Musings of an average girl

 I have never been good at being cunning.  I was always the most unpretentious, unassuming person in a room. This has earned me more foes than allies. Notice I say allies not friends. The friends that I have are few and far between but they are true. I have always worn my heart on my sleeve. I like going through life wearing my heart on my sleeve but the world doesn't like that. It makes you the easy target. Everyone seem to want to take a dig at you knowing that you will always react honestly, openly. I have never been good at diplomacy, I started learning to be diplomatic especially in my words after secondary school and I can't say that I am good at it yet. I often say things too bluntly, too honestly and I'm usually too direct in my approach.  And because of all these, I have never been able to pretend to like someone I do not. My feelings are always so clearly visible on my face even when I manage to tamp down the words. I have always felt everything deeply. Loved de...

Women are strong, women are industrious, women are loving, women are nurturing, women are the embodiment of all that is good and great in the world. Even the most outstanding man was carried for 9 months in the womb by a woman, given birth to by a woman and raised by a woman. While men have brute strength, a woman's strength is her will! Women have strong wills. Mental Strength, the ability to endure physical and mental pain, and the act of self giving for the sake of children and family. The world try time and time again, like the persistent onslaught of a waterfall against a rock to break the woman and call her weak! And yet, the woman walks with her head high and until she opens her mouth to tell you the things she has survived, you would be under the mistaken assumption that she's never had a hard day in her life! Female Genital Mutilation went on for generations before it was abolished (still ongoing in some places) causing inexplicable pain to women for gen...

My heart is heavy! These killings in South Africa... My god! How can you chase a fellow human, hunting them like a hunter hunting rabbits?! And have the effrontery to video yourselves doing this evil?! And still tweet that our government can't do anything about it? And ain't that the truth?! After killing over 100 Nigerians, Buhari sent a delegate to register our 'displeasure'! Displeasure is when one Nigerian is killed by accident, not when they hunt us! Do Nigerian lives even matter? I can't find it in me to be angry with the South Africans, I can't find it in me to be angry with Buhari, I can't find the strength for anything. I am overcome with great pity for South Africa, pity for what White dominance has done to their psyche that they cannot face their oppressors but turn to fight their saviours. How can you say Nigerians are taking your wealth when 85% of your wealth is controlled by the whites who make up less than 9% of your overall population? Ho...

Fate and destiny It’s always been said that fate is a fickle mistress, as it changes sides all the time. It makes you question whether or not ‘fate’ even exists.  Destiny on the other hand is said to never change, and that its only delayed. In that sense is it a man’s fate to have his destiny delayed? Or he just did not work hard enough? As Africans we are always blaming fate, destiny, witches, wizards or a supernatural being for our woes or gains. If things go well, its our destiny, God has done us well, God has blessed the works of our hands. But in the event of things not working out, it is surely the hand work of witches, wizards, or bad fate. We never imagine that maybe, there were no works of hands for God to bless, or that our attitude might be a contributor to the damnable fate. This isn’t a story, it’s just me musing. I’m wondering to what extent the fates affect our lives. How strong is destiny in the face of laziness and refusal to push forward?   How po...

THE MAN AND THE MAN IN THE PICTURE He was not the type you could refer to as short, but if you referred to him as that tall man, you get the side eye.   He had just managed to be tall enough to not be short, but not tall enough to be tall. He had a pleasant face, sculpted lips, cheekbones to die for, broad shoulders, powerful thighs, like he was really into sports and biceps that screamed to be felt. He was in that skin tone that was neither fair nor dark. He was not dark enough to be dark or chocolate, and yet not light enough to be fair. Now with these averages, average height, average skin color , it may have been easy to think that he was an average looking man. But he was saved with having very intense and expressive dark eyes that seemed to see into the innermost part of your soul. When he was angry, they inspired fear and when he was happy, when those eyes landed on you, they made one feel joyous for no apparent reason. Sex appeal dripped from his every pore, i...

CHANGED DREAMS There was a little settlement just by the roadside on your way to the oil city, with most of its occupants on the right side of the express way and only a few on the other side. It was a small town with than 30,000 persons.   A town where everybody knew everybody,   on death affected everybody and one birth was everyone’s joy. A close knit community with shared joys and sorrows. But Barbara was never satisfied with the small town life. The world is large and she couldn’t understand how she was to waste away her existence in a small town where nothing new happened. Every marriage ceremony was the same, every Sunday she saw the same faces except for the yuletide season when sons and daughters living in cities and outside the country came home. She wanted out, and she wanted it now! She felt suffocated. She went to university and came back home awaiting national service. As luck would have it, she was posted to one of the largest, busiest cities in th...