina) says, ‘…Not every HELLO and HI has ended well though, you just ask the undertaker at a town cemetery’. I’ve learnt to be suspicious, to be skeptical and to be cynical. I’ve crushed the Petals of Blood, shared a Simple Lust, been a Man of the People and ascended to the Path of Thunder. Life has been a teacher, a weird psycho that seemingly defies all attempts of definition and stereotype.

I wish I was Moses, with a miraculous rod, a large heart and an ability to cause water to flow from stones. I wish I was Einstein or Newton, dissecting, propounding and testing scientific hypotheses and laws. I wish I was Okigbo, the voice crying from the groves and holding the world spellbound by its brilliance and technique. But, NO! I’m G Y P S Y, and I’m learning to forgive. I’m the regular dude who just wants to leave the world, my family, my church and my environment better than he met it.

I’m brought back to the reality of the semi-lit room by the sudden death of the one of the generators. The last man standing is performing a solo victory dance. Yeah! He’ll be the last generator to die this night. The weaker combants are taking a deserved break knowing that without the peace-keepers, the duels will resume in the morning. And in my mind, a prayer begins to form, a prayer for my lil cousin.

Edy, may the years be good to you. May you find joy, happiness, faith and hope. May you have a happier first two decades of your life than I’ve had and may God keep you from making costly mistakes and assumptions. May the generators stop quarreling in your lifetime. May those miserable mosquitoes of the night classes not see you and may no idiotic lecturer score you 69.5.

Gotta go now. I’ve got school to ‘pretend to attend’ in the morning. I bow out with the immortal words of Christ:

‘…Greater love hath no man than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends’

by David "Gypsy" Israel (@Gypsy_C9)