Good Friday, the day when man showed his true nature, his hypocritical and betrayal nature. The day when man stabbed himself with a double edged sword, the day when man crucified his saviour, the day when the voice of the people prevailed upon the voice of the leaders albeit for the wrong reasons.
Is today really that good? Our saviour was disgraced and sentenced to death today by mere mortals. What really makes today a Good Friday? Is it the bloodshed and the death or the punishment meted out to our saviour?
It's a Good Friday because we made peace with God today, because we received the grace to get forgiveness without laying our hands on a sheep.
This holy week has been a period of reflection for me, and this has opened my eyes to the true nature of man.
*Betrayal, a word I hate with passion. Apart from hearing that Zizi is sad or sick, one of the stuffs thst pisses me off in been betrayed. Who would have believed that the people that welcomed him to Jerusalem will be the ones to crucify him? They shouted "all hail the son of David" in front of the Jerusalem gate, they danced, spread their clothes on the ground for him and adored him. The same people were the ones to shout crucify him, crucify him, crucify him before Pontius Pilate. They condemned him to death like a criminal, they sentenced a man with no history of crime to death. Be mindful of men, not everybody that laughs with you wishes you good, everybody is not your friend. I'm not saying that you should be suspicious of your friends, all I'm saying is that you should expect anything from anybody. Man can betray, go and ask Ceasar about Brutus, ask Jesus about Judas, ask Shaka Zulu about his cousins. *As a leader, you have stand by your word, don't by swayed by people's opinions when you know you're right. Pilate's decision to hand Jesus over to the Jews affected his life till the end, he lived a life of regret and committed suicide afterwards. Being controlled by people's opinion can have a devastating effect on one's life, do whatever you think is right for yourself and shun the bad advices.
*The brain of man is highly efficient when properly used, the response the people gave when asked about Jesus' offense shows that man is an intellectual being. When Pilate asked of Jesus' offense, the people replied "We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the messiah, a king". Their response is a very efficient one, I'm still amazed as to how they were able to come up with such a thing. They wanted to entangle Pilate with the response, had it been he released Jesus, they would have called him an enemy of Ceaser, saying that he was in support of the establishment of another government. The Jews were highly critical of the Roman administration but were willing to use it to achieve their selfish goal. This is a wake-up call to the sleeping brains out there, the ones that think they can't do anything with their brain, your brain is too powerful bro, you have to make use of it. THINK!
Friday 25 March 2016
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Servant Leadership
Robert Robert Greenleaf in his essay "The Servant As A Leader" made an excellent contribution to the act of leadership with this point “The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived? A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves theaccumulation and exercise of power by one at the 'top of the pyramid,' servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible."
I'm sure Mr Robert's line of thought was influenced by the book of John 3:12-17, in that passage of the Bible, our Lord Jesus Christ outlined the qualities of a good leader. Someone that's willing to serve and not to be served.
The world will become a better place when our leaders decide to prioritize the needs of the people over their own selfish needs. The black race(Nigeria in particular) has suffered a lot because of the selfish and egocentric leaders that have held sway in that part of the world. The highest money laudering cases in the world involve African leaders like Gen. Sani Abacha, James Ibori, Alison Quattara(?), Mobutu Seko, Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe etc, people that have sucked their country dry all in the name of storing treasures for their children up to the 10th generation.
A leader should take part in the suffering of his people, he shouldn't be happy whenever they are mourning. The well being of his people should be his primary concern. A servant-leader must be willing to listen to the voice of his people, he shouldn't try to impose his views on them.
A servant-leader must be humble like Jesus Christ, who washed the feet of his disciples (remember that the feet are one of the dirtiest part of the body since dusts and other dirty particles tend to stick to it after a lond day trekking) even though he is the one that created them.
A servant-leader should be easily accessible to his people, he shouldn't surround himself with soldiers and give a shoot on site order for anybody that comes near him.
The poor leadership been seen in Nigeria is a sign that we've lost our traditional values. In The Western and Northern Nigeria where there was a centralised system of government in the early 30s, the emirs and obas saw the people as their own children, they treated them same way as their own children. In the Eastern Nigeria where there was a decentralized system of government, the elders of the land made sure that the poor and the weak weren't affected by the rules of the land.
In the present day Nigeria, the reverse is the case, we have abandoned the good qualities that held our ancient communities together for a selfish attitude that will only increase the gap between the rulers ( not leaders) and their slaves. This is why power is concentrated on the hands of a few individuals. You can't become a leader without the approval of OBJ, IBB, Tinubu, etc. Our rulers tend to serve their god fathers instead of the people.
As a country, we have to go back to the basics, we have to teach our students that the blessings that come from serving the populace outweigh the joy that comes from stockpiling money, that the curses from the people can ruin ones life.
May God give Africa another Thomas Sankara and Nelson Mandela.
I'm sure Mr Robert's line of thought was influenced by the book of John 3:12-17, in that passage of the Bible, our Lord Jesus Christ outlined the qualities of a good leader. Someone that's willing to serve and not to be served.
The world will become a better place when our leaders decide to prioritize the needs of the people over their own selfish needs. The black race(Nigeria in particular) has suffered a lot because of the selfish and egocentric leaders that have held sway in that part of the world. The highest money laudering cases in the world involve African leaders like Gen. Sani Abacha, James Ibori, Alison Quattara(?), Mobutu Seko, Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe etc, people that have sucked their country dry all in the name of storing treasures for their children up to the 10th generation.
A leader should take part in the suffering of his people, he shouldn't be happy whenever they are mourning. The well being of his people should be his primary concern. A servant-leader must be willing to listen to the voice of his people, he shouldn't try to impose his views on them.
A servant-leader must be humble like Jesus Christ, who washed the feet of his disciples (remember that the feet are one of the dirtiest part of the body since dusts and other dirty particles tend to stick to it after a lond day trekking) even though he is the one that created them.
A servant-leader should be easily accessible to his people, he shouldn't surround himself with soldiers and give a shoot on site order for anybody that comes near him.
The poor leadership been seen in Nigeria is a sign that we've lost our traditional values. In The Western and Northern Nigeria where there was a centralised system of government in the early 30s, the emirs and obas saw the people as their own children, they treated them same way as their own children. In the Eastern Nigeria where there was a decentralized system of government, the elders of the land made sure that the poor and the weak weren't affected by the rules of the land.
In the present day Nigeria, the reverse is the case, we have abandoned the good qualities that held our ancient communities together for a selfish attitude that will only increase the gap between the rulers ( not leaders) and their slaves. This is why power is concentrated on the hands of a few individuals. You can't become a leader without the approval of OBJ, IBB, Tinubu, etc. Our rulers tend to serve their god fathers instead of the people.
As a country, we have to go back to the basics, we have to teach our students that the blessings that come from serving the populace outweigh the joy that comes from stockpiling money, that the curses from the people can ruin ones life.
May God give Africa another Thomas Sankara and Nelson Mandela.
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