REPORT TO THE FATHER OF FLEAS

REPORT TO THE FATHER OF FLEAS
My last post for 2014
Some days ago as I trekked to Church, some fleas greeted my face and they did not want to let go easily, and I asked myself (as I remembered when I was still very much younger that when we are disturbed, we always retort to report to our parents or the parents of the disturbing party,) whom do I report this persistent behavior to? Their parents? Fleas have parents, but how do I find them? And even if I find them how do I communicate with them?
This is the basis for my lesson today as we move on to a new year.
Deal with every man as a man without parents…Oladele Femi
If I have to report every bad behavior to parents of the offending party, then I will probably have no other job than to spend my resources traveling everywhere and looking for an interpreter.
Deal with every situation as it is and do not try to spend your time reporting to the parents of fleas, because you probably won’t find them, nor be able to communicate in the language they understand.
I refer to humans as fleas, not as a derogatory term but to make your persistent offenders too insignificant to deserve your time.
Enjoy a prosperous new year
Best wishes from DESIRE/PURPOSE

GRAND MA!!! BUT THAT’S NOT HER NAME

GRAND MA!!! BUT THAT’S NOT HER NAME
Title oriented people mix respect with regard…Oladele Femi
 In an atmosphere of the weekend just before the Xmas celebration, I found myself thinking of a post. I am aware that most people will be talking yuletide so I decided to do something that might provoke our thoughts a little bit. This piece is not borne out of my sheer desire to be an out-of-the-box kinda guy, but to say the least, I find it really true and interesting.
I realized that there is a wide difference between respect and regard. If my dad becomes a Governor of a State, he sure wont expect me to call him “His Excellency Sir” that would be awkward. But does it mean I don’t have respect for him? I suppose we need to understand that there is a difference between title and personality.
A scenario that might help us understand this concept better is responsibility sharing in academics. A Department with many Professors can have a Head of Department (HOD) that is a Reader. The title confers on the office a sense of responsibility for leadership. On the level ground the Reader is lower to Professors though they are considered to be on the same Professorial cadre.
My point now is this.
The title of Grandma is a result that she is the mother of my parents, not because of other reasons. So if she didn’t give birth, there will apparently be no need to call her grandma. Nowadays, we have grandparents that are forty (40) years of age, even less. And there are parents that are even sixty (60) years of age, but are not practically grandparents. Wouldn’t it be preposterous to refer to the older woman a little less than the younger just because she isn’t a grandparent?
In our drive to show respect, we should take cognizance that titles blur our right to right judgment and action. Show respect to personality; regard for titles. This reminds me of the saying that resistance to power is lawful, but resistance to authority is unlawful.
Best wishes, this Christmas period; celebrate and enjoy
DESIRE/PURPOSE

TAXONOMY OF ‘DEAR’ AND ‘DEAD’

TAXONOMY OF ‘DEAR’ AND ‘DEAD’

The only visible difference of these words are the alphabets ‘r’ and ‘d’ making the words so similar. ‘Dear’ is not always far from LOVE; as it is quite usual for friends and lovers to use the word more frequently. ‘Dead’ on the other hand is a more fearsome word except used in laboratory for what we sometimes consider quite insignificant living organisms.

When these words come together in our daily life affair and affect human beings, then it becomes something to worry about. Recently, I have had to endure the loss of many dear friends, relatives, friends’ friends and friends’ relatives. It is quite awful to lose someone very close especially when you are in the process of building a dear relationship with the deceased.

As I travelled to a part of the North-Central region of Nigeria in the past week, shocking stories of loss of dear friends came as news. To the memories of our dear dead (dead dear) which we cannot bring back and to our GOD who created us…though all we can do is mourn for our loss, we move on to continue to make life worth it for others who we can assist.

Stop sorrowing; move further to enrich the lives around you. May the strength of GOD comfort, uphold, uplift and encourage you.

Best wishes…DESIRE  

When I met her...

WHEN I MET HER…
Trying to relive the first day, I met this amazing woman…
We barely knew each other, albeit she had been nice to me; caring for my every need for more than 260 days.
My first contact (physical and external) with her was quite rusty, but she bothered less and held me tight to give me the required dose of nourishment for life and still does…
Oh what a wonderful day and a joyous woman. She is pleasantly pleasing and religiously godly.
I LOVE MY MUM
Happy Birthday to you. Best wishes…
Demonstrating Excellence through Supple, Ideal and Refined Enthusiasm (DESIRE)
Pursuing Unequivocally Relevance, Peace and Originality with Sensibility Effectively (PURPOSE)

VANTAGE POINT

Demanding the Uneven

            ‘Sad is the day for any man when he becomes absolutely satisfied with the life that he is living and the deeds he is doing; until there  ceases to be forever beating at the door of his soul a desire to do something larger which he seeks and knows he was meant and intended to do.’’ – Phillip Brooks.

Man was created for a purpose infinitely greater and wider than the scope of his imagination. Specially designed and crafted by the master-potter himself, in his very likeness, every human is fully capable of living an extraordinary life. If God declares us gods, who are we to desire to be ordinary men? Who are we to doubt Him?

‘I said: ‘you are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.’’ – Ps 82:6

A god is one who possesses divine characteristics. God has deposited his attributes within us. In essence, we have no excuse to be less than extraordinary.

‘The only person who can stop you from becoming what you intend to become is you’’.

-          Dr John Maxwell.

You do not want to wake up on your 70^th birthday with regrets wishing you could start over. It begins now.

The artist, who composed the popular song, ‘Coat of many colors’, Dolly Parton once said:

‘Find out who you are and do it on purpose’’.

We really cannot afford to live by chance, to rest on our oars and allow circumstances dictate the course of our lives. We’ve got to live more deliberately, more intentionally. Every thought, word and deed carefully crafted purposefully to create a beautiful and relevant tapestry.

The problems around us are crying out to be solved. The economic situation of the world, the seemingly endless wars and terrorist  strikes, the moral depravity of the society, the hopelessness invading the lives of several people all need to be dealt with.

The world needs you to rise up to your life’s mission. We honestly cannot do that by doing the same things we’ve been doing.

Many people have decided it is too much to exert themselves in order to succeed. A lot of us have given up on Nigeria. Regardless of that, now more than ever, we are direly needed to shine forth the light of God, to put our brains to work and act promptly. I think our problem is rooted in the fact that a lot of us are scared and believe it’s useless to sacrifice anything anymore for this nation. However, no genuine sacrifice goes to waste.

You cannot be committed to comfort and at the same time be committed to Christ. You cannot be committed to making a difference, to being extraordinary if you’re not ready to lose some skin.

‘The desire to survive keeps us at a mediocre level of living. It eats away at our conviction until we find it too easy to compromise and next to impossible to confront.’’ (John Maxwell. ‘Be all you can be. Chapter 12: I don’t have to survive).

To make a difference, we have to constantly confront, constantly demand, constantly challenge. You don’t get to a place of advantage by being lackadaisical. It does not come delivered on a platter of gold.

You need inspiration; passion, discipline, humility, assertiveness, motivation and sacrifice. Confront your fears and seeming inadequacies. Believe and dare to achieve. Demand the Unusual. Demand the Extraordinary. Demand the Uneven.

FAWOLE, Tolulope

WHY HEADS ARE THE BEST COUNT INDICATORS

WHY HEADS ARE THE BEST COUNT INDICATORS

I had the privilege of taking a bit of an informal census over the weekend. I naturally made my counts using visible heads. However, it dawned on me that I could have used any other thing such as legs, hands and any other body parts.

The question came to mind: why did I count heads?

A senior colleague had earlier taught me how to enumerate indicants, so I chose to use the word in my title.

Are heads really the best count indicant?

Enjoy a wonderful day people…DESIRE 

NUMBERS IN SMALL LETTERS

Writing alphabets can take diverse forms such as in block letters or small letters.
Today as I sat to fill a form I just wondered if numbers have block forms and small forms.
Probably, there is another way to write "1" other than how I just wrote it.
Enjoy a wonderful week ahead.
Best wishes...Inspire someone today

DENSITY AND DESTINY: COMMON THREATS

DENSITY AND DESTINY

These words have enjoyed a sort of professional/technical assignment as they are linked to Clerics and Physicists. They also both portend a degree of specialty as they pose threats to human life.

ASK THE BAKERS

ASK THE BAKERS

When bread is half baked, we ask the bakers what went wrong. The bread is never questioned.

I therefore submit that when graduates are referred to as half baked, we must ask the bakers.

There is a tendency to blame the students and graduates for non performance, but how can students perform when faced with the “good-news” from tutors who on the first day of lecture profess that not more than two people will pass the course out of more than a hundred students and/or that grades A and B are for GOD and his/her spouse respectively; please what type of motivation is that?

Another viewpoint is lecture attendance. My question to proponents of haphazard attendance by tutors is that “is the National Universities Commission (NUC) Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) useless?”Maybe the NUC should answer that question. The NUC BMAS stipulates generally that for a course designated one credit unit, the Lecturer should have a minimum of 15 contact hours for the semester, implying one hour per week. Proponents of the haphazard attendance insist that a Lecturer can choose to come only twice in the semester: first, as introduction of the Lecturer and the course and second, few days to examination with much bombardment of “resources”. If a Lecturer does not have to come to class, then students don’t need to leave their homes either. Thank GOD for Information and Communication Technology (ICT,) we can just stay at home and send materials and even write our examinations at home. Without disregard for distance learning students, if an institution has decided to admit students for a course that requires physical contact, then the Lecturers should be able to attend classes regularly. Thank GOD for private Universities who enforce attendance, but how can they also ensure quality assurance? It’s one thing to attend classes; it is another to deliver good substance.     

I am not also in support of viewpoints that insist that a Lecturer should not give you more than 25% of what you need. My fear is that some Lecturers don’t have the requisite knowledge and like a popular parlance “…nemo dat quod non habet”, implying you cannot give what you don’t have. Please let’s challenge our Lecturers and tutors to stand up to their responsibilities and make this nation, an academically sound one.

Research is next. How good are the researches that emanate from our institutions? This last issue I will like to discuss here is the unnecessary delay postgraduate students face. One day a Professor told me that these delays make the outcome of most researches stale. Academics complain that their research findings are not utilized, but how can they be, when they are stale I thought to myself. A degree programme that should last 18 months extends to 10 years and the institution is satisfied and basks in the ingenuity of their false standards. It baffles me when senior academics use the delay students experience as a measure of standard performance. The ideal thing is to graduate students at record time though not half baked, but we miss the psychological trauma of keeping a candidate for too long and other financial implications.

One good example is the recent adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) in Nigeria. A postgraduate candidate that has been working for some years on financial reporting will come to realize that findings of his/her work has become more useless than necessary, because the nation is adopting a global set of financial reporting standards.

Academics, please heed the call to professional competence and due diligence. Bake the cake well and make our institutions great.

Oladele, Femi

Department of Accounting

Bowen University, Iwo

WHEN THE CIVILIZED BEHAVE FOOLISHLY...

The elite class in all societies are regarded as authority and example; how they choose to talk, interact, relate, walk, sit and all other social etiquette are considered the ideal.
However, I suppose that in search of dynamism, they could get foolish in their behavior, having exhausted all sense of sanity.
This brings me to today's point:
Never follow without REASON, the ways of the civilized"
Though they might be considered in society as the ideal person, they may sometimes behave
Best wishes...DESIRE

WHAT SHOULD HE DO! WHAT WOULD SHE DO?

I always have a feeling that looking for loopholes in the Constitution or any Law is very difficult since it should have been developed by highly educated and experienced fellows (experts).
My assertion is dampened by realities of tax avoidance, which involves planning and arranging affairs and utilizing loopholes in tax laws in order to pay less tax or bear less tax liability.
Today, I presume: Given this scenario :
"I grew up in State C, my parents are from State B. I contested the office of Governor or Senator in State B or my relevant district.
After two (2) years in Office, a shocking revelation erupted that my parents (my father) is not my biological father.
Findings show the following:
My mother who is from State D had an extra-marital affair with a man (my true biological father) from State F. My father from State B had always thought I am his son.
What happens to my mandate as Governor or Senator since both my biological parents are not from State B and I had barely lived in State B?"

Then comes my question:
What should he (office holder) do? What would she (the Law) do?

THROUGH THE MIRROR WITH CLOSED EYES...

A close pal reminds me of his like for one of my piece.
Today, I sat to write again about something quite much like it.
Have you ever tried or imagined looking at a mirror with closed eyes?
It's quite impossible you will retort in response.
You can view yourself from the inner mirror which bare eyes cannot see. However, you need also, an inner eye to see.
Just a thought for food. Lol!!!
Enjoy people

CELEBRATION OF RESPONSIBILITY OR VICTORY

I have watched with amazement the many jubilation that go with political (electoral) victory and consider two vital questions.
Should this celebration be that of victory or responsibility?
Are the opponents enemies?
Please note that no political party in Nigeria is exempted from this malaise.
The rejoicing go on for so long with too many choruses portraying the loser as an enemy.
I wonder, because, this is a call to service and responsibility, so why would celebrate victory?
Victory according to Gandhi is beyond word of mouth; it extends to peace.
Enjoy a great day people, remembering that our actions should spearhead a call of responsibility rather than a celebration of frivolities.
  

ONCE IN A WHILE: DRIVING HOME SANITY

"I love you Sniper"....
I could not hold myself from these words this morning as I gently stepped into my Kitchen, seeing dozens (isn't this exaggeration?) of cockroaches lying dead.
My point more importantly:
Actions in the head can only strive to drive action in reality, but no further.
It had taken too long to finally opt for the insecticide despite the troubles the insects have caused me. It's been more than a year. It worked, that's my greatest joy. However, this joy is insufficient to gratify months of trouble meted on my foodstuff-cooked and uncooked.
Troubles can continue, if only we allow them.
Stand up and Act on what you believe
Best wishes...DESIRE
Today, a very special friend is celebrating her birthday-using this medium to congratulate her.

SOUND AND SMELL

SOUND AND SMELL

Can sound affect smell?

These two are perceived by different organs of the body: with sound perceived through the ear; smell is through the noise.
However, I have a slight query in my mind and that is if sound can affect the nose’s ability to perceive smell.

I just woke with this and felt to share even if it doesn’t make sense

ME AND MAD MEN

ME AND MAD MEN

This morning as I tried to understand more the peculiarities and similarities of our human endeavors, I got to understand that as according to a Pathologist, that “all men are equal on the slab”, we truly are one.

Imagine what you inhale and drink.

A mad man sneezes and the air carries it unto a wealthy man’s compound without seeking permission and dumps it on his wife’s lips and he kisses that lip; how nice #wink.

Just kidding, but that’s the reality of our existence.

Enjoy your weekend…

Best wishes…DESIRE

PRIDE AND VALUE

PRIDE AND VALUE

“No bad thing is extremely bad except without value; my pride has value”…Oladele Femi

In your pursuit of relevance, please remember that:

“Restraint is a virtue”…Oladele Femi

“Compromise is a measure of strength”…Oladele Femi

Moving forward and ahead!

ONE CHALLENGE OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

ONE CHALLENGE OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

Looking for a more suitable scenario; I will just relate this:

If a young newlywed discovers after her wedding day that her husband’s parents and siblings didn’t really approve of her. Would she feel motivated to relate with them or obligated?

In Nigeria where we still have prevalent very strong traditional (socio-cultural) inclinations, she might see it as a point of duty to reach out to them, not as a desire to be friendly.

This scenario typifies and justifies common realities of life with respect to interpersonal relationships.

Most times we get caught in the web of finding out. We find out that things are not as they seem and they end up affecting/distorting existing ties. At such points, one is tempted to have a rethink of the existing or potential bond.

Striving for excellence requires a critical and drastic step, not analysis which could plunge you deeper into the hate. This step might be confrontational, which I decline or situational, which I most likely will suggest.

I have heard people in their relationship find time out to appraise their meeting through discourse-dialogue and they relate plainly to themselves what they didn’t like or what their perception was and some even go to the extent of frankly exposing even the not so savory things they said about the other.

Most times also, these discourse end with cracking hilarious jokes, while some might at that moment laugh it out, but shell in later to reevaluate the circumstances and use them as battle-weapons to crack down any friendly.

We Strive For Excellence

Best wishes…DESIRE

AMEN! Sir!

AMEN! Sir!

Traditional inclinations can shape our every life…Oladele Femi

A senior colleague said a prayer and by impulse I responded Amen, Sir! Afterwards I paused to evaluate my response.

Two questions came up:

Did I mean to use Sir for GOD?

Did I have to show to him that I respect him by my response?

Respect is very good and necessary, but was it relevant in that sense? I have tried to answer that question a dozen times in my mind; don’t seem to find a satisfying answer.

But I suppose, it was grossly inappropriate; I didn’t have to express respect in response to prayer that is said in GOD’S name and to GOD.

RED ARROW AND GREEN CIRCLE

RED ARROW AND GREEN CIRCLE

I had a wonderful experience over the weekend as I joined some students to embark on a trip that is quite over fifty but less than a hundred kilometers.

One interesting part of the event was a short game between two groups named Community A and Community B after a dual selection of two numbers by each participant.

The game gave the opportunity to assess strengths of the Community’s map and identify weaknesses of the opponent’s map. The title of this post distinguishes the maps.

One point I failed to stress during and after the contest is that we can find the SWOT of each community, but at the end, the truth be said; we are complementary.

No one Community is better than the other. We help each other, making indelible impressions on ourselves as we meet daily, interact, argue etc. We need each other…

We Strive For Excellence (WSFE)