The Lessons Of Christmas

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For the adult minds, it's beyond that scope for it's the celebration of the redemption of mankind from eternal damnation given to us on a platter of gold by the birth, death and ascension of Jesus. That's the reason for the season, please pardon my cliché.

Medical surrogacy is a condition in which another woman carries the pregnancy of a woman with damaged womb, advanced age or due to one malady or the other can't carry her pregnancy and deliver naturally. It seems medical science is advancing faster than we could ever imagine but this issue of surrogacy happened thousands of years earlier because Mary was the surrogate mother of Jesus. Indeed, our Lord is an omniscient being. He knows everything, the end from the beginning; the beginning from the end.

Christmas reminds us that the year is about to round off and many a time people's expectations for the year have not been met so anxiety and panic overthrow peace and tranquility which fuels our systems with adrenaline and we begin the rat race. Go ask rats the consequences of 'rat race?' Believe me, the most competitive rats always end up in the trap!

Did you know that rat race is adrenaline gush? Too much fuel in fire makes it embark on a dramatic long jump into the territory of conflagration, to the envy of Chioma Ajunwa, Atlanta '96 Olympic gold medal-winning athlete. In the same vein, too much adrenaline in the system is stress which makes the system go haywire. Hypertension is prowling with a hood covering his face and baseball bat in his hands; diabetes is armed with ice pick and like vampire, thirsty for blood; while cancer, the evil sniper is camouflaging in the woods.

It's beautiful to set goals; wonderful to pursue them but not to the detriment of our good health or at the expense of our lives because only the living has hope and besides, what we'll achieve, we'll even if we catwalk and what we won't, we won't no matter the rat race. Don't forget that there's a huge gulf between cat and rat. Cats disdain rats; rats detest cats!

When I hear the cries of cats
I 'see' rats scampering to safety – even the mighty and crafty!

Christmas is the season of cold, dusty weather. The season of boom in commerce, the season of high crime rate induced by rat race and perhaps increase in sexual intimacy between lovers in proximity. Take cold weather to court for increasing the population of West Africa astronomically in the ember months of the following year and be rest assured that you will win even if the defense counsel is the 'SAN' of SANs, don't forget SAN is Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

September and October babies are harmattan babies and arguably Christmas babies because they were actually conceived in the season of Christmas.

To Christians, Christmas is the biggest festivity the world over. It's the season of brotherly love; neighbourly care, the season of giving and sharing and to crown it all, the season of love and goodwill. Christmas reminds children of Santa Claus, Christmas carol and trees, new clothes and shoes, rice with turkey, salad with chicken, sumptuous dinners in cold weather, family get-togethers, travels, sight-seeing and the like but it's beyond that in fact it's bigger than the border between Ghana and Togo.

When I see gold
I 'see' Ghana, the gold coast – please accept my toast!

Christmas was borne out of agape love for us – “for God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” The only problem confronting humanity is selfishness which is the root, origin and foundation of all crimes, social vices, delinquencies and misdemeanours. Selfishness is the luggage of the devil; selflessness, the baggage of God! Please don't forget the lesson of the season.

Selfish people are desperate people; desperate people are reckless, dangerous, people. Individuals who disregard the feelings, sensibility and dignity of others. They abuse the rights of others, oppress, suppress, humiliate, intimidate, maim and may even kill others for their selfish ends. They are too emotional to be rational yet life is short and the only permanent thing in life is change! Time, the most powerful preacher of all time, brings change!

Selfishness is the father of corruption, the twin-brother of greed, the business partner of poverty. It's associated with backwardness, barbarism, crudity. No matter how educated and enlightened a person might be if he's selfish he's unrefined, uncultured!

Selfishness detests development, dislikes egalitarianism, altruism, freedom and independence. That's why Africa is very far from where it ought to be in the committee of nations. Corruption, the hydra-headed monster has many children – they are poverty, disease, illiteracy, violence, unemployment….

It lives and breathes in all types of relationships: husband-wife, teacher-student, leader-follower, parents-children, mentor-protégé, and the like.

The politician who embezzled public funds is selfish; the armed robber who maimed, killed and robbed people is selfish so is the rapist, the fraudster, the terrorist, ritualist, drug courier and child trafficker. The journalist who reports hot, sensational but fictitious stories; the farmer who mixes weed with his vegetables before taking them to the market to sell, the palm wine tapper who adds water to his wine to increase its quantity and sells as concentrated wine, the lecturer who threatened to fail any of his students that refused to buy his handouts or books, are all birds of a feather nesting on different trees.

Corruption like pollution corrodes, soils the purity, naivety, dignity of a being on its path with or without his knowledge or consent. I used to say that if nations export corruption, African states would be the richest nations on earth but ironically, the residual corruption at home would again eat up our foreign exchange earnings, how pathetic!

Africa is still an economic baby because the followers of yesterday who had accused their leaders of corruption had been selected, elected or appointed today and are replicating the exact things (in fact, worse) their leaders did. May the followers of today not do what today's leaders are doing when they get there tomorrow.

Please don't forget the lesson of Christmas – love, the mother and forerunner of selflessness!

Selfishness roar consistently in selfless people; they only tame it and prevent it from preying on others. That's why selfless people are civilised, refined set of people; they create the needed environment for growth, development and evolution.

Children want immediate gratification and don't care about their mother's feelings and these are signs of selfishness and this is because they're still in their raw, unrefined state, a selfish adult is unrefined!

You are the most knowledgeable about yourself; the closest to yourself therefore you can influence, impact and impart values into your life much more than you would others. If you want to change your home, community, state, country or the world, first and foremost, change yourself!

Truth be told, it's normal to exhibit signs of greed once in a while but when we want to have our way all or most of the time irrespective of who is hurt in the process then it becomes unhealthy, unprogressive and catastrophic.

We accuse and abuse others of what we would likely do if we were in their shoes. That's why accusing finger is first and foremost abusing and nailing its own innocence. So don't say you're faster than Usain Bolt while you are only on the treadmill. By extension, Drosophila shouldn't claim Housefly is dirty and eats rotten food, because he's guilty of similar offence.

He who seeks equity must come with a clean hand.
A man or woman who can't control or contain his lustful desires and selfish ambitions is not mature for leadership positions. He's still a boy; she's still a girl! Many leaders in Africa steal public funds because they can't control themselves; that's lack of self-control which is poor self-leadership and should never be seen in a great leader.

Before you think of leading others ask yourself, “Can I lead myself successfully?” If honestly your answer is yes kudos to you; if no, solve your problems first before thinking of solving those of others because leaders are problem solvers!

If some people are in poverty because you are in wealth then you are poorer than the pauperised masses, believe me. People see you as a success and say you are successful but if your conscience pricks you then you are not! But you can reconcile with your conscience otherwise you would become a 'camouflage-failure.' Remember no success without fulfillment; no fulfillment without success.

The conscience judges a man for his actions and inactions without anybody at the trial court.

Our problems are rooted in greediness which is the reverse of the lesson of Christmas; may God make us civilised by uprooting weeds of selfishness, greediness in our minds and replacing with seeds of love, patience and tolerance. Where there's true love, there's care, selflessness and affection not affectation!

Your mind is a professor emeritus so tell her to read, store and imbibe the moral of this epigram – Leadership is not for theft but service, religion is not for war but salvation, sports is not for enmity but unity, amity and relationship is not for lust but love.

As we celebrate Christmas please imbibe the lesson, the essence of Christmas which is love and goodwill.

Let Christmas preach to you true love, patience, temperance, tolerance, goodwill, loyalty and respect for the rights of others. We won't live here forever so let that singular fact guide us in every decision we take in life. The time from womb to tomb is short if only you knew. Time flies faster than the speed of light – fact!

Late Nelson Madiba Mandela was a legendary leader because he was selfless and tolerant. He was an epitome of love, paragon of unity, an ambassador of peace, temperance and tranquility. He was a leader, believer and lover of humanity. The world has lost its hero. Adieu Madiba!

Civilised people want others to be civilised as well because they are too enlightened to be so sentimental or emotional. They are too realistic to be ignorant. They know that a literate man amongst ten illiterates is also an illiterate and a rich man amongst ten paupers is poorer than poverty.

May God bless Africa and humanity.
Have a merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year in advance!