Midwives of a new generation

This morning I sat down to watch an animated movie my 2 year old loves to watch over and over again. Anyone who's a animated movie enthusiast must have seen Kung-fu Panda. The movie boasts of cast like Jackie Chan, Lucy Lu and some other guys (even Angelina Jolie). My gist is not about the cast though. Its the interesting story line.

An accident (or so it seemed) caused an oversized panda to be selected as the destined warrior that would save an entire village from a vengeful snow leopard. From all indications the choice of this panda (named Po) was a mistake. The guy couldn't even see his own toes. The only thing he was good at was bungling all the tasks he was given and of course making the best tasting noodles in the village. However Po had always dreamt of being the great Dragon Warrior, a legendary warrior who was so good that even the sight of his skills blinded his adversaries (imagine that!!!).

Master Oogway (the instructor who choose Po) believed so much that his choice was not a mistake despite the fact that this Po guy was a far cry from the deliverer everyone had hoped. Master Oogway's protigy Shifu, who was also a master, was given the task of training this 'dragon warrior' and seeing his utter uselessness was convinced it was all a mistake to try and even train Po. At the end of the movie Master Shifu not only succeeded in training this panda but the panda, Po, easily defeated the evil guy.

In relation to Nigeria, many of the individuals in my age bracket and the one behind me are in need of people who believe in their ability. People who believe they can effect some kind of change. While growing up, I decided to learn how to play the keyboard. With no tutor, I would spend hours behind the instrument just pounding away. Stumbling on chords and notes. I never had a proper training. Whenever I played at church, I remember there was this man who always complained about my playing. He complained about my inability to play from song sheets, my inability to play hymns properly. He literarily complained about everything I did on the keyboard. The truth was that he was right about everything. I stuck to what I was doing, eventhough someone refused to see its usefulness and even commend my effort to fill a need. At that time in the church, we needed someone to play the keyboard and I saw that need and made an attempt to fill it but here was one of the elders of the church all out to quench the flame of my enthusiasm.

Looking back now I'm grateful I stayed with it. Thankful I did not allow his crtical remarks to stop me from trying. But I also know why I didn't give up: there were other people who kept encouraging me to keep on. Eventhough at first, the people who encouraged me to keep on were nothing near being people who played any instrument, yet they spurred me on. I rode on their encouragement and ploughed through. Today I have over seven years experience in playing worship and leading choirs and worship teams, valuable experience that has also earned me some cool cash and recognition (I played alongside Hebert Kunle Ajayi once at a Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship meeting).

Here's my point: for Nigeria to enter into her destiny, we need fresh ideas and approaches to doing things. Where will these fresh ideas come from? I know we all agree they come from God but what’s the channel He’ll use? Young minds! The writer of the book of Proverbs says the glory of young men is their strength. Young men thrive on and pride themselves in their physical abilities. This strength is what Nigeria needs to move forward. However our prophetic destiny will never be accomplished by strength alone because the race is not always to the swift (ask the hare and he’ll tell you how he lost to a slow tortoise). We need the wisdom and experience of the aged. Of course wisdom is not limited to age but usually on of the places where you’ll find wisdom is with the aged.

Let the youth not rely completely on their strength to get things done. We need the experience of those who have gone before us. We can stand on their shoulders, take advantage of that and be more effective. Abraham Lincoln once said if he had 5 hours to cut a tree he would spend 4 hours sharpening his axe. Wisdom is profitable to direct, the Holy Book says.

In closing, I read the exchange between Rueben Abati, a senior editor with Guardian Newspapers, and Banky W, a Nigerian musician and I saw how misguided we can get. Here was Abati rubbishing the efforts of this generation is expressing themselves and exporting Nigeria to the world. Banky W made a good case for himself and his colleagues but refused to accept that many of these musicians were creating a wrong image for young Nigerians, who would do anything to imitate the lifestyles these musicians portray.

Nigeria is in need of midwives; men and women who will help birth the change we all desire. Enlist as one of them!!!