Wow! How time flies. Where did all the time go? It was only yesterday, or wasn't it, that I was playing in the sand with other children, and now I am thirty-three years old, practically an old man. Phew! This growing up thing. But we cannot afford not to grow up. Apart from the fact that it is the natural prescription for humans, it is the only way we can keep alive. In metaphysics, we talk about change that sustains existence. The change is consequent on growth, and we need such change to remain the same - human. Because if we do not keep changing, keep growing, we die, and then we are no longer human, but corpse. Lovely thing, metaphysics. It tells you the truth in a cool way. Like how a fetus is a human being, and not a thing. Anyway. Just thought I'd take a swipe at pro-choicers. Pardon me. Anyway.
I've come a long way. I was born on October 13, 1980 in a big city called Lagos. Lagos is in Nigeria, and its current population is about 15 million people. Being born in Lagos gives you exposure. You get to meet so very many people from different walks of life as you grow that you learn early on to be accommodating. And so, as I attended primary and secondary schools in and around Lagos, I progressively learned to think in terms of the big picture. I still do - think in terms of the big picture, that is. Which is a good thing. Because I live in a city that is even more diverse than Lagos. Thank God with me. I love living here. Pray that I might live here forever. Anyway.
I attended good schools. As a thirty-three year-old, I reflect on the quality of schools I attended and I am grateful. My first school was St Jude's Private School, Festac, Lagos. It was a very good school. I am happy my parents could afford to send me there. It was there I was taught how to speak and write the Queen's English. Many other schools in Nigeria that were cheaper could not afford the same standard of Language acquisition that St Jude's afforded me. An early grasp of the English language has opened many doors for me. I remain ever thankful. Thanks, dad; thanks, mom - hope you can hear me from the Great Beyond. Thank you for sending me to St Jude's for my early childhood education. I also went to a good secondary school. At the Nigerian Navy Secondary School, I learned discipline and proper conduct. Our teachers were so strict and prim that they made us pick up pieces of paper from off the floor and, if we could not find waste-paper baskets quickly enough, stuff them in our pockets for the time being. Ah, those were the day!
My parents died too early. This much is true. By age 11 I was an orphan already. But I survived. I learned to simply keep putting one foot in front of another - it's the easiest thing in the world. Just keep putting one foot in front of another. But it is also the hardest thing. It takes a lot of courage. It takes faith and hope and love as well. And it surely takes sacrifice. To keep putting one foot in front of another - which is what I do; which is what everyone does. Anyway. The point is that I survived. And I moved on to college, where I read communication. Then I worked awhile as a teacher, and then a banker, and then relocated to Wichita, where I got my master's in communication, and then on to Chicago, and ultimately to DC, where I am now in the seminary studying to be a priest hopefully in five and a half years. Okay then.
What are some of the lessons I have learned in these 33 years? The biggest one by far is sacrifice. I have learned to choose all the sufferings God sends to me. I have also learned to be humble - at least I'm trying to be humble. This is a big one as well. Also, I am learning to apply Descartes' three step method in mastering negative emotions. Plus I am trying to apply the law of positive thinking, which Rhonda Byrne calls The Secret to the workings of the entire universe. How big is that! What else? I am learning to think critically; to adopt and maintain a contemplative, philosophical pose. I am learning to be practical and understanding, and above all I am learning to forgive; to "let go of the hope that the past could be any different." I am forgiving myself and others at each step along the way. And so, 33 years has come with a lot of positive lessons. And I have yet to stop learning. I pray that when I celebrate 66 years, I will have learned twice as much as I have so far. So help me God.
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