Friends of Benefit-Part 1

Over the last few weeks, especially on weekends, I have been privileged to hook up with some friends I have not seen in a long time. Owing to different reasons, we have been apart (physically) - after all 20 friends cannot “play” together for 20 years.

We had a lot of things to talk about, recalling those good old days and motivating ourselves to make the future a better one. As the gist went on, we learnt from one-another's mistakes and shortcomings -we shared our experiences and updated ourselves about our various activities.

More importantly, we talked about solutions to the shortcomings we highlighted. 

My dear reader, any kind of relationship that is not adding value to you is not worth sweating over, be it a relationship with the same sex or from the opposite sex. A friend is like an exchange- you exchange ideas, experiences, motivation, knowledge, inspiration etc. even mentors learn from their protégé…in case you don’t know, ask your mentor if you have one.

Take note of the following nuggets about friendship or any kind of relationship:

•   Everyone has something to add to the other. 
•   Everyone is comfortable in one another’s presence. 
•   No one is too big to be corrected 
•   No one is afraid to share his or her success secrets with others.
• We can count on one another’s loyalty even while “blind”
• No (positive) sacrifice is too much to make for one another.
• Everyone’s success or failure is the responsibility of all.

Click on this link is to read part two http://dkingzpen.blogspot.com/2013/08/friends-of-benefit-ii.html

Thanks for reading and stay blessed as you put into practice. Follow us on twitter @Dkingzpen

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Don’t make the same Mistake!

It’s a Sunday morning, after a few worship songs, my thought flipped back to some of the activities that happened during the week. One of the most significant if not the most significant was that which occurred on Wednesday.

Setting my eyes on a 16 year old cousin of mine- for the first time ever.

I thought about many things at the same time as different questions kept seeking for answers. Out of all these, the question which got my attention is, “why did it take this long”?

One area of your life you must not joke with is your relationship/marital-the consequences are more than you can predict or handle. Most of our grandparents and great-grand parents were polygamist and this has caused a lot of problems for their descendants many of which are unresolved. For some people, that is the genesis of most of their problems and challenges- unnecessary/unhealthy rivalry, bitterness, strife etc 

I thought for a moment and was forced to voice out some of my thoughts. What would have been the story if we had capitalized on the advantage of “numbers”? Perhaps some of the challenges we are facing now would have been easily averted and things would have been easier for many people.

The lessons I learnt include:
 

1.      Your decision will not only affect you.

2.      The consequence of your actions outweighs your action itself.

3.      Population/number does not equal advantage except you do something.

4.      Don’t create more problems than you can solve

5.      Add yours…thanks

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She Lifted Me

Overwhelmed with joy
She lifted me
Lost in celebration
Of a successful completion
She lifted me.

To my utmost surprise
And all around us
In her arms
She took me off the ground
And into the air I went.

Like a baby
In the hands of a caring mother
She carried me
With a triumphant smile
Boldly written on her face.

And the white community
Having their day
I was in the air
Also, exposing the white freely
Oh! What a day to remember.

With my left hand lifted in celebration
With my right, held her back across the shoulder
With her left across my back
And her right behind my kneels
We were lost in celebration.

I’ll always look back to this moment
I’ll always remember this day
I’ll always keep in the museum of memory.
What a wonderful day,
The day she lifted me.

The Power of Your Attitude

Nothing will ever change unless you change your attitude

There’s a popular saying that, change is the only constant thing in life, a lot of people have remained on the same spot for years no thanks to their negative and unhealthy disposition towards people and life. Your attitude goes a long way in determining many things - your career, business, health, finance, relationship etc. are affected one way or today by your attitude.

Inasmuch as change is the only constant thing in life, I must say at this point that it (change) is not automatic, especially the positive one. You have to desire it, you have to want it and you have to work for it.

A change can either be positive or negative. When a change is positive, it produces positive results but a negative change will bring about negative results. Any change is as good as the kind of change itself. For instance, a progressive change is a positive one- change from one job to a better one, from a low grade car to a high grade, from a rented apartment to your own house are all examples of positive change.

is your attitude. A negative attitude will attract a negative change while a positive attitude will attract a positive change. Like produces like, my favorite book says,

Never underestimate the power of your attitude, it attracts just like magnet or an advert board. Your attitude is the aroma of your life, so watch your attitude, because you’ll hardly have another chance to correct your attitude. The purpose of the aroma is to invite, so is your attitude- it determines who and what comes to you.

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Building a Better Educational Sector-part 2

This article is a response to a recent post-http://dkingzpen.blogspot.com/2013/07/building-better-educational-sector.html. One of my very good online friends and follower on twitter response to the post reads thus, “nice piece, but how do we change the attitude and mindset of people. It’s such a bewildering complex.”

For any meaningful and remarkable improvement to take place in our educational sector, we have to realize that no profession is inferior to the other, there are only different professions. Thus, the teaching profession should not be seen as inferior. It is in fact one of the most important in any human society.

I appreciate everyone that I have learnt from directly or indirectly, formally or otherwise thanks for contributing to my growth and development.

The experience I had during my compulsory national service year is one experience I will cherish for a life time. Although a challenging period, no thanks to post election crisis and the high level of insecurity.

My first day in that school brought tears to my eyes, I was so disappointed-I had never thought of teaching, I pitied myself! I couldn’t just comprehend seeing myself stay here for a year...chai!! Almost immediately, a voice within said, “…is your personal comfort more important that the lives and destinies at stake here?”

Although it was a tough decision to make and accept but at the end, I am happy I did.

 To have a better educational sector, we must be willing to sacrifice-no good thing come to be without sacrifice. Everyone cannot work in the bank, oil-company or become a CEO etc. the pay may not be attractive but the reward is worth it. Moreover, it not all about how much you earn, but how financially intelligent you have.

The good book says, “if the foundation be faulty what can the righteous do”? Unless we address the foundation of our beloved country, things will always remain the same and one of the ways of doing (building a better society) so is through the educational sector.

…a great nation needed to be built on a strong intellectual foundation.

                                                                        Chinua Achebe

There is the urgent need to return to the foundation i.e. the schools where the future leaders are built and correct their corrupted mindset, things will remain the same. We should imbibe in them the true VALUES of life and challenge them to embrace the right path.

The government may not do what we expect them to do. I wouldn’t blame them. They are a bunch of confused group without a clear vision and plan for the masses neither do they have any idea of what the future holds. If the government or our leaders refuse to do the right thing, there is nothing wrong in showing them what to do. It begins with you and I!
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Building a Better Educational Sector

Teachers occupy a very vital position in any society, everyone at one point or the other passed through teachers- nursery, primary, secondary and even tertiary institutions. No matter the position you occupy in the society today, a teacher must have taught on your way, except you’re a ghost (laughs).

Unfortunately, teaching is one of the most unappreciated professions in our society is teaching. Many see the teaching profession as a “no good” profession. This attitude has done a lot of harm to the educational sector of our beloved country.

To get the best out of teachers, certain things especially our attitude and mindset about the profession and the practitioners have to change. Teachers need to be more appreciated and at the same time, teachers should also see themselves as occupying a pivotal role in the society’s development and progress. One way or the other, what the society has become today points to how well the teachers have performed their professional and social responsibilities.

One of the key responsibilities of teachers is the capacity development of their wards. During my National service year, I realized how important the development of the capacity is. There was a particular student who had been written off due to his academic performance, I took interest in this boy and fortunately for him, I was made the Social Director. So apart from my primary assignment as a Corps member, I was charged with the responsibility of setting up and running the social activities of the school.

Fortnightly (on Fridays), we had our social activities and this boy had the opportunity to showcase his natural (comedy) talent and in no time, his (academic) performance improved to the bewilderment of all. I am deeply convinced that the opportunity that was given to this boy to exhibit his talent played a vital role in reawakening his battered self-belief which influenced his academic performance.

As a teacher, no matter how bad your student’s academic performance is it is your responsibility to bring him or her on track- getting the best out of him or her. At times, it could be due to some psychological effect, family issues, background etc. many factors are responsible for the performance of a student so, dear teacher help that child- inspire him to believe in himself.

On the other hand, parents and other stakeholders in this sector have roles to play. For our society to get better, we all must be willing to contribute-helping our brothers, sisters, children, neighbors out with things such as homework, extra lesson to mention a few.

 Gifts and other forms of reward will also go a long way in motivating that child to do better.

Members of the society, parents and guardians should also cultivate the habit of appreciating teachers- give them surprise visit, gifts, know and celebrate them on their special days. These are just few things we can do to appreciate and inspire these people (teachers).

Government and school owners, paying salaries and other entitlements (of Teachers) as at when due will go a long way in spurring them on for better performance not forgetting the importance of rewarding excellent performance among teachers. 

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