Authority Without Consent

The Weight of Fallibility

Hubris is one of those traits anyone should do well to avoid. Regardless of one's expertise, ability, and confidence, we are prone to error, mistakes, failings, or just the slightest miscomprehension of a situation.

This is not to second-guess the premise; rather, it is simply that an awareness that we may not be entirely correct, and hence fallible, can be a humbling realisation. It shows us the extent of what we intend in our self-belief, and how reality challenges it.

A Rollout Not Ready

Recently, I met the weight of imposition from on high: a process I was neither confident in nor happy to deploy. Developments within the last week have now brought into stark relief that what appeared to work on a single device, with a different kind of user profile, was neither ripe nor ready for a global rollout.

One could snidely suggest that this was a fact posited many times before but ignored because the proposer's office implied an all-knowing mien that would brook no questioning.

Well, it all returned to the drawing board as we identified the kinks in the solution. A new solution has since been proposed that is radically different from the original and contains elements that give one the jitters.

Consequently, we are back to the original arguments of fanciful ideas that appear to work in isolation but require a different mindset when set for a global deployment.

Authority Without Consent

What this episode really lays bare is a simple truth: technical authority without social consent produces brittle solutions. A design may be elegant on paper and hold together in isolation, yet the moment it meets the messy reality of many hands and many machines, it fractures, not for want of cleverness, but for want of ownership.

There is, of course, a counter-argument that imposition is sometimes necessary, and that endless consensus can stall a decision indefinitely. I would not dismiss it. But there is a world of difference between the people who run the environment, who understand its issues and problems intimately, and an architect parachuted into a situation who consults no one, believing they already know everything necessary to fix things.

We appreciate that things need to improve, and we would welcome ideas, insight, inspiration, and implementations to put matters right. The question is whether there is a better way for this to go forward without proper engagement. I would suggest there is not.

What an Architect Should Be

An architect should not be like a bull let loose in a china shop, nor should they be a cowboy riding a three-legged horse. My view of an architect is someone who listens and observes intently, appreciates and understands, then suggests rather than imposes, carrying people along rather than rubbing them up the wrong way.

When you break the social element of engagement that helps take ideas to implementation, whatever concept is in the plan is likely to fail. This is not because people have refused to do it, but because the prospect is not owned by the people who would eventually manage it.

If you are an architect, ensure that this is not one of your flaws. Get the builders onside before you take your grand scheme to town, selling castles in the air that no one can reach, even if they could fly.

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Memento Mori in the Modern Workplace

The Two-Headed Fear

I usually say that I am only scared of a person with two heads, and thankfully, I have never met one. Yet in my working life, I have had many encounters with colleagues, juniors, seniors, and C-suite personnel.

In the main, they have been nice, respectful, considerate, and courteous. It is the workplace that brought us together; our backgrounds can be radically different, just as our outlooks on the world might never be the same. If we are human, humane, and accommodating of each other, it makes for a pleasant working environment.

Frustration Is No Excuse

There have been exceptions, people who think their positions give them room to misbehave and be discourteous. Usually, they get away with it, and the behaviour becomes compounded and accepted by many. Once, I was offering support to a caller at work when he began hurling expletives out of frustration.

We all get frustrated, but frustration is no excuse for abuse. I calmly told him that I did not get paid enough to take abuse at work, and informed him that I was going to put the phone down.

When he was ready to discuss the matter calmly, he could call me again. We ended that conversation, and a few minutes later, he called back, apologised, and I resolved the matter.

The Gracious Senior VP

On another occasion, a deployment for which I had provided statistics showing a high success rate just happened to brick the Senior VP’s device. His secretary was implacable, and other senior staff were running around like headless chickens. I was instructed to call the SVP to explain my actions.

I had never met him before, but he immediately acknowledged me, then said he had seen the statistics and understood that, on occasion, something might fail; it just happened to be his device. He closed with, “Take your time, I appreciate what you do.”

There have probably been other technical personnel elsewhere, in the very same position, marched out of the office simply because the screen on a manager’s computer flickered.

Things can be that brutal. I learnt early in my career that keeping users honestly informed reaped more dividends than leaving them ignorant of what might affect what they do or how they work. To inform is to liberate.

The Master of the Universe

Bring in the esteemed fellow, the one to whom no one says no. He has the ear of the CEO, and anything he says is gospel and unquestioned. To have attained that status is commendable; but unlike the generals of ancient times, who at their victory parades had a man whisper memento mori into the ear of the celebrant, this master of the universe, for all that they have achieved, yet so lacking in character, thinks they own the world and that everyone answers to them.

They seek exemption and exception in the demands they make. Aggression and coarseness are their raison d'être; nothing is ever a request. They hold Aladdin’s lamp, incessantly summoning the genie to grant any wish, and should the wish be denied, truculence becomes them.

Any resistance, even a reasonable challenge to their requirements, is met with forceful tales of woe about how they cannot get anything done because the system, the design, or the personnel are lazy, wasting time, and derelict in their duties.

The thrust of the conversation leans towards disparaging you, your work, your team, and anything else you have done professionally and diligently.

Winning the War for Peace

It is tempting to assume nothing can be done when management indulges its favoured figure. Yet such attitudes can be named and challenged, and I have done so many times, with success. The behaviour is not untouchable; it simply relies on everyone presuming that it is.

Each encounter is weighed on its own merits; sometimes you yield, and sometimes you hold firm. Where there is no point in holding the fort, and they are used to having their way, you make that allowance too, for the peace of mankind.

Yet even in those bruising encounters, you can own facts that clearly prove their position wrong, leaving them with no option but to concede the point, even if they remain unrelenting in pursuit of their self-aggrandising goals.

We do not have to win every battle when the war is for peace, for respect, for dignity, and for the recognition that in every endeavour, no matter the position, the esteem, or the remuneration, no one of us is better than another.

We are equal as human beings, deserving of the same courtesy, respect, and dignity. It is in our efforts together that we all make the organisations we work for successful.

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The bird in hand is all you have

Long Read!

The humbling of life

There is an old saying, “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.” I find myself revisiting some of these old sayings to review what lessons to mankind they might impart to me and my unique circumstances, for as Ecclesiastes1:9 says, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

It is quite poignant that Ecclesiastes has 12 chapters and in the first chapter it dispenses with hopes, dreams, expectations, and much else whilst laying bare the fact of human existence, after the introduction, it says, all is vanity, suggests we labour in vain, that nature always follows its course, and that we pay heed to experiences gone before because there are lessons to be learnt of life.

A further interpretation of the saying at the beginning which I should call a proverb is, “It's better to be content with what you have than to risk losing everything by seeking to get more.”

Failures are paths

This is the story, I finished secondary school at the age of 15 and was immediately admitted to the Lagos State College of Science and Technology (Lacostech) to study Chemical Engineering, at the same time, my mother tried to persuade me to attend Form Six for the Higher School Certificate (HSC), but I was having none of it, my experience of secondary boarding school was such that I wanted to be treated more as an adult with all the freedoms that entailed, even if I assumed very little responsibility.

Lacostech was a fledgling institution, the practical engineering component of the course system was lacking, we were based at a faraway campus and for the practical elements, we attended labs at Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech), the preeminent polytechnic at the time. How I ended up doing Chemical Engineering was a result of alumni visiting my secondary school to give a talk, I was beguiled rather than persuaded. I failed that first year.

However, knowledge from that first year prepared me to change my course to Electrical Engineering at YabaTech even as seeing an uncle thrive in Quantity Surveying had a bit of a draw. It so transpired that I spent 3 years at YabaTech where I failed, repeated my second year, and consequently was asked to withdraw. That was 4 years of higher education lost, I can only wonder if I had gone for the HSC instead and plied a different trajectory in life.

Being a nonsense child

At that point, my father had given up on me, he was determined to put me to work on his farm which was not doing all that well. My father in his active career was a brilliant and successful accountant, usually top of the class, winning awards and prizes, how could I, his first child and son be such a dullard?

The day he planned to ship me off to his farm, I ran away from home with the aid of my mother, and I was first put up with a teacher from her school where she was a principal, then with a brother of a neighbour, before I ended up living with my dear Uncle Cash who passed on in June.

Blog - Uncle Cash!

Not having just enough

There, I began to chart my way back to some academic relevance, already 5 years out of secondary school with nothing to show for it. I took the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations and scored in Physics (71), Chemistry (72), English (73), and Mathematics (45), for whatever reason, I ran out of time with Mathematics and that poor score was significant and it came to 261 when I needed at least 280 to be considered for Electrical Engineering at some of the universities I was interested in as the University of Ife or the University of Benin.

Meanwhile, my mother was pulling strings elsewhere and had with my original West African School Certificate secured admission to the Federal Polytechnic at Ilaro to study Electrical Engineering. To my mind, having been to YabaTech, going to Ilaro in the middle of nowhere was second-best untenable, it never entered my consideration, and no one could appeal to me about it, I was set on going to university come what may.

A bird for a bird

My father came around, and we both drove to the University of Benin to see if he could influence things, it was the second time we had met since I ran away from home over a year before, and at the same time the registration window was closing at Ilaro as lectures were starting too. One thing I remember about that trip was we stopped over at a restaurant, where I ordered a stew with gizzards that my father thought he heard lizard, the look on his face and the laughter afterwards when he realised, he heard wrong.

Herein was my dilemma, I had a bird in hand, the admission to the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro which I was not paying attention to because I had my mind on the two in the bush, an impossible consideration for admission to either the University of Ife or the University of Benin. All my hopes were on university admission when my reality was a backwater polytechnic where though the OND course was accredited, the HND component was still seeking recognition.

Humble is pie is food

Eventually, as the vanity and the futility of my expectations began to dawn on me, I ate humble pie and set off to the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro to start as a fresher and from when I used to be the youngest in the class in all the schools I had ever attended, I was now a higher education veteran, 20 years old.

My humiliation is exacerbated by my first encounter, he was a year my junior in secondary school and the very first person I exerted seniority rights on when I got to Form 2 by punishing him, he was in his final year at Ilaro when I was just starting. I can only wonder what stories he had to tell about his life experiences. The senior that punished him 9 years ago in secondary was now 3 years his junior in higher education.

I had to focus on what I had to do, I was not at Ilaro for him or about him, I was at Ilaro to rebuild my shattered dreams. And much as I kept the prospect of going to university alive, my engagement in the semester was both committed and divided. However, by the second semester, I accepted that my bird in hand was the only bird I had and any other birds shitting on my head from above or chirping in the bush were never going to be caught.

It came round beautifully

I did the two years successfully, was my class representative, gained an upper credit diploma and even after ran a signature drive of all my erstwhile class to appeal for the HND component to be accredited for us to return to complete our course at this apparent backwater polytechnic that gave us so much for a start in career and achievement.

For my industrial orientation, I walked into a computer services firm seeking employment and was employed on the spot, I even got my class deputy employed too. He went on to complete his higher diploma at YabaTech, I went into desktop publishing consultancy, to help publish legal reports and acquired 30% of a printing firm on whose auspices I paid my first visit to the UK to acquire equipment and software.

That same OND stood me in good stead for jobs that I took up in the UK when I finally emigrated, obviously, I acquired vendor certifications too. It is interesting to note that, I wrote a character reference for a friend with whom I attended Ilaro and the admissions officer at the University of Liverpool contacted me to suggest I was the kind of candidate they were looking for to embark on a Master's programme. I only had an OND and I was admitted for a postgraduate degree.

It is always what you have

The moral of the story is this, all my intentions, plans and hopes were to go to university, I held fast to that expectation even though there was nothing I could show for that ambition. All the while, I had an admission to Ilaro, it was the unmentionable, the one where I thought I would be stuck, the humiliation of meeting a junior who was very much a senior and you know how ranking works in a typically Nigerian community, yet that was the pathway to my career successes. I could not have envisaged the result of going to Ilaro but the consequence of attending Ilaro made all the difference.

It is in the same vein that we are faced with what we think are choices but are hardly so. That bird in hand is the only thing you have got, there rest are pipedreams, daydreams, hopes, and wishes. Until you have secured whatever you want or need, you do not have it. Yet we give equal status to what we desire and hope for to what we already have but do not like for all sorts of reasons that it was not part of the plan and seek myriad excuses to diminish certainty for uncertainty.

I have many instances where choosing the second-best or the worst possible scenario because that was all I had has led to the best possible and even unintended outcomes. It is important to keep the momentum, take the opportunity that is available and work with it even if at the present time everything it represents is not to your liking.

It is never out of thin air

History is littered with people who were faced with difficult choices of which there are no other options have with humility follow what they have and come up trumps, be it Joseph being sent into slavery before he rose to become deputy Pharaoh or Jesus being given the choice of the cross or flight, faced the cross and brought salvation to the world.

There is indeed nothing new under the sun, the voice of the ancients, the elders, the experienced, and even the privileged tries to counsel us on many issues to which we turn a deaf ear because we have other plans, but plans are just that, plans, we remain stuck in the same place with plans and no action, forsaking opportunity for fantasy and in the end losing both opportunity and fulfilling no fantasy.

The question we should always ask ourselves is, what is it that we already have that we are giving up for what we are hoping to have? What you are hoping for, you do not have. At the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus could only use what the boy had and multiply it, not materialise food for the crowds out of thin air. At the marriage in Cana where Jesus turned water into wine, the jugs were empty, he asked them to fill the jugs with water first, he did not conjure wine from the air.

You have to have something to make or do something, that something may not be what you like or want, but it is the only thing you have and if you do not use it, you will lose it and be left in the same place still, full of dreams, hopes, and desires but no further away from where you started.

Thought Picnic: Self-doubt, a teacher of humility

The humbling of the present

The unfortunate sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng, the erstwhile Chancellor of the Exchequer gave me something to ponder about my situation. I wrote in a tweet, “Sometimes, a dramatic humbling can be quite life-affirming, do not take every setback as the end of purpose, ambition, or prospect.”

The reason why I can relate is I was invited for an interview on Monday and just before we had the meeting, the agency called to say that the client had realised they had a budget shortfall and whether I would consider lobbing off about 40% from what we had agreed on Friday.

I politely declined as I reflected on the disrespectfulness and insult apart from the unprofessionalism that enabled that kind of feedback that should have been better relayed as the position had been filled by other personnel. You see a lot in 27 years of dealing with contract agencies, and then some.

Beyond the travails we see

Soon afterwards, I got a phone call from another agency offering the prospect of a re-engagement with a client I had worked with before. I was keen and so my details were put forward and they expressed an interest in offering an opportunity.

However, I was to attend an interview on Microsoft Teams scheduled for Friday and I had only hours before reserved to collect my new passport in Liverpool. I did not want to postpone the interview and so that meant planning to be in Liverpool to both attend the interview and collect my passport.

Meanwhile, I was also to give a presentation as part of the interview process with the choice from 5 topics that looked quite distinct yet from my experience were intricately interrelated. I found myself in a similar brain fog as I was 5 years ago, trying to decide which topic to present, though then I chose one and wrapped the considerations of the other 3 topics into how they relate with the one I chose.

In doubt and unsure

It would have been easy and lazy to rehash the old document, but I had to do better, and I gathered the material and began to construct the elements of my presentation. In my head, I had a good idea of what I wanted to say, but how to fit that into an acceptable presentation became a challenge.

For all the expertise and experience I do have, others probably do believe in my abilities more than I dare to believe I am. There are jobs I should apply for that reticence and doubt persuades me otherwise. My friends constantly urge me to step up, their perspective of me way ahead of my apparent insecurities.

My presentation almost became existential in its import, for it would have been the crux upon which the decision to hire me would have been based amongst other considerations. I found myself wondering how I could quite easily scupper my chances given what might be a golden opportunity. Then I would whisper to myself, that everything would be fine, take breathing exercises and try to calm myself down.

The trial of adequacy

My friends would suggest I am not lacking in confidence, I have my doubts about that assessment, and then maybe I am beating myself up too hard. My presentation was only about 75% finished by the time I went to bed, and I was so sleep-deprived thinking about how I had not closed the activity. Something was missing from giving the presentation the necessary feel of a proposal made to a C-suite executive.

A few ideas wandered into my mind overnight and on getting up, I showered and went for breakfast that I could hardly finish before giving Brian a call. My best friend had sent me a message of encouragement during the night too, which I acknowledged. I went for a walk to the River Mersey and returned to complete my presentation with just an hour left to the interview.

Things seemed to fall into place and with just about 20 minutes to spare, there was nothing more I could do about what I was about to present. Unsure and nervous, we began a discussion when I realised that my 9 slides of PowerPoint presentation were to be delivered in 10 minutes, there was no point panicking, I went for it with mannerisms and tics, all forgiven with the verdict that it was a good presentation.

Self-doubt, the measure of strength

This was something I would never have been able to pull off without the support of my friend, and my partner, they were constantly encouraging me even as it was increasingly difficult to believe them. Then I need to find the positive in my ordeal, maybe self-doubt is a good check on hubris too, it works for me even if it stresses me out too.

There is a humbling that teaches you the truth of your vulnerability not to strip you of agency but to equip you with the human need to seek support and encouragement to empower you through when your strength appears to fail.

It is like what Apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 1v9-11“Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.”

It speaks for itself, that our vulnerabilities or the humbling of the present only allows us to appreciate that we can do a lot more in the context of our humanity by relying on others.

Thought Picnic: Can we pass the test of character and virtue at a chance encounter?

An irrevocable damage was done

I feel no sense of justice because very little can be righted that was manifestly wrong, if not evil. There have been life-changing consequences for which all the parties involved have become the story of our times.

Blog - Thought Picnic: Black Lives Should Matter Always

His name was George Floyd, he was 46, he was black, he had family, he did not resist arrest according to the storekeeper that called the police, he was already subdued and handcuffed, yet, Derek Chauvin, the policeman who knelt on his neck until he expired just lost his job, leaving us seething with rage that such a blatant public murder has not already had the perpetrators and conspirators charged.

Mayor Frey of Minneapolis said, “Being Black in America should not be a death sentence.” But we are still handwringing, genuflecting and outraged, a man is dead and there is no Lazarus moment to be expected, George Floyd is gone forever after a chance encounter of hardly 10 minutes with law enforcement.

Having humility when humbled

In New York’s Garden of Eden, the Central Park, Amy Cooper who called the cops on Christian Cooper because he had the audacity to ask her to respect the rules and put her dog on a leash has now lost her job. Her Oscar-winning theatrics of feigning being attacked by an African American what seen for what it was, white privilege deployed to maximum effect to compel a situation where Christian Cooper could have lost his life, if an irrational mob of policemen had attended the scene.

Another chance encounter of hardly 10 minutes again brought to an end many things for Amy Cooper, the loss of her dog companion, the loss of her high profile job at Franklin Templeton, and the loss of many other significant things to do with her person, her status, her standing and probably her relationships.

The unpredictability of chance encounters

It is scary how chance encounters can change a life or bring about the loss of life. The many unscripted, inadvertent, and unintended situations that bring us before strangers of whom we know nothing but in the unfortunate majesty of time, moment and place can in short order our carefully ordered lives.

Nothing prepares us for the outcomes, but we must be prepared in character, in virtue, in humanity, and in consideration to do no harm, bring no hurt, attend to heal, flee from a threat, assess the situation in the mind and heart of the other to treat our momentary neighbour with respect and courtesy just as we would like to be treated.

Blog - Couscous from a Bicycle

Blog - Bottling Anger

If only the police in Minneapolis had given just that little consideration to the humanity of George Floyd, he would still be alive, the four policemen would still have their jobs, the community would be at peace and life will go on as usual. Maybe not the best, but better than the situation right now.

Amy Cooper was in a public place violating the rule to keep her dog on a leash. She was informed by a stranger to follow the rules. She could have apologised, put her dog on a leash and walked away. She did not have to stand her ground or prove a point. The simple recognition in humility of her being in the wrong and the act of contrition of doing the right thing would have saved her from the heap of global opprobrium.

Having the presence of a sense of responsibility

She was however deficient in capacity just like the four policemen of the temperament, wherewithal, and facility to deal with random strangers in chance encounters, knowing you that you have opportunity, power, and privilege that could be abused, whilst have a mind of understanding the responsibility that comes with it is redolent of a strong character ready to exercise the characteristics of emotional intelligence and the consideration of others.

The absence of a sense of responsibility will eventually catch you out and it is rarely in familiar settings, but in these chance encounters where some hand of fate tests your mettle, your humanity, your reasonableness, and your ability to handle unexpected situations without losing your head.

A brutally objective test

The test is usually brutal and the life lessons when that test is failed can to so consequential that Karma is running a far second to when retribution and punishment have breasted the tape on your behalf and in your name. You cannot pass a test that requires the study in preparedness on every topic in the syllabus of character and virtue, because it adaptively examines your weakest points.

If anything, our greatest prayer should be that in whatever random situation we find ourselves in chance encounters with strangers, that we are not found wanting and the experience would enrich the lives of all concerned.

What would be the aftermath the Amy Cooper or George Floyd situation, I cannot tell. For George Floyd, may his soul rest in peace and some justice be found for his brutal and untimely death at the hands of law enforcement. For Amy Cooper, I wrote a ditty, she will live if she wants to and she has the opportunity to change her life for the better. Whether she has the capacity to weather the storm depends on what wholesome relationships she has cultivated before now.

Oh dear, it's Amy Cooper,
She did wrong to Christian Cooper,
Now her embarrassing blooper,
Is dog shit without a scooper,
She thought white was really super,
Called the cops on him like a trooper,
Now lost her job, what a whooper,
Please, don't be like Amy Cooper.

Thought Picnic: Being a real person and not a faux parson

Serve it cooked

As much as possible, I do not want to wear my religion on my sleeve, I do write a lot on spirituality and beliefs, but mostly to explore the depth of our humanity. I believe for myself that elements of my character, values, and outlook find their grounding in a broad and liberal Christian foundation.

I am fine with contextualised insight, but dislike being preached at. Some time ago, I was invited to a WhatsApp group of the Class of 91 of my secondary school. Considering I have maintained minimal social contact with my classmates and schoolmates apart from a few on Facebook, I allowed myself in to observe.

Sadly, there was no particularly productive discussion going on apart from people sharing snippets of pompous religiosity with no indication of what it meant to them or how it affected them. I do not think I lasted a week in the group before I extricated myself.

A respectful disposition

What irked me most was I was probably the most religious due to circumstances relayed in an earlier blog that my nickname was Pastor, and at no time did I thump the pulpit with my beliefs. I was left wondering where and when they suddenly took on a mantle of religious calling to pontificate amongst their peers.

In fact, the ones who did eventually go into ministry who I respect for taking on the challenge, do not exaggerate themselves upon me to suggest they have a revelation too new to be ignored. Probably, down in their hearts, they do recognise that a prophet is yet without honour amongst their own. For we of those times together know enough history even if their paths might have been obscured after we left school to the present. Each is still owed courtesy and respect.

The nuisance I was

I know I have made that mistake before when I wrote tracts of religious insights and sent to friends, before I started blogging in earnest. My best friend remonstrated responding to one of my emails, he was not interested in my religious musings, rather he was more interested in what I was up to, my life, my circumstances, and maybe some intimate things you will share with friends.

Taken aback, I went on the defensive retorting that what I was writing about was really about how things affected me. I remember it was soon after I had the HIV diagnosis and when I wrote about it, I was circumspect about the matter but resolute about the lessons and the future ahead of me. I did, however, reflect and abandoned the activity. I would think other recipients out of politeness simply passed my religious emails to the junk folder.

Affected to effect

My hope is that I have the best virtues of religious and Christian instruction imbued in me to reflect warm and kind humanity, able to sympathise and empathise, ready to listen and understand, willing to consider a broad view of things, believing the best of everyone and persuadable of different things by discussion, by debate, and by merit. Maybe there are ways to see the positive and the objective with the ability to help or give succour.

It is a progress of constant improvement with a willingness according to Peter Drucker, to “discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance and overcome it.” I am really working hard on that. I strive to be the warmth you feel rather than the fire that singes, the lamp that shows the way rather than the light that blinds the eyes.

This was not the blog I was planning to write when finished the first paragraph, but by the third, I realised I probably would be writing another blog on what was on my mind before I started writing this one.

Thought Picnic: Hold back reflex as you reflect for love

Moments to reflect

A teaching moment, a humbling moment, an understanding moment and a compassionate moment.

That is what I have desired that we take away from certain experiences of life when we look at the cards we have been dealt that do not look like we would walk off with the pot.

More often than not, we do not win the jackpot much as we participate in the lottery, we hope we have picked the right numbers but the picking of the winning numbers is completely out of our control.

It is then left to luck, good fortune, favour, blessing, chance or any convenient description of how opportunity and timing coincide to create advantage and gain.

The reflex to moments

The moments described above require patience and reflection, reflection desires that whatever we have determined to say or do be delayed to have a broader perspective especially when that perspective does not agree with us.

Yet you find many who have charted a different course, they find their greatest expression in a rude moment, an abusive moment, a dishonest moment, a disingenuous moment, an expletive-laden moment, a belittling moment, an unreasonable moment, an uncharitable moment and a hateful moment.

Their capacity to demonstrate this with a knack of genius and experience would make them icons of intemperance and much as you might be tempted to respond in like manner or take the high moral ground, the best thing to do is to ignore them.

Rethink the act

For a person who seeks to learn can be taught and in being taught is humbled into realising that a wider and diverse world of life, perspective, opinions, experiences and knowledge exists beyond them.

This brings understanding to reason and being reasonable, in which one can then find the bowels of compassion to engage with others; that is the essence of our humanity.

That is why I love about those who take the moments to reflect over those who seize the moment for reflex.

To that Young Christian Family, blessings that overflow

A book for example

If men of renown should gather once again as they gathered many centuries ago to select canonically inspired texts to include in the Holy book, I will suggest it be called the Acts of the Disciples.

For what I have had revealed to me as real as when Moses stood and watched the burning bush is the magnanimity of humanity expressed in Christian care, love, compassion and support.

They gave and blessed

There be many who have our of their hearts, out of the minds and out of their hands poured blessings, gifts, encouragement, prayer and help into my life beyond that I can express.

Out of their little, I got much and out of their much I got some, in money, in lodgings, in food, in words and in deed. In the midst of nothing, I did not lack for anything; they did not let me fall.

However, for all the stars that shone in the night sky of Bethlehem of old, one showed the way to where the new born king was lain in swaddling clothes for the wise men to visit to pay homage.

A young Christian Indian family

Likewise, there in the midst of the many that gave of what they have was this family, a young Christian Indian family whose heart overflowed with such undeserved compassion, love, tenderness and mercy towards me that they invited me into their home to stay.

Their daughter with the sweetest smile you will ever see on anyone that walks this earth and so cutely fixed on a child gave up her room, happily, willingly and without reservation to joyfully have me stay with them.

We shared of everything and they constantly made me feel special, wanted and appreciated even though I was the one being supported.

Every consideration was given to make me comfortable, they refused to let my thoughts wander into the depths of despair as they fed me, watered me, gave me rest, gave me peace and gave me space.

Yet, they did not stop giving and helping from what they had, their example is one of Christian purpose with commensurate action, ever prayerful, ever humble and ever gracious.

A veritable lesson

For what they did, they brought discomfort to some who were not there to help but ready to criticise and one can understand. They had combined matchless Christian charity with incredible Indian hospitality that definitely made much of the Christian expression in our Western culture and values look wanting and lacking.

I cannot be thankful enough to this young Christian family, where they are from as they always told me was secondary to their Christian purpose in life – to help the needy, to minister to others and to give even when they did not have enough for themselves.

My prayer

In my heart of hearts, I pray that their rewards of joy, of prosperity, of health, of peace and everything that is wholesome, good and nice come upon from this time like the floods of Noah that they begin to enjoy the pleasures of Paradise from earth well into their old age and that is just the beginning of the prayers for them.

I am forever in gratitude to them for if the Acts of the Disciples were to be written today, they will deserve a chapter just to talk of their exploits – living out the Christian way.

Think about this as you conclude reading and bless them from your hearts as you do.

Thank you.

Shock and Awe

Introduction to Humility - 101

Our friends the Americans are the sole global superpower. Mikhail Gorbachev with his Glasnost and Perestroika policies which opened up the Soviet Union, laid bare an unsustainable drive to compete with America after the Star Wars initiative and put paid to the Cold War.

This brought the liberation of the Eastern Bloc European countries west of the Soviet Union from Communism. Eight of those countries would join the enlarged European Union in May 2004.

The braggadocio that accompanied the invasion of Iraq, the ousting of the Iraqi regime, the end to hostilities and the capture of Saddam Hussein are too well documented to suffer the pillory of revisionist historians.

The Americans and the coalition of the blackmailed, bribed and coerced did a quick job of it all, the shock of a quick victory and the awe of the volume of precision guided artillery that had a target of hitting defenceless civilians is all too well known.

A catalogue still remains of how the American's unilateralist approach with Britain's unstinting support has continually alienated well meaning though differing views to the stance American has adopted.

With hindsight, the war with Iraq was probably necessary, but good technology does not take the place of diplomacy, useful intelligence, respect for the traditions of the occupied territory and the restoration of self-determination for the Iraqi.

One's shock and awe.

• The people of Iraq pronounce it as ee-rack; the occupying forces of America call it eye-rack - you cannot invade, occupy, run roughshod over the country and then rename it.
• The liberation of Jessica Lynch is a lot less to it than meets the eye. You can only put so much of a spin on it before the truth is out.
• There is still no evidence of WMDs or where they might have been disposed of. From weapons deployable within 45 minutes through massive nuclear acquisition to weapons programs. Intelligence suddenly sounds like the ability to see the truth but accentuate a preferred lie.
• Dr David Kelly being spun out of earthly orbit by the New Labour publicity machinery - The Hutton Inquiryprovided a Window on Media
• That a CIA operative was uncovered by some White House apparatchik in revenge for her husband's insistence that Iraq had not acquired uranium from Niger.
• A third person was buried with Saddam's sons, his 14-year-old grandson, Mustafa.
• Ahmed Chalabi who is a convicted felon in neighbouring Jordan is the darling of the American occupying forces - here we go again.
• Death of Sergio de Mello
• Guantanamo Bay - we do not even have a jury to go out on this one - even Cuba is not pleased.
• Contracts going to coalition countries, then they have the gall to ask France, Germany and Russia to forgive Iraqi debts. Dick Cheney's former firm allegedly overcharges by $60 million. One does not understand this, why would I give up $40bn to fight over $18bn?
• No end to hostilities.
• Saddam Hussein found in a hole and Osama bin Laden still at large.

One only hopes that lessons are being learnt, one might have been shocked and awed, but definitely, neither amused nor impressed.

Might tempered with gentle consideration is a difficult but necessary mix or the absence of humility would humble the mighty to the point of humiliation.

Further Reading and references

eye-rack or ee-rock

A small note on pronunciation

Attacking the Shadow through Iraq

Saving Private Jessica Lynch

Shameful Propaganda exposing CIA Spy

Profile: Joe Wilson - Spy's spouse

The last moments of Saddam's grandson

Ahmed Chalabi

Cuba decries detainees' treatment

Sergio Vieira de Mello

EU may fight Iraq contracts ban

Halliburton charge not deliberate

James Baker III seeks reconstruction support

American Casualities