Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Michael Afolayan: A Cat With 9 Lives!

What can (or could) I say?

But first, I have to thank everyone for these lovely felicitations with my wife and I on this memorable occasion of ours. I say a loud and resounding AMEN to your prayers and kind wishes. In my characteristic way, I will be sure to respond to you individually in no distant time. 

And concerning the Igi-Nla of our time, Ojogbon Agba TF, I have long stopped saying "I am surprised" or "I am impressed" or "I am flabbergasted" by anything he does or says. But this much I can say: There are folks in life who will make small people feel smaller, and that says much about many on our planet earth. Then comes an infinitesimally negligible micro-minority which will proactively make small people feel big and "innermostly" humongous. TF belongs in that less-noticed class. And for this, I will always pray that the measure with which he has meted out to humanity, especially to small people like me, my heavenly Father will heave it back to him, heaped in a truckload of blessings - in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  

My thanks knows no bounds,

Michael O. Afọláyan

On Thursday, August 18, 2022 at 10:47:10 AM EDT, 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Forty solid years...this is sometimes to beg Olodumare for, to live long with the wife of one's youth and be blessed together. Just imagine the solidity of the pictures, and how many memories it encodes! 

Baami Afolayan, i salute your fortitude and your example! Congratulations!

 

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429

On Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at 12:10:24 PM GMT+1, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

 

 

1. He came to life when others died

How many choices of life is really our choice?

Born innocent,

We came covered with blood,

This blood is special,

And the day, memorable:

It is the only day when the sight of blood comes with joy;

The joy of motherhood, we call it,

We shouted with our fists held high,

The tears we saved for another day,

The fight we have reserved for the tumultuous journey ahead,

But we burn the energy anyway,

We came symbolizing what adventure life is:

Struggles, Peace, Joy, Pain, Love, and Intrigues.

 

2. He survived encounters with armed robbers

 

Behold the apotheosis:

May we live to fight the right course,

May our days be counted as blessing to humanity,

May the seasons of our time nourish the future of our unborn self,

And find peace in life and in death.

 

 

3. He survived colon cancer

 

 

We were born free,

But freedom was not given to us,

Its too demanding to be,

Of course, the science of Freedom is better appreciated in the context of to whom much is given,

Otherwise, all men would have been born with privilege,

And when the evils, diseases, and pestilence roar in the city square,

Can we not withdraw to our cocoon of freedom?

 

 

 

4. Friends and relatives died in his presence

 

Freedom to live,

But when the boogeyman of Death comes knocking,

His back we do not always live to see,

Others tell the story because dead men do not tell tales,

We crave for freedom,

The cost we cannot bear,

So the boogeyman always have its day.

 

5. He survived a series of hospitalizations and two brain surgeries.

 

They say that sin is the harbinger of death,

What have we done to be worthy of birth?

The fists hanging in the air for the tormented journey,

And the tears we conserved when announcing our arrival,

Both work with us until death:

When others shed this tears for us,

What we've done with these fists shall be recounted.

 

 

 

 

He lives on today, grateful to God, alive to celebrate on this day, the 40^th anniversary of his marriage. I know the man, my friend. I know the wife, Precious, and the story of how they met at Ondo, on the campus of Adeyemi College of Education. I know their four children. I know their religion. If you have Michael Afolayan has a friend, you don't need a second friend: his values, derived from our ancestors and from his religion, are solid.

 

Happy anniversary.

Toyin Falola

 

 

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