The Mystery of the Eagle

 The Eagle, full of the boundless spirit of freedom, living above the valleys, strong and powerful in his might, has become the national emblem of a country that offers freedom in word and thought and an opportunity for a full and free expansion into the boundless space of the future.
--Maude M. Grant

Generations time and over again find a soft spot for the Eagle and by thus find a place for learning within its course and life. Kings and kingdoms from ancient civilization even to our modern context find the Eagle relevant as their symbol of representation. Rome's standard and symbol of legion was the Aquila. The Aquila was an Eagle-shaped symbol that was of extreme significance to the Roman Military. The world's greatest empire then used the Eagle as an emblem of its strength and power. United States of America, the most powerful nation in the 21st century still finds the Eagle worth representing its strength and sophistication. The National emblem for the USA is the Bald Eagle. 

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Iceland, Iraq, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Yemen, Zambia and my own homeland Ghana are all countries among many others that find essence in using the Eagle as a symbol of national emblem. This post attempts to answer and provoke a thinking around the single most piercing question of why the Eagle among many other things has such significance in religion, nations and cultures all around the world.

My fascination with Eagles was heighten when I discovered a very profound scripture in the book of Proverbs chapter thirty verse eighteen and nineteen: " There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid." These are four incredible concept of wisdom summed up in a single statement of awe and excellence besought of deep curiosity. Dr. Bill Newman in his book Soaring with Eagles, provides tastes for seeking some of the mysteries of the Eagle. I share some of the reasons why the Eagle inspires nations and remains the wide representation of leadership, honor, and all that ruling and reigning is about.

1. Bill tells the story of an unborn Eagle which must break its own shell for existence as the beginning to his first chapter. The representation of the Eagle is one that bear true independence. The newly hatched Eagle keeps jumping, hopping, stretching its wings and voluntarily flying right from its beginning. Dependency can be a deadly clutch to hang on but unfortunately most of us grow with no sense of responsibility and confidence in our own ability. The Eagle knows its wings are meant to soar the highest part of the skies and by thus it does not rely on anybody to take it to the heights. Africa my home is overly dependent even after years of assuming independence. The spirit of the Eagle is primarily one of a boundless spirit of freedom, a limitless launch into its potential. True independence is a need and prerequisite if true heights of greatness must be achieved.
2. I have often wondered about how the Eagle manages the tides, storms and harsh cold conditions. I wonder how it glides pass flow of wind that are against it. It is amazing to learn that the Eagle harnesses whatever natural force there maybe to hinder it. For instance, the Eagle has a way of locking its wings to allow itself to be born and propelled by tides instead of exerting energy against it. The Eagle understands clearly the environment it operates in and adapts to the changing times appropriately. The Eagle knows how to live successfully in changing times without complaining and hanging on unto old way. Advancement, change, growth and taming the wild is the joy the Eagle pursues.
3. The incredible vision of the Eagle is one of its most spoken-of feature. It is said the Eagle can clearly detect a moving mouse while it soars hundreds of feet above the ground and yet keep an accurate sight over a five-mile area at the same time. This is an amazing description of sight and vision characterized by two fundamental truth, accuracy and long-range. The challenge and lesson to learn is to grow pass vague and parochial thinking. The Eagle is a sign of precision of vision yet broadly and widely encompassed.
4. Courage is for Eagles. The Eagle is one bird which is never afraid to attach or go for what it must. It has the courage enough to be patient, the strength to be focused and tact for persistence. Courage, as often agreed on is not the absence of fear but the boldness to confront fears. An Eagle is never timid!!! A spirit we must pray and encourage in the African.
5. A common usage of the Eagle in the Bible is the reference to its ability to renew its youth. Youthfulness is passion and zest, its energy! Gracefully the Eagle never runs out of energy. It retreats, plugs its old wings, and gathers fresh energy on its wings to soar. Renewal is the breath of freshness we all need when we get stale, old and weary. Energy is the driver and the Eagle never runs out of it until death.

These are five noble characters among many others that endears the Eagle to all of us including God who created it.

Let me end with a reflection from the prophet Isaiah, "but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." I believe there is no place to harness and birth the spirit of the Eagle within humanity better than the peaceful corridors of worship in the presence of the Lord. May we find ourselves back to the arms of worship that we may find our reflection as Eagles in Jehovah!

THE BIRTH OF A WHITE EAGLE

The twenty-ninth day of October, is always a story of reflection, strategy and most importantly abundance of a graceful heart towards God for me. Each year comes with its own story of grace but here is one that is a gate unto purpose.

I remember sharing some lessons, I count most useful in my life's journey last year. Lessons that are still very insightful for today: http://www.theagleswingfoundation.blogspot.com/2011/10/memories-of-last-decade.html.

Today, I by the same mantle of grace announce a birth, one that is of a WHITE EAGLE. This is a testimony of a birth... PURPOSE IS BORN AND LET THE WORLD WITNESS!!!

The mystery of the Eagle shall be shared in our subsequent post, but this is an announcement... AN EAGLE IS BORN, AND THANKS BE TO GOD, IT IS A WHITE EAGLE.

A Lesson for a Christian

But He turned and rebuked them and said, you do not know of what spirit you are. (MKJV)

-Luke 9:55

 

I have been greatly engrossed in some reflections on the Christian worldview among other things for sometime now. I share a piece of some of the thoughts I have been cogitating.  Perhaps, just as always I intend to provoke thoughts along matters which matter and affect the daily lives of every human being.

 

A worldview is a fascinating enigma, a lens through which all other essence of life may be seen and by which all decision are made with reference to. Congruence of thoughts provide the foundation  for a person's worldview. Congruence in thought patterns defines a person's worldview.

 

Yet, among the many thought I have been dealing with, the inconsistencies and dissociation within people's worldviews are astounding. We are gradually boxing ourselves into a corner where we tell ourselves we don't have to be consistent with a worldview. I have for instance met in the past month persons who in one breath honour the principles of honesty and diligence yet in another breath  will cheat as long as it was convenient. It appears people are comfortable with the sweetener in the cake and yet dislike the bitter almonds. The irony although is that, it takes this blend among other things to make a good almond cake.

 

A Lesson in History

It is exactly one week since the news of Ghana, my motherland, lost its first sitting president, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills. The news was a mixture of shock, sorrow and most definitely a hard learning curve for all of us.

Reflecting on the incidence and the many reactions since the news broke brings to mind a story I heard as I grew in my early days of my pursuit for truth and wisdom. The story has it that a man on board of a bus had just lost his wife at a hospital with his two sons. His sons were happily playing in the bus. A stranger in the bus descended heavily on the man for not been a good father and not being a responsible father, leaving his son to disturb public peace.

Not knowing the loss of the man, he in judgement treated the man who had lost his dearly beloved wife meanly. The man called his sons with tears in his eyes and calmly said to the stranger, "I am just from the hospital where I just lost my wife, I had to pick my boys from school,  they were happy, playing and joyful and thus I could not break the news to them but I guess you gave me the courage to share their loss with them. Thank you"

The story continues that, the sons became very quiet and started sobbing and weeping greatly together with their father. The stranger became all apologetic and sympathetic whiles everybody in the bus calmly watched him. The obvious question to me is, will the stranger have treated the man who had lost his wife differently if he knew of his loss?

The answer is obviously a yes! Death has a magical spell of bringing all humanity to terms with its own frailty and futility and the death of Ex-President Mills is no exception.

Elpis

Hope, like a gleaming taper's light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray. -Goldsmith

English language has been blessed with the expression 'Pandora's box' which is directly borrowed from the Greek myth of Pandora. The Pandora's myth was made famous by Hesiod's poem 'Works and Days'. Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC.

The myth has it that Pandora was the first woman on Earth endowed with beauty and many gifts. She was presented to Epimetheus, the representative of mankind, as a form of vengeance by Zeus when Prometheus his brother stole fire from heaven. Pandora was given a beautiful container which she was not to open under any circumstance.

Impelled by her curiosity given her by the gods, Pandora opened it, and all the evil contained therein escaped and spread over the earth. Evil had been leashed on Earth except for one gift left in the box, Elpis!

Elpis is the Greek word translated hope in many Greek text including The New Testament. There are forty-eight verses in the New Testament containing elpis, with but one reference translated as faith (Heb. 10:23), all others were translated as hope.

Ancient Greeks defined Elpis, in their mythology as the personification and spirit of hope (It was an extension of suffering not as good). It is in this background do I share my reflections on the words of a wise Hebrew King; "Hope put off makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life."

These words are part of King Solomon's collections of wisdom in Proverbs, recorded in chapter thirteen verse twelve. In one breath the wise King shares the taunt as well as the freshness of hope. Holding such powers to make the heart sick and to give fulfilment as the tree of life will. Some writers paint these sides well; "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torment of man."  This is an idea expressed by Friedrich Nietzsche. Benjamin Franklin expresses a similar thought as "He that lives upon hope will die fasting". These statements are profound statements about such pain as the idea of hope could engender. These line of thought brings us to see hope as an evil and a concept that cannot in anyway be a virtue and should therefore not be considered by any person.

Other writers, paints the refreshing nature of hope not only as beauty but as a need to fulfilling life. Helen Keller puts it this way, "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." Napoleon Bonaparte expresses a much profound statement about leadership and hope. "A leader is a dealer in hope". Helen and Napoleon shows a clear alternate path to Friedrich and Benjamin words, not only in words but also in the astounding examples of their lives.

Reflections for Mr. Right

"A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child."~
Knights of Pythagoras

This is an article born out of my reflection on an idea I received from a father's day message. It was a message of huge responsibility; one of who a father ought to be. The charge of responsibility of a man for a child he has seeded is not an idea overly difficult to conceive, although there are so many shared roles and duties with mothers nowadays. For me the huge paradigm shift was the message that 'a man must choose a wife only as someone he has accepted the responsibility to father' . A man is therefore not a husband by privilege but by responsibility!

The word husband has its etymology to the old English word, hūsbōnda, which refers to a "householder". The idea of a householder particularly for people who have witnessed a lot of men superiority will turn to associate that with dominance and suppression and things that may seemingly connote a forced power for forced identities. I intend to share an extension of the original idea of fathering for children to wives. This message I believe should be the background for which any man may measure his own manhood and success. A woman can likewise see unto choosing Mr. Right if 'Mr. Rightnow' has not already been chosen. But in all, this is a message of character progression and development, one that must be worked on daily.

STEPS

All the euphemisms of life eludes to a journey

"The height charms us, but the steps do not; with the mountain in our view we love to walk the plains"

                        -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Almost nine months ago, the idea of blogging caught my attention in a seemingly unimportant manner. It was a conversation I chanced by. Just peeping into the conversation for a few minutes I had the conviction to learn all I could about creating a blog and the first post  was dully up on September 12th, 2011.  Check out our  humble beginnings from here:(http://theagleswingfoundation.blogspot.com/2011/09/theory-of-constraints.html).

Nine months down memory lane, we have this post as our thirtieth share, nine members and one thousand six hundred and ninety three visitors as of writing this article. I had always dreamt of writing although I had never considered myself a good writer. Clear was my dream of writing and the idea of blogging was an opportunity. Call the circumstances of knowing about this opportunity purpose, chance or luck but after I got convicted of this idea, I had a choice of execution to exercise. One that certainly demanded of me steps and still very much do.

A common mantra we share is the idea that thoughts are relatively easy, actions are difficult but putting thoughts into action is possibly the most difficult of all endeavours. Getting things done takes commitment, passion, discipline and the list goes, but I will want to share a few lessons I keep learning on how to keep things running effectively:

STRANGERS

For me, there are no my people and strangers, no bad people and good people. All people are equal for me.
Viktor Yanukovych

This statement by the Ukrainian Statesman and President is the summary of this conviction I share with you in this post. The theme of strangers came to me after my experience with three different people I was very well meaning towards but because they considered me a stranger, they will not connect and thus lost the opportunity to connect to a new person. It equally reminds me of the many people I have considered strangers and have therefore lost the opportunity as it were to connect with them.

Being in the corporate world now, I fully understand what social acquaintances are really worth. The value of teams and customer service can never be over-emphasized. I write this in perspective of love for humanity and personal branding.

I am pretty familiar with the childhood advice of 'Do not talk to strangers' because I received it quiet often. I know such upbringings have definitely had a tone on our welcoming of strangers. I do not seek to advocate for a whole sing along open all doors policy, I only write on the lines of prudence and good judgment.

Good sense will basically teach that, all the relations a person has, even of the closest ones, such were ones strangers. I know some people who are reading at this point are switching in their defenses, just before you do so fully allow me to tell you a story:

A lawyer ones asked a wise man, what it will take for somebody to be judged as righteous, innocent and worthy of praise. The wise man pointed the lawyer to the basic intent of all laws, to deal lovingly with ones neighbour. The lawyer pushing the bounds asked who then a man's neighbour was.

The wise man told a story of a man travelling from a far city who suddenly met a group of thieves. The thieves took everything he had and beat him and left him lying half dead in the middle of the street. The man in his desperate need for help heard footsteps and thanked God for sending help because the man was dressed as a priest. Unfortunately for him, his groaning did not touch the heart of the priest enough because he was so much in the 'Spirit' going to minister.

Similarly came near him one who obviously was a servant in the godly courts. The wounded man faintly screamed for attention, moaning on the ground, at least deserving of pity. But the Levite could only think of the offering he had to render at the altar, so he left the man to die in order to make time for service. The half dying man, in so much pain of both rejection and physical hurts,  gave up all hopes of ever been helped and thus retired faith, waiting for dead to cease him.

He then heard a touch on his body, struggled to open his fading eye only to see a Samaritan, one he didn't even like neither was he liked by him. Reasoning with himself among two options, either this Samaritan is sent by death to finally end his pain and misery or he is an angel from God. But he wondered if God would send such a stranger as an angel.

The long and short of the story is that, the Samaritan helps the dying man, takes him to the hospital, pays the bills, feeds him and gives him allowance for contingencies. All an act from a stranger!

At this point Jesus, who told the original story, asked the lawyer who a man's neighbour was, the Priest, the Levite or the Samaritan? This story has gone down history isle to be called The Story of the Good Samaritan. I just told my paraphrased version but the essence for me is that, the seemingly godly people were the most culpable of the stranger's phobia and therefore treated him as such because he was not their neighbours.

The next time you are tempted to write off a stranger, think of him/her among two things, he/she is either in dire need of help and looking onto you as the angel sent by God or the stranger you are rejecting is the solution and the addition that will jazz up your life unto purpose.

For those who will reason among rational lines of what if the stranger is not good enough for you, or what if they come in to hurt you or things like that, I honestly may not have an answer for you but to wish you well and pray that you are guided by prudence in all your choices to strangers, but remember 'Never distrust a person until he/she has given you enough reason to do so', for Abram received angel into his house without knowing. I guess he was only been calmly with strangers.

May we all treat each other with the respect and love we desire and most certainly deserve, Love and relationship are universal quest and need because we all are supposed to be the universal solution to loving and relating!

TO OUR COMMON HUMANITY- CHEERS

The Pain of Letting Go

I have had the unpleasant experience of witnessing four deaths within the last few months. These may be people of no direct relation to me but it has been an opportunity to examine the pain of letting go since all these deaths were within my circle of connection. One among the deaths was an accident of a work colleague, another was the father of a favourite work colleague, the third was a friend's grandfather and the last of all happened about a week ago, the father of a lovely friend.

The stories are hard to tell since the memories may still be fresh in the minds of these grieving friends but the lessons I think, are what we must gleam as we share in their tears with sorrow. It is particularly hard for me to write this article because of the harm these deaths have caused in some of these families in question.

I do not seek to find answers to questions like: Why we must let go or how we even let go or things like the moral integrity of God as it were to He taking away. Honestly, I only write to empathize with the pain and strength of these friend who must learn to let go, perhaps letting go the hardest possible way.

The theme of death and letting go was one of my first inspirations when I found my ink to write as a young poet. It has always been a mystery on my mind. The quote of John Dryden in his most notable book, Aureng-Zebe, spells what I consider the problem of letting go. The problem of letting go is not in the act of letting go in itself but the pain mostly resides outside of the act itself:

"Death, in itself, is nothing; but we fear,

To be we know not what, we know not where." - JOHN DRYDEN, Aureng-Zebe 

All that it is to let go is to let go fear! Fear, a four lettered word which manifests itself in myriad forms and inflict people universally with pains. Whether it is the circumstance of death of a loved one, letting go a not so fruitful relationships, a career, a habit or any such things as may be considered as a loss. The real question of these circumstances is the single thought of what shall become of us when we let go. What if we never become better, or never find someone that good, or such things as fear will have us entertain, these are the fears that become the fangs that bites and hurts.

I write of the fear of the unknown, the single fear we all have and must confront if we must live life. I share the idea of, "we must overcome", to let go fear, especially of the unknown. In latter post we may consider how and why but let us establish the idea to let go. Let us rally around it and equally advocate for it, for I have witnessed many people becoming observers of life as the adventure and beauty of life pass them by because of fear. They have restricted grace and purpose because of fear of the unknown.

May the friends whose story inspired this have the strength to really let go, to remember the loss with the lessons and not the pain and may we all learn to live until we must embrace what we shall not be afraid of: THE UNKNOWN!

The Heart of a Mother

I seek to write of the heart of the best Mom that has ever being, most definitely, mine! She had little but gave all, she risked all to bring the best out of me. Sometimes I think about her with tears in my eyes. I even write this piece fully conscious of her infinite sacrifices and that stirs me up greatly with a profound gratitude to share for mothers.

I know without a doubt that this knowledge of my mother is no unique to me. Many across the globe can equally be grateful for angels such as mothers are. I share the heart of a mother, great lessons they teach the world:

1. A mother's heart is position to conceive. A mother does not only have a womb to conceive but a heart that anticipate for the child. I barely remember my early days before I was two but I know there was somebody who conceived my hunger, sickness and hurts. It could only take a mother to conceive what was with me even when I had no clue.
2. A mother's heart teaches. Nothing is as true of a Mom than a teacher. Noble in heart to teach the child the best way she possibly knows how. I've always known one best teacher: Mother!
3. A mother's heart sacrifices. I remember growing up to see Mama virtually give up her life for mine. No job, No personal preferences, No life of her own but mine. She gives what is in her mouth to fill my own hunger, her cloth for my nakedness. All may give for a reason but I know she gives because she is a MOTHER.
4. I have not known any hopeful heart than a mother's. This is a heart that endures nine months in hope for something she never knows, tends for it for years, all in HOPE of the best child ever born. It can only take a mother to hope and to bring the best out of a dispersed sperm cell.
5. A mothers heart is a treasury of wisdom. As a teacher she teaches but a treasury I have an ever assuring knowledge of deposits. She never runs out of good council. She saw me through my youthful day of lots of vile heart and untempered exuberance with wisdom to guide and council. She turned a gentleman out of a youthful heart. It only takes a mother to do that.
6. A heart strong enough to discipline. She never lets me go bad without correction. She straightened me on the part of discipline, a path necessary for all progress and success. As a child I hated her for than, but as a man I love her more for the courage to tamper discipline in goodwill.
7. No home for Love than Mom's heart. I have known only one place to believe and to really trust love- In Mom's Bosom. All I could say of a mother's heart is one of LOVE!

Societies only live as long as mothers live. The more we loss them the more we shatter the foundations of all humanity and life is. I wish I could sing my mom a song or perhaps write her a poem yet with the world I share her immortal lessons. Lessons never to be forgotten for a MOTHER is an angle who never dies! She lives on at least, on the hearts of the children of every generation.

LONG LIVE MAMA....

In Lowly Places

I will normally post a poem on the Poet's Diary, leaving its appreciation for the reader's own judgement. But in this post I share with the world, A message of humility and Love. A poetry with the mood and tone of a feeling of anticipation and joy, yet a prayer that the tender heart may not break. A poet from a romantic heart caught up in admiration as his ink bleeds of a jewel, 'ShANTY': enjoy the piece! Appreciation and comments welcomed...

 Such smiles certainly not there, if to find
Beauty, I’ll never cease to write, but not in such places to inspire
An angel found on the planes of service
Celestials with highness esteemed, and not of a hand amongst helps to lend
Yet there I met your smile; the smile all my life I to cherish

When the service beckoned, I to a dissert surrendered

For a heart to serve I’ve always prayed

But such heart in humiliation only to tilt
Touting I subjected myself to for tis to God’s heart I yearn
Least did I know, a twin there to find

Bodies lived distance apart though, yet with one soul

My minds have not stopped winning, and my heart not ceased to gladden

My countenance brighter and my eye ever to hope a look-upon

My eyes yet with tears wandering where you have been until such lowly lands

Leaving me to the torment of ‘aloneliness’ and the fangs of many rejections

Still waters spread amidst green pastures, yet only in valley’s found
The beauty always around that nature, breathtaking re-freshness, yea, Soothing!
Yet veiled in the base of the lowly places,
After the climbs and the sweats uphill then one may discover true beauty and nature’ best,
Hidden in lowly places!

I will never bow my head but my hands ever to raise for the discovery of my life in lowly places

I can only to God pray,

He that is The Author of all Beauty

That such as I’ve found in meekness may be the reality I’ve always searched for

That this may be the dream I’ve seen long coming

A memory always to keep of you-

One of Beauty, Charm and Serenity

Your Smile-My Love, Your Joy-My Endeavor: You, My Pursuit to Know,

That with you we may climb the worlds to change,

 For our journey down lowly isle just began!

SamOk

9/5/12:12:32pm

Conversations of Truth

I have wondered within this month questions bothering on truth. I have read articles and publications on the subject of truth and other related topics within this month. One particular question struck me all through my truth enquires; i.e. What is the most important piece of strand in the weaving of life patterns? This question was asked by Apologist Ravi Zacharias, and he goes on further to answer with a single word, TRUTH.

How true this statement is, truth is incredibly the most important piece of life's whole puzzle. These questions of truth was birth within me as I went through the Easter period. I had the opportunity of leading a small youth group in my neighbourhood to discuss the topic of truth and history.  This topic is particularly important because of the dominating worldview of postmodernism, which exclusively reject absolutes and sing choruses of relativity as truth.

I intend to share some key lessons I have learnt about truth and its search with the many who will read this article and to the generation far beyond ours who may need reference to truth and its existence someday soon.

1. Truth must be sought with passion and enthusiasm just as any other jewel that must be found. If indeed we grow to appreciate truth as the most important thing, then it must be sought with all the passion it deserves. Love and desire for truth is the beginning of finding truth as much as it is the beginning of finding any other thing that humanity must have.
2. Open-mindedness to accept truth is a human weakness. Objectivity is and it will always be the gateway to truth. Prejudice is the single enemy to truth. The irony of the human race is sad, the world is full of people desperately seeking things only to reject them when they have found what they sought for all their lives. This unfortunate irony seems to pierce our search for truth as well. We may do all to find truth but we must guard the weakness to reject it for the comfort of our old and used to philosophies and traditions.
3. Truth can best be understood and embraced in the context of a person. We do not speak of truth in abstracts or as a quality that is abstract. Truth is best seen in or about a person or about a thing of substance. Post-modernism gains roots when it can reduce human cause to nothing tangible. We live in a tangible world with reference points and human being are not figments of imaginations or imaginary concepts. Truth can only be known when seen as a person and not as a concept of an imagination.
4. Truth conforms with history and human experience. Truth is not isolated to one person. We are used to a world now where people say, well that is true for me if even it is not true for anybody. Truth has coherence and no contradiction in itself. Contradiction can only be a liar! It can therefore not be true for you alone, that can only be a liar you may have believed!
5. He who wield the tool of liars and deploys them well is humanity's greatest enemy. There is no threat like distortions and manipulations. Unfortunately, there are a lot of counter messages in the media such that they all can not be true. Not everything seen in the media is truth neither is the first information gain the truth. Liars are as powerful as truth because each stand the possibility of being believed.
6. Truth exists because of a universal moral law from whence we may know good and evil, truth and liar. The goal posts do not keep changing. Truth is exclusive! If we granted a statement such as, the sun rises from the East as truth, will we therefore not mean that the sun does not rise from the West, North or South at the same time? Relativity cannot be true for the mere truth of truth being exclusive.
7. Seeking to prove truth rather than to disprove it is the honour of the wise. It appears a lot more people are busy and trying to disprove one thing or the other. The logic stands out  to reason that if we can prove truth, granting its exclusivity than all others can not be true. There may a thousand lies but only one truth. It is therefore only nobler and wiser to seek to prove that which is true rather than to disprove it.

Conversations are life's own way of giving us a platform to solve lives complexes. Our whole life is wrap around our conversations. We talk what we have believed. What we have believed is always the bottom line. Belief systems and what we belief will determine how life turns out for each one of us. I only implore readers to be careful of what they believe as truth. We must all subject our belief system to the rigorous test of time to proof truth. I end with an idea for the truth seeker, all seeker must be willing to subject their own belief to doubt before found as true beyond reasonable doubt by them.

I have found one as true and with no doubt, I believe truth is found in JESUS CHRIST!

The Beauty of Love

"Take away love, and our earth is a tomb." - Robert Browning

The subject of love is no doubt one talked of by all the best brain ever imaginable. I believe it stands either clearly or subtly as the quest of every human heart and soul. The New Testament writer Paul places our discussion in context by summarising in 1Cor. 13:13 that, what abides, withstanding the storms is either of hope, faith or love. He proceeds to conclude on which of these virtues is greatest, without leaving it to doubt or debate-LOVE IS THE GREATEST!

Richard Bach, known for his 1970's bestsellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others made an amazing statement on love, "True love stories never have endings."  I think all the writers, poets and philosophers have learnt to put the same thing about love in varying forms yet unequivocally pointing to the all Divine and beauty of love. I will try in the lines beneath to share what I have learnt of this beauty of love.

• · Love must first be found with self. The first I have learnt of the life of love is that it must be found with oneself first. Motivational speakers, preachers, shrinks, advocate, philosophers have always spoken of a message of confidence, self-esteem, self-worth, personal value, etc. All this I have learnt is the foundational beauty, LOVE MUST FIRST BE FOUND WITH SELF!

  · Love, like a muscle must be exercised if it must find its full measure. By the eyes of faith we hope and seek for the magical fairies that comes with the feeling of love but I have learnt such as is felt must be cultured to grow in an environment where it thrives. We all have great capacity to love, if only we will exercise our potential enough, for love is in the action!

  · Love loves on. The end has always been the real beginning of love; love always hikes the mountain, crosses the ocean, and endures the valleys until the dragon is killed. No dragon stands in between the knight and the princess!

  · The Language of Love is spoken is simple terms. We think of the big things to show and express Love but love is truly found in the simple genuine smile, the kind words, the warm hug, etc. The seemingly unimportant acts which can be so easily neglected speak volumes of the heart we hold to love- The real place love exists is in the corridors of simplicity and candor!
• ·  Living is an art in Loving. Lucile Aurore Duphin, the popular French Novelist and memorist known for her pseudonym, George Sand spells it well in her quote, "There is only one happiness in life, to love and to be loved". All noble acts in life are done with an enthusiasm only love can produce. Life begins with Love's beacon!

We are all born into a world, a world known very little to us at our entry, even unknown to us that such as we came was a gift of love. The love of them that bore us literally has made us who we are. The lessons from home, through school and all in life are learnt at Love's table. No better way to live life but to LOVE.

I conclude with a Saint Augustine's quote that inspires me every single time I hear it: "LOVE IS THE BEAUTY OF THE SOUL". No brighter light to shine, no perfect song to sing, no refreshing breeze to soothe than that of love. I wish and pray you love the rest of you life on earth, for all we are here to do is to love. In love is beauty such as I pray for you!

What Became of Love?

I share this with an honest feeling I can not put my hands to. It appears a blend of sorrow, loneliness, distrust, rejection, and faith all mixed up. I find it a bit strange though how such diverse and intense feeling weigh on me at this time. The question of love and love stories bear much smiles with them that experience it, so why would I write of it without the intense joy? More has been sang, written, done, taught and felt about love than perhaps any other word. All stories that abides are either entirely love stories or one with an amazing touch of love. Do I seek to recount love stories or to dream of such stories in the pages I write?

Maybe precisely so, but more importantly, to ask the question of what has become of love? The post title is all I intend to achieve; to seek to know what has become of such as is called LOVE.

The question of what love is has always produced many unique answers as there are the many that answers. One word used often, understood relatively little about, and deeply in search for but quiet denied when found. I have always wandered if it were a legend, myth or reality when we talked of love. whatever it maybe I can only as much talk about my experience with certainty and hope others share their thoughts with us.

When I was growing up, I strangely believed that, nothing such as love existed until I was proved wholly wrong by an experience of love itself. The beauty and fangs of the time made it an experience worth talking about and less open to doubts. The lesson of the experience was quiet simple, to answer my childhood question of does love exist? Yes, love does exist! But the answer left a longing for such fullness every single minute.

I am yet to meet a human being who does not want to be loved every single minute and at least to share such love with somebody as often as they could their own love for them. February has always been an interesting month giving people a good opportunity to celebrate love at least once in a while. Must love thus be constraint to a day of the year or an hour in the clock?  Will such not defy what love may truly mean?

We only recount one month after the notable valentine's day and what has become of love? Has love become mere rhetoric and play acts without any real meaning and essence? Has it become a ploy for the strong to manipulate the weak?

May God help us all to find what love indeed is and how priceless such a gem is when found. May we endure to know what love truly is and to commit to living on such pure levels. Love is immense and intense, vast and all encompassing. Love can only be God!

The Day of our Independence

Yesterday was truly an insightful day for me. It was a day that gave me an opportunity to recount the journey of my home fifty-five years down isle.

It was an inspiring stroll along our streets and slums, an inspiration of yet more work to be done. There is no doubt the heart of the sons and daughters of the land is deep but certainly our minds, work and results must in such grow to the size of our heart.

 

 

I guess among the myriad of question that flooded my thoughts yesterday during my walk, the question of what is it that we want to achieve as a nation stood key among them. I intend in this post to share and ask all readers across the globe that, what is it that we seek to achieve as a people? This question is one we must honestly find an answer to. My walk teased my suspicion into guessing that, we may not have, as a nation, 55 years down train decided what is it that we want. That is quiet embarrassing and heartbreaking but seemingly the truth.

 

 

I do not seek to tell woe stories neither to sing legend praises but to objectively look at the way we are en route as a nation. Such a path I strongly think we are not even aware of. I may as much write in the winds what I think but may God help us to change.

 

 

As I walked by the independence square and noticed the inscription of AD 1957, FREEDOM AND JUSTICE. My heart could not stop yearning for the clear aspirations of the fathers that sought freedom and justice and more importantly what was to the vision bearer of Ghana Freedom and what was to them Justice? I reasoned with myself to what shall we measure when we have the said dream of freedom and justice. But I guess it all comes back to our hopeful nature of things will turn out right.

 

 

I have known a truth under the sun, that nothing gets done until somebody does it. I do not yet again intend a long script but one to provoke thought once again of what is it that we want as a nation, hoping to insight among us the discuss of what path are we on? Shall we then sit in the midst of such questions and celebrate anniversaries when little or perhaps nothing has been done for a long time? I pray we may all rally around the tables of patriotism to reclaim a nation that had glory like gold and had a name as such. I pray we will not consider only the history in the pages of our books but will seek to add on until we have built a nation we shall be proud of.

 

 

I dream of home I can call home, home I can be proud of, one that is an example of what is it that faith can achieve. Let us gather around thoughtfulness and avail our hands to prudent work, our attitude to beneficence, our hearts to love, our minds to diligence and our culture to excellence. In such is there the dream of FREEDOM AND JUSTICE. The dream we must all dream and work toward for we've all got no home but HOME!

 

 

WELCOME HOME TO PROGRESS AFTER 55...

LONG LIVE HOME...

An Open Letter to My Mentor

Dear Sir,

I have honestly wished for the best day to communicate to you how immensely you have contributed to my life. Times have flown without a clear conviction of when such a day would ever come but I thank the heavens for today. Eternity has given me a space in time to engrave my letter on an eternal memoir because you not only turn three scores today but today marks the day I saw your stone of tears; one born out of great passion and love.

The tales of Rabbis have always been far from my reach but you placed in my struggling reach what is so possible. You taught me how to fine tune my rugged individualism with a blend of love and service for humanity. I wish I could write a poetry as to a lover but such respect as I owe you will not permit me to. I nothwithstanding want to highlight on your day what it is for me that you have added to my life:

1. You have been an amazing source of inspiration to me. This is perhaps the biggest thing for which I will always owe you a thank you. Your inspiration for me is not any less than the passion from a first love or a first kiss. Your story of how you started this growing empire, your background, your sincerity and values system have been a huge boost in the pursuit of my purpose.
2. You provided the platform for me to meet the right people. It is in your vision I have found friends and acquintences for a life time. I have equally found teachers, admirers, criteques and friends on my journey through life. These are all people who have added and are adding to my life, for from all these new people, there has been something to learn.
3. You point me to the best directions you know how. I remember quiet earlier knowing you, you made fun out of my best wit and it changed in an amazing way a perspective I had.
4. You not only have been a mentor but a friend. You know me in person and call me by my first name, listening and relating to me on a personal basis. You have been a great boost to my personal confidence and sense of self-worth. THANK YOU!
5. My gift matters now, my poor background has little in my future because I have found space in your vision to provide value to the world.  I know without a doubt I make a difference in this world because people like you laid the foundation of making a difference. 

Certainly Sir, you have done more for me than what I could write of in this letter but I just want you to know my heartfelt appreciation for been my Mentor. The implied benefits of what I can lay my hands to are many and I join the many in celebrating your life at sixty.

I kindly end here reminding myself of our last thanks giving church service, where your words pointed to your amazement in building this vision to where it is. Certainly acknowledging God in the build-up. I would be grateful to know the role faith, religion and spirituality has played in all these years. 

Reflecting on the few year together I can only imagine the next thirty-five years when I would have been your age and when you would be five and eighty. We may then talk and reflect well on how far life has come and in such reality appreciate the meaning of life such as God has given us to know. 

You have been a huge pillar in my life, your words of RESPECT and your life to show such will never leave me, thank you and happy day.

Yours faithfully,

Yaw Okyere.

An African Attitude

I write today in the spirit of boldness adventuring quite a courageous move, daring to bunch the varying attitudes of one of the most diverse continent in the world into one blog post. With prejudice to none and no sense of victimising the African Attitude because I am a proud African. But I only hope to write of what I have observed through my life, born and bread in Africa and of my short life experience gathered basically through interaction, observation and association with my own people.

I write herein in this blog the story of An African Attitude (The Story of AAA):

1. The story of AAA always begins as one of a communal living breeding the spirit and attitude of community. Values and virtues to the African is measured basically according to social status. Our African proverbs and wisdom protect this treasure with words like, "Although the egg of the hen may be for the owner, it ceases to be his/hers after it hatches, for it crows in the morning to wake the whole village up". The African is naturally relational and people conscious.
2. The story of AAA is also one of an Enterprising attitude. We have a continent where almost every person has an enterprise basically rooted in trade. Kiosk and small trades are of ancient and modern Africa. Commerce is done by almost every body  in African not as a product of chance but and attitude that strives for greatness and self-reliance.
3. Amazingly the AAA story is full of optimism. The average African is overly an optimist. I do not intend to discuss the merit or demerit of these attitudes necessary but to purely lay bare my observation of the African hopefulness. Such an attitude is what gives room for faith and religion making the African primarily religious.
4. Although there is a seemingly communal spirit there is also an overwhelming attitude of mistrust and disunity. Perhaps no one trust each other enough for a joint enterprise and a global force. The attitude of the African is perhaps to trust a stranger with its best than his fellow African. We sell out of ourselves, betray each other and back stab each other as a continental attitude.
5. The story of AAA proceeds no further without noting that it is one of lack of confidence. We strangely confuse vices such as timidity and cowardice with virtues such as modesty and humility. The average African child will grow up been taught directly or indirectly or by any means possible to believe in the superiority of other races and his/her own inferiority.
6. The AAA story gets sour to know WORK is considered PUNISHMENT and LAZINESS known for SMARTNESS. The cancer of corruption is hard fought but the truth is that it roots into an attitude of laziness to do the right thing in the right way and the perhaps the slothfulness to build tough skins enough to endure the hard way. No better description that laid back.
7. Like children, the average African is easily content. We strife for barely little to go by, just enough to survive on. We get too focused on our own small world to hold and to treasure. We protect jealously standards and traditions that are way below mediocrity and market and sell such as our way of life. But who can blame someone for wanting too little?

There is certainly more to say, scenarios to understand, analysis to make and examples to give but I do not intend to dive into any of such. Every reader will have his/her own opinion and judgements of who the African is. Let me be clear to say emphatically that there are some African who share no lines with any of these attitudes as a result of a kind exposure, some personal mental choice or a kind personal commitments to other attitudes. Certainly so but these people are clearly outliers in the vast minority.

We do business, conduct our politics and live our lives guided by these attitude and sad as it may be we are mostly guided unknown to us. People who know these African Attitudes have either exploited the woes to their own advantage or manipulated the strength out of our hands. I finally end with an invitation for you to scrutinise your own attitude. Objectivity is the golden rule to enlightenment and I dare you to that illuminating path!

LONG LIVE THE AFRICAN ENDURED WITH AN ATTITUDE THAT MAKES A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE...

The Truth about Attitude

I am sharing this short post at a critical point in my carrier path. I have always loved and pursued Risk Management and graciously I am in the centre of it now. I share this not because of any professional merit or academic theory but the practicality of how virtuous right attitudes are.

I wish I could write about such with a taste of poetry or perhaps the usual thoughtfulness and tact. But I herein honestly recommend to all a short scripture: " Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, (RSV)" - Col. 3:23

There is no honest way to put it than the quote above, stay in the right attitude if you desire and pursue to high altitude.

ATTITUDE MAY IN FACT BE ALL THAT MATTERS!

You Matter in Essential Matters

One sure thing I would be grateful for in 2012 although the year may be quiet a young one is the privilege to have presented me with very challenging issues and debates on morality, existence, essence, conscience, beneficence, origin, destiny, values, etc. These are hard questions philosophers and the best minds all through time have fought and pried into. Some critics mock life and deny such pursuit's essence yet haunt for life's meaning in the bosoms of their own quiet hearts and minds. No human being has ever escaped the need to grapple with these tough issues. The main argument to me over the past few days has been whether all this grandeur and order is a fact of matter plus chance plus time or that the evil and difficulty to grapple with all the complexities of life is a noble deliberate plan of a higher transcending being. It may not be easy to just choose one but we have to if we must live, it may be a choice of faith or reason but eventually you MUST decide a world-view to live with.

Each of these fundamental positions begets principles that anchors on it. Paradigms are fundamentally conceived from whether or not life in itself proceeds out of randomness or it is purpose-driven. These two key world views make a huge difference in how we make all life decisions. We all have a choice to believe in either one or worse off abstain from deciding at all but the truth will still remain that all your decision ever to be made will borrow counsel from your sub-conscious belief of origins.

I asked a senior colleague I respect his options very much today for example his world view and all the answer I got was, you will be very confused if I share them with you. The simple question that came to me was, is he confused by his own position because suggesting that your position may leave nothing but confusion seems to suggest to me that you only have a confused position. And I must say I honestly understand his position because many over years have tried to understand and have not found truth but vague standards as it may be in many instances. But a less obvious question stems out from his answer, maybe I have not much understanding to comprehend such matters of essence and such great value yet.

I decided to write this post because of the second question I came up with. Are we as a society running away from objectively and honestly seeking TRUTH because of the complexities and sensitivity that may be around it or we are just taking on assumptions and rumours of other people gullibly? It is quiet possible to get a response such as these things may only be decided as matters of faith and thus it should be left at that. Good as it may be, I wonder if matter of faith may stem from TRUTH and assuming not, does such matters of faith affect and contribute to Socio-economic development in any way?

Without being philosophical the answer is clearly YES! As a matter of fact, such things as we call faith is the foundation for all the systems that we have; education, financial, religious, just name them. Are matters of such importance and such varied implication been left to individual preferences and personal feeling to decide? Maybe prisicely so.

I post this article to insight the curiosity of all of us into matter of essence and great implications such that we may begin to consider the foundation once again because if the foundations are destroyed, what could ever be built? I entreat serious engagements on debates of essence. We advocate a position as we have found TRUTH but that does not in any way stop your own search. I think we only lose when we lose the passion to find TRUTH. I urge that we seek answers wherever it may be found even in the corridors of doubts. I humbly employ people to openly share with such zest their findings as with the zest truth was sought. Let us all have a course to think of such things as:

1. Eternity and Existence
2. Morality and Essence
3. Accountability and Conscience
4. Values and Ethics.

Let me end this with two quotes, the first is from Goethe who was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath who says, "If you want a wise answer, ask a reasonable question" All I entreat is that you may find questioning matters of essence important and not one to run away from as the case may be now. Let us approach these issues boldly with reasonable questioning. 

Finally is a quote from the lyrics of a song from the movie The Crow which is a 1994 American action film:

"We walk the narrow path
Beneath the smoking skies
Sometimes you can barely tell the difference
Between darkness and light.

Do we have faith
In what we Believe?
The truest test is when we cannot ...
When we cannot see ...

The campaign is to test that which may have been called faith and to find what truth is. Join the cause for you matter in the search. Many cannot see, and those who are sure of the light must bear witness of it! We must seek through our hearts, minds and souls and every clue would be needed.

HAVE A BLISSFUL YEAR BEING SURE OF SUCH THINGS AS MATTER!

Managing Time in 2012

The year is still queit young, a much approriate time to talk about time management. It's five days out of three hundred and sixty five and that may not sound much but that is like 120 hours since we began the year. Time gets pretty much interesting as it is broken down into its fundamental units. Time perfectly presents itself as fleeting in its basic units. The message of this blogpost is to spell the critical need to guard and prudently use the passing seconds because they are the hopes we pray for and passionately resolve on.

The summary of someone's life is the time they spend on earth. The rich and poor, the old and young, male and female and the pretty and ugly are all blessed with a common good: The same duration of time within the day. Such space of eternity is given to the sons of men to do as they will and find most pleasing. The truth nevertheless is that such use of the minutes produces a ripple effect which in the end set the tone for someone's destiny. Below are some useful lessons to learn about time and how to effectively manage yourself within the given space of duration in 2012.

1. We all have very little control over time in itself. The very first lesson on time I want to share with you is the need to know the old time proverb, time and tide waits for no man. No man has the powers to control time. Time is a universal principle and general truth no one can alter. What we all have to control over is ourselves within the time given. Time management therefore becomes primarily a self-management process.
2. Time Management is only important in relation to a vision. If there is nothing to do, there is no worries about what you do with the time you have. How well to structure time is secondary to what all this time is going to be used for. A vision begats Time consciousness. A hopless person is one who mismanages time simply because he or she has too much to do very little.
3. Time is the only currency of Life: The only gift we all naturally possess is time which we exchange for any other gift. We must therefore understand time is to be traded. Time is a means to TRADE for whatever one may desire. We trade with time for an education, trade time for a paycheck, trade time for relationships, trade time for spiritual upliftment. Time must be best understood as all we have to exchange for all we may ever desire. Cost of things must therefore not be measured in monetary terms but in value of time used or wasted.
4. Discipline and Self-Control are the only personal tool that makes all others tools work: You may use a to-do list, daily planner, organizers, time action machines after you have master discipline and self-control. These other tools are wonderful in themselves and I recommend at least one for you this year. But I want you to know that none of them achieves anything on its own. It is eventually you who decides to do what you have set out to do with these time management tools.
5. Plan the next day before you sleep each day and examine how worth that day has been: Avoid the trap of falling into the busyness of life with a little plan then you try to figure out a plan in the midst of the heat. Determine before each day what you will use that day for in respect to your bigger vision. Don't leave any day to chance because in such is a great temptation to waste. Determine how relevant each day has been by its contribution to your ultimate vision for life and set the tone for the next day with a plan even beforee its dawn breaks.

A wise man once appropriated the life of man and divided it into morning, afternoon, evening and night. His morale was as fast as the day goes down so shall the life of a man go down quickly. But his lesson was this, manage the morning well because it contains the strength of the day, the hopes and the aspiration, use the afternoon fruitfly because it is the heat of the day and the time of aggressive work. Watch the sunset because it is when the day ends slowly and efforts receeds, sleep at night because all that could be done in the day has been done. I share this story because we are still in the morning of the year, let each quarter of this year be a time bound for the day of the year and find a good cause to use each part of this year for.

Finally, time is God's gift to humanity and how we use it is our gift to God. 2012 as a package of every big and small thing desired and gotten depending on how well we value and use time in relation to the big picture. Never forget the Irish for they say, "Time is so precious that it is dealt out to us only in the smallest possible fractions-a tiny moment at a time."

I pray you find value in 2012 because you will learn to use time optimally because to snatch the passing moment and examine it for signs of eternity is the noblest of occupations as said by Halle. Never forget that even 80% effectively use of time wastes an approximate 15 years of your life. Give no place to little wastes of time. Let focus drive you to ultimately achieving your goals because you will guard the fleeting seconds and minutes.

PEACE

I know so many declaration, affirmations, resolutions and themes of the year have already gone forth. Very noble are such act because it gives us direction and focus for the days ahead in the year. In the midst of all our pursuits do I want to share briefly a common theme we all share as human being, Africans and  Ghanaians more importantly. This is the theme of PEACE.

I pray I can share this message loud enough to the ends of the world this year. Maybe we indeed will when God grants us the leave for The Eagles' Wing National Peace Tour 2012. This theme of peace is very important to us as Ghanaians because whatever the year may be to us; open doors, double possibilities, great breakthroughs, mega manifestations, it will only be achieved in an environment of peace. Peace is not an option in 2012, it is a need for us! The year 2012 presents us with the opportunity to either strengthen our claim as the beacon of hope for Africa's development and democracy or to delete the small credibility hard fought with the last two decades.

I believe in the peaceful nature of Ghanaians that is why I share this message to remind us of our nature of being accommodating and peaceful. My message of peace for the year is that all may find:

1. Inner Peace first: We can only radiate the peace we have within. Thank God this season provides us with a time to reflect on the birth of the Prince of Peace. Seek Him, endeavour to find him, find peace for your soul because that is where it all begins from. No one can give unless he/she has!
2. Let us all Advocate for Peace: It is our collective responsibility to advocate for peace this year. Talk about it to your small groups and to your big groups. Cease every opportunity to share the message of peace to anyone who will listen. Sharing it enough will make us hear enough to seek otherwise.
3. Forbid your glory to be used only as an instrument of violence: Violence wax great by patronage. Cease to be used to sow, water, garden the seed of violence in any form imaginable.
4. Power chaser should do it in the spirit of national interest and not selfish ambitions: No person ceasing power by any means such as will breed violence is worth patronage because he/she knows not the purpose for wanting such.

We all have a duty to our homeland, to build and defend the heritage once won for us through the blood and toil of our fathers. Above all, we have an exercise in will to make, to choose for our dear nation. May we with prejudice to none choose the best man for Ghana based on issues and in the spirit of peace.

LONG LIVE GHANA

LONG LIVE PEACE IN GHANA

LONG LIVE PEACE FOREVER MORE