I hear violence as I pronounce the word: Struggle. It is eternity race from birth. It is a fight in which we have made life difficult for ourselves. Even birds teach their offspring to struggle – to fly – otherwise they will starve to death. Those who refused to struggle are left behind, or at the bottom of totem pole. We must battle in order to be. Scramble to be rich; to be famous; to be somebody. Those who cannot climb anymore are pooh-pooh, and used as the ladder to the top. We must continue to bout and endure like in a boxing match.

First, we must combat society troops as they impose their orthodox belief in our thinking. We must absorb the norms otherwise we become the rebel. To exhibit great independence in thought and action may lead us to a secret place where our souls are belowground.

Women in their thirties or men in their forties without offspring begin to feel the anger of that legendary tiny old man. Death becomes a mortal being that refused to compromise sincerity. Though Christians love Jesus Christ, they dare not follow his footstep – by not getting married. Though most parents love Mother Theresa, they won’t advise their daughters to follow such barren footstep.

Human beings are being geared toward success even though most of the things we see as success tend to be the bane of our life. They say failure is abomination. Whereas there’s nothing like failure since human being are yet to succeed when they failed. We would rather cheat than accept “failure”. To fail is synonymous to being disowned by the society. Athletes use steroid to enhance their performances; students bribe the examiners in order to pass; politicians engage in blatant lies, and the desperate ones would rather rig elections than accept “failure”. A young fellow would rather become an armed robber or 419er or drug pusher or trade their bodies for money.

  Examples are many and damning. From Anambra State to Oyo State to our Ota farm to America and so on. It is struggle. Ngige, former “illegal” governor of Anambra State and his political father, Uba, colluded to rob Obi of his mandate in their quest for success. Ladoja, impeached governor of Oyo State in order to avoid failure, crawled from wherever he lives to Molete, prostrated before his highness, OluMolete of Molete, Oba Lamidi Adedibu. The “Tsunami” PDP (Peoples Deceiving People) has vowed to crush any party that stands their way on the road to 2007 political success. In their America, a skater once conspired with her boyfriend to maim her rival in order for “failure” not to become her. “Men {and women} for the sake of getting a living,” says Margaret Fuller, “forget to live.”   

Suppose we start rewarding failure! Ah, it is impossible because, then, the glamour and spectacular that come with success will be reduced to slavery. Our lives would probably become dull in the absence of thin line between success and failure. Do you now see the irony behind it all? Without failure there is no success. The latter measures its value at the expense of the former. Our ways of looking at life have been warped – toward struggle. Even at the Olympics we must struggle against one another in order to win gold or silver or bronze medal. Williams’ sisters faced such fight each time they met on the tennis court.

The struggle of Adam Smith gives us money; that of Sigmund Freud gives us psychoanalysis; that of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Bob Marley is simplicity and emancipation; that of Tai Solarin is education for Nigerian children; that of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi is non-violence protest; that of Nigerian politicians is greed; that of Anini and Dr. Oyenusi (two notorious armed robbers) and Abacha, the late military man, give us brutality and sorrow. I can go on and on.

We have allowed ambition to overwhelm our perception as if someone without a strong drive for success cannot live. We have forgotten that most of us would succeed in small things if we were not troubled with great ambitions. Albert Einstein also warned us in one of his quotes. “Try not to become a man {or woman} of success but rather to become a man {or woman} of value.”

Yet there is no excuse for those who refused to struggle. They are seen as lazy people whose punishment is poverty. A man or woman without a cherished desire is regarded as one without enough “intelligence”. How would such person survive in the age of reason? In the age of information technology! In the age when animals – especially dogs – are being trained to rescue people in distress.

Even God {or Yahweh or Allah or Jehovah etc}, according to Karen Hamstrung in her book, “The History of God” – struggled among other gods in order to be; to be omnipotent.  

To be continued

Robot  Villager

# 1 I hear violence as I pronounce the word: Struggle. It is eternity race from birth. It is a fight in which we have made life difficult for ourselves. Even birds teach their offspring to struggle – to fly – otherwise they will starve to death. Those who refused to struggle are left behind, or at the bottom of totem pole. We must battle in order to be. Scramble to be rich; to be famous; to be somebody. Those who cannot climb anymore are pooh-pooh, and used as the ladder to the top. We must continue to bout and endure like in a boxing match.First, we must combat society troops as th...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 24.03.2006 12:55

hap	# 2 Thanks for all your articles. Posted by hap| 24.03.2006 15:58