Pillow 050
fighting these temptations
It is a very sad feeling when you run away from death, do everything you can to escape death, get a silver lining where it looks like everything is finally falling into place for you, you even give birth to a child signifying the dawn of a new life and just when you think you’ve caught a break, death comes and gets you in the most harrowing ways. Lived life without peace and even in death, no sight of peace. This is the sad story of a 27 year old Nigerian musician, Mohbad who died this week. The story about his death has been so sad that despite trying to ignore the news, the sad tale is just too heartwrenching to ignore. He really fought to be alive, his fight and demons were public and it’s just so sad. No one can run away from death eventually, it’s why you must always live each day making peace with your maker and no man because at the end of the day, when you leave this earth, no one will matter or stand in your place when you’re standing in front of your maker. Sad.
In light of the struggles that Mohbad went through, I am reminded of a song lyric where the artist said “when I show them light, they turn their backs and show me dark”. It seems that creative industries run on so much treachery, evil and betrayals that I had me going on the internet to understand creative industries have so much strife across all climes even in developed economies. Of course, I saw so many articles including anecdotes with artists who shared their first-hand experiences. Not all that glitter is surely gold.
Digress A
I came across a video where someone sang a soulful song, he was referring to Jesus and he said “when others are sleeping and others are slumbering, Jesus you are awake watching over me”. The melody in the video caught me but when I thought deeper about the lines of the video, it made so much sense. So many things happen without our knowledge so it’s very futile to think anyone has a hold over the affairs of your life. Most times, it’s Jesus doing the heavy lifting for you. Ask him for help today.
I have been talking about music a lot in my Bedsides and it’s a true reflection of how I have fallen back on music and melodies in the last couple of weeks to ease me. I have grown a sensitised taste and ear for melodies and the stories behind them and when I come across anything today, I want to go deeper to know the origin story. Those who have been around me in recent weeks would attest that I have said the word “origin story” one too many times. The quest for origin story is why I love biographies so much and this week Walter Isaacson released his biography of Elon Musk. A few years ago, when Ashlee Vance released his biography of Elon Musk, my friends and I were in awe of Musk. Vance’s version focused on Elon’s exploit with SpaceX and Tesla and his genius mind, Musk wasn’t as exposed and disliked as he is today. Vance did a good job but the truth is that the idea of Musk we had eight years ago is totally different to the idea we know today and thus another autobiography was due. Reading Isaacson’s version truly feels like a different Musk from the one Vance wrote about. However, a genius in both versions. Isaacson is a fantastic biographer (I still remember his Steve Job biography, go ahead and read).
Digress B
The building blocks of a society is Consequence. Consequence is how societies are built. The idea is that every action has a consequence; this is also why societies are safe. It’s not the cops that keep society safe, it’s the fear of consequences. It’s why you can walk down a dark alley and there’s someone stronger than you but they don’t just grab your bag and beat the hell out of you, you can’t stop them obviously. Fear of consequence is why bouncers and able-bodied muscular men don’t go round the street beating people up and taking their things, they fear consequences even if the police may never get to them but that fear keeps them in check. So, when a society is built on the absence of consequences, it cannot last long. There are no consequences for bad behaviour in Nigeria but that in itself is not as big a problem as a society that rewards bad behaviour with promotion and adulation. I cannot say more than this or mention names, so no hyperlinks. I should probably write a book about this someday.
Nigeria’s government recently announced that the travel ban between Nigeria and the UAE had been lifted with immediate effect and it’s been such a meh show since the announcement. One of the early signs of trouble with that announcement was the rush with which all government media aides and the President’s social media handles two the news - verbatim. We have seen government officials come out with different tales to incoherently explain the meaning of the word “immediate effect”. Now the UAE has debunked the news. I personally think the trip and its reporting would have been fine without being sensational. We have a lot of young people powering the President’s media team and it’s important that they understand that this is a long game and not a game where you chase quick headlines. Honesty is always better than walking back wrong statements. Long and short, Nigerians still can’t travel to Dubai to chill on a yacht.
Have a great weekend and don’t forget to subscribe.
Always True.
Miracle Roch.