This writer has been thinking, as always. This time though, it has been all about all the betrayals, all the crimes, all the crises, all the troubles, all the wars in the world. Which part of the human body can be said to be the chief architect of this primitive, puerile ungodliness? That is, without which part of the body would man’s crimes or greed or sins maximally reduce?
Don’t do that to yourself, please. Don’t let your mind fly off, like that. It has not got to that, just yet. Keep it light: after all, it is just a discourse; it is just an academic exercise, nothing more.
To guide you, here is the unenviable shortlist: heart, head, ears, hands, legs. Another slide: mouth, nose, tongue, genitals, eyes. Were you to pick just one as the human body part most responsible for the global greed and wickedness that continue to torment humanity, which would that be and how would you explain your say~so? As happened a fortnight ago, I put that twin poser to my Facebook friends last week and they all gathered in near unanimity.
Here is what they said, one by one. Arisno Nwankwo Isaiah: ‘’I don’t know how to properly answer this but then, I go for eyes. This is because it is the ability to see things that make people desire them. And from desiring, go on to violate the law, by stealing or such other criminal acts.’’
Uforo Samuel Ebong: ‘’I think I should go for heart. Medically, this is where life is made. The heart is responsible for the body. Even God Himself dwells in our heart.”
John Hollywood agrees in whole with Uforo. Here is Mr Hollywood’s perspective: ‘’It’s no other part. It is the heart. It’s simply because every action is embedded and premeditated in the heart before it can happen.’’
Joseph Eyo is a pastor so you should understand when he aligns with the flock. He preaches: ‘’The Boss, it’s the Heart! It conceives, deliberates, fine-tunes, empowers and commissions. Once it’s settled in and approved by the heart, other parts of the body are redundant and helpless, but follow suit.
‘’A rotten heart will manifest in a smelling mouth, a destructive tongue, wayward legs, a thoughtless head, evil eyes, useless hands, deaf ears, big-for-nothing nose and immoral genitals. That’s why any problem can be solved, once you’ve got to the heart of the matter. God Almighty Himself knows. Hence the call (my son, give me your heart ~Proverbs 23:26; Matthew 12:34).’’
Like father, like daughter. If you hadn’t heard that before, Miss Promise Sunnel Joseph~Eyo is here now to initiate a first: ‘’The problem of man is heart. It’s the ballroom where all evils are birthed, schemed, strategised and deployed. Beware of thy heart, oh thou man.’’
Sylvanus Ibanga: ‘’It is heart, Sir. The Bible explains that it is desperately wicked. God exposed this from the very beginning that He saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil ~Genesis 6:5. So, it’s heart.
‘’And, it will remain the same. Except that heart receives the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The heart controls all of man’s actions. Many thanks for this opportunity, The Boss.’’
Now, someone breaks away. His name is Julius Ebrene, of Class 2023 in Michael BUSH Mentoring Academy. Hi, Mr Ebrene: ‘’Hi, The Boss. You have come again o, my Mentor.
‘This one is technical, because one part or action leads to the other. They are interconnected. But you see the tongue (or the mouth)? It is the most culprit of them all.’’
And, yet another breakaway. Unfortunately, all that the breakaway adds up to is only a tiny minority. Alas, Enobong Ukpong’s difference is the same: ‘’Tongue. For me, the tongue is the worst of them all because it can kill relationship, set nations against each other and even set fire to the whole world.’’
Before we continue, may I please seek your indulgence to pay homage to an elder brother and a much brighter star in the broadcasting galaxy, Citizen Jones Usen? Family and I spent all of last week in Lagos on the invitation of Apostle of Wealth, Mrs. Blessing Nanman Tangtur, CEO & Visionary Leader of Lingzhi Global. Please google them, even if you can’t. I shall next week do a commercial piece on them in this space.
As I was saying, please join me to thank the veteran broadcaster and broadcasting teacher for his trademark humility and love. He not only accommodated me on his Voice of the People 90.3 FM, Abuja breakfast magazine show the morning of the Saturday we flew back to Uyo but also came over to spend quality time with my wife, Abasiodiong; daughter, Diamondabasi Ama; my brother, Mr Dan Chris Ebie of Nollywood and me. I shall forever treasure his wise words, his wisecracks and above all, his wise advice to 6~months~old Diamondabasi Ama BUSH to realise that the economy she has been born into won’t have anyone eating or looking the way she does. You can be sure that anytime her own is too much (as we say in Nigeria) her mother and I shall taunt her with that evergreen line.
Another thing. Citizen Jones, as his teeming radio fans call him, taught me many things while we sat there chatting away. One is the expression, ‘’the difference is the same.’’ Since I had already used it earlier in this entry, you now know to whom you should give the ad hoc flowers.
Two is his politics. He has strong political views and even affiliations but none is allowed to tint his presentations. In fact, he even plays the fool on air, technically speaking. Budding and intending broadcasters should imbibe his aerial conduct and performance.
Three is his boldness and surefootedness on air. This is not really surprising for the husband of 43 years and counting, for the father of two (a girl and a boy), a thespian and an engineer who are both into broadcasting; for the practising broadcaster who has spent 50 years and counting. There again, this is Nigeria where anything goes; where anybody can shock self with their action or inaction per time. It felt really good to listen to him and later to watch him live as he taught the listener, the caller and the rest of us the ethos of courage, personal conduct and professionalism.
Citizen Jones Usen of Mkpat Enin local government area of Akwa Ibom state, who reminds me permanently of my mentor, Mr Eddy Ekpenyong, another iconic broadcaster, was twice Nigeria’s broadcaster of the year back in the days when broadcasting was broadcasting. Well, Nigeria is like that, turn by turn. That man ought to be broadcaster of the millennium. Notwithstanding, it will be nice for the authorities such as National Broadcasting Commission or those who can afford it to get him to move around the country, starting of course from his home front to offer professional and life pep talks in the all~important but largely~ignored sector.
Back to winning ways, next. Which part of your body do you think is the window to crime, to greed, to sin? I was shocked the eight respondents fielded above rallied five to two against heart and tongue, and just one with eyes on the ball (many thanks, Arisno). No long story, heart and tongue are agents not catalyst.
As the respondents rightly argued, the heart might be where everything is cooked and the tongue might be what transmits that result, but does that make any of both the mastermind? In fact, aren’t nose (that sniffs all sorts of nonsense that culminates in uselessness or even death), head (that is worse than coconut), ears that eavesdrop for purposes of gossip), hands (that murder), legs (that walk into hell) or genitals (that prostitute or rape) in the same category as heart and tongue? How and why then did nobody ~not even one person~ mention them? You get the point now.
The one part of the human body that is at the very centre of life is eye. Again, many thanks, Arisno Nwankwo Isaiah. Your entry is what they call end of discussion. The eye it is.
The eye sees beauty as a must~have, sees good as competition and sees opportunity as do or die. Without eyes, most men won’t kill for money or join rubbish for power to show off to women and the world. Without eyes, most women wouldn’t go to just about any length to look extraordinarily delectable and ravishing just to catch a man or many of them. Eye is man’s window to desire.
Greed, crime and sin all begin in or with eye. The moment one sees a person or a thing, the eye communicates directly to the mind. That communication is encoded by eyes and decoded by mind as thoughts. Someone may say what about blind people?
Before we field that, there’s a more critical question to tackle. How much crime, how much greed, how much sin do the truly blind commit? Quite insignificant, if any. Even so, the blind have own eyes!
However, this is about eyes; not the lack of them. Man must train own eyes to never see or transmit evil. The man or woman or child who has a leash on their eyes has fixed own life by as much as 90%. Therefore, educate your eyes 25 hours daily, even if you can’t.
God bless Nigeria!