LIMITED YOU ARE.

         
Many are they who claim to be kings, men of power, men of influence, men with skill, experts etc.
They seem too powerful to be lacking or be caught in difficulty.  You may be tempted to believe these persons are deities and ought to be worshipped. You may also be tempted to believe these persons cannot be touched or cannot fail.
They themselves usually have this conviction; we are superior beings. We are the best!
Reality however, strikes we all including those men when their powers fail at some point. They begin to accept the human in themselves. We are mortal after all,  they say.
It has always been and will always be, man is limited!
Messi has missed glorious opportunities on the pitch, so has Cr7.
Djokovic has lost matches so has Serena Williams.
High ranking politicians have been indicted, some have been charged.
Hitherto, they all thought they were too good or too powerful.
Some forgot they were human and limited. Maybe, some are yet to fail; they still brag anyway.
Just know thyself brethren: you are not God, you are a mere mortal who is fallible. Act in moderation!
The Ancient Greek maxim Gnothi Seauton that is know thyself, should guide us all.

OF A PEOPLE ASKEW

The world is currently under attack by its own people, against its own people for reasons I fathom not. The world continues to experience suffering, pain, agony and death in the hands of its own people. They say, the war that is holy they fight. They say it is noble to subject others to cruelty. To see a mother, son, daughter, uncle, aunt, and father cry is a happy “business” approved by the gentleman upstairs. That’s what they strongly believe. There is so much fear in the environment because they seem unpredictable. They terrorize both black and white, rich and poor. They pity not. They seem unstoppable because they are always undercover and penetrate even the most advanced places. My little knowledge of Baba upstairs, certainly tells me, these people of the world are working for themselves not God. Someone somewhere is on an egoistic mission. That person is filthily rich and as we are aware, money is power and thus answereth all problems.  The man upstairs frowns at that; I am very sure.
 I see a bunch of Sauls persecuting innocent souls. I see a people, who comprehend not whom they claim they serve. I am positive they need an encounter like Saul’s to be enlightened, to be changed and rechristened and to be informed on propriety and what is holy. What is holy about this war, when the peace of God that surpasses all understanding is deadened?  History is replete with examples of how change can be done without a bow and an arrow. Let them ask those, who unilaterally invaded the Middle East with weaponry, let them ask those who invaded Libya, let them ask the two superpowers who still habour misgivings about each other. In the world we live in, it is not your way but our way that reigns. They thought it was their way and nobody else’s and thus, failed woefully. I see a similar attitude displayed by “Jihadists” in our modern times. Again, be informed those societies they claimed they were helping correct wrongs have rather those wrongs been escalated to the nonsense degree and seem unstoppable. Where are the benefits?? Has that approach helped??
But let them ask and read about a man like Mahatma Gandhi who wore no pants yet the whole nation rallied behind him. Let them know Martin Luther King Jr. who dreamed a dream, walked with no gun, yet with his words and charisma he liberated a black people terrorized by a white people. Let them also know of man like Nelson Mandela who stood for his people with a peaceful approach. Let them know, he was jailed but freedom came and we celebrate him. Let them know of a man like Nkrumah, who used no army but rescued his people. Let them know, these people seemed powerless at the beginning but through the right channel they completed their assignments unscathed. Let them know, the world talks about them for they faced the oppressors not with bombs, not with guns, not with armies, not with hate speech but a sincere heart. We are beneficiaries of their struggle.
If the acts of terrorists are a Roland for and Oliver, it is a shame. If it is a personal vendetta, it is a shame. Tell them no reason justifies these inhumane acts. This is no service to God, this is rebellion!! All of a sudden, the all-powerful needs saviors in mere, weak and sinful mortals? You who massacre your ilk labelled, “sanctification” have to examined. Do they feel a pang of conscience??  The world has witnessed the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination and religion, be christened the “will of God”. What is the will of God?? The whole idea of fighting the Lord’s course is challenging to me. I simply cannot process that and cannot follow. When you have poorly understood the divine; ideas are distorted, character is chaotic and one lives a lie. This incomprehension is detrimental to humanity in its entirety.   This whole issue about fighting God’s battles is a whole riddle wrapped up in an enigma. The great people of blessed memory whom we revere, did it this way; honorably.  They completed their tasks summa cum laude. You can do it too, live honorably and you will be wowed at the impact you will make.
Peace be on every soul. Alleluia, Christ is risen.


PIUS AWENNALA ATIIRIMBEY

 

I LOVE MY COUNTRY GHANA

I love my country, where I was born and where I live, where we are gifted to the “nonsense degree”.      
I love my country, where we have everything yet we own nothing, we boast yet we are remotely governed.
I love my country, where the resources are always on flight, where the citizenry watch while the aliens’ peg the price.
I love my country, where we are free from the shackles of colonialism, to wit we are independent and yet we are instructed.
I love my country, where like a performance art suffers from external locus of identity, where we are well only when they say so.
I love my country, where patriotism has joined its ancestors, where we are all egoistically-driven and where we morally corrupt.
I love my country, where we are paid to do nothing, where the civil servants keep demanding yet work lackadaisically.
I love my country, where we engage you not because of what you know but who you know and how they can make the votes.
I love my country, where there’s coloring of every uttered word, where beautyful ideas and constructive criticisms are either shelved or thrown into the garbage can. But of course we shout: yes we can.
I love my country, where the politicians are a farcical joke, they’re all about nothing but just looking for votes.
I love my country, where politics has eaten deep into every societal fabric, where truth is dearth but insincerity is now rewarding, even with a bonus guarantee.
I love my country, where there is always a justification for every wrong thing done.
I love my country, where we have paper experts, analyzing everything yet we have no answers.
I love my country, where we are crazily religious, where we talk God almost everywhere we go. A       country that uses the good books to admonish itself.  Well, you will be surprised because this same country is morally decayed.
I love my country, because we are directionless, marking time yet we claim we are doing well.  The classical case of the cricket being roasted to death, yet it claims it is shedding out excess oils from its system.
Why won’t I love my country, when we have about 26 million coaches, each with his or her tactics yet we don’t have trophies?
I love my country, where we all complain everything is bad but when someone tries try to do the right thing, the same people call you names and say you are inhumane.
I love my country, where our leaders themselves ought to be led. They are blind, and we closer to a ditch.  
I love my country, which is run on the media, we talk loud on policies but do little in reality.
I love my country, where the same people they vow to protect are the same who are often hurt: the ordinary.
I just love my country, where the preachers are richer out of the sweat of their members. They keep talking about money, tithes and given to God. The real message however, is getting people to God which is relegated to the background.
Of course I love my country, where after people perish we see all known and unknown good commentary on the issue. They say, it should have been this or that but I keep asking, where were you before that. Hmmmm...
Oh yes, I do love my country, where else do I have to go? Bad or good, there’s no other place like home.
One score and a half of a dozen have I lived and have seen all these take and still taking place.

PIUS AWENNALA ATIIRIMBEY

COMMUNICATION

You ought to know what to say and how to say it and when to say it. You ought to know your audience and make them understand whatever you are putting out.  Communication is key to the development of any society. Many have attempted but have either not been serious with it or don't know the implications of doing a poor job. Some communicators ignore their target groups and thus, end up talking to only a small section of their audience. The rest, left in an abyss of confusion. How can we all be on the same page, when all communicators do is try to impress with literary devices. Others too are just verbose (politicians the worst culprits). Communication should be very simple. I am not by this saying don't make your speeches or write-ups beautiful but just make them comprehensible. Communication is made compulsory in the tertiary institutions because it is very important. How one carries a message from one place to the other without affecting the substance is vital. 

Government communicators have always done what I call, 'Doing the Laundry'. They wait, when perception is well established and appears like the truth, then they come in to offer explanations hoping it would be accepted. Perception becomes the truth when there is no communication whatsoever.  People tend to hazard all sorts of guesses and preach it both far and wide. When finally the horses come out with the truth,  it creates confusion of some sort in the minds of people. I call that a potpourri. This can always be avoided if one is always updated. What can be so annoying is this, you are at a certain somewhere waiting for a particular service.  The clock keeps ticking yet no one comes to tell you what is happening. This can always get awkward as the impatient ones would become very bitter and can cause a scene. This can be pinned on those whose duty it was to keep the people informed. A dereliction of duty the cause. Some simply are ignorant of the implications of not always informing people. Don't wait till you are asked because the one who asks you is not always a happy man.  He or she may have just had it to the neck. Keep people informed! Don't make it a habit to always be apologizing for avoidable things. It's annoying I always have to be asking instead of you telling me. No matter the job, communication is key. 

Try as much as possible to prevent the perceptions because you may not be able to convince people after they have been informed of something even if wrongly. Let the right information flow and it should be timely. Simple English is good English, just make your target group understand. 

NB; You speak to be heard. 

You speak to a people.

 Know thy target group.

 Know also that, communication is a serious job. 

Always keep people informed and updated.

Do not take people for granted!  

Do not assume they will understand.

Explain what you mean. 

Thank you. 

GOATS BEGET NOT SHEEP

           

The youth are the future leaders, so we often hear.  But the calibre of leaders the youth are going to be has never been questioned. Well, permit me ask: what sort of leaders will the youth be?? Good? Bad? Or Ugly? We often say the youth are the future leaders. But when we say this, we know the natural process is that, the children keep growing and one day will be well equipped to man the affairs of the nation barring all unforeseen exigencies. A child has a family. A child lives in an environment. As a child grows, the family and environment play a role in his/her development. A child may have his family or environment to thank or to curse.  You can train your child, but the training of a responsible  child  is a very difficult task. The world is changing at a faster rate and parents were suppose to change the ways of training of their wards. I often hear our elders say; as for the youth of today, they are rotten. They as Sulibreaks once noted,  have forgotten they took part in our training or are also responsible for the output. They will always say good things but practice none. They say certain things out of convenience. Train the child the way he should go and when he grows,  he won't depart from it, so says the Bible. The type of training however, in my part of the world is no good one. Some as James Amoh Jr quizzed in his post yesterday,  are preaching virtue and practising vice? Yeah, that's exactly what some elders are doing. Almost everyone is killing Ghana.  The few good ones are sidelined and we don't see more of them.  The bad is what we are witnesses to almost everyday. We who are quick to charge and sentence people in the public court of opinion if their "sins" are exposed,  we who talk morals all the time, we who preach the fact that we are God fearing people have a country messy. How is that? Pretense? Hypocrisy?  If you so want the youth to turn the fortunes of this our beloved country, then you make sure you train us well. You want us to believe it is rewarding to uphold morals on the one hand but on the other, you make us thirst for illegal wealth creation with your lifestyles.  Examples on any day are better than precepts. I am a Christian and can tell you Christ gathered such a huge following because he lived his words. He did not come to die, he came to show the way which included dying on the cross. Elders in days of yore showed the way which included sacrifices of various forms. Our politicians and all who engage in the duping process of the people should not expect any better future for our dear nation. Whatever you're doing is being recorded and believed to be the way to go by your children . What annoys me is this phrase from the politicians "the youth do not want to take to agriculture". Really?? If it were easier, why do politics instead? Just become a rural boy or girl for a day and you will understand how difficult it is to farm without support. What the rural child sees is a dirty farmer with a bicycle and a neat politician with a flashy car. Who do you think he will aspire to become? "When mother-cow is chewing grass , its young ones watch its mouth", Chinua Achebe in his book Things Fall Apart. What do you expect when you input garbage in a system?  You are not doing Ghana any good if you are not living right. Our elders today are teaching us to survive at the expense of our brethren. Yet, they turn round to accuse the youth of being immoral. Fathers and mothers of the land, you played a role in this mess.
I leave you with this saying from my people,  GOATS BEGET NOT SHEEP.

THE AWENNALA ATIIRIMBEY COPING MECHANISM

I have shared this with some of my friends verbally.  Always wanted to, as I have always done, share this with more of my friends because I see it helpful. This day presents that opportunity. Since death has visited my kin once again and painfully too,  I deem it fit to share this mechanism. For who knows what time he or she has left?
These are incontestable about death;
Death is inevitable.
Death is a necessary end.
Death is a whole mystery wrapped up in an enigma.
Death is unpredictable: it comes at its own time.
Death takes whoever: the rich,  the poor,  the employed, the unemployed, the destitute, the labourer, the boss, the servant, the young, the old etc...
Death therefore, respects not.
Death doesn't need any permission or invite. Annoyingly, the guest no one enjoys hosting.
Death is a shocker.
Holding that the aforementioned are facts, I therefore proposed this mechanism for at least a "better" reception of the passing on of whoever the person is to you.
In order to succeed in anything  you have to plan ahead. Death needs such planning and preparedness. It needs thought. Who shall live forever? Let me relate this to our everyday machines so you get it.  All motorcycles, cars and others have shock absorbers. The brains behind the motorbikes and others envisioned that, one was not only going to be riding on smooth surfaces but bumpy ones. The wisdom also is that, one needs balance. So when you are on a smooth road you are fine, when the road is bumpy or full of potholes one is still fine because the design has made that possible.  A computer will be very useless without softwares. One needs the Microsoft office tools to enable one do typing, create spreadsheets, power point etc. One needs softwares in the form of  antiviruses to protect the computer against viruses. One needs, downloaders, music player softwares and so on before one's computer can perform certain functions. Without them,  the computer will only be occupying space.
The human brain can also be made to install certain undesirable yet inevitable phenomena like death, betrayal etc. Such that when it occurs, one would be able to contain the shock and not collapse or breakdown totally. Ask yourself these questions and don't be scared, for it will surely visit you willy- nilly. What if my mom passes on or my dad,  or my sister or my brother or my uncle or my aunty or my friend or girlfriend or wife or husband or son or daughter? How will I take it? What if that person is the breadwinner? Or my only joy? Or the only person I know?  I know you are already uncomfortable reading these questions.They are difficult questions but you ought to psychologically prepare yourself. That's why you need the software installation in your mind to provide the shock absorbers for a" better" reception of the unpleasant news. With this,  others may think you are unperturbed when the unexpected happens . Some people usually see other people as always being happy. What they don't know is that,  some people are coping better than others. They may be having sleepless nights. It rains not on only one roof, our elders say. The impact may vary though. But all pain is pain. In football we use tactics,  excel uses formulas, in life one has to use strategies to survive. If nothing is planned for then anything is planned for. That's THE AWENNALA ATIIRIMBEY COPING MECHANISM . All will receive sad news but some will handle it better than others. Those people are not too strong but have prepared for it. They know there is absolutely nothing one can do about it. We all don't like it but we have to be strong during those times. I thought about this six years ago and have used it. That has been my medicine for the deaths I have seen. You can try it too.