Always Aim High in Life

Never consider yourself as an average person, an average learner or performer in life. What you think for yourself is what you strive to achieve in life. People who considered themselves as average learners in institutions of high learning can only tell their bitter stories today. Always aim high no matter your result so that if you fall by mistake you can land on a better ground than to aim low and fall at the bottom. Dream big and let the sky be your limit.

The Al-shabaab, A Political Organisation or A Religion?

I have read a lot of articles and comments on the internet as well as the social media concerning the barbaric and grotesque attack at the Kenyan West gate shopping mall on Saturday, 21 September, 2013, which has claimed at least 62 lives and counting as at Tuesday morning according to the guardian report: "Kenya's interior minister Joseph Ole Lenku said that it was unlikely that any more hostages were being held in the mall where the attack killed at least 62 people, including at least six Britons". Victims came from many countries including Britain, Australia, Canada, France, China, India, Ghana and the Netherlands. For Ghana, we have lost an illustrious son Kofi Awoonor Williams; a poet, an author, diplomat, academic and a former chairman of council of state. May his untimely soul rest in peace and for the mind that masterminded the mysterious gun never have peace on this earth and the hand that pulled the trigger be torn to shreds. Those addlebrainds who clandestine their acts under the umbrella of religion know nothing but misconstrue the scriptures.

The more I read them the more I become sad and sad. Then I begin to think and ask God a simple question: when is the judgement day? Why is God not giving instant judgement and to punish those who takes the lives of their fellow innocent human beings? Are we safe in this world of ours? I had a heated argument with some of my colleages the other day concerning wrong doers and the judgement day. My point was that God should have made heaven and hell visible to mankind for at least it will instill much fear into the hearts of men when they think evil. Their point was also that no matter how horrible hell will look like if it is visible, some people will still opt to go there (hell) and will therefore do evil. God has actually hidden something from us I concluded. Man does not believes God's word, it is a fact, not even the religious leaders, some of them rattled the scriptures with their tongue not in their hearts and when they retire to bed they think differently. Some of the comments or reactions that at times we hear from our religious leaders on sensitive religious issues only add more confusion to our already bloggled mind on religion, disgusting and leaves much to be desired. So the question again is, are we being deceived or misled? It is a fact again that majority of people in the world (with the exception of Africans because we believe in the goodness of everything the Whites brought) believes that the scriptures were written by men and they were NOT even inspired by God to write it but something to deceive. Yes, you can call me a shallow thinker, an atheist or whatever for I will not take a religious stance here but as a social commentator, I free my mind of all impurities with impunity. Just like my friend's article on ghanaweb yesterday, The Al-shabaab, the ugly side of religion, he was attacked from all corners from both muslims and christians, chided and some calling him names just because he expressed his opinion on religion. Why are we so fixated on religion like that? Isn't it a delusion that we believe.....? I concur with my friend's words "... none of the founders of these so-called religions ever preached based on religious followership. They all preached on the love for one’s neighbor, tolerance, and peace". So where is the love? Where is the peace of your religion? The scriptures can not walk and talk peace, it is you who have to practise what you preach! - peace. Whether the scriptures were written by man or not, has religion not done more good than harm?

Is Al-shabaab a religion or a political organisation? When the name "Al-shabaab" is mention, what readily comes to mind in sequence is Arabic language - Islam - Muslims -suicide bombers and terrorists. Is everything in Arabic Islamic? and therefore must be perpetuated by muslims? I do not want to defend any religion but help me destressed my boggled mind, where do rebels get their funds from? There must be someone facilitating their activities. Is it from the politician or from a religious body? It is an undeniable fact that both the Quran and the Bible have verses or chapters that if we want to follow them or put them into practise we will only end up harming ourselves and denying peace in our existence, nonetheless there are avalanche of chapters and verses in our scriptures that speak and teaches love, peace, unity and forgiveness among mankind. Why chose to practise the few ambiguous ones that never makes the world a better place to be?

I came across a farcical article purported to have been reported by one Elijah Lamau to the BBC on the shooting inciddence inside the mall, that the gunmen had told Muslims to leave and said non-Muslims would be targeted and that the gunmen further said, “If you are a Muslim, stand up. We’ve come to rescue you.” “The Muslims left with their hands up.” Why did the others also not stand up and raise their hands and left free since proclaiming as a muslim by standing up and raising your hand could set you free? Or they wanted to defend their religion? This is not convincing in all human senses. It is sensational journalism and nothing else. I was expecting to read something like they (the gunmen) inspected their ID cards to confirm their muslim names before letting them go. Gruesome attacks likes this and the like of the activities Boko haram should be condemned in totality rather than attributing it to the believes of a religion, but for me it is more political than religious.

The Story Of A Failure

He was born in February 12, 1809.
In 1816, his family was forced out of their home.
He had to work to support them.
His mother died when he was only 9 years.
In 1831, he failed in business.
In 1832, he ran for state legislature and lost totally.
In 1832, he also lost his job and wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.
In 1833, he borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.
In 1834, he ran for state legislature again and won.
In 1835, he had a broken heart when his engaged sweatheart died.
In 1836, he had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.
In 1838, Sought to become speaker of the state legislature and was defeated.
In 1840, sought to become elector but was defeated.
In 1843, he ran for Congress and lost.
In 1846, he ran for Congress again and this time he won and went to Washington and did a good job.
In 1848, ran for re-election to Congress but lost.
In 1849, sought the job of land officer in his home state but was rejected.
In 1854, he ran for Senate of the United States and lost.
In 1856, sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention and got less than 100 votes.
In 1858, ran for U.S. Senate again and again he lost. But in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th elected president of the United States after losing eight (8) elections.

Unplugged: The Obama Illusions

Barak Obama entered office in 2009 on the shoulders of the masses in the aftermath of an era of war ushered in by G.W. Bush. The slogans of ‘Yes, We Can’ carried with it not only support but hope that the world will witness a change in US foreign policy which had turned so many against it. Promises of closing the notorious torture facility of Guantanamo Bay that held prisoners as young as 13 and some as old as 98. A facility that revealed the most despicable face of society that turned a blind eye to Bush’s torture, kidnapping and even murder of men and boys; which we now know a majority of whom to be innocent. Promises of extending a hand to the Muslim world that was ripped apart by two wars -Iraq and Afghanistan. Promises of democracy and transparency.
We were all deceived and many remain deceived. During the first year of the Obama administration, Obama personally authorised a Tomahawk Cruise Missile Strike on a tiny village in rural Yemen called al-Majalah, killing 21 children and 14 women. Silence… the world knew nothing because that was part of the deception. When Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye investigated the one sided attack on the civilian village, the story recounted was horrific. Village elders spoke of how they had to pick up parts of bodies because they were torn to shreds. When Shaye revealed the US strike he was imprisoned by the US backed Dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. After tremendous outrage, Saleh pardoned Shaye, only to receive a call from Obama himself to keep the whistle-blower journalist in prison. To date, he remains imprisoned. Yet Obama’s bloody trail doesn’t stop there. Under the Obama administration, drones have become the weapon of choice. Remote controlled planes piloted from Nevada flying in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. In Pakistan alone, 474 to 881 civilians including 176 children have been snuffed out with no reasons, no answers and no accountability. These deaths are 'justified' by a drone policy that classifies all males of “fighting age” killed in drone attacks as “militants.” Drones are being actively flown over Africa from bases in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Niger and Seychelles. Under Obama, the US has effectively declared the world a battlefield authorizing the use of drone strike decided during ‘terror Tuesday’ meetings in which Obama plays the prosecutor, judge and executioner. Guantanamo remains open and the 103 inmates are currently on hunger strike in order to secure basic human rights. Majority have been cleared of all charges yet the Obama administration states that 48 detainees can neither be released nor tried, but should be held in indefinite. As he promises again and again to close down this detention facility, he seems insincere. In Somalia, the US under the Obama administration has set up what is known to the locals as the ‘Guantanamo’ of Africa. A facility which holds the horrors of torture in its basements under the CIA and other intelligence outfits supervision.
Let us not forget the Abu Ghraib tragedy, where men were humiliated by being stacked in human pyramids naked, sexually abused, tortured, forced to eat their own faeces, ravaged by dogs to be stitched up by ‘chicken surgeons’ only for the torture to be repeated. Hundreds of these photos and videos existed and revealed an institutionalized policy of torture of this nature. Obama intervened, denying justice not only to the victims and their families, but to the global collective by refusing to release the evidence stating that it would flame anti-US sentiment. Yet, Obama never addressed the problem, and only prosecute low level officers. Perhaps the PRISM scandal which was broken by Edward Snowden which revealed how the US NSA intercepted all communications with the assistance of Google, Facebook, Skype and Microsoft to name a few. The invasion of privacy from recording the content of every call, text, online message even old and edited documents. Interception that spans the world including myself and you the reader. This application by the MLA is not about race, religion or agenda. It is about the facts. Some may argue that he is the most ‘powerful man’ in the world. He remains a man, subject to the law. As a child of the new South Africa, I was taught that race is not your defining factor. Therefore I judge Obama on his actions and policies.
By: Zaakir Ahmed Mayet.