Why some parents may be losing it.

I came across an edition of supa strika comic. Immediately, I knew there was something sinister about it. I have read accounts of some people who claimed to have been shown revelations of Heaven and hell. I do not always take in these accounts hook, line and sinker. One account says some comic or children cartoon heroes are look like some demons in hell. I didn’t take it seriously because I was of the view that it had the potential of labelling all cartoon or comic characters as evil. But as the Scripture says, ‘the tree is known by its fruit’, we can know the good ones from the bad ones. Your truly, the story is about football but many of the characters were evil-looking. Some supposed footballers have very long canine teeth, similar to that of dogs. I can guarantee that a child exposed to these things regularly and lacks the proper parental supervision will tend towards rebellion and violent conduct. In our kind of world children get exposed to all kinds of wrong things but shared proper values of families can keep them from growing inside them. Unfortunately, these days we don’t seem to find time to watch over the children.

Satan is definitely going to use some children to torment their parents because they did not give them proper guidance. Unfortunately once more, it seems this trend will continue to get worse considering the way the world operates right now. But I am most convinced that if you train up your child in the proper way he/she will never be overwhelmed in the current evil madness. Even if he tastes the evil madness, he will remember that he was made of a better stuff.

...of military, and systems that work

Recently my brother and I were discussing childhood (career) dreams. He recalled how as a little child wanted to become an ambassador. Later he wanted to be a lawyer. Now he is a brand management expert. My earliest career dream was to be an architect as my father (probably all male children at one time in their lives wanted to do want their father did). Later in my late teens I wanted a career in the military. I fell in love with the order and the chain of command of the military. Of course as a young lad I also liked the power that military personnel exude. Some years later, I no longer wanted a military career because I considered the military life to be too rigid for me—a firm believer in creativity and diversity of ideas. Now my career is in organization development.

However, as we discussed I found that my initial interest in the military was because I found in the military a system that works. Even in the midst of the corruption that eats away at every institution in Nigeria I found the military retaining some form of effectiveness. I am not saying in any way that they were spared the assault of corruption however they retained a level of effectiveness that was not found in institutions like the Police. Looking beyond Nigeria, we find a similar scenario of the military. (The military worldwide have been responsible for many important inventions from the internet to GPS and so on.) This reality is what drew my young mind to the military. What was it that gave the military that edge of effectiveness? It is the unique culture of the military—a culture that ensures that missions are accomplished despite challenges. It also ensures that there is unity of command and that everyone is working towards some set objectives. That harmony, be it coerced or not, is essential to the military’s effectiveness. The culture emphasizes discipline and respect of authority. One of the reasons the military is effective is because it requires few persons to do the strategic planning while others carry it out with energy and doggedness. It does not generally tolerate dissent—even if the subordinate’s view can accomplish the task better. The rich pool of ideas that a more liberal system allows is lost. Had I been conscripted into the military my unwillingness to ‘follow-follow’ would be my greatest problem. I would have loved to have our missions and the strategy justified as much as possible.

A very effective organization, therefore, is one that embraces, on one hand, the strength of the military (cohesion and order) and on the other hand, openness of ideas and views of a civilian life. The synthesis will result in an organization that is both progressive and effective.