Sensitivity and Sensibility

Prologue:

I read the tenth issue of Volume 25 of the City People magazine and put it aside. Enough of sleazy social gossip for the day. The most important feature was the interview with Nigerian Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dele Olojede on his NEXT news media project. The smiling face of the pretty Nollywood actress and Model Lillian Bola Bach was in front of me as I sat on the office couch. I looked up to see an attractive girl in a black blouse with very short sleeves and blue jeans mini skirt and wearing black slippers standing in front of Saidu, the Hausa gateman as he sat on a steel chair mending a shoe for her. Saidu is the gateman, cobbler and petty trader with a very small kiosk behind the fence in front of our office. I regarded the busy traffic on Bajulaiye Road in the evening rush hour. The noise from the small yellow generator used by Sentina Pharmacy next door did not interrupt the stream of my consciousness. I was in a good mood. I was glad that I gave Kemi what made two her aunties to come around to thank me. I gave her a copy of my book The Language of True Love, a copy of Bisi Daniels’ Conspiracy of Lagos (with the popular Nollywood actor Desmond Elliot on the cover) and a copy of the first edition of Supple magazine (with the popular Ghanaian actress Nadia Buari on the cover),  She would enjoy reading the books and magazine since she told me that she would love to study journalism. Kemi could pass for Omotola Jalade –Ekeinde when she was 18.

I was thinking of the Babel of Hypocrisy and Babel of Ignorance in Nigeria.
I have seen the parade of ignorance
In the masquerade of arrogance.
As deceit flaps her wings of conceit.

I sent a text message to Bisi Daniels, asking him if he was part of NEXT and he said, "No". Bisi and I are working on a new online news media like Ariana Huffington's Huffington Post while Linda Ikeji told me she wants to change the name of her FM&B magazine to something like Vanity Fair and I advised her not to do so.


You see people who have little or nothing upstairs posing and posturing with false airs and graces with fake IDs online, adding no value to humanity than their garbage. 
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said those who forget where they have been coming from will not know where they are going to. Majority of Nigerians have failed to learn from the terrible mistakes of the past, that is why they have been repeating them like fools.
I would refer such ignorant GIGOs to the following links 
http://www.naijarules.com/vb/news-current-affairs-art-culture-politics/27424-dear-nigerians-only-best-good-enough-us.html.
Or read The Bald Eagle Blog on the Des Moines Register.
[url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=cbefddee2b814aae9d64867e9e8dbcda&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3acbefddee2b814aae9d64867e9e8dbcdaPost%3aa1e4f051-6ab2-496a-8523-86349bdccd02&sid=sitelife.desmoinesregister.com] The Bald Eagle Blog[/url]

You see Nigerian writers shouting that Nigerians do not read, but most of them have not even read the books written by their fellow Nigerian writers.
Babel of Hypocrisy and Babel of Ignorance.

Show me your works and I will tell you your worth.

Wednesday August 19, 2009.
Hope and I got to the office before 10 am and interviewed a young woman from Akwa Ibom state. My brother in-law is from the same state and my beloved is also from the same place. I have already made up my mind to recommend her for immediate employment as a clerk. She was humble and pleasant. Then I left the office to see the two distributors of my love book and met with Taiye the vendor in front of the Ekenedilichukwu Transport motor park at the popular Jibowu bus stop on the Ikorodu road in Lagos. He told me that he was not happy that we have not given him the T-Shirt we promised to give him as one of the vendors selling Supple magazine. I left him for a nearby restaurant to eat and I complained about the cold fried slices of plantain called Dodo in local lingo. The young woman who served me apologized and said she would make sure the Dodo was hot before serving me next time.
I hardly eat outside my residence, because of my concern for health, cleanliness and sanitation.
Most people in Nigeria careless about the importance of hygiene and I care about the food hygiene and hand hygiene of those I meet every day.
I hardly shake hands with people, because of my fears of poor hand hygiene among Nigerians.


"Washing one's hands, a form of hygiene, is the most effective overall way to prevent the spread of infectious disease."~ From Wikipedia



TO BE CONTINUED.

You're right about the lack of washing of hands - due to the lack of running water when you need it in Naija, I guess. Even the eating out, some people don't even try it, unless it's a renowned restaurant. But you sef, you get plenty sensitivities and sensibilities .

maedan:

You're right about the lack of washing of hands - due to the lack of running water when you need it in Naija, I guess. Even the eating out, some people don't even try it, unless it's a renowned restaurant. But you sef, you get plenty sensitivities and sensibilities .

maedan,
Since I returned to Lagos about a year ago, I have been having fears of infections and presently, I am not feeling too strong.

Ibile Ife:

maedan,
Since I returned to Lagos about a year ago, I have been having fears of infections and presently, I am not feeling too strong.

lol, and I thought you were joking!! Okay, seriously, the hygienic factor is missing in the everyday Lagos life. Hope you don't offend too many people for avoiding to shake their hands though !

CONTINUED

I left my temporary residence with Hope the Publisher of Supple magazine and we went to Gbagada to visit the young Nigerian writer and editor Adeleke Adeyemi on our way to work and we discussed the short story seminar being organized by the Lagos chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) to be held today at the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos.

"I have not seen Prof. Karen King-Aribisala since 2001 and would love to be there," I said.
"I am not sure that I can come, because I have many things to do this Saturday," Adeleke said.

"Mike, tell him about it," Hope said.
"About what?"
"The Eko International Film Festival."
"Adeleke would have read about it on Nairaland."
Adeleke nodded.
He read my topic on "Two Thumbs Down" for the Lagos International Film Festival and all the stupid replies by many ignorant readers. He told Hope that I have developed a thick skin for negative comments.
He was with me when I directed my play "Sleepless Night" at the French Cultural Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos and knows that I am a ruthless stage director and once I make up my mind, there is no going back.
We discussed the Eko International Film Festival and the importance of our Italian technical partners. But I turned my attention on the ANA short story seminar and we decided to return to pick him up. Then we left for the office in Shomolu.

Karen King-Aribisala thrilled us with her short stories and even did a dramatic performance of one of them before her captive audience. I was impressed. We had a group photograph before we left. I was a good Saturday.

True charity is not only playing the Good Samaritan in humanitarian emergencies, but to give to the best you can give to the poor and needy to improve their lives out of love and not out of pity. Charity is not an act of pity.

Is it not wrong and wicked to send your own daughter to school, but you deny the daughter of your poor relative of good education and use her as your house girl for years?
While your own daughter is graduating from college, the poor house girl is graduating from house girl to house woman.
Whatever is good for your own daughter is equally good for the poor house girl and if you are truly a good person, you would be glad to bring up the house girl as you are bringing up your own daughter or son.

Would anyone like his or her children to become the servants of another person?

I have seen many people cheat and exploit their servants and employees and then spend huge sums on purchasing posh cars, jeeps and luxury mansions and later go to church to lie that God have blessed them and made them richer, but do you tell the church how you have made your servants and employees poorer and more miserable by your greediness and wickedness?
You will most likely end up in the cemetery and your perishable acquisitions will end up in the junkyard. Finis.

The legacy of knowledge is the greatest heritage to bequeath to every age.

Would anyone like his or her children to become the servants of another person?

I think the parents of these kids should be held responsible more.