WHEREVER YOU ARE

I think for the first time, I should come out plain to confess that I have made frantic efforts to locate you. The fact that I haven’t seen you does not necessarily make me feel I am a failure nor that I would never get to locate you; it’s just a question of time.

Before we finally meet, there are certain things you may want to know and these things, I promise to be as explicit as possible. I don’t guarantee you’d understand all in any case so let me add that I would provide answers to your questions. All depends on whether or not we would meet. Oh yes, I know we surely will.

I am a young man that defies almost all characteristics of contemporary men. My style is dinstinct and that defines me. Certains things about me, I would not drop. I don’t intend to be rigid but those things are me and once they go, you can be sure it’s something else you have and not me.

So many other things are about me probably because you haven’t arrived; as soon as you show up, we can make a list and shed the ones you are not comfortable with. Trust me, I’ll go that far. What is important is; you have finally come to stay.

I am sure you also would have certain changes you intend to put in place as I have my expectations too. Just as I would understand these traits are products of more than 2 decades and would not expect you to adjust on the fly, I would appreciate if you also oblige me such gesture. What particularly matters is the will and conscious efforts being put into the process.

Nothing at all tells me you don’t exist. I know you do. I probably haven’t looked at the right direction or when I looked at that side, you weren’t there. The good thing is, I am likely to look back at that direction so, I hope you’ll there to be seen.
Efforts certainly are of no measurable significance until the end justifies them. You are the ‘end’ here; if I haven’t located you all these while, then I have not done enough. Period!

Could it also be that I have already seen you and walked away from you? This is a possibility no doubt but the chances are quite slim. I am very vigilant and careful about you. Should it however be that I have missed you probably because you were in the crowd cheering me and must have being missed by a wave of the hand, it’s a sad one but I’d come back. You are just one bridge I must cross.

Events of recent times have proven your importance beyond human comprehension and I have humbly mentioned you to God. It’s about time you come out of your shells. I can’t wait any longer.

You might feel this way too and also share the same spirit but don’t see yourself coming all out to say it. We have all felt this way at one time or the other so it would make no difference to me and I would understand. As much as you want to massage your own ego, please understand you have to be fast about it.

There is another way out and I sincerely hope it works. I probably might not have even looked into your possibilities as a result of so many distractions that rock the life of a young man that I am. I would have my trusted eyes to join me in the search. These eyes are such that understand my quest and whose judgement I don’t probe into. Theirs is a respect earned from a relationship built over a period of a decade or more. Now you know what I am talking about.

We both must have had our pasts, failures and successes. They have their places in the future we hope to build together but should get a fair judgement as to what made them what they were.

We were just exhuberant and restless individuals whose attachment to life fantacies beclouded our senses of judgement. That is one interesting thing about growing up. You always feel your actions are right, readily putting up strong defense for them. After about a year or less, you look back and smile because a simple message strikes you and its print on your mind is screaming: I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT BETTER.

That is a sign that you have matured into a right thinking fellow and that’s about what I have always wanted. This sense of refined judgement gives me very little or no reasons to dwell on your past, everything that happened must have happened for a reason and one of the very many reasons is for us to be where we are today. You are assured of such indulgence.

I have no manifesto to present nor do I have promises to make. I have no mansion to boast of nor limousines to drive you around but I have something you have been looking for; A GOOD HEART and a SELFLESS SPIRIT...

The future exerts no fear for it is prepared by Him in whom our fate resides. What is left is for us to journey into it together as one.

It’s being a torturous time threading this path alone, the thoughts of hard times are better shared and the sweet memory of success jointly celebrated. What else can we ask for besides such faithful compatriot. A comrade bound by a well thought-out heart desire and not oath. A Union ordained and blessed by God.

There are so many things to do, we are a little behind time. We can’t afford to wait any longer. Let’s begin this journey, the future is waiting. Please come out; wherever you are!

BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL

My colour has often lured me into saying 'black is beautiful'. This is something close to self gratification given very many things people on the other side of the barricade had said about being black. I'm black, so I have reasons to share the black bias.
I have heard this again and again but cannot get to understand so many ambiguities attached with colour black and its attendant beauty though I've chosen to agree my colour is beautiful.

Prehistoric facts about slave trade have affected me so bad that I really don't seem to agree whether genuinely, the words spelt out carry similar meaning to me or the authors talkless of forgetting the uttered brutality with which our forefathers were chained, marched and packed like commodities.

What is the beautiful about being black? Black people, black items and objects or just black as a standalone colour?
My disagreement with these words is simply when black has to do with us, the black race.
Like, if black people are truly beautiful, the slave masters should have kept us on the runway as models and not sugarcane fields as human machines; working without commensurate rewards. Mouths padlocked with horsewhips mercilessly bruising our princely skin.
This write-up would have had no basis, if they had said, Black is Strong!
What further compounds my misunderstanding of this sentence are certain things that black explains.

Black Death: the plague that killed large numbers of people in Europe in the 14th to 18th centuries.
Black Maria: a prison van.
Black Art: magic performed for evil reasons.
Black Sheep: a member of a family or group who is unsatisfactory in some way.
Blacklist: a list of people who are out of favour.
Blackmail: to obtain money illegally from (a person), usually by threatening to make known something which the victim wants to keep secret.
Black Market: (a place for) the illegal buying and selling, at high prices, of goods that are scarce, rationed etc.

All these definitions were lifted 'word for word' from Kernerman Semi-Bilingual Dictionaries MOT GlobalDix 3.0 on my Nokia E71.

There are others like, Blackbook, Black Days etc. You can remember the Black Sunday in Nigeria?
I might have somehow missed the point considering my bias but nothing about the series of definitions seem to me to have said anything about beauty.

From this point, we certainly should have some things to consider in almost the same direction.
I have not done any extensive reading before now on this topic but would really need not going by the sets of definition.
It is so bad that when people want to mourn, the colour is still black.
I have equally seen couple of films where Satan has been depicted a Black Man and Jesus, a White guy. Not only is He just white, He has long hairs. Yet, none of this physical attributes by my latest search is evident in the Bible.
He just has to be a white man because he is the Saviour of the world.
It is not impossible though to base colouration arguments on biological trends and all sorts. It bothers me no more. Black, to them, can't just be anything good.
The summary therefore presupposes that, black is bad. How do I then reconcile this mixup? This is my dilemma, my cross.
I hope one day, the world would truly come together to combat the ills of racial discrimination. So that when it is said, black is beautiful, we can rest assured everything said is meant. These were the dreams of Martin Luther, the agitations of Malcolm X and now, my Concerns.

My brethrens of the resilient black race, let it be known today and forever, the beauty in us lies not only in our shiny skin with a balanced melanin composition but in our hearts, generosity, respect for humanity; in our firm hold to our ancestral heritage.
We really aren't waiting to be told we are beautiful for already we know.
We are of God's perfect image. We are black, we are beautiful.
Thank God I'm Black.