USA Africa Dialogue Series - Worth Repeating--- Happy 51st Independence Anniversary to Nigeria

Fellow Nigerians at home and abroad:

Congratulations on this, our 51st Independence Day Anniversary,

It is he or she who is less discerning and has not traveled nor read widely enough who is not aware that
there are many much  less endowed countries in the world that are much more prosperous and peaceful
than Nigeria, our motherland and conversely that there are many more better endowed countries in the world
that have either been torn apart due to civil and religious strive or have had their progress stalled
due to ethnic and other differences compared to Nigeria.

There are three types of Nigerians: the optimists, the pessimists and the philosophical ones--to whom the
following quotes apply:

A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes;
 a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't
see the clouds at all - he's walking on them.  ~Leonard Louis Levinson

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an
optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.  ~Harry Truman

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. 
A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.  ~Bill Vaughan

An optimist is the human personification of spring.  ~Susan J. Bissonette

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes
 opportunities of his difficulties.  ~Harry Truman

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.  ~Irv Kupcinet"

For the sake of our children and future generations of Nigerians we cannot afford the luxury of being
pessimistic about Nigeria. Similarly, we cannot afford to be simply optimistic about Nigeria without
working hard to make right what is  wrong with Nigeria.

I have nothing more to say except that I fully endorse the message from Brother Eshiett in its entirety
and his recommendations for a more peaceful, progressive and prosperous Nigeria as encapsulated in the Quote
pasted immediately below,


Quote:

Suggested solution(s)?

1. Teach and train future generation of Nigerians to take pride in having the privilege of belonging to the most populous, talented, resourceful and diversely cultural black nation on planet earth;

2. De-emphasize the differences in our religious lives and instead, teach and stress our common belief in one God and in the brotherhood of mankind. After all, in the emerging God's Kingdom on earth, there WILL be people whose beliefs where based/rooted in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Shinto, etc. All the "other sheep that do not belong to this (Christian) fold" but will be brought to the fold, so that at the end, "there will be one fold one shepherd", our Lord Christ Jesus!!!

The sooner we learn to live in peace with all human beings, the more likely we will be citizens of the emerging Kingdom. And, living in peace with anyone in order to qualify for citizenship in God's Kingdom, involves practising all the known 13 virtues to the same degree at the least!!! Religiosity per se has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Accumulation of wealth, intellectuality and fame, all will not be of any help to anyone.

3. We need to discover what make(s) us uniquely good Nigerian and human beings in order to teach/stress them/it to our children/friends and others who care for what is good
and beautiful!!!

Once more, a very happy and great independence anniversary to Nigerians and all our friends worldwide.

Remain blessed

Mike Eshiett
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device.

UnQuote.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIGERIA!!!!!!!

Bye,

Ola

-----Original Message-----
From: NseObot Ette-Umoh <AkwaOdudu@yahoo.com>
To: akwaibomglobal <akwaibomglobal@yahoogroups.com>; NaijaObserver <NaijaObserver@yahoogroups.com>; NaijaPolitics <NaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com>; ibom_forum <ibom_forum@yahoogroups.com>; annang-forum <annang-forum@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Oct 1, 2011 11:56 am
Subject: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: [AkwaIbomGlobal] Happy 51st Independence Anniversary to Nigeria

 

Brethren, On this day of October 1st, 2011 God is saying to us Nigerians celebrating our day of independence: "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14-15 NKJV) Happy 51st anniversary! Nse, Ann Arbor --- On Sat, 10/1/11, Dr MUA Eshiett <eshiett@doctors.org.uk> wrote: From: Dr MUA Eshiett <eshiett@doctors.org.uk> Subject: [AkwaIbomGlobal] Happy 51st Independence Anniversary to Nigeria To: akwaibomglobal@yahoogroups.com, Annang-forum@yahoogroups.com Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011, 8:25 AM Dear all While wishing Nigeria and Nigerians all over the world, I wish to stress that we are not Nigerians by any accident of nature as some people would want us to believe. Yes, an amalgamation of two apparently incompatible British colonies took place in 1914 for, only the administrative convenience of the colonialists!!! But, there is no accident in nature! It is an orderly creation!! The "forged" union was "obviously engineered" by those far wiser and caring than we all are, for our prime purpose, gain and collective benefits!! Why? Because it is God's will that we learn: a) to live in peace with one another, even those perceived as enemies!; and b) not just learn to tolerate, or accommodate each other; or b) impose each other's way of life/culture/religion/false sense of superiority, etc, on one another; but c) learn to accept and integrate each other's diverse way of life/culture/belief, experience, etc, into  one national/cultural characteristic that all Nigerians can identify with, be proud of and ready to defend/die for if need be!!! As it is, there are too many diverse nationalities with no unity in diversity. There is loose bonding interest between the incompatible strange bed fellows in the form of the Niger Delta oil wells that cannot survive the test of time, or external and fierce challenges.  Suggested solution(s)? 1. Teach and train future generation of Nigerians to take pride in having the privilege of belonging to the most populous, talented, resourceful and diversely cultural black nation on planet earth; 2. De-emphasise the differences in our religious lives and instead, teach and stress our common belief in one God and in the brotherhood of mankind. After all, in the emerging God's Kingdom on earth, there WILL be people whose beliefs where based/rooted in Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Shintu, etc. All the "other sheep that do not belong to this (Christian) fold" but will be brought to the fold, so that at the end, "there will be one fold one shepherd", our Lord Christ Jesus!!! The sooner we learn to live in peace with all human beings, the more likely we will be citizens of the emerging Kingdom. And, living in peace with anyone in order to qualify for citizenship in God's Kingdom, involves practising all the known 13 virtues to the same degree at the least!!! Religiousity per se has absolutely nothing to do with it. Accumulation of wealth, intellectuallity and fame, all will not be of any help to anyone. 3. We need to discover what make(s) us uniquely good Nigerian and human beings in order to teach/stress them/it to our children/friends and others who care for what is good and beautiful!!! Once more, a very happy and great independence anniversary to Nigerians and all our friends worldwide. Remain blessed Mike Eshiett Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device ------------------------------------ Please, post responsibly. The content of this forum is monitored on a regular basis by a team of Moderators. If you find anything inappropriate, report same to the Forum Moderators.  While we generally believe that members can self-moderate, note that in any case of serious violation of Forum rules posting privileges of an offending member(s) may be suspended or withdrawn at any time without prior warning and at the discretion of the team of Moderators. Thank you. Yours truly, Akwa Ibom Global TeamYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akwaibomglobal/ <*> Your email settings:     Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to:     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akwaibomglobal/join     (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email:     akwaibomglobal-digest@yahoogroups.com     akwaibomglobal-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:     akwaibomglobal-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

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