I’m still in Abuja. I’ve been here 10 days now, much longer than the 5 days I planned. I have avoided anything like writing since I completed the 21 day posts challenge.
Abuja is a beautiful city with its rocky skyline, well paved roads and shiny cars. You can sense the power feeling almost everywhere around. But this post ain’t about the city.
Today I’m going to share a couple of experiences on simplicity. The first was at a meeting in the home of the Police Service Commission Chairman, Sir Mike Okiro. During a banter exchange, one of the men present proudly announced how he woke up early that morning and fixed himself breakfast becausr his wife was tired and he doesn’t like to miss his breakfast. Easy as that sounds, in many families, it could easily degenerate into a misunderstanding. In post 19 of my 21 day series titled Feminism, I tried to describe how the power dynamics was changing in relationships and how modern men need to be emotionally intelligent to embrace and overcome these changes.
It takes an emotionally intelligent man to enter into the kitchen at 4:50am to fix himself breakfast, while his wife sleeps.
The second experience occurred with my chauffeur. After he dropped me off at a meeting, he dashed back to the hotel to get something we needed for the meeting. On his way back he brushed someone’s 09 Honda accord. The scratch was negligible but the man wanted to see soberness in my driver. Reports however said rather than try to empathize with the man, he instead was unapologetic and tried to runoff, fracturing the man’s left knee in the process. It turned out the man, ordinary looking as every other person, was a brother to the IG of Police, who ensured he was detained and the car also. A simple I’m sorry could have forestalled the entire scenario.
In the end, simplicity is not a weakness but strength. Everyday, a series of unfortunate events is always waiting to unfold, all it takes to let it lose is one wrong judgement. Everyday, a series of fortunate event is always waiting to unfold, all it takes to let it lose is one good judgements.
Place of Hope 