27 Feb 2006 |
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Is it a bird? is it a plane? is it a bullet? No it is our clean shaven head flying Nigerian! Wherever they may be found, most people would probably agree that Nigerians are an energetic, highly driven breed of enterprising people. Within this breed is a certain unique young man who goes by the name ; Shola Ogunmokun. And what, you may ask makes this young man unique? Well, Shola, an intensely focused fellow (with a shinny clean shaven head) is bent on flying across the U.K in a powered hand glider. As shown in the video clip accompaning this article, this fellow already is deeply engrossed in training for this enterprise and has launched a website to publicize this plan. I must confess that when I first heard about this development, I immediately recalled a line in the movie “Deep Blue Sea”, wherein LL Cool Jay who played the role of a bartender jokingly admonished the risk taking, mountain climbing dare-devil millionaire Samuel Jackson with the apt words “Don’t brothers already have enough ways of getting killed ?” My first instinct was to smack this young man on his gorimakpa head and hysterically yell the above words into his ears , because I know that any type of flying, especially hang gliding, could reasonably be called an extreme sport. Afterall, all that is between you, the elements and a spectacular crash down to mother earth from an ungodly height is a pair of flimsy polyethylene wings, a few strings, a leather seat and a glorified lawnmower delusionally called an engine, Then, I jokingly thought of conducting a poll amongst my friends in order to figure out what Shola’s motive was.I imagined a poll as follows: What is Shola trying to do? a) Kill himself However, being something of a flyer myself, I reasoned that it might be a tad hypocritical and hasty of me to come to this macabre conclusion, so I decided to further investigate this matter. Now, having paid close attention to this young man’s blogspace, http://mbchallenge.blogspot.com/
My investigations also revealed that a clean shaven head, though not essential to landing and taking off in a glider is however by virture of its ability to better reflect the sun’s rays and other electromagnetic pulses, advantageous in better of showing up on tracking rader systems. Hence we can safely wind up by saying that killing himself in a spectacular fashion is not Shola’s intention, rather, it is to demonstrate the irrepressiveness, of the human spirit especially that of the Nigerian variety. It takes a peculiar kind of courage to go from not having touched a glider in one’s life to trying to set gliding records within a year. Lest anyone think it is just a sport, I will point out that the practical applications and the potential for commercial spin off could be enormous if an entrepreneurial spirit could be harnessed to complement this adventure, as Shola has already expressed the willingness to explore the possibility of commercializing this “sport” at some time in the future in Nigeria. Now having had the chance to reflect more deeply upon Shola's undertaing, if I were to run a poll today, the following would be how it would go; What is Shola trying to do: a)Prove to himself and to the world the capacity of our people for achievement Shola by his action is proving to be an inspiration to more Nigerians and Africans all over the world than he could possibly imagine. This act sends the message that we can do whatever it is that we set our minds upon. It affirms that we as a people are not deficient in richness of human spirit. Shola, we are proud of you and are keenly following this development. Bankole Arowobusoye , the author of this article can be reached at Bankarow@shaw.ca
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