ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH;On The Wings of a Departed Hero! The GROWJOURNAL May - August 2013. Editor: David Dungji Chinke Contributors: Yilkat Gopye Lami Chinke ISSN: 2141 - 9507 Published in Nigeria © 2013 by Engraved in Gold Media Enterprises +2348065721408, dungji@engravedingold.com, daviddunji@yahoo.com Jos, Plateau State Nigeria " EDITORIAL : ON THE WINGS OF THE MIGHTY Recently, Nigeria, Africa and indeed the world was shocked by the death of a man acclaimed for his professionalism and expertise in the world of literature. Chinua Achebe the world renowned author of the novel Things fall apart died at the age of 83. It is always the desire of every generation to see greatness pass from one generation to the next, especially for those of us who take seriously the prospects of human prosperity as it relates to its origins. Which has led us to seek solace in the spiritual, which; from a much narrower individual stand point promises this utopia at least for the future private concerns. Indeed when considering the larger picture, human prosperity has for the most part limited itself to the prosperity of individuals for the very reason of the relative lack of commitment of the majority weather due to supernatural providence or natural evolution as the case may be (I would gladly repeat that I say so to give a little room for objectivity to those of us limited by a sense of scientific conviction)! In that light, in my eulogy; I was apt to poetically describe his passing on as a bad omen for our generation and the next giving room for a “senseless clatter to deprive” us all of the “dignity of human civility until dead heroes are allowed to rise again”. In that I meant that our collective prosperity is indeed greatly limited as long as our teaming youth are deprived of qualitative holistic education and opportunities to explore and achieve their potential in whatever area of life and endeavor. This would give rise to a mass of individual and collective greatness. It is pertinent to note that it is wise to discourage the growing tendency among our leaders to indulge in hypocrisy that while negating the very principles that aid human prosperity, we preach a seeming possibility of it; of course advocating some sort of morality and human rights. The late Chinua Achebe in his own words has put it thus: “While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary”. In this I read that when every human soul is developed in the line of thought that would promote its individual maturity and prosperity then this would culminate in the same for the larger society and thus the establishment of a utopia eagerly sought by the competing forces of socialism and religion. When I read this, I gaped in amazement that I did not give the value to this Nigerian hero that I should have in his life time. That it was at his death that I would be jolted to my senses by the thought life of this great writer. Many times we are forced by the circumstances and contemporary events to see many of these men from an opportunistic angle, thinking they too did not merit their exaltation as many we come across today. Sometimes they are overshadowed by others exalted above them by the news media and affiliated bodies. But looking back at my own antecedents I realize that I had also forgotten my very beginning that as a little child in nursery school I had turned one of his little story books into a song. Now reading this most profound thought I realize that: this thought of his is very much similar to what the Bible would term the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the focus of my mission in GROW and thus in this edition of the Journal which is very quickly becoming a singularly authored one, I would want to focus on the very possibility of human prosperity unto the end that Achebe envisions while infact x-raying the reason why it may not be seen as possible in our time and age! In this we will while laying as usual a biblical foundation attempt to climb on the wings of the mighty to if possible see what they saw even to make such profound assertions. " COVER : ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH; A Closer Look at the Great Human Potential By David Dungji Chinke Anthills of the Savannah, is a novel written by Chinua Achebe telling the story of the birth of a nation from the vantage point of three childhood friends. These grew up to become well accomplished individuals in their home country. One of them became a head of state and the others while engaged in their own endeavors did their best to contribute to his rise and success. To shy away from retelling this awkward story, the final analysis was that due to his inability to lead properly, the country was thrown into anarchy. The story ends in sadness and death. In its analysis, one pungent factor was brought to light, that at a point the head man began to distrust his friends and allies and was gradually alienated and began to confide in foe rather than friends which led to his down fall. As a fictional treatise, its story line cannot be painted as universal, but indeed the silent messages within are indeed universal. Pointing to the general issues of communal trust and understanding, love and respect, the novel is a classic picture of many similar events taking place in contemporary society. How does my relationship with the next person affect the destiny of a nation? How does my worldview affect my leadership qualities? Do foundations matter in the beginning of a thing? How do the foundations of the individuals concerned affect their collective destiny? A biblical parallel is drawn from the story of King Solomon’s son Rehoboam who chose to listen to the advice of his friends and contemporaries instead of listening to the advice of his father’s former advisers who had vast experience behind them (1 kings 12:1-20). Looking closer, the two stories bear more similarities than dissimilarities, this is in the aspect of experience and hindsight, both leaders lost out by neglecting those who had hindsight in how collective effort had led to their elevation – individuals saw their positions threatened and decided to neglect long standing loyalties. It is clear that the issue of person to person relationships stands at the foundation of communal prosperity. This is exactly what forms of socialism try to achieve in our present day and age to no avail. Where communal cooperation and hard work fails to provide the much needed prosperity and stability, because corruption stands as a hindrance to this prosperity; Hatred, selfishness, and personal pride being the most pungent of these. It is not new that team work is a universal truth, but is it truly fathomable where competition is supreme? Do we truly know what it portends? Dislodging foundations of what we know and cherish? It is only possible in a mother of nations were ideology is supreme. Rehoboam inherited a kingdom from his father Solomon which had become a world power, extremely rich in gold silver and wisdom. Solomon had relied on God and hence been blessed with wisdom to greatly increase the wealth his father David had stored through his mighty conquests (1st Kings 3:1). King Solomon had relied on the huge labour force amassed by his father made up of both indigenous Israelites and foreigners to build the kingdom he had inherited, hence in addition to being a king, he was also the ancient equivalent of our modern day big time farmers, inventors, business men and industrialists. He was so much of a task master that the peoples condition for his son Rehoboam, was to reduce the burden of work on them if he wanted to continue as his father’s successor. Rehoboam being a beneficiary of his father’s success growing in the palace all his life without sweating could not envision a kingdom without forced labour and harsh taxes. He knew the fact that when one reaches a point that his/her survival depends on giving knowledge, power or freedom to the people he/she oppresses it’s like playing the game of “lido”; a game of chance so that the axe may indeed fall on you the supposed provider and emancipator; it indeed may be a prayer for the last meal in retrospect only time can tell. Therefore, he refused the advice of those who had hind sight and could feel the pulse of the peoples suffering and exhaustion, besides they had certain political vantage that he did not. His reliance on friends of his who were as pampered and inexperienced caused him 10 tribes out of the 12 he was governing. The people had loyally worked with his grandfather and father before him and deserved to rip from their hard work at least in lowered taxes and less labour on his own projects. There has never been a time in history when people loved to work and work all their lives without reaping the dividends. In fact people would rather eat and enjoy than work, many leaders in the world only hope to acquire great leadership qualities in order to gently lure people to work hard but certainly such work must be compensated with adequate results. An example is seen in the wisdom of Joseph in which he had advised the Pharaoh to use the years of surplus harvest to store up food in great store houses so that when the 7 years of famine came, there was enough for everyone (Genesis 41). Infact Egypt became more wealthy because people from other lands came to purchase food from the Egyptians. In other words, there is wisdom for every generation, every time comes with its seasons and there arises a need and thus the right thing or step to take is a vital need of a leader. Rehoboam could not tap into this wisdom and so lost a greater part of his kingdom. The failure in his ethic here is not the fact that he consulted with a wider group but the fact that his wisdom did not help him to make the right decision on whom to listen to. Wisdom for prosperity in the light of the post resurrection history was well set out by our Lord Jesus Christ, and this wisdom was to use the military might of the Greco Roman empire to establish a world order governed by the spiritual ethics of Jesus Christ Himself. It did succeed for the most part but inherent in this theology resides an ethic that cannot be toyed with in realizing an ultimately earthly similarity of the heavenly reality. That concept is built on peace, kindness, love and sharing in abundance. That after much conquest and after a leader has gathered the people, he cannot leave them to hunger and drought while demanding their submission. Jesus ministry was embodied by this supreme example, he won their hearts with his teachings even to the point they wanted to make him king. But the spiritual nature of his quest ensured he submitted to a greater exaltation by bearing the burden of their sin. A clear picture of this concept is seen in the miracle of feeding the 5,000, Jesus showed them there, that he was not only capable of supplying their spiritual and moral needs but also their physical need for bread. Not only this but that he cared for their physical needs also (Mathew 14:13-21, Luke 9;10-17; John 6:1-15). This though was not the beginning nor end of his ministry as when they desired to exalt him, he rebuked them for seeking the lesser things; they suck his charity and not the enablement he offered for them to become like him; charitable beings (John 6:1-15; 22-59). Jesus offers a great enablement to the majority of the people to live above evil and build a united community. This united community can now cooperate to entrench prosperity in their land and nations. But without the foundation of love and peace, prosperity itself is lost or at best short lived. Like in the case of Solomon and Rehoboam, the causes of disharmony and war are usually as a result of a few individuals or groups oppressing the poor and denying them of their rights. In that light, corruption is a hindrance to peace, development and prosperity. While discussing this, I was able to come up with what I call the economic sustainability graph When there is increase in corruption, the prosperity gained by any work done might be rapid, but the sustainability of economic prosperity, peace and stability in that society is always on a knife edge. In that case, at the point at which the people should be enjoying relative peace and stability, they are doomed to rapid decay and anarchy. The kingdom and society begins its fall immediately. That is what is depicted in diagram (A) above. In the other case of diagram (B), we can observe a rapid increase when little effort is put in the system, aided by love, respect and teamwork there is sustenance, hence stability. For a long period of time the people are able to reap from their work. Then we come to what I term the time “groove” or Time Pit (little dent or pit cut into a solid body). This is seen in the diagram as a period where there is change in leadership and hence leadership style. This groove can also be caused by change in other societal factors, like famine, drought, social factors like change in popular thinking, religion and population increase. Within the period at stake, there is a need for change in policy despite the person in leadership. This was the situation Rehoboam faced. During this time window, there is a compulsory decline in sustainability and stability for a short while after which there is possibility of increase in the sustainability of prosperity or a possible decrease. Fear, insecurity and greed played a negative role in Rehoboams life to deprive him of the needed increase during a period of depression due to a time Pit. In his time he had little choice except lighten their work load and taxes hoping to gain more allegiance, and thus more loyal soldiers who would willingly fight for him. But in our time we struggle with forces balancing between capitalism and communism/socialism. Increasingly people are fighting for freedom of information, freedom of association, stoppage of slavery through better work benefits, human rights and profit share. This is working greatly to our communal advantage in that many are now benefiting from knowledge that improves their income and livelihoods in spite of less work done – technology has indeed aided greatly in this. We can say clearly that we are within a time groove. This varies around the world, as some are already prospering by taking advantage of knowledge and wisdom at their disposal to improve communal and individual lives. Nigeria is a very good example of a country struggling within a time groove or pit as I commented in an article on my page titled: CHANGE AND THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE; this article is featured in this edition of the journal. But again, forces are on hand to reintroduce the negative factors of greed and suspicion. While making use of the concept of networking made available to us by masterminds who facilitate this effort, the time pit statuesque introduces the factor of uncertainty, that while these geniuses and inventors of systems designed to help in communal development give away their goods to the society, they might as well be saying there last prayers. That in giving, weather willingly or through coercion as a last resort, would inevitably mean that this very weapon of knowledge would be used against them to alienate and completely destroy them as the relative minority engaged in this venture of providing knowledge. Hence in this system many are enriched by oppressing a few and because this system is based on corruption it also suffers from short term sustainability and war is the result. This is not a figment of imagination as many in the name of balance have continuously introduced counter clockwise systems of empowerment that targets the supposed oppressor of the “common man” – these emancipation missions never achieve what is desired as they are birthed from the wrong spirit of vengeance. If such vengeance were even targeted at the right people engaged in this so called suppression, It would have been better, but recently there have been wide spread reports of this “vengeance emancipation” hitting at the poor and helpless instead of the rich and powerful who have fast developed ways of being immune from such attacks. The 2nd world war is a vivid reminder of the negative effects of vengeance emancipation. Education is also becoming a victim of this, while it is clear that education is at different levels and many do agree that education does go beyond the boundaries of the classroom and of course not every successful person made it through secular education but then we cannot make the exception to become the rule. The world has progressed through education and will always. I would liken this usurper mentality that is becoming popular to: thinking you can start building a house from the roof; without pillars to hold it in place. On the other hand a mentality that thrives on living off others’ work. Consumption theology: “let others build and let us help them consume it”. A theology of the now: “let us eat and be merry for we know not what tomorrow holds”! A hedonist heaven as it where. This hedonist theology worked magnificently in the era of non- stop war in communities that were adamant not to be conquered and enslaved by any person or group. They formed small communities with strict rules guiding them; nevertheless on issues of food and prosperity they remained liberal. They would farm and after the harvest, would feast till the store houses were empty. It was simple; if the crops remained unconsumed other bigger, stronger tribes would make war on them to take what they had sweated in the fields planting. This theology/ideology got passed on from generation to generation and got imbedded in their children many of which did not know the reasons why and so it became a traditional way of life – it is not unpopular to find such people having the tradition of killing kings, also history would be of little value in such communities because it reminded them of their woes. On the other hand, some kingdoms got so rich and prosperous that they began to neglect discipline and naturally reclined into a comfort zone hence neglecting training, savings and morality. It is known that Attilla the Hund grew powerful at the expense of a Rome that was riddled in corruption due to misuse of its affluence and poor leadership. Likewise from the Bible, Babylon became powerful at the expense of Judah that had become careless and godless. Chaka the Zulu built a great kingdom that began to dwindle when he lost control of his sense of discipline and became power drunk, we could go on and on retelling the same story over and over again. No system survives that is built on the assumption that prosperity just falls from heaven without any effort. Another concept that serves to aid sustainability is conservation! The basis/nurture of mans physical existence is the cosmos, whatever man produces and lives on grows and is harvested from mother earth. That is why God instructed Adam and eve to tend the garden and look after the things in it. Just as there is no spiritual prosperity without the spiritual source of empowerment, there is no physical prosperity without the physical source (of course ultimately sustained and preserved by God himself) but man has the responsibility to take care of it so that he can continue to enjoy from its bounteous resources. Thus the sustainability graph comes to play even in the use of land itself and other natural resources. Even more profound is that human beings living in a demarcated boundary must first develop their land with the little they have in order to prosper beyond it. Everything begins from the roots; “Jerusalem, before Judea then the rest of the world”. As I had pointed out a few editions before, God is waiting to see what you have so that he can bless you with more: he asked Peter to go and fish so that he can provide for their taxes. If Peter had nothing doing, could he have obeyed? Peter used the vocation his natural habitat provided him with to accomplish a bigger task of spiritual empowerment. No prosperity can be sustained without the Land and the resources it provides. Better and easier ways of production and enrichment can be developed from the land and products of land use but all can be traced back to the land as seen in this diagram from the Book “The Right of be wrong; humanities only plea and the key to Revival”. We can see that not much has changed since man found himself on the earth, even with the development of science and technology; man still depends on the earth for sustenance. Many income generating ventures built on pure networking these days depend on the circulation of currency during real transactions, and though these provide a seemingly consistent source of income, economists will tell you that it can also derail real production. Hence I have come up with what I call the cycle of Natural dependency, this cycle can be derailed by the overdependence on a non substantial source of wealth creating excess liquidity and making the currencies virtually useless. In summary man depends on his environment to survive, that is why I am one of those who believes that urbanization is not in the long run positive, but must be balanced with rural development and agricultural development and conservation. Only God can circumvent this cycle which he created and produce food or money from nowhere, even at that he decides to make such intervention most times temporary here on earth. Therefore I advocate that networking must be done with hindsight and insight and foresight in order to produce a more long lasting effect. Just imagine if all the world just networks for circulating money, and nobody is farming to produce the food, no one is transporting the food, no one is building houses, no one is sowing the clothes? Where do the materials come from for the production of cars and even the machines used to do large scale farming that seems to be fueling some sufficiency economic theories? It comes from the land! It is clear that Albert Einstines relativity theory is yet to be fully practicalized where water would become an efficient source of energy, where energy from the sun becomes very cheap and since machines do all our work we can relax and just eat. All the same that cannot be achieved by destroying education. In today’s world Networking itself is based on the fact that Mr. A who farms has loyal people to buy his products and he works hard to keep it so. Mr. B who is a manufacturer of farm equipment has “A” and others like “A”, to buy his products, and on and on. What if Mr. “B” starts making substandard machines and “A” can only farm half of what he used to farm, should networking assert that “B” should be allowed to continue in this? You would be shocked that there are some who would advocate this in the name of parity. The sustainability graph comes to play. Can “B” who is a benefactor of the Patronage of “A” try to introduce a system where “C” who is a black smith (affected by the fall in the demand for hoes, cutlasses and machetes) be employed in his factory or better still benefit from some sort of investment/profit share initiative? Yes! Indeed then the prophecy of Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 would come to play were the people of all nations will beat their swords in plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks. In conclusion I would want to return to the bible and say that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that who so ever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Hebrews 9:12 continues that he did this once and for all time. For the kingdom to be achieved in humanity, these two standards must be established. 1. Whosoever - everyone must be able to benefit as long as he/she is willing. 2. Jesus was the first and last sacrifice and thus the first beneficiary who took along with him one person which was the thief on the cross next to his. This work was finished by Christ and for us to benefit fully both in eternity and here on earth we must accept this. That is why the current prosperity move on the earth might suffer for the lack of empowerment to negate the spirit of hate, discrimination, and selfishness before we can hope to even come close to what great thinkers like Chinua Achebe are referring to - A possible Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, God bless. " CHANGE AND THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE By David Dungji Chinke Human beings are always hesitant when it comes to change; fear of the unknown is at times greater than the expectations for a better future! Why? Because most times change comes with painful and difficult choices. Let’s begin from the antecedents shall we: Nigeria started as a thriving agricultural economy which gave it the enviable label of: the giant in the sun! And even though the land was virtually scraped bare of its resources through colonial exploration, it still possessed a large reserve of natural resources that kept its people gainfully employed and prosperous. Many have been forced to wonder if the discovery of oil in the Niger delta was a blessing to Nigeria’s development or a curse! If indeed it was a blessing then it was at most ill timed. Many commentators during the 90’s were of the opinion that the oil boom truncated the establishment of Nigeria as a stable agricultural economy! One question that I feel has never been asked is: How did this discovery affect the eruption of the Nigerian civil war? Of course we do have a documentary that asserts that it was indeed part of the reason the secessionists built a lot of confidence! The affluence created by the oil boom though was largely responsible for the corruption that followed the end of the civil war! Of course Nigeria at the time was an economy that thrived on the export of agricultural products, solid minerals and oil and yet it exchanged these raw materials for finished goods that made life enjoyable. Finished products like; cars, TV sets, radios, western and Asian fabrics etc. ruled the streets. The civil war had produced a hoard of people who were unemployed, some therefore took to a life of crime as substitute for gainful employment and in addition, the Rambo atmosphere created by the preceding war was a contributing factor! There was money to spend and thus people were needed who knew how to spend this money! Leadership became a thing of contention and hence a vigorous struggle between military and civilian rule. The governments in place were not oblivious of the fact that the new found oil wealth had affected the nation adversely and thus came up with programs like “Operation Feed the Nation” much of which only met with a chorus of boos from a Nigerian public that was busy enjoying itself in a prosperous trade economy sustained by the oil boom – with this also came poverty and national impoverishment more so that this oil money was concentrated in a few hands who paid famers very little for their hard work. Most countries would have at this point drifted into a revolution which would lead to stability; Ghana was at that point going through its own revolution! But Nigerians it seems had a thing about the way they dealt with time and destiny that screamed: ill timed, ill timed!! The earlier ill fated mini revolution of a few army officers had not produced what was desired and thus resulted in a bloody civil war. Now in the 80’s it was time for the real revolution, their timing appeared to be indeed right and its proponents had it all well reasoned out, this time there was less bloodletting, but indeed the cost was that the prison gates flew open and harbored a hoard of deserving and less deserving civil officials who had sustained a perceived corrupt government! That marked the beginning of the much acclaimed War against Indiscipline and Corruption! Were Nigerians ready for this? Seemingly not; some accused the government of imprisoning anyone who sneezed! A little above one year was enough and a new, much more amiable and tolerable government was in place! It was clear that this time Nigerians had hit a gold mine! He was quickly given a nickname that matched his amiable character: Maradona! Well known for his dribbling tactics, he was able to gently cow Nigerians into becoming a much more productive economy and still sustain a little of the proverbial chop, chop republic. SAP (Structural Adjustment Program) was his machinery of operation. It was in his time that Nigerians began the fight against the much feared and hated resurgence of colonialism! The IMF and WORLD BANK were seen as enemies who were determined to stop the much perceived rise of the newly renamed Giant of Africa! Deregulation of the oil sector and indeed the devaluation of the Nigerian currency came to the fore! Although this much loved Maradona was about to be crowned above Pele his predecessor as Nigeria’s crown prince, and though he had shown very much that he could score a goal with the hand and only repent after victory had been won, he was not to win the battle against the unconquerable Nigerian people – even in a military regime - after the exit of two war heroes (Abiola and Abacha) any educated Nigerian could now give a name to the forces at war; COMMUNISM AND CAPITALISM! Today we the Nigerian people are forced to face the giant we would have gladly ignored! Removal of oil subsidy! To make a decision, we must ask ourselves questions: 1. Is our fear of the removal of subsidy, a fear of facing the uncertainty of change or is it born of genuine need? 2. Will this removal of subsidy, force us to return to the much neglected mother earth and become again the giant agric economy we were destined to be? I am ever so convinced that for many Nigerians; the rejection of the removal of oil subsidy rather than being born of genuine ideological conviction is more of just the relax and eat attitude! A story is told of two Nigerian leaders who sat down to drink, when they had downloaded almost a crate of alcohol, one said to the other: “my friend, the problems of Nigeria are just too much, let’s just relax and drink our beer” after which he ordered another round! It is obvious from the myriad of crises that this attitude is very much exploding in all our faces, but still we prefer to pretend not to see it and yet still fight to proliferate the proverbial suffering and smiling attitude! There is no doubt that the Nigerian workers must not be left out of the “sharing” of the national cake, but along with that, the government has decided to make a determined move towards deregulation of the oil sector – since 2011, this impasse is far from truly over! The fear among many concerned Nigerians is the uncertainty of the Nigerian masses actually benefiting from the proceeds of this deregulation! And many do agree that our problem is not policy making but the implementation and infarct the effects of corruption on the process of implementation. Unfortunately for me, I am not a specialist in this field and apart from a few general conceptions and suggestions from my experience in the business world, I cannot give a step by step analysis of what we are to expect. We only depend on our contemporary economic Maradona’s and Pele’s to please dribble us to the promised land, all we want to hear at the end is – A Goal – as far as there is elimination of blatant corruption, provision of basic public amenities, drastic reduction in the poverty and unemployment level (beyond just gathering people to eat oil money – which on its own is not bad as long as we use the money properly), standardization of the educational curricular with cheap qualitative education for all children, health care and ensuring our everyday human rights. This is simply because we fear that change and the Nigerian people seem to connote the proverb that says: I will not go out to the market place for fear that there is a lion out there, Proverbs 22:13. Friends beyond the little fun and sarcasm; The Kingdom of heaven will come to Nigeria if we Nigerians return to God and refuse the popular chop, chop republic, the ever growing Monkey the work Baboon the chop mentality, and begin to bend down and tend the garden that God has given us, this garden called Nigeria! That even though it seems to be a garden that has all that we need in it to live in affluence and enjoyment; We ourselves must work to keep it so, in responsibility to God and to one another! I will not end this write up without tasking our leaders belabored with the responsibility of being the arrowhead of what we anticipate to be the first truly Nigerian revolution; to take the bull by the horn and lead the people by example! God bless Nigeria. " THE OPIUM OF THE MASSES: When Faith Seems Impossible By David Dungji Chinke Ever so glaringly it seems a miracle for human beings to establish a truly efficient moral system. Ever so glaringly faith seems to loose value! Of course Karl Marx while x-raying this principle seems to refer to the reason for the creation of this seemingly tyrannical system: the opiate of the masses – a drug purposely designed to keep men doused and dorsal enough for exploitation! Before Marx, man was resigned to fate in the hands of philosophers and thinkers, who sought to understand existence, explain destiny and thus demystify the depraved and miserable existence of the intelligent oddity of the hitherto more ordinary animal like man! Before Karl Marx, men of “reason” sought to redirect human history and stabilize human community to if possible bring together the most volatile concepts of godly intervention and human independence and thus establish prosperity in “Homo – Sepia”. Before Marx, men imagined what may have been called a kingdom of heaven! But depravity, Oh depravity, Illusive, Illusive, Illusive our much awaited dream, volatility our bane! For inexplicably the gods have become men. Inconceivably they have refused to be held at bay – for an aroma has indeed reached heaven! Men! Oh Men! Created their own have they? Do they dare to dream? Do they dare to do? Then we too must partake in the feast, we too must walk the hitherto forbidden paths of earth! We must see for ourselves, “had it not been said; by long ago ancients scripts and fables told from lips of old sages” that: if and only If men where to put their minds to imagination and hands to work that inevitably they would succeed? That even heaven; the most glorious heaven would not be too far a destination for their feeble miserable feet? Depravity, Oh Depravity the bane of men! That thing that hinders men from becoming gods! The bane of Augustus Cesar, the bane of Mussolini, the bane of Adolf Hitler, the bane of George Washington, the bane of Lenin the bane of Kwame Nkurma! For once their feet touched the earth it literally gave way beneath them!! For to gaze at the beauty of this once forsaken virgin was forbidden; stability gave way to chaos, and heaven alas to hell!! Before Marx we were indeed innocent of our own misdeeds, but now informed of it, we avail it, patronize it and thus are unable to relinquish it! Faith has indeed become impossible and kingdoms must remain as separate, class must subsist! For men have indeed become gods – how the earth shakes beneath their weight! The drug has lost its potency but even stronger a “euthanasic” effect its usurper. Oh burnt to ashes its broth to the grave its light and to heaven the eyes of seekers return! For just maybe faith shall arise from the ashes again!! <<  <<   >>