PURSUIT OF DIAMOND IN THE SKY
”However,
as I grew up from childhood to become a man I observed events as they began to
twist around into what our communities, and indeed entire Nation, have become.
At this point, I cannot but shout out to those who still have ears to hear, not
minding the fact that most ears are now dull of hearing!”
One of
the numerous poems taught in our schools (known as elementary schools in those
good days!) in the earlier years after the independence of my country is
briefly interpreted below. Many others like it existed, in different dialects,
which rendered the same teaching and imparted the same lessons, mentalities and
orientation in us all –in those good days!
The
poems were rendered in our local vernacular and much effort has been made to
interpret these into the English language. Many thanks to my wife and suitable
help, Olayemi, for helping me to write out the poems in the original language,
since I forgot some of the lines!
The lines of the poem in its native
rendition are:
“Ise ni ogun ise, mura si’se oremi;
“Ise lafi nd’eni giga, bi ako bar’eni f’eyinti
“Bi ole l’aari, bi ako ba r’eni gbekele, ate‘ra mo’se eni,
“Iyare le l’owo l’owo, ki baba l’esinlekan;
“T’oba gb’oju le won otetan ni mo so fun o;
“Ohun kan wa ti akole jiya fun, ti kinle t’ojo,
“Ohun t’aba f’ara s’ise fun niipe lowo eni,
“Apal’ara, igunpa ni’yekan;
“T’aiye ba fe o ‘loni, aiye ayeosi terin terin,
“Je ki od’eni ti ‘nrago
“Ki owo bi aiye se hun yin’mu si o,
“Iya unbo fun omo tio gbon, ekun unbe fun omo tin sa’re kiri;
“Ma’fo ‘wuro se’re oremi, mu’ra si’se ojo nlo!”
Meaning:
Hard work is antidote to Poverty,
Put all diligent efforts into your
work, my dear friend.
It is with hard work, not idling
around, that great men are made;
Where there are no benefactors;
We are perceived as a lazy, unprogressive
fellow.
When there are no shoulders to rest
upon;
We must put much diligent efforts
into our own work.
Your mother may be very rich and your
father, very wealthy;
If you place all your trusts into
their riches,
I assure you that a definite fall and
disappointment is ahead of you.
There may be a great possession which
we never suffered for… this does not last!
And whatever we do not pay for its true
price will never be an enduring success;
It is only the things we suffer for,
having the true knowledge of its value,
That one endeavors to protect and preserve for
a long while.
A man’s arms are his true companions,
and his elbows are his relatives;
When you are a success, men will
celebrate you and rejoice with you;
If circumstances change just a little
bit and you find yourself in wants;
You will realize how sudden the
people around will turn and despise you;
There is great suffering awaiting the
wayward child;
Unending weeping awaits the
rebellious child who runs forth and back…
… Who never settles down for a
particular trade, training or learning!
Oh my friend, do not handle the
earlier stages of your life with levity.
But, with all efforts and strength,
invest wisely into your life and future;
Time is not waiting!
One of the general themes that one may give to the above poem
is “DIGNITY OF LABOR”. This poem, and others like it, helped in instructing and
constructing our tender hearts from the pre-basic education ages, something
around ages 4 to 10. In fact, the eyes of our hearts and understanding opened
to words like this and grew in its consciousness. There were many other poems,
though in our local vernaculars, that we were required not only to memorize but
also to meditate upon. It was a requirement to recite these short local poems
for admission into certain courses or classes as we referred to them then,
though we did not appreciate the true effects these recitations and eventual
internalization of these words were having on us then! There was also one in
this series of poems that actually affected and turned my life around, giving a
weakling a great hope of eventual success if diligent efforts were given to laboring
in the right things. It was a song in the Yoruba
dialect as follows:
“Ipo ola dara o, ipo ola. Ipo na wunmi lopolopo mosi maa
de’be o! Emi oni k ob’o na mi lowo, emi o ni ko b’o na mi l’aso. Ma d’eni
atata, ma d’eni olola. B’ori ban s’oga l’ola o, mosi ma de’be o!”
Meaning:
“The place or position of greatness and wealth is a very good
one, necessary to be desired. Truly, I desire it whole-heartedly and I shall
get there. I will not mind to give up any thing that is required, money or
other valued possessions. I will become an influential person and a wealthy man.
I shall become a great personality in the future. I shall get there!”
These two affected my life so positively. They also assured
me that I could be great and at the same time they prepared my mind that
success and greatness were a product of hard work with integrity and that no
one who hopes to be successful should hang around with lazy fellows. The first
poem instructed me that the only true and lasting companions I was going to
have in life were my own arms. And that whatever these fetched me, through good
work, were much more reliable than what I was going to be given as a gift.
So, I grew up with a mind made up for dignity of my labor and
till now, whatever I earned through hard-work was greatly valued than all the
world given to me. I do not claim that all I have are self-made; no, for I have
received many blessings and gifts from others. In fact, I am convinced that no
sincere man is expected to be one hundred percent self-made. Along the line,
somebody must have helped us accomplish one thing or the other!
However, as I grew up from childhood to become a man I
observed events as they began to twist around into what our communities, and
indeed entire Nation, have become. At this point, I cannot but shout out to
those who still have ears to hear, not minding the fact that most ears are now
dull of hearing!
Please, bear in mind that as I grew up the watch word that
patterned our lifestyle was dignity of labor with two other words; integrity
and uprightness. That is, Dignity, Integrity and Uprightness. These three were
soon associated with many of their synonyms such as self-respect, self-worth,
honesty, reliability, truthfulness, decency, respectability and others as such.
Let the reader note that these are now strangers in our vocabularies, the
opposites reign in an average mind! How did we get here, so low, so
unimaginably bad that we have become greatly despised in the community of
nations? And even within our own communities, everyone is a suspect in the eyes
of others.
I ask, what happened to us? We were once a people known for
Dignity, Integrity and Uprightness, respected worldwide as the Giant of Africa. Though, I queried if
they did not really mean Giant in Africa,
but, I was reassured that my nation was and is still Giant of Africa. If anyone asks me, however, I will simply say that
it has the potentials of being Giant of
Africa that is, if her own very children will allow her and stop dragging
her on the floor!
I lost my argument when an elder narrated to me that while I
was yet a child, my Great Nation was the only one that had TV transmission
station in the whole of Africa and that some other nations in Africa took
pain-staking journeys to visit my Nation just to watch some TV programs. Also,
many countries sent their citizens abroad to my country to study in our
tertiary institutions which were of international standards in those days.
I grew up to see some European students attending the same
school, with me, in my country. In fact, very few institutions, world-wide,
could match those in my beloved country in those days! However reverse is the
case now, I travelled thousands of kilometers just to carry out simple
scientific analysis in other third-world countries only to be intercepted at
the airports and ushered into a special room with a polite explanation by the
officer, “sorry, people from your country
must be screened before they are allowed into our cities”.
Then, I cried within
me: “Are there no elders in the land? Are there no people who once saw the
great glory and potentials of this nation? Could the elders be asleep? Or is it
that they are tired of talking to deaf ears? Or could they have ‘joined them’ in the evil race, according
to one of the popular slogans in the land (if
you cannot beat them, join them) which slowly replaced “Dignity, Integrity
and Uprightness”? I kept crying, within, because I did not receive any answers
to my many questions. Then I remembered one of my earlier submissions which I
titled: “DON’T MIND OUR LEADERS; THERE
ARE YET MEN OF INTEGRITY IN THE LAND!” I became relieved and dried my tears
when I remembered a second submission with title: “WHEN THE YOUNG MUST ARISE TO CORRECT THE ELDERS”
Please, I
beg your indulgence to read the remaining part of this write-up with all
carefulness and intelligence. They are my personal observation and I am
perfectly convinced concerning them.
Some few years ago, the Federal Government of my nation declared
a national re-orientation campaign, which seems to have been somehow silenced
by now. Back then, I laughed at such a program because I knew it was not well
footed and the approach was such that it showed the limited understanding of
those who were meant to solve the problems of national decadence. The problems
that have arisen from a long standing generational fall-out will not –and cannot-
be extinguished within minutes, days nor even months; if it does in any way
then we must be prepared for a major disaster ahead. I am not surprised it
didn’t! A man who is not well equipped with knowledge of a problem will be the
worst to ever be considered to solving it. But, those are the ones we employ in
this part of the world, how will they be fruitful?
Unfortunately, their unfruitfulness always brings us back to
years of failures as a nation. But, who cares if it does generate some little
things into somebody’s pocket! After all, not all solutions are truly meant to
solve problems, some are meant for mere documentations and references. So, I have
learnt in my country.
It was Bob Marley, a man I consider a great philosopher, yet
to be equaled by his disciples that sang the following lines:
“Check out the real situation, nations fight against nations.
Where did it all begin? Where will it end? Well, it seems like total
destruction is the only solution! And there is no use because nobody can stop
them now”
I do not totally agree with this great giant of reggae music
in that he could not proffer a standing solution to the problems on ground
then. He rather suggested total destruction. If solution will be total
destruction then we better allow sleeping
dogs to lie and live the situation as it is! However, Bob Marley took the
correct approach to solving the problem. He enquired into the real situation
and where it all began, that is, the foundation of the problems. However, he
seemed not to have realized that trusting one’s intelligence to solving problems
will normally leave one confused not being able to see where it would end,
hence his hasty conclusion that total destruction may be the ONLY solution.
Let us attempt to start from where Bob Marley actually
suggested. Let us check out the real situation and let us consider where the
problem truly began. After all, my Scriptures teach that it is always necessary
to return to the foundations of problems. If the problem we are trying to solve
is actually originating from the foundation, then building any edifice on top
will eventually be a calamity and disaster to those within the building.
The real situation in our nation is our orientation, which
has been disturbed, attacked and affected by our own undoing. Once Dignity,
Integrity and Uprightness was our watch word, today it has turned to you must make it by all means and if you cannot beat them, then join them.
Permit me to quote some of my fellow clergymen: “I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you do, but my God will
lift you up. You are blessed today”. However, my
knowledge of the Bible instructs me that the very things that the men (of God?)
say they don’t care about are actually the true burden in the heart of the
Almighty, most gracious God. Please hear this now, God cares about whom you are.
God cares about what you do. These will determine a man’s eternal destination!
In fact, if your personality does not please God, your gift to His House (The
Church) is abominable to Him; even if the so called men (of God?) celebrate you
and your gift.
Yes, as stated earlier, our national problems –in my own
view- began with a shift in our orientation, mentality and thought pattern.
Though, this may not be everything, but it is the major aspect around which all
other things revolve. The introduction of foreign poems and recitations which
completely, but gradually replaced our golden, high-priced local poems started
shifting our focus into what the poems meant to teach. And whenever anyone,
like myself, remember and tried to recite the good, old local poems we were
quickly silenced in our classes with the common slogan then “no vernaculars”. Then gradually, I
completely forgot the poems that laid the foundational character of self-worth,
prestige and hard-work in me. Thank God for my wife who reminded me the poems
all over again!
The worst evil anyone can afflict any group of people with is
to withdraw their true identity from them and try to give them another one,
which is completely strange to them, only to force on them another man-made
idea! That was the greatest tragedy of the slave trade. No wonder, even after a
long time, many black Americans are still making efforts to identify and to
relate again with their roots. Some have even made visits to places they were
convinced to have been their root. Though, for obvious reasons, it was
difficult for them to relocate back home! For this reason, Mohammed Ali changed
his name from Casius Claye when he discovered his originality.
Our poems and recitations were replaced by some others like
these below:
One, two: Buckle my shoe
Three, four: Knock at the door
……..
……..
Nine, ten: A big, white hen.
And
Twinkle, Twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high;
Like a diamond in the sky
I never had any
interest in these strange poems because I found nothing in particular to gain
from them and none of the lines really taught me anything. I took time to
meditate a little deep on the second poem here: “Twinkle, Twinkle little star…Like a diamond in the sky”. Since
there were no values or moral lessons we could pick from these strange poems
yet they were forced down into our minds to think about; our brains were not
only washed, our minds also became wiped and refilled with something else. The
only thing we seemed to have been able to pick from this poem was “The
Diamond in the Sky”. This seemed to have quickly drained out all the
good virtues imparted into us through the now obsolete good, native poems.
Generations after mine
never knew anything about the good, native poems; their eyes opened to “Twinkle, Twinkle little star…Like a diamond
in the sky”. And they all started and continued to pursue the imaginary diamond in the sky. They did and are yet
doing everything to get to the sky just in pursuit of the ‘hidden’ diamond. They are ready to do anything
and everything to get to the sky in pursuit of the diamond; not minding if getting there would involve stealing or
robbing others. The diamond in the sky
became so real and it was to be obtained by all means.
Then, gradually our
entire society transformed from integrity and service driven to that which is money
driven because our focus changed to the diamond
in the sky! Our leaders and elders who once instructed their children never
to do anything that would bring shame to the family now instruct and sometimes personally
monitor them to go out in pursuit of the diamond.
They even tell them to do whatever others do to get what they are getting. It
is shameful to say here that many of them encourage their wards into
prostitution in order to ‘make ends meet’. Are you then surprised that some men
(of God?) had the courage to celebrate the birthday of a celebrated criminal
who is serving a jail term somewhere in another country? Who are these men (of
God?) truly representing? Are they not actually serving their own pockets in
pursuit of the diamond in the sky? I
am bold to say again: Don’t mind our
leaders!
Unfortunately, not
many people who did all odds in pursuit of the diamond in the sky ever got to the sky; some of them died trying to get there. And those who
eventually did soon realized that there were no diamonds in the sky! There are
only meteors that aligned well with the beam from the sun, and so they glowed. But
now everything seems up-side-down and there is no collective sense of integrity;
only isolated men in some places show some integrity. But they are soon
silenced in most cases! Everyone is selfish, pursuing his own things, yet everyone
seems to be the looser in the pursuit, blaming his losses on others. No one accepts
responsibility for the failure. Everyone knows too much so that the resultant
knowledge is zero; since they perfect their knowledge in wrong things. The will
to do well is not there because “doing
well does not bring much gain and success earned from hard-work is too slow and
not much” they say.
The pursuit of diamond in the sky, became referred to
by some as ‘searching for the greener pastures’ has driven many people out of
the shores of the country into other places; from where people once took long
journeys just to watch the TV in my country. On getting to these other lands,
my people continued the pursuit of the lost diamond
which they could not find in the skies of their country. After all, they did not
go there with the intention of serving, but to ‘make it’. So, they did everything and anything odd. Many of them
learnt hard, tedious works in strange lands to ‘make ends meet’ –works they
would never have done in their own land. This notwithstanding, the far greater
number did unimaginably questionable things; that ended most of them into
serving jail terms in the strange lands and others shamefully deported back to
the country. This continuing for decades, at least two and a half, has painted
my country in such unpleasant colors. Now, it seems to me that immigrants seem
to have a phobia for the green color; or are they simply attracted to it? For,
I always seem to have become a VIP in the few countries I have been to; I have
often been invited to a screening room whenever I presented my green colored
travelling document. Yet, green means vegetation in my country while white
means peace. But, whenever I travel, green seems to mean ‘special attention’.
For some, all efforts
of the physical efforts in the pursuit have failed so they resort into
spiritual efforts to be successful by all means, not to mention diabolical
practices. It’s no use going deep into this; not all garments can withstand the
heat of the sun! The issue of ghost workers receiving salaries, for years, in
government departments is worth covering one’s face about. Who has been
punished for this, when discovered? Who actually received the salaries? Into
whose accounts have the salaries been credited? Have the salaries been
returned? If so, who received them? Truly, this is money driven society!
Everyone is pursuing and searching for the diamond
in the sky. It is thought provoking! Why are corrupt, discredited people;
with established facts, not punished while in office? Could it be that he who
holds the sword to behead the wanting suddenly realized that he is also
involved in the evil? Or could it be that the blind-folder in the face of
justice got removed, and recognizing the criminal as her only son and she becomes
weak and unable to pronounce the sentence?
Our leaders “catch thieves” only to release them
after a series of hot debates that end up into exchange of smiles. Actually, I
am not yet sure if it was really an ordinary exchange of smiles or could it
have been an exchange of something else ‘behind
the clouds’ before the smiles we see open sun light? Only God knows! Their
smiles and handshakes leave many like me a little bit more confused than before
the thief was caught. Then, I questioned; ‘why bother to catch the thief then?’
It was Jerry Rawlings, Ghanaian ex-president that referred to my country as a
place where “the rich get the bail and
the poor get the jail”. I wish he could explain this better for it only
sounds like a topic in a debate series to me! Or does the read know what he
actually means?
The problem in the
land is the problem of culture, the problem of greed, the problem of complete
mental disorientation. Yes, it is the problem of pardoning the wicked, if he is
rich, and punishing the innocent in his place. The problem of confusing the
masses with long, exhausting discussions and grammatical debates in the courts
and afterwards acquainting the wicked, who would soon be found guilty somewhere
else outside the shores of our land. Could there really be anything wrong with
the land, or is the problem truly with the people in it? Shall we continue to
fold our hands and watch helplessly? Don’t we owe our children a good, well
deserved future? Before my father died some years ago, he told me stories of
the good, old days before I was born. Things are even worse now than they were
as at the time he was relating his narrative. I cannot imagine myself telling
my child about the bad, old days and watch him tell his own child about the
worse, old days. Whereas things are in the reverse in other lands; getting
better and better!
This write up is by no
means meant to criticize anyone, government or individuals. My burden is far
beyond that, but my heart cries for solutions to the problems in my Fatherland.
I need to help others see things in the right way, before we all become mediocre.
On the contrary, it is meant point us all to the important issue of working
together positively. We must see it as joint responsibility to fix our country
up again and it must start with you and me on personal grounds. We must start
by taking a right stand and to make efforts to correct, with patience, the ills
around us –at home, at work, in schools and even on the roads.
I submit and recommend
that we should go back to the real situation, having considered where it all
began, we need to proffer some basic solutions. While some very important and
urgent steps should be taken –by the government- to correct and guide the
already made men and women, that is the adults, only the Word of God can work
on these. I strongly suggest that a well defined work should start with the
immediate next generation. The government and school administrations should
re-introduce our local poems and quotes from the Word of God into the pre-basic
and basic schools’ curricula. No problems with the issues of ‘No vernacular’; let the local poems be
interpreted as I have presented in this write up.
Also, let us instruct
our children that there are no diamonds in the sky. And that the only antidote
to poverty at old age is hard-work and God’s blessings. Not just God’s
blessings, as many clergy fellows make some to believe. God will never bless a
person with so much that is beyond his capacity to sustain, but He blesses
hard-work.
Let us teach the next
generation about Dignity, Integrity and Uprightness. Let us tell them about the
potentials of our country. Let us tell them that there is diamond in the land and
in hard-work, not in the sky. Let us teach them to work hard to dig up the
diamond and to be best in all they do. Let us instruct them about the power of
determination, self respect and respect for others. Let them know that they
must be quick to respect others first, and never to expect respect from others
until they have presented themselves with respect.
Dear friend thanks a
lot for your long patience in reading this piece. I want to leave you with this
poem, please make efforts to learn and to teach someone else. Tell others about
this blog, the more the merrier. Your comments and contributions are welcome.
Hard work is antidote to Poverty,
Put all diligent efforts into your
work, my dear friend.
It is with hard work, not idling
around, that great men are made;
Where there are no benefactors;
We are perceived as a lazy, unprogressive
fellow.
When there are no shoulders to rest
upon;
We must put much diligent efforts
into our own work.
Your mother may be very rich and your
father, very wealthy;
If you place all your trusts into
their riches,
I assure you that a definite fall and
disappointment is ahead of you.
There may be a great possession which
we never suffered for… this does not last!
And whatever we do not pay for its true
price will never be an enduring success;
It is only the things we suffer for,
having the true knowledge of its value,
That one endeavors to protect and preserve for
a long while.
A man’s arms are his true companions,
and his elbows are his relatives;
When you are a success, men will
celebrate you and rejoice with you;
If circumstances change just a little
bit and you find yourself in wants;
You will realize how sudden the
people around will turn and despise you;
There is great suffering awaiting the
wayward child;
Unending weeping awaits the
rebellious child who runs forth and back…
… Who never settles down for a
particular trade, training or learning!
Oh my friend, do not handle the
earlier stages of your life with levity.
But, with all efforts and strength,
invest wisely into your life and future;
Time is not waiting!
All publications and copy rights duly reserved. (c) LBI 2013
