Follow Us on Google
The first step in every human relationship should be knowing who you are dealing with. What manner of person is your parent? What manner of person is your offspring, your sibling, your nibbling, your spouse, your helper, your teacher, your confidant, your boss, your colleague, your friend, your partner or your priest? And what manner of person are you?
Most relationships go kaput just because those involved failed at the get-go to understand their individual and indeed corporate personalities. A clash of personalities and as a result a fallout are not just a function of two bad people. No, sometimes, the problem is the lack of understanding. Let us look at a few character traits per relationship.
Take two egoistic persons, for a start. In a business or political or professional or religious or sexual relationship, both can succeed or fail -depending on how deep or shallow at least one of them is. That is, they fail when one of the egos is not smart enough to understand when to abase and when to abound with the other. This here is why one pair of egos can partner successfully all the way while another crashes midstream.
What about two humble people? Together, they can thrive from start to finish, on one hand and on the other, they can suddenly come upon a rock. The difference is in both or one never feeling that their humility was being too frequently abused or tested. Understanding is key.
What about two crooks? Two crooks can together swim or sink, end to end -in marriage, in friendship, in business. It all depends if either
both decide never to show their true colours to each other or one chooses to laugh it off every time.
Playing the fool is brilliance, playing the fool is sense, playing the fool is wisdom -sometimes.
What if ego got in bed with humility, or a crook with someone straightforward, or cowardice with bravery, etc.: can they fly? Yes, they can. No, they cannot. Their result depends entirely on whether they both share, or one of them has, a strand of understanding.
Understanding is so key it is almost everything -both in Heaven and on earth. Knowing or understanding the other person can save a marriage, a friendship, a business, a plan; it can save the world. Always get to know and understand first who that person is before you both start. Never get entangled with someone you do not know or understand.
The person you think a weakling could be a ticking time bomb. The one you fear could be so weak they are afraid of you. The one you believe loves only the truth could be the father of lies. The so-called lady of substance could be the mother of all sorts of nonsense and nuisance that society is fighting to bury.
From the foregoing, and with the knowledge you now have, how do you know or understand your blood or spouse or friend or colleague or business partner? How do you know or understand your team member or supporter or opponent? How do you know or understand your leader or follower or fan? How do you know or understand your sponsor or protégé or benefactor?
Again, it is important to know or understand who you are up against. Beware, some of those snoring away are sleeping giants. Sssh, never provoke them up. Most importantly, beware: many latter-day opponents have nothing to lose!
As 2027 beckons, it is important to know where and how you stand. Plus, who you are messing with. Do you know or understand them? Make sure to take (nobody or) nothing for granted, especially if you have something -let alone, many things- to lose.
A small one can become a mighty nation. A small fire can become an inferno. Ray Ekpu told us that just as the village is the mother of the city in that the former produces all the garri and all the cocoyam and all the palm oil that the latter survives on, the child is the father of man. Of course, the veteran chief of the pen is spot on: the ocean was birthed by a stream.
Beware, man! Yesterday was once tomorrow. Today is tenured. Truth and fairness are intrinsically bold and victorious, which is the main reason they never bend, they never change, they never lose.
The one down fears no fall -at least, today. If they are wise, they imbibe honesty and justice also. Because tomorrow, when they climb and risk falling, the pair can steady them. Honesty and justice can save anyone!
The truth is that no amount of attacks or blackmail or intimidation can hurt not to talk of silencing truth. It always bounces back, it always remains, it always wins. This too shall, willy nilly. Truth always triumphs: if not today, tomorrow; if not tomorrow, overmorrow.
If truth hurts you, there is only one way out. Address it, clean it up, embrace it. One thing you should never do is fight back truth with lies. One is life, the other is zilch; where zilch is a synonym.
Truth to tell though, we can all not be on the same page with truth, permanently. Sometimes, we falter. It is human for that to happen. However, the difference is in how we react once our attention is called to the truth that we missed.
There is a reaction that ameliorates the damage. There is also a reaction that worsens matters. On the flip side, we need also to know or understand the person(s) we hire to fight back truth. Mediocrity or overzealousness or both can cause even more damage.
For one, it can indirectly instigate truth to go deeper and deeper, causing far more damage in the process. For two, it can incur unnecessary or pyrrhic collateral damage, for example reveal the quality of sponsor(s). So, who are you, dear Sponsor? No need to answer because we know who you are just by looking at those you hired for your dirty job.
Finally, it is worth knowing or understanding that in the Bible, David did not win because he was David or small nor did Goliath lose because of his name or humongous stature.
Victory or defeat far transcends the person. Know or understand that it is all about who is behind the person. God can never lose to Satan, the same way Satan complete with entire line-up can never as much as stain the white of God’s person.
God bless Nigeria!
