How To Win Over Your Boss

Wisdom nuggets:   "To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labour, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy."

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If you're into bumper-sticker philosophy, you've probably seen the axiom, "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go." For a vast portion of the workforce, that's the best reason they can muster for going to the job each day. According to one poll, only 43 percent of American office workers are satisfied with their jobs. In Japan, the figure dips to 17 percent. In the first century, Christian proletariats had even less reason to be enthusiastic about their work. But Paul gave them a way to grasp a glimpse of glory amid the grind. He wanted them to "adorn the doctrine of God," that is, to show the beauty of their faith in God by how they work.

The truth is nothing endears your boss like your attitude to your work. Chances are you may never find the courage to ever talk to your boss about progress but you have a great opportunity to communicate same by your work ethics.

"Subordinates must always obey their bosses and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about the Almighty attractive in every way."

We saw this when Joseph saved the economy of Egypt and fed the whole world in the famine. Pharaoh, his boss, was so impressed that he asked "who is your father? "Your boss will only be interested in your father when your attitude to work speaks well of him. It was Mother Teresa who said "There is always the danger that we may just do the work for the sake of the work. This is where the respect and the love and the devotion come in - that we do it to the Most High and that's why we try to do it as beautifully as possible."

In September 5, 1994, I read this beautiful passage and saved it ever since. It read: A significant and often overlooked way that we serve Our Maker is in our everyday tasks. Martin Luther understood this when he wrote, "The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays - not because she may sing a hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.


If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

                                                                                                                    - Bill Gates

Dealing With Physical Abuse

Wisdom nuggets: Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.
                                                                                                          - Jean de La Fontaine

 

Source: Photopin

Physical abuse is an act of another party involving contact intended to cause feelings of physical pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm. Physical abuse is often the most visible form of abuse. This kind of abuse involves beating, hitting, shaking, burning, choking, cutting, throwing, whipping, and other actions that cause physical pain to the victim. Physical abuse will often leave scars or bruises on the body which can be very embarrassing for the victim. This kind of abuse is more common than most people realize. People are being abused in their offices by their bosses, at school by bullies, in the hospitals by health workers, at home by spouses, parents and siblings. Most people physically-abused people keep quiet about their experience and think it's their fault. They hide their bruises and tell lies to cover for their perpetrators. Wives want to remain married for their kids and tell no one about their torture; employees are scared to lose their jobs and keep receiving the torture every day. It's a sad thing really. Some end up killed and only then are their stories revealed.

Here's a true life story as told by Gertrude: "I've been physically struck 3 times at my workplace; once by a cashier and twice by a manager. Yet my store manager did nothing about it. They always talk about me and even to customers calling me names. I want to quit but the pay is good and I really need the money. I want to file a lawsuit but I really don't have much evidence. I'm good at my job, I don't gossip. I don't steal, I try to respect customers and I try not to have non-constructive discussions while on the clock. It's becoming worse daily, I feel very terrible at work and I don't enjoy my work anymore."
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Physical abuse can range from mild actions such as slapping, like Gertrude is being abused at work to severe ones such as the breaking of bones.

Another woman tells her story: "he broke into my house. He was breaking my fingers, to take my daughter out of my arms, that was his way to control me & my other daughter was upstairs. It was late at night and he was going to take her from me because I had taken the children out for dinner, and he didn't know where I was..."

 If you're an employee and you're being slapped by your boss; then he's physically abusing you. You either quit or you file a complaint. Don't be like Gertrude and be miserable at work. It'll start affecting your self-esteem eventually. Your boss has no right to make you feel like that. If you're a wife and you're being abused, run to counsellor or your pastor for help. Don't wait till you end up in a morgue. You can help him get help. Keeping it a secret will not help you neither will it help your perpetuator. If your abuser doesn't get psychological help, then they'll find another victim to abuse.

If you're an abuser, remember that you have an obligation to treat people around you in kindness. Instead of hitting, there are better ways to settle a quarrel. Husbands why hit your wives? Health workers why abuse the patients you swore to care for. As adults why do you abuse the people in your care? Don't forget that in anger, you could do something you'd regret for the rest of your life. You could be locked behind bars & lose your prestige in society.

Prince Pritchett once said, "Change always comes bearing gifts" You'll see the richness change brings if you change. You'd begin to have real relationships with the people you abuse. People will respect you better & you'll become emotionally relaxed. Change always bears gift my friend embrace it & change from your ways.

DEALING WITH DOMESTIC ABUSE

Wisdom Nugget: "Husbands love your wives, and do not be harsh with them."

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Domestic abuse is a pattern of behavior which involves the abuse by one partner against another in an intimate relationship such as marriage, cohabitation, dating or within the family. Domestic violence can take many forms, including physical aggression or assault (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects, battery), or threats thereof; sexual abuse; emotional abuse; controlling or domineering; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse (e.g., neglect); and economic deprivation. Domestic violence occurs across the world in various cultures and affects people across societies, irrespective of their economic status, race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender. It has profound consequences on the lives of children, adults and families because it's the kind of abuse committed by someone that's supposed to love you.

Domestic violence could encompass both physical and emotional abuse. These includes sexual abuse, rape, incest, sexual assault, starvation, verbal and physiological abuse, economic abuse and exploitation, denial of basic education, intimidation and harassment, stalking, hazardous attack such as acid bath with offensive or poisonous substance, damage of property.

Wives and children are the most commonly abused. Men are abused too, but mostly verbally and psychologically. Our text admonishes husbands to love their wives and not be harsh, if you can apply this to your wives, so can you to your children. You'd find it naturally flowing down to them. This also applies to wives towards their husbands. Expressing love goes a long way to curb abuse.

Angela told her story; my real father was very abusive to my mom, my four siblings and me. When I was 11 years old, my younger sister, my three brothers and I were placed in foster care homes, as my mom could not handle this life of abuse and had no other supports to keep her life together. It was my further misfortune that the foster father where my sister and I were placed was emotionally, physically and mentally abusive to all of the children in the home. At one point we had as many as ten children living in this home. I was the cook and the bottle washer, and was just one of many who would work very hard with much scolding and degradation. On one occasion I watched my foster brother get beaten. It was very traumatizing. I thought that I was witnessing a murder! This young man was 9 years old and the reason that he was getting this severe treatment was because he did not know how to eat with a spoon or fork. He had never been taught, and somehow that warranted punishment - as if it were his fault. I watched his under-nourished body as he was thrown violently down a full flight of stairs. Once he landed on the concrete basement floor and just laid there. I thought that he had died. My foster father followed him down the stairs then proceeded to kick him from one end of the basement to the other. He punched this poor lifeless body, then spoke such negative words over this young man and then continued to kick him repeatedly. I was so terrified at what I had witnessed that I ran away to my room so that he would not know how much I had seen that day. Thank God that this young boy managed to survive this terrible beating. The next day, every part of his body was swollen and black and blue. He still had to do all of his chores. This young man later grew up and was abusive to his first wife until she left him. He then remarried another woman and beat her as well. The cycle perpetuated, which is often seen, unless counsel, therapy, education or some other kind of intervention, changes the course of the cycle.

Domestic violence is common and occurs in more homes than you can imagine. Women take in girls as 'house maids' and treat them like slaves. While their children are treated like kings and the 'maids' serve them and is at their service. I find such scenarios amusing because those parents think they're doing their children well, while the fact is that most of these kids end up spoilt and are unable to live independently even after they grow up. Yes, the bible said "train up a child the way he should go." but it didn't say "kill a child before he grows."  Besides, it's beyond the marks and bruises; you could be damaging your victim emotionally for life. You could be creating the worlds' next monster, because abuse does one of two things; it either turns the abused into an abuser or it turns the abused into their shells for the rest of their lives.

Salma Hayek said "There is a subconscious way of taking violence as a way of expression, as normality, and it has a lot of effects in the youth in the way they absorb education and what they hope to get out of life."

Thank You I

Wisdom Nugget: "...Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.

                                                                                                                   - Brian Tracy

                     

How important do you think it is to show appreciation for little kind gestures, as insignificant as someone holding a door open for you at a public place? Hear Gertrude Stein, "Silent gratitude isn't very much to anyone." And Melody Beattie adds, "gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."

We should learn to make it a habit of saying "thank you", to express our appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it. The greatest humiliation in life, is to work hard on something from which you expect great appreciation, and then fail to get it." E. W. Howe

Two men were walking along one summer day. Soon it became too hot to go any further and, seeing a large plane tree nearby, they threw themselves on the ground to rest in its shade, gazing up into the branches one of the two men said to the other, "What a useless tree this is. It does not have fruit or nuts that we can eat; it's just taking up nutrients from the soil for nothing. It should be cut down and its wood used for cooking." "Don't be so ungrateful," rustled the tree in reply. "I am being extremely useful to you at this very moment, shielding you from the hot sun. And you call me a good-for-nothing?"

This is exactly how we in most cases treat God and his blessings on our lives, ever being so ungrateful. Failing to remember the goodness of God at various times, in our lives; Gerald Good said, "If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."

Give thanks always, no matter how small we might think our blessings are.

21 Days of Strictly Truth-telling. Are You Game?

Wisdom Nugget: "A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow." 

Imagine a world without lies. Imagine everyone told the truth and no one had the ability to tell a lie. Wouldn't half of the world's problems be gone; if not all?

Imagine a salesperson selling products to you without telling a bit of a lie. Imagine politicians telling us plainly the way things are and sparing us a weave of lies. Imagine companies advertising the real quality of their products and services? Imagine the news giving us all the details without filtering or adjusting it to suit 'political interests', wouldn't the world be a better place? Do you still think there'll be corruption? But alas, almost all of us are guilty of lying at some point in our lives, irrespective of the fact that we claim to have lied for a 'good cause'.The truth is, a lie is a lie, irrespective of your reason for telling  it. Herbert said, "Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie: A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby."
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Today, lies are a part of our daily lives.

Mr. Ben executes a contract for "Jay & Jay Enterprises", and submits his quota to the company and he's told "the cheque will be in the mail tomorrow", one month later, Mr. Ben hasn't gotten any mail. Brenda runs into an old friend at the mall but is in a hurry. She is 30 minutes late in picking up her children from school so she takes her old friend's business card and says "I'll call you tomorrow". Brenda walks out of the mall and drops the business card in the nearest bin. Stephanie goes to apply for a job in a company and the secretary to the managing director says "we're not recruiting right now but give me your resume; I'll pass it to my boss and who knows he might have a position for you?" Stephanie leaves her resume with the secretary. Three months later the resume is still on the secretary's desk gathering dust. Ada gets dumped by Femi, two weeks later; she gets a wedding card from him. When she confronts him, he says "No I wasn't dating her when I was with you". Really? So, he's marrying her two weeks after he met her? You walk into a boutique to buy a dress and on the label it's written "one size fits all". Ten minutes later you're in the changing room with the attendant struggling to pull the dress down your torso. So who is "all" referring to? Chloe is lying on the dentist's table, the dentist looks into her eyes and says :"open wide it won't hurt a bit" thirty minutes later Chloe works out from the dentist's with red eyes and a tight throat from screaming in pain. Brad was supposed to meet John by 2pm; by 1:55 he's still at ha ome trying to get dressed. John calls and Brad says "I'm in a cab, almost at the venue of the meeting". Since when is a house movable? A sales representative approaches you and says "please sir, can I have one minute of your time". You generously give a listening ear and ten minutes later the guy is still talking. Most of these lies are a few of the many we tell everyday. Some of these lies are told inadvertently because it has become a habit. Some even call it a necessity. Since when is a lie necessity? On no account should you twist the truth.

"You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another." Make up your mind today to stop dealing falsely or lying to one another. P

ractice 21 days of telling the truth and nothing but the truth and you'll see it becoming a part of you.

Kindly comment on your experiences with practising 21 days of strictly telling the truth. What have you learned from it? Do you feel constrained or liberated?

Photo credit: The 8 Rule of Truth Bullies. By Kid Mercury

The Curse of Injustice 4

Wisdom Nugget: "Don’t steal from the poor, because they are poor; and don’t use your position to crush the weak  The Lord will take up their case and press the life out of those who oppress them."

Oppression

Have you ever wondered lately why more rich people are getting struck with cancer, tumors and very deadly heart diseases ?

I still remember like yesterday, my days in Law School. One of our lecturers walked very slowly into class, apparently not feeling well. We - the students - empathized with him and expressed our sincere wishes for his speedy recovery. Then one of the students dared to ask him the nature of his ailment, whereupon he said something that we all laughed about then, but now I know not to be a joke, He said to us "Oh don't worry, you all can't relate with it. It's rich people's sickness!"

Many years after, I realized that indeed one of the greatest tragedies of life is how the rich steal from the poor, and use their position to oppress the weak. And how as a result, their Maker "...takes up their case and  presses the life out of those who oppress them."  You will recall I had said before that because of the complexities of human existence, at one time or another we will all be vulnerable, defenseless and very susceptible. There are laws which make it obligatory for the strong to protect the weak; the informed to protect the ignorant; and the powerful to protect the defenseless. To violate these aforementioned laws is to attract a curse. Take away those laws and society will be brutish, savage and barbaric. To undermine those laws is to take us right back into the jungles of the Stone Ages where only the fittest survived.

In 2010 was born the Arab Spring: the wave of revolutionary demonstrations, protests, and civil wars occurring in the Arab world. This revolution which began on 18 December, 2010 fought against oppressive dictators who had stolen from the poor and used their position to crush the rich

Till date, these official thieves (Presidents) are being crushed and disgraced out of power. We have witnessed the fall of the Presidents of Tunisia,[1] Egypt,[2] Libya,[3] and Yemen;[4] civil uprisings have erupted in Bahrain[5] and Syria;[6] major protests have broken out in Algeria,[7] Iraq,[8] Jordan,[9] Kuwait,[10] Morocco,[11] and Sudan;[12] and minor protests have occurred in Lebanon,[13] Mauritania,[14] Oman,[15] Saudi Arabia,[16] Djibouti,[17)and  (18) Western Sahara.

To you who are being oppressed, your case will be taken up. Your oppressors will have the life pressed out of them. But to the rest, let me remind you of the words of Carl T. Rowan, "It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home."

And Jonathan Sacks wrote "If you want a free society, teach your children what oppression tastes like. Tell them how many miracles it takes to get from here to there. Above all, encourage them to ask questions. Teach them to think for themselves."

Solomon summarizes it in these words: "Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, All will be judged: both the righteous and the wicked. For there is a time for every matter and for every work."

Desist from stealing from the poor. Stop using your position to crush the weak. If you don't turn a new leaf, ...it's only a matter of time.

Photo credit: whatsaiththescripture.com

Taken For Granted

Wisdom Nuggets: "Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you cannot find it among gros people."

Gratitude

 E.W Howe once said "The greatest humiliation in life is to work hard on something from which you expect great appreciation and fail to get it."

One hot summer day, two friends walked along a road. Soon it became too hot for them to go any further. Seeing a large plane tree nearby, they plopped on the ground to rest in its shade. Gazing up into the branches one said to the other, "What a useless tree this is. It does not have fruit or nuts that we can eat and we cannot even use its wood for anything." "Don't be so ungrateful," rustled the tree in reply. "I am being extremely useful to you at this very moment, shielding you from the hot sun. And you call me a good-for-nothing!"

Burton says, I was taking my usual morning walk when a garbage truck pulled up beside me. I thought the driver was going to ask for directions. Instead, he showed me a picture of a cute little five-year-old boy. "This is my grandson, Jeremiah," he said. "He's on a life-support system at a Phoenix hospital." Thinking he would next ask for a contribution to his hospital bills, I reached for my wallet. But he wanted something more than money. He said, "I'm asking everybody I can to say a prayer for him. Would you say one for him, please?" I did. And my problems didn't seem like much that day, because I realized that I was blessed witht he good things of life; gifts which I'd been taking for granted.

 Margaret Cousins put it this way, "Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. Eric Hoffer adds, "The hardest Arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings".

Have you ever taken time out to give thanks for the so many blessings and abilities we have, which most people will gladly pay all the money in the world to get?

One afternoon, I was having a great time upstairs at home, when someone called me down stairs to help fix the sink. I went and in the course of fixing the sink, I cut my little finger. The finger bled. I ranted and raved for a good part of the afternoon. Later that evening, I read an article about lepers, why and how they lose their limbs. I learned that this loss of their limbs was due to their inability to feel pain which could make them bump into sharp objects, bleed and not feel pain. This, however,  isn't an excerpt from a thesis on leprosy, though. My point  is, after reading that article I was grateful for the ability to feel pain. And as absurd as that might sound, but I was grateful and I still am. How many times are we thankful for the ability to breathe without an oxygen mask; use the restroom unaided, and fall asleep when we feel like? Are you thankful that you don't scavenge nearby dumpster in search of food?

 Beloved, that we can make comprehensive statements, communicate with those around and are able to do so many "seemingly" simple things are miracles. And everyday, we ought to be grateful for each blessing. Appreciation is a key that unlocks the door to blessings. We should appreciative every single act of kindness.

Injustice and Curses

Wisdom Nugget: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what is required of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your Maker?             

Scale of Justice

All through the book you will notice that "The fatherless and widows" come under the same omnibus and are always grouped together. Literally, "the fatherless" means those without fathers and "the widows", those without husbands. But the spirit of the text goes beyond that simplistic application. They both represent people who are defenseless,. helpless, vulnerable and with no one to fight for them.

In most cultures in my country, when a father dies and his children are not of age, relatives take away all of the father's assets from you, everything. As for the widow, she is only a piece of property bought by the husband while he was alive. At his death, all her husband's properties are seized, she is subjected to demonic rituals like drinking the water derived from the washing of the corpse, shaved and must not leave the solitude, confinement and darkness of the room she shared with the husband for several months. When she finishes with the mourning rites, the house would have been swept, her; children, reduced to housemaids and everything her husband labored for would have disappeared. Often, young widows are forcibly remarried to one of the deceased's kinsmen; or contend with being raped as a matter of right. And sometimes, she may have to sleep with those who are to pay her late husband's gratuities.

Once there was a young girl who went to her late father's colleagues for assistance for her school fees. This man whom she called uncle, gave her a condition: she was requird to sleep with him before he would offer her any assistance. What these  traditionalists don't know is that these cultures bring great curses upon our communities . When the bitter tears of these fatherless girls and poor widows flow down their cheeks and fall to the ground, a lamentation against the land is raised. And a curse is invoked upon the people.

As Job put it : "But maybe you sent widows away without giving them anything.And maybe you took advantage of orphans. That is why traps are all around you,and sudden trouble makes you afraid. That is why it is so dark you cannot see,and why a flood of water covers you."

Have you ever wondered why many of our communities are so blessed in natural resources but the people are still poor ? Foreigners come in and prosper but the owners of the land are blind and in darkness and can't see the opportunities and for centuries the flood of poverty covers the indigenous people. Violence against women, rapes, mutilation of the female genitals are only a few of the evils that are responsible for the downward spirals of our economy and the violence and fears that we live with daily.

"...maker of the fatherless, and judge of the widows...will bless a people who respect the right of orphans and widows and vice versa."

 “If you listen to what I say, you will get the good things from this land. But if you refuse to listen and rebel against me, your enemies will destroy you.'... She was a faithful city. What made her become like a prostitute? In the past, the city... was filled with justice, and goodness... Instead, there are murderers. Once you were like pure silver, but now you are like the impurities that people throw away when the silver is purified. You are like good wine that has been weakened with water. Your rulers are rebels and friends of thieves. They demand bribes and accept money for doing wrong. They take money to cheat people, and they don’t speak up for widows and orphans. They will not even listen to their cries for help."

Another sage says, “You must never do anything bad to women whose husbands are dead or to orphans. If you do anything wrong to these widows or orphans, Their Maker will know it; will hear about their suffering; and will be very angry...

Conclude with Imelda Marcos words: "Continuous persecution of widows and orphans is a crime. Even the Bible says there is a specific place in hell for those who oppress widows."

Picture credit: fabiusmaximus.com

The Curse Of Injustice II

Wisdom Nugget: To trick a blind man into going the wrong way is to attract a curse.

A curse is an invocation of a supernatural power  to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment, to inflict serious harm or punishment on someone or to cause misfortune, evil, doom or unhappiness etc to  befall a person, group.

In the noun, to be blind means "People who are unable to see."

But in the verb it means "to Cause (someone) to be unable to see, permanently or temporarily: eg "eyes blinded with tears".

Life always brings us in contact with people who are temporarily blind , due to a situation they have found themselves in. The young girl who is in a relationship crisis; the fresh graduate who badly needs the job but must sleep with someone; the student (as a lecturer) who is struggling to pass your course and can't figure out why she keeps failing it; the young man in mid life crisis who comes to you for answers to 101 Questions of life; the young student who is confused about which career path to follow or who cannot figure out where the next school fee will come from; your congregant (as a pastor or religious leader) who looks up to you as God's representative; your subordinate in the office who regards you as their father or elder brother, depending absolutely on your (in)sight to make it to the top some day; and finally, your patient whose nakedness is only known to you and her husband. These people are blind, confused, defenseless and vulnerable before you.

Oftentimes, you hold in your hands the power to either make or destroy them, either help them or abuse them, either love them or lust after them, either tell them the truth or mislead them, either cover their nakedness or take advantage of their vulnerability, either be their stepping stone or stumbling block, either be their father or their sugar daddy and to either be their mentor or tormentor. The choice is yours to either be their hero or their villain but whatever is your choice they will remember you either for fame or for shame, either for the problems you solved for them or the ones you created for them. And we have enough history to show that those blind people you tricked into going the wrong way, sometime in the past, always have a bad habit of showing up somewhere at the crossroad of your future/destiny, just when you are about to be crowned, and spoiling your party. If you doubt, ask Anthony Weiner, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer, Barney Frank, Larry Craig, Kwame Kilpatrick, Senator David Vitter, John Ensign,Mark Sanford.

US President Thomas Jefferson (1802): was accused of fathering the children of his slave, US President Grover Cleveland (1884): had sexual relationships with a number of men; US President Warren Harding (1921-1923): had extramarital affairs with two women; US President John F. Kennedy (1963) was linked to a number of extramarital affairs;
US President Bill Clinton (1998): Monica Lewinsky had oral sex with Clinton in the Oval Office; Jacob Zuma (2005-2006): was charged with rape before becoming President of South Africa
Ramzan Kadyrov, Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic (2006): appears in a sauna sex party video; Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Prime Minister (2011): paid for sex with a minor on a bunga bunga party and has just been sentenced to imprisonment for other of fences. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California (2011): had fathered his housekeeper’s son, now aged 15 and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Head of the IMF (2011): charged with the sexual assault and attempted rape of a housekeeper was disqualified from participating in the French Presidential elections.

To trick a blind man into going the wrong way is to attract a curse. To you who feel the pain of injustice, this is my advice : "The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." -Richard Bach

Photo credit: disputeabout.eu

The Curse Of Injustice

Wisdom Nuggets: The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly.

                                                                                                          -  Richard Bach

confident injustice

In the next couple of days I shall be drawing your attention to an explosive truth which many in this generation either do not know or ignore. It is called The Curse of Injustice. Many are aware of The Power of Blessings. That is why in the US you hear people say "God Bless America". But what is equally potent is the power of a curse provoked by injustice.

Understanding the complexities of human existence in all ramifications; acknowledging the inevitability of our defenselessness and vulnerablilities can help us understand the inherent dangers of injustice. There exist designed laws which make it obligatory for the strong to protect the weak, the informed to protect the ignorant and the powerful to protect the defenseless. To violate that law is to attract a curse (Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the foreigner...)

In 2009,  I sat next to a young man from Miami Florida to Haiti, on board an American Airways flight, and we naturally became friendly. It was my first trip to Haiti and it was soon after the earthquake. I was on a fact finding mission to see how my country could assist Haiti. So I was quick to befriend the young man so I could find my bearing when I arrived Port au Prince. On arrival, we drove around. I was shocked at the sorry state of Port au Prince, many months after the earthquake. Corpses were still trapped under the rubbles, collapsed buildIngs still leaned against one another, people still lived under the UN refugee tents and hunger was endemic. My Haitian friend had told me even the eggs sold in Haiti were from the nearby Dominican Republic. Turning to him, i told him i needed to change some dollars so I could take care of my hotel bills and other miscellaneous expenses. So he drove me to a dirty street, asked me to wait in the car, called a friend with whom he disappeared for a while. When he returned, he told me that the exchange rate was 1$ =30 Haitian Gourde. I was so shocked because I realized how poor the country was and I couldn't reconcile it with the high value on their currency. But I felt I was in the protective custody of my new found host and thus, couldn't dare question his facts (and figures). After all, his wife had joined us. They both communicated in Creole and I couldn't understand a word of what was said. I exchanged about $700 (because he had insisted I must take him and his wife to the most expensive restaurant in Port au Prince). Then I got to my hotel and asked the receptionist who told me the rate was $1= 35,000 Haitian Gourde. Next day my friend insisted that I paid him $500 dollars for taking me around in his car for half a day. As I boarded my flight to leave Haiti the next day I said to myself, "Now I understand why they are so poor !"

We're all defenseless foreIgners. The new staff in your office, the new girl or family in your neighborhood, the new student in your class, the new member in your church/club, the new entrant into your line of business, and the new wife your brother just married into your family, without exception, are all vulnerable and defenseless foreigners whom the fates have brought across your path. Before you take advantage of them remember the words of Plato, "He who commits injustice is ever made more wretched than he who suffers it."

 Don't  ever forget, the wheel of injustice always spins around. Today it is someone else, tomorrow it may be you. Whatever a man sows, that he will reap.

Photo Credit: johncalvinmusic.bandcamp.com

Love Is Never Happy With Injustice

Fighting Injustice

Wisdom Nugget :  “You must be fair in judgment. You must not show special favor to the poor. And you must not show special favor to important people. You must be fair when you judge your neighbor. You must not go around spreading false stories against other people. Don’t do anything that would put your neighbor’s life in danger... “You must be fair when you judge people, and you must be fair when you measure and weigh things. Your baskets should be the right size. Your jars should hold the right amount of liquids. Your weights and balances should weigh things correctly..."

Today, permit me to demystify and simplify injustice.

When Mrs Potiphar falsely accused Joseph of attempted tape and without trial, he was thrown into prison, that was an injustice.

When Samuel’s sons Joel and Abijah, refused to follow their father's footsteps but  accepted bribes and took money secretly and changed their decisions in court and cheated people in court, that was injustice.

When Jezebel got some area boys to testify against Naboth in court and thereupon had him executed so her husband could acquire Naboth's family land, that was injustice.

"... we pushed Justice away.Fairness stands off in the distance.Truth has fallen in the streets.Goodness is not allowed in the city..." This is another face of injustice.

When against all known rules of natural justice, equity and good conscience, innocent people are convicted, that is injustice.

Unfortunately injustice is real and happens everyday. As St. Augustine advised, "If you are suffering from a bad man's injustice, forgive him lest there be two bad men." Only love can transform calculated  injustice into creative justice. Love makes justice just. Justice without love is always injustice.

 We may seem now to be surrounded by chaos -- war, disease, injustice, oppression, death. But we can rise above these societal ills. Things are not what they seem to be. It is only a matter of time until it becomes clear to all that we are more than conquerors.

Hate injustice but be careful never to hate the perpetuators of injustice.

 Let's end with this quote by, Moore, Olive: "Hatred is a passion requiring one hundred times the energy of love. Keep it for a cause, not an individual. Keep it for intolerance, injustice, stupidity. For hatred is the strength of the sensitive. Its power and its greatness depend on the selflessness of its use."

Photo credit: thecrazylady.wordpress.com

Love Detests Injustice

Wisdom Nuggets: Love is never happy with injustice,...it is happy with the truth.


Dr. Martin Luther King's Words on Injustice

The two pillars of any genuine civilization, the two pillars of the happiest and most prosperous nations on earth, the two pillars of any great lasting and exciting relationship or marriage and the two pillars of any great organization and government are  RIGHTEOUSNESS & JUSTICE.

While righteousness means "doing what is right at all times", Justice implies "rewarding good and punishing evil". Anything short of these and society would be  brutish, cruel, animalistic and poverty-stricken. On these two pillars, you can draw the line between the world's wealthiest nations and poorest nations.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca said " A kingdom founded on injustice never lasts." I still remember the day I vowed that I was going to become a lawyer. Someone had just been falsely accused and she was crying because she'd been innocent. Nobody believed her, but me. I concluded that the world was filled with this kind of injustice and that somebody needed to fight for the innocent. Injustice is rigging an election and stealing the people's mandate; injustice is denying a widow and her little children of their late husband's and father's property; injustice is promising to marry a lady only to abandon her later for her best friend. Now, you aren't just expected to desist from unjust acts, "Don't even rejoice with those who did it".

Martin Luther King, Jr.said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Desmond Tutu wrote "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality".

Elie Wiesel postulated "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." I am convinced that "A just war is in the long run far better for a nation's soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by acquiescence in wrong or injustice."Henry David Thoreau said "If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law." That was what the Egyptian midwives Shiphrah and Puah did when asked to kill innocent kids and they were blessed for disobeying the government.

Where is the justice today? I fear for how insensitive, uncaring and lethargic we have become in the face of injustice. These days people loot valuables from their work places and pay heavy tithes, It's sad that we have stopped our ears from hearing the cry of the oppressed, the poor and the widows so that we even stoop so low as to celebrate the perpetuators of these injustices.

In Germany during World War II there was a Protestant church which stood near some railroad tracks. These tracks often carried Jewish families on their way to Nazi concentration camps for extermination. The cries for help and justice were sometimes so loud and disturbing especially as the congregation worshipped. The solution was a call for the congregation to sing louder so the cries wouldn’t be heard.

How many times have we tuned up our worship music, or stuck our noses deeper in the hymnal so we can pretend not to be aware of the injustices that abound around us?

Henry David Thoreau wrote "Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant". Truth is, evil thrives because good men do nothing.