The God Factor of Love

When you look at a mirror what do you see? An image of yourself, isn’t it? But who are you exactly? Have you ever sat down to have some alone time about who you really are? If someone walked up to you and asked you to name five things that define you uniquely, what would you say? How long would you have thought about them? Would any of them have anything to do with love?

I think something common to all of us is love. We all know what love is, and we feel it when it is experienced. Pure love is unconditional and can be perceived even without action. Now, is there usually an intention behind love?

The Long Trek

As dawn broke, he awakened with a heightened level of anxiety. He had trekked several kilometres from a village close to Abuja; the last village a truck had volunteered to drop him. He was seeking the place he believed was his destiny to find. He got up, and rolled up his sleeping baggage; a set of very old blankets he had grabbed from what was left on the bed he slept on for years. He went to a nearby tap and washed his face and rinsed his mouth, after which, it was time to begin a series of actions he had set up to achieve by the grace of God. It didn’t take long before he was noticed. A dissident loitering a few metres away from an Embassy was always going to draw some attention.

The Fruit of the Womb

From the womb of emptiness and nothingness, phenomena beyond human comprehension sparked life. A Supreme Being designed and executed a plan that will continue to remain a mystery even to the best scientists; the creation of space, matter, and time. Did this Supreme Being remodel the earth and put life on it? Are we alone? Did this Supreme Being also create the entire multiverse as we know it from NASA? The human mind cannot execute thought processes beyond the capacity prescribed for it from the beginning. We cannot truly comprehend the magnitude of all the elements contained alongside us in space. But we can control what to believe and how to live.

In Memory of the “Love Locks” of Pont des Arts Bridge

He heard the news over the radio days ago. Since then, a series of involuntary actions led him to a bunch of padlocks on the barrier rails of the popular Pont des Arts bridge in Paris. The barrier rails on both sides were filled with padlocks of different shapes, colours and sizes that reflected the dawning sunlight. He stopped and  stared at a particular one. The particular one that set him in motion when he heard over the radio that the padlocks would be removed by government maintenance officers.

About twenty five years ago, he and a young lady he was in love with played around the narrow streets of Paris like toddlers in kindergarten. They chased each other from street to street and drank from pub to pub. No one could separate them. It was true love indeed. One day, they bought a padlock and swore never to leave each other until they were married someday. They placed the padlock on the fence and locked it. An inscription on it read “together always.” The dream of marriage ended the day he went over to her house and found out that her family had vanished.

Dyeing our Mosaicked Fabric

Like the approach of eventide, gradually intensifying with time, a country so dear to us is sinking gradually into a sea of trepidation, and we are quite unsure about our future. We have heard statements from very highly placed Nigerians stating very firmly that Nigeria must remain one and that the unity of Nigeria is not up for discussion. I like hearing these statements a lot because quite frankly, they are the only source of belief for me now. The Nigerian state today reminds me of an earth tremor on the verge of eruption. Whether we like it or not, our country is unstable and like every chaotic situation, opportunists prowl cunningly, seeking to take advantage where they can. At this time in our history, we must ask ourselves if we want to continue to be Nigerians.