WE WILL BE SINGING WHEN WE ARE WINNING
"I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it..." -- Billings Learned Hand
I cannot begin to tell you what a tune this song (above) was. Granted, some people found it powerfully annoying but still, what a tune! If this is the first time you’ve heard it, I’m guessing you are one of those people that totally doesn’t get this either:
That’s okay, I wont judge you. I will however implore you to listen to tubthumping again and tell me what the song means to you right now.
I am told that tubthumping started its life with the best of intentions (I’m sure) and yet swiftly became every English football fan’s anthem during the 1998 World Cup in France amongst other things. For me, it used to be an awesome song to work out to, sometimes a song to sing at my mother (she loved it, really). For some people, the song is about knowing that no matter how many spanners life throws in the works, they know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they, will, get back up and keep getting up until things are in order. The idea of ‘don't stop til you get enough’ doesn’t factor in here at all. For these people, it is about acting as if failure is not an option. You keep going until you get it right. Until you are lost. Until you are healed. Until you forget. Until you succeed. Until you achieve. Until you are found. You keep going.
Some people think tubthumping is about giving voice to the world, letting the world know change has to come and we have to keep trying to put things right. I’ve a penchant for pointing out everything I find wrong with Nigeria. However, a lot has happened in the past week: Bauchi, Ghana, Ibadan, Lagos and a lot of people have said a lot of things. That’s what happens on this side of the equator: people talk, people pray, people suffer and people smile. You would think there was a prize for he-who-suffers-and-bears-it-the-most.
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR GCON
I shan't get on my soap box today as there really isn’t anything else to add to what’s been said so far. Talk is cheap and that is a crime we are all guilty of committing. We talk but do nothing. Is there more to Nigeria than providing sound bites? Is there more to changing the world than making the headline news?
As we count all we have lost on our war against greed, I hope we will find enough fingers left to do something about it.
Peace, Love & Marmite