₦airaland Forum

Everything in life has both the exciting times and boring times. When a man gets his dream job, he is initially excited but as time progresses he'll find it less exciting because it has become a routine. He also discovers that having a dream job doesn't mean having a stress-free job. But if he gets a promotion, his excitement level rises again until when it begins to decline again. Same goes for marriage. It can't be excitement all the time and it shouldn't be boredom all the time. That makes a more realistic situation.

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I have an account with Firstbank. Most people know that Firstbank usually has lots of customers and this makes them render poor customer services at times. This I guess is because even if some customers leave today, they will still have many more left. But one good thing about I like about Firstbank is that you can get an ATM card within minutes unlike some banks where you have to wait for days or weeks. But the part I hate about the bank especially the branch in my locality is the long queues at the teller machines and sometimes long period of internet service outage on the machines. You will find about 5 teller machines and only two will be functioning. These are things they should work on. So, what bank do you operate with and how do you rate their service in your locality. Constructive criticism is welcome.

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RedBenson: I said start it and we'll be right with you. We are very much ready for it.

''We''? you can only speak for yourself. But do you know me? How are you sure that I've not started something in my own little corner. And also this write-up is part of my campaign. Good to know that you are ready for action though

RedBenson: Even you were typing this at the comfort of your bedroom. So what are you talking about. Start the movement against our corrupt leaders and we'll be right with you (not behind you). Typing on internet is no action my dear.

Change of mindset is key in achieving progressive change. How do I lead a movement when the people who are supposed to follow will rather wait for a divine intervention? Mental strongholds must first be broken.

nonsense! next time please cook your story well before publishing

There are a lot of excuses that we use to justify not working as hard as we should. One of the most deceptive excuses is religion. Instead of doing what we ought to do or getting back up after a failure or trying a little bit harder along the way, we use the excuse that “if it was supposed to happen it would have happened” or "we need a divine intervention". This is just self-limiting.
I write this at the risk of been called an atheist by those who are too obsessed with religion to give a thought to sound reasoning, but truth must be said.

All too often, Christians (and Muslims) hide inactivity behind prayer, hoping things would get better without taking any action themselves. Though Christians and Muslims are willing to pray about things, they would end it there, thinking they have done their part.
Erik Thoennes, a professor of biblical and theological studies at Biola University says
"It is a great misunderstanding of the Christian faith to think prayer leads to fatalism or passivity. A properly understood biblical understanding of faith in a sovereign God never leads to passivity but active engagement with our world. God's plan is worked out in and through real life and our actions.”

Look at the Nigerian situation. So many things are not working well and we have the ability to set most of these things right. But what do we do? We only pray for divine intervention in the comfort of our bedrooms waiting for God to send 'someone' to set things right.

Our leadership is nothing to be proud of but all we do is pray for divine intervention instead of getting up as a people to elect good persons who can do the job rightly and take necessary actions against those who abuse their mandate.

A robbery is going on, you call the police, and what do they tell you? 'Pray for God to make the thieves leave before we get there because we don't have what it takes to fight them.'

Our educational system is going bad(if it isn't already) and what do we do? We go to church/mosque and pray for God to set things right instead of using our heads to seek ways/ideas to salvage the situation.

All these are just excuses so that we can say ' we've committed it into the hands of the Almighty so let him do all the work' . I believe in the power of the Almighty but always resorting to divine intervention even in things we can use our God-given intelligence to do, is nothing but a cheap excuse for laziness. We pray to God in crisis and stay in stagnant mode.

Throughout the history of the church, Christians had often been major contributors and leaders of great movements, for instance, William Wilberforce with the abolition of slavery, Dietrich Bonhoffer opposing Nazism, and Martin Luther King with the Civil Rights Movement.
Though they ultimately rested in God’s sovereign power and wisdom, they moved and acted for good. Now imagine if these people only prayed for divine intervention without any action on their part. None of the things they achieved would have ever come to pass.

The bane of Nigeria/Africa's progress is our excessive romance with laziness fueled by too much religion.

Let me state this fact- The almighty has left a part of himself within us and that means that we too can find solutions to our problems! If the almighty did not want us to use our heads then he would have created us without brains. God is not going to come down to do things for us. Even the Almighty will not contravene his own laws. He's a spirit and he will not work on earth unless through men. But when men only know how to pray and are not ready for action, what will get done? The answer is a no-brainer. The earlier we understand this, the better for us as people/nation.

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As an educated person, one is expected to act with courtesy and civility. But that seems not to be the case especially in the Nigerian society. Right, it's not only peculiar to Nigeria. A look at how uncivilized the behaviours of some educated persons can be will make you wonder if education really makes people civilized or not.

It is not uncommon to see a man on tie and suit (a professional) threatening to pull it off and fight another man or hauling abuses at another person (sometimes in public!).

In the university system, you see lecturers who don't know how to carry themselves as educated people. Some students' behaviours can only be likened to that of 'agberos'.

In our national assembly, we have house members who went to school but we see incessant fist fights that occur in the house from time to time over disagreements in policies.

It is not also uncommon to see people littering the streets when they could simply look for a waste bin. Also many persons always try to jump queues in public places thereby creating disorderliness.

Then there is this practice of what we have termed 'jungle justice' where anybody caught in wrongdoing is lynched by a mob (among whom are educated people) when they could simply have taken the culprit to the appropriate authorities.
All these are uncivilised behaviours. Don't forget, some of these people even went to school 'abroad'

Therefore, does education really make people civilized or is there another factor?

In our families, work place and among our friends we have people we can trust and share our secrets with. But sometimes, we can be betrayed by those we trust. The experience of betrayal can be very painful especially when it comes from someone who you thought had your back. Yeah, he/she really had your back but instead of protecting it, he/she rather stabbed it. I haven't experienced any major betrayals in my life (and it's not something to wish for). But I've experienced cases where someone changes his word in front of another contrary to what was earlier agreed. That is, a breach of agreement. So, have you been betrayed before? How did you handle it? You may give details of the story surrounding the incident if you don't mind.

Megozuks: @OP, what kind of neighbour are you?

The discussion is about our neighbours not us. Check the first page again(11th comment) for the description of my neighbours.

My neighbours are kinda passive. I've got an elderly couple and a younger couple with three young kids, the oldest being less than 10. The husband of the elderly neighbour is already retired so they rarely stay in the house. They frequently go to their childrens' place. For the younger couple, they're the mind-your-business type although there are times of exchange of pleasantries and going over to their house to help out with something. The kids' mum shouts at the kids alot because they're quite hyperactive. More comments..

Staying in a neighbourhood gives you the chance to meet different types of people and learning to deal with them. Below are some different possible types of neighbours you can have.

1.Parentless kids.
There is always sound of yelling kids from their house. Their parents are never at home. They are noise making little beings.

2.The Over-friendly Neighbour
They make your business, their business. You like it or not. These are typically the neighbours who will literally stay in your house and wouldn’t even mind helping you out with your daily chores. They don’t know where to draw the line and end up being over friendly. More often than not they cross the line. These neighbours want to know everything about you, your family, how much money you earn every month, where all do you make investments and you’re spending patterns. They want to know it all without even once thinking that these are personal and you are not comfortable sharing them.

3.The Really Mysterious Neighbour .
There is never any noise coming from his apartment. However, the only dialogue you ever had with this type of neighbour probably consists of “Hello!” and “Nice weather today, huh?” You’ve probably noticed that the really mysterious neighbour comes back home either late at night or early in the morning. And he doesn’t appear to be drunk which makes things even weirder. You have no idea where he goes, what he does and whether you should be worried that he might be a criminal or not. You better stick to just ‘hello’ when talking to this neighbour and never ask him anything because you know what happened to the curious cat, right? It became a victim of its really mysterious neighbour.

4.The fighting couple.
These neighbours fight with their spouse in the open and keep throwing offensive words at each other. They just disturb the peace of the neighbourhood.

5.The Copy Cats � The Me Too Neighbours
If you are noticing a pattern of your neighbours having the same things you possess from quite some time now, then you can rule out the option of it being a sheer co-incidence – it’s called copying. These are the type of neighbours who have no clue about what they want to buy and would just end up buying/doing the same set of things that you do, just to fit in. They would scan everything in your home if invited for a chat and when you go to their house, a replica of it would be there too.

6.The Constant Borrowers
It’s a pleasant Saturday morning and you hear somebody knocking at your door. Surprise! The same neighbour who keeps asking you for something or the other is here again asking you for a cup of sugar. These are the neighbours who make complete utilization of the word “HELP” and would constantly keep borrowing things from you. If you have these type of neighbours consider adding a separate list in your monthly budget called “Neighbours list”!

7. Alcoholic neighbour.
Someone is knocking at your door and picking your lock at 1 a.m in the morning? Oh, wait, it’s just your alcoholic neigbhour who is once again on the wrong floor. Someone puked on your doorstep? Who was it this time? – the alcoholic guy next door.

8. The Party Freaks.
These are most likely young people who love to go out for parties and always invite their friends over for a party in their house. The sound of loud music and loud voices is the proof that they are at it again.

9.The Problem Creators
These neighbours are just too fussy about everything you do from moving a chair at your home to having a social event at your home-every single thing of your action bothers them and they are just waiting to gun you down! They are the ones who are unhappy about everything about their neighbourhood and would constantly keep bickering.

10. The Passive neighbor.
This one is just there. He doesn’t make noise or look for trouble. He doesn’t seem to have any problem with anyone and just takes life as it comes. He's just a jolly good fellow. Most persons would like to have him as a neighbour.


Which of these portrays your neighbor? Don't just type the number please! Thank you.

Did not find any description that fits your neighbour? Feel free to add yours.

Dygeasy: ...and if I choose to be self-sufficient, whose goddamn business is it?

Oh, I'm being individualistic. Sorry.

#okbye

it's nobody's business but the fact is, sooner or later, you'll be needing someone's help.

lomaxx: Modernism comes with advances in technology. Technology makes you more self-reliant and purpose-driven. Besides, communal life came with its own disadvantages.

So bro, all man to himself.

And modern life does not have its own disadvantage also? Your last statement is its disadvantage. We live among other humans and one cannot always be self sufficient.

Our parents and grandparents tell us of the communal life they had in the past when everyone looked out for his neighbour. But nowadays, it's every man to himself. True, it is natural for every man to look out for himself first before others but it seems this tendency has increased over the years. It is not just peculiar to urban societies. Go to the rural places and you'll find the situation very much the same. The attitude of being one's brother's keeper seems to be going into extinction. So one cannot but ask this question, Does modern life promote individualism?

Welcoming everyone back.