AWARENESS, ATTITUDE & ACTIONS:

Written by on June 30, 2024

OLD HEADS ON YOUNG SHOULDERS; YOUNG IN SKIN, OLD IN MIND:

 

What can the spear do; or a poison- laced arrow do to the face of a rock?

How does one expunge the cobra that is inside his precious gourd minus breaking the gourd first and foremost?

 

Dear youth,

What is the aim and purpose of your life? Are you ambitious for the education that you may have the name and the position in the whole world? Don’t you have thoughts that you dare not express? Don’t you harbour aspirations that you dare not express and implement? Does it not dawn upon me and you that GOD willing one red letter day me and you shall stand upon the summit of intellectual greatness? Does it not dawn upon me and you that GOD willing one red letter day me and thee shall catalyze local, regional, continental and global laws and parameters? There is absolutely nothing wrong with these aspirations. Spare no pains to attain the most zenith pedestal. You should never be content with mere, mediocre, mean, myopic and raw baked attainments. Aim for the most highest. Fundamentals Of The Ideal Christian Education by the Trailblazer Ellen Gould Harmon White; page 82, the second paragraph, on your right hand’s side.

 

Everyone who has received the Divine illumination is to brighten the pathway of those who know not the Light of life. Messages To Young People, page 403, the first part.

 

Seven years old was King Jehoash when he began to reign. 2nd. Kings 11:21.

What does the spitting, venomous, lethal and fatal cobra extract from the back of a tortoise?

 

Some jurisdictions are reigned over by wrinkled countenances who are compelled to make the shots. Regrettably, into the waterloo do they drown their populations.

There are bright eyed, bushy tailed, conscientious and precocious individuals; tender as a chicken in age are they. Their perspectives reverberate indelibly oozing knowledge, understanding, wisdom and witticism mentally, physically, socially and spiritually.

Me and you are called upon to make an entente with them whose narratives defy conventional, orthodoxical norms; are timeless and redefine what it means to be youthful in spirit. Wisdom and witticism dance gleefully and gracefully are they embodiments of ever-green foliage paradoxes blending the vigour of youthfulness with the profundity of age.

 

Time is never a linear turnpike but a tapestry of experiences woven in ages.

As there is a generation enamored by ephemeral, fickle, finite and rickety grounded changes, fashions and trends; there live the apples that openly as the pique stand head and shoulders towering above the rest defying their ages.

Cogitations resonating with the weight of knowledge, understanding, wisdom and witticism dichotomizing our spheres of life do they exhibit.

The clarion call to action is laid barely upon my table and your table to learn, relearn and unlearn from them. Let us unearth, unpack and unravel microscopically, surgically and relevantly their ideologies and philosophies  that are undeniably worth emulation cosmically.

 

In 1920: an intrepid jaw dropping eight -year -old knee-high-to-a-grasshopper humdinger  named Samuel Reshevsky played chess against long in the tooth and seasoned chess players.

 

At the tender age of only twelve: the ducks were exquisitely trained on how meticulously they are supposed to swim across the river by a hen.

The former are the long in the tooth and seasoned Jewish custodians of law and regulations; the latter stands for Jesus Christ.  All were in the temple.

 

At the tender age of only 13: Ole Andres Olsen was baptised and he was the eighth President of the General Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists’ Church.

 

At the tender age of only 14 and 17: in the summer of 1879, at their church domiciled at Hazelton in Chicago enroute to home; did they brainchild the Pathfinders’ Club. Luther Warren was 14 years only and Harry Fenner was 17 years only.

 

At 15 years only: the American Cancer Researcher, Inventor and Scientist Jack Thomas Andraka authored a proposal pegged on developing better pancreatic cancer’s test. 199 laboratories gave a cold shoulder to his proposal. John’s Hopkins University domiciled at Baltimore, Maryland in the USA accepted his proposal. Factually speaking: till today, works rescue incalculable people whose lives are perilously set on the edge of the precipice.

 

At the tender age of only 15: a youth led an FFF- Fridays For Future- Climate Strike. She is the intrepid Greta Thunberg from Sweden. She is reputed for her dyed-in-the-wool advocacy against political inaction pegged on climate change. She led a school’s strike tailored to climate changes.

 

At the tender age of only 16: the erudite Mary Andrews spoke flawlessly French like a French lady; extensively and intensively proofreading French printoutlets called,”The Signs Of The Times. ”

 

At only 17 years only: the Trailblazer Ellen Gould Harmon White received her first vision from the ALMIGHTY LORD GOD.

 

At the tender age of only 17 years on Wednesday dated 10th.December.2014 at Oslo in Norway: the intrepid Malala Yousafzai was feted the global youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The bullet in her head never delayed her activism hinged on the girl child education and women empowerment.

 

Ahed Tamimi was birthed on 31st.January.2001 at Nabi Salih village in the West Bank in the Palestinian territories. Aged 17 years only on Saturday dated 15th.December.2018; brazenly she slapped an Israeli soldier precipitated by the Israeli’s occupation in the West Bank.

 

Aged 17 years only: the precocious Joshua Wong led the Umbrella Movement in 2014 and subsequent prodemocracy protests in Hong Kong. He has been an advocate for Hong Kong’s autonomy and its democratic rights and space.

 

Aged 19 years only: the Pioneer SDA Educator Goodloe Harper Bell embarked on teaching.

 

Aged 20 years only: Mr. Stephen Nelson Haskell was the SDA Church’s Missionary , General Conference’s President, Preacher and Teacher.

 

At tender age of only 20 years on Friday dated 4th.04.1975 at a wooden rickety garage domiciled at Albuquerque, New Mexico in the USA: William Henry Bill Gates III teamed up with Paul Allen to birth the Microsoft.

 

Aged 21 years only: George Washington Amadon worked for the Review and Herald Publishing Group. He prolifically worked for the Review and Herald Publishing Group for 50 solid full years.

 

At the tender age of only 23 years: at a wooden rickety garage on Monday dated 04th.May.1984 at White Plains, New York City in the USA: Mark Elliot Zuckerberg created Facebook.  Its offsprings are: Instagram, Mapillary, Messenger, Oculus and WhatsApp.

 

Aged 24 years only in 1857: he gingerly scraped through creating his very first patent. He had a total of 355 patents appendaged to his name. He is the Mastermind of Nobel Peace Prize Foundation. He is the Swedish Doctor Alfred Bernhard Nobel.

 

On Tuesday,15th.May.1928, aged 27 years only: Mickey Mouse debuted in the Walt Disney Cartoon. He is the artist Walter Elias Disney.

 

In 1983, aged 30 years only: Doctor, Pediatric Neurosurgeon and Professor Benjamin Solomon Carson became the youngest Director of the John’s Hopkins Children’s Center; holding it for 29 years. He is the youngest Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgeon in the USA. Coming to pass of Isaiah 58:13-14.

 

On Monday,10th.December.2017, aged 31 years only: Sebastian Kurz was democratically and successfully elected the President of Austria.

 

On Tuesday,10th.December.1903 at North Carolina: Orville Wright aged 32 years, three moths and 29 days old only and Wilbur Wright aged 36 years, eight months and one day old only; successfully launching a twelve mile flight of the first airplane.

 

Aged 33 years only: Professor and Philosopher Daniel Dismas Joash Maurice Ishmael Mohammed Masese belts out flawlessly mental, physical, social and spiritual gems and pearls tailored to all and sundry under the sun; minus back up materials.

At the tender age of only 33 years: the ne plus ultra Member Of The Fourth Estate and prolific worker at the  Communications Authority of Kenya Madam Cynthia Naomi Wafula officially opened her home at Kwa Shetani in the Ukambani region in Kenya.

 

Aged 34 years only on Wednesday,31st.October.1517: the dexterous and intrepid Dr. Martin Luther King Senior wrathful with Pope X’s new round of indulgences tailored to erecting the St.Peter’s Basilica Roman Catholic Church; nailed the eminent as a sculptor The 95 Theses on the University of Wittenberg Chapel’s door in Germany. He was birthed on Saturday,10th.November.1483 and gave up the ghost due to a stroke during a trip to his hometown of Eisleben on Monday,18th.February.1546. His father was a coal miner and his mother was a homemaker. He birthed the greatest cosmic revolution, protestantism.

 

Aged 42 years only on Thursday,1st.December.1955: she inspired all Blacks to boycott public commuter services run by the Whites in the 380 days of the Montgomery Bus’ Boycott by 17,000 Blacks; precipitated by her arrest on Thursday,1st.December.1955 at Montgomery, Alabama in the USA catalyzed by the segregative and unjudicious Jim Crow’s Laws. Admittedly: she inspired Dr. Michael Martin Luther King Junior into non-violence activism.

She is the Seventh Day Adventist Madam Rosa Louise Mc Couley Parks.

 

In 1959, aged 28 years only: erudite and intrepid  Trade Unionist Joseph Thomas Mboya envisioned the prosperous nation only if it sufficiently, philanthropically and unreservedly banks and invests in its young populations.

This birthed, heralded and ushered the East Africans into enjoying the fruits rife in the 1959-1963 Kennedy’s Airlift Programme sponsored and supported by the:

African-Americans Students’ Foundation (AASF); the Joseph P. Kennedy’s Foundation; the then Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy; Educational Institutions in the USA and Canada; the African-American cream of creation such as Doctor Michael Martin Luther King Junior, Jackie Robinson and Harry Belafonte.

Under these auspices, the East Africans had the fair crack of the whip to successfully pursue their academic pursuits in fully sponsored academic programmes in the American and Canadian Universities.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Wangari Muta Maathai; Professor Gearge Saitoti; Professor Leah Marangu; Professor Miriam Were; Doctor Nge’ndo Mwangi; Professor Washington Aggrey Okumu and Professor Reuben Olembo are some of the big cheeses that positively transformed the:

academic, administrative, civil, corporate, cultural, economic,  entrepreneural,  environmental, health, private, public, social  and spiritual fabrics courtesy of the Kennedy’s Airlift Programme.

 

Aged 34 years only on Tuesday,26th.January.1926: the Scottish Engineer and the Fellowship Of Royal Society Of Edinburgh (FRSE), the fourth and the youngest son and last born of Reverend John and Madam Jessie Baird gave me and you the television. He is John Logie Baird.

 

On Thursday,10th.December.1964 aged 35 years only: the Non-Violence Civil And Human Rights Activist Doctor Michael Martin Luther King Junior was feted the global Nobel Peace Prize Laureate at Oslo in Norway.

On Wednesday dated 3rd.04.1968 aged 39 years only did he armed with clinical acuity and precision prophesy his imminent demise and the future fair playing ground for all and sundry on the American soil in the refreshing to the body, nourishing the soul and invigorating to the innermost domiciled heart, soul and spirit speech ,“I Have Been To The Mountaintop,” at Mason Temple Church at Memphis Tennessee in the USA.

On Thursday,04th.04.1968 at the balcony of his motel room in Memphis Tennessee in the USA did the Jesuit assassin James Earl Ray Junior eliminate him courtesy of the power of the bullet.

 

A slippery floor never recognizes a king or a queen.

Works praise the man and the woman.

Gilded tombs do worms infold.

The most resplendent figs contain worms.

Age is honourable; youth is noble.

The infungible and wise peasant obeys like a puppet the rooster when it wakes him up at the crack of dawn though the rooster knows absolutely nothing about farming.

The cooking pot has its bottom scorched to give dulcet, sumptuous, finger-licking and nutrious beverages, aliments capered with plethora of side- prized dishes.

No mosquito can suck blood from the back of a tortoise.

The pillow is the best advisor.

No tick can suck an elephant dry.

Hunger is the best sauce.

A hungry stomach has no ears.

If the whole world is inundated, it would never matter to the duck.

If you do not have any shoulder to cry or lean on; be your own bedrock and rock.

When the sun rises, it rises for every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Our cooking pot is unwatched; inevitably the beverages and meals shall burn.

The Kenyan erudite Scientist called Doctor Fridah Mogoi Mokaya is the very first black African lady to successfully attain the Doctor of Philosophy in Nuclear Physics from the University of Connecticut in the USA. She earned it after successfully completing her Master’s Degree at Binghamton University; a move that became a reality after her lover, currently her better half coaxed her to apply to graduate school in the USA, the choice that was a huge success. Being the only African lady in her Physics Department did not defenestrate her academic aspirations.

How can an instant coffee generation that exists and survives via the skin of the teeth on instant coffee, instant mashed potatoes, instant packaged cake cocktails, instant frozen dinners and instant cameras hand patience of the Chinese bamboo to its geneologies?

31 year-old Africans are at their parents’ homes whining and dining; penniless and consuming freebies belching like a python that has just swallowed a bearded he-goat lock, stock and barrel. Incessantly do I hail, wail and weep for the young African turks who have not been dawned into the reality of: by the time we’ve reached the w of now, the n is ancient history. Contented busybodies with contented minds harbouring myopic and raw-baked discontented minds are more busier than winged termites rising out of the earth after a shower of rain; canonizing misfits and demonizing saints.  It does not dawn upon them that they are economical, political, social and spiritual Guinea pigs. Others are head bent, shoulders bent; burning the midnight’s oil dislocating the status quo; birthing creations, discoveries, ideas, imaginations and innovations; transforming long laid narratives, diving intrepidly into the blue oceans; grabbing unwaveringly the Sword of the Damoscles, obliterating the Gordian knot when people are in the fork roads.

Regrettably the 31- year- old Africans are consumed by the ever- evolving media berths, social media, play stations, Mexican and Philippines’ soap operas and  European soccer matches; not deciphering the nexus between destructive and failed headships, current and future manacles.

 

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself  when all men and women doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting; or being lied about, don’t deal in lies; or being hated rock bottom, don’t Give way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wisely:

 

If you can dream and not make dreams your master;

If you can think and not make thoughts your aims;

If you can meet with triumphs and disasters and treat those two imposters  just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for numbskulls, or watch the things You gave your life to, broken, and stoop and erect them up with worn-out widgets:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose and start at your Beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart, nerves and sinew to serve your turn long after  they are gone and so hold on when there is Nothing in you except the will which says to them,”Hold on.”

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtues or walk with kings and queens and lose not the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men and women count on thee, however none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the earth and everything that’s in it and- which is more- you’ll be the man, my son.

This is the ineffable masterpiece called If by Rudyard Kipling.

 

By Professor and Philosopher Daniel Masese.


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