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The word, humane, is embedded in humanity. But that’s where their symbiosis begins and ends as, on the whole, there’s nothing permanently, totally humane about humanity. On a scale of 10, humanity is eight, nine inhuman. Please, come with me.
The innocent get punished, even killed. The guilty walk free and about, cheered on: emboldened to flaunt and utilise the very audacity as a licence to commit more havoc. It is the exact same senselessness one finds between the rich and the poor. Most rich conduct themselves as poor while most poor endure a-sorrowing just prove what they aren’t!
Consider also what I call humanity osmosis. In a competion, mediocrity almost always trounces excellence. Always, the worst win – and hands down. Yes, bad is better than good!
If you are always enraptured by a charming smile, then I need you to hear this. Some smiles carry a dagger you can’t see. Similarly (conversely, really) if you hate people who persistently frown, time to retrace. If a smile hides a dagger, a frown could belie love!
You and I hate plotters, right? Wrong, it’s they who always win, and live large. Messrs Honest & Co. only queue up for eternity. And, take it or leave it, except something strange happens for power to change hands, that queue is their final resting place!
By the way, who said love is reciprocal? It isn’t. In fact, no virtue is. Not respect; not giving; not trust.
The one you love hates you, the one you respect despises you. I know you have believed differently. But, I tell you today: your enemy and his/her friend(s) are not your enemies. Your main enemy is that so-called friend of yours (read frenemy)!
One last annoying thing on love. An alarming majority of genuine lovers never win attention, nor eat the good of their beloved. I mean, only sycophants have a field day, sowing nothing but reaping bountifully. Just why does love treasure hate and vice versa?
Next, the Divine Paradox called Mother Luck. Like the Law, she’s blind. Yet, she’s vigilant enough to favour only the weak, the undeserved, the poor. Luck is not a good mother!
Furthermore, mankind’s paradox is in the speaking. Abbreviation, itself a long word, is all over the place preaching brevity. Imagine the sickening hypocrisy in that. Since we suspect political undertone in everything, perhaps abbreviation is indirectly campaigning to be the longest word in the world!
Quite funny. Alas, abbreviation is not alone. Such other words as troubleshooter, dupe, barely-intelligible are fine examples of ugly doublespeak. They say one thing, but mean another!
And now, the most absurd of the paradoxical humanity. We all mouth trustworthiness and honesty. Yet, we all are sharp contrasts. We all are smooth operators.
Most of our political office holders hate, condemn and wish away cultists, kidnappers, armed robbers, do they? Sssh, don’t give me that hypocrisy. How can they hate who they love, patronise and deploy as footsoldiers every election? They love these so-called bad boys seasonally, but when used and dumped these guys turn on the masses.
So, why don’t these users and usees love themselves forever so the rest of us could have uninterrupted peace? Is anybody appalled by that paradox? Hypocrite: what’s wrong with ‘Good,’ who can only survive when ‘Bad’ and his allied forces stick together, praying for that to be so? ‘Good’ praying for ‘Bad’ to remain bad!
I know that sounds horrendously crazy. However, in Nigeria, things are not always as they seem. Even with numbers, the paradox is total. 20, 30, through 90 to hundred, thousand, million, billion, trillion remain in their honour (unchanged) when say one is added.
Not so for 10. You catch my drift, don’t you? 20 plus one, twenty one; 1,000 plus one, one thousand and one; but 10 plus 1, eleven. Why not tenone?
Truly, humanity is trapped in paradox. To be free, we must replot our life road map, and diligently navigate it. That’s how to stay afloat in this tricky turbulence called life. Or a dishonest lazy fool will keep on ending up with so much money or power while a godly hardworker goes a-borrowing 24/7.
We must rewire or remodel life. We must rework or restructure our strategies. We must reengineer or retool our mentality. God bless Nigeria!
Ray Ekpu: I apologise on our behalf
I was a radio guest over the weekend in Uyo. Host, Idy James, decided at the very last minute that the interview should be about the iconic columnist and his previous-day ‘citizen journalist’ comments and the aftermath on social media. Halfway, he asked me if being a media person myself I wanted to use the opportunity to apologise to ‘the media ancestor.’
Of course, I wasted no time. I did it on air, and I am doing so again here. Dear Mr. Ray Ekpu, as one of the finest journalists the globe has produced, I pray you to please forgive the tiny minority of social mediapreneurs in Akwa Ibom State; for they know not what they did, said and are doing or saying.
I need you, Sir, to understand that what you said, or did not say last Friday at NUJ Press Centre, Uyo, is not exactly the cause of all those verbal vitriolic sparks online. Most of our young people have been emptied and deculturalised by politics and politicians. They now explode at the slightest provocation.
Rather than being angry over their insulting outbursts, which for your age, exposure and knowledge, are mere empty air, I appeal that you talk some more. I insist that our media young people need to be taught respect, patriotism and sense in addition to knowledge and professionalism. ‘Living ancestors’ of the trade like you must preach on the place of culture in the media space, loudlier and frequenter!
