It
was in Oslo, Norway when Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., was receiving his Nobel Prize for peace 1964, he said and I quote “modern
man has built gigantic bridges to span the seas and gargantuan buildings to
kiss the skies. Yet in spite of these spectacular strides in science and
technology, and still unlimited ones to come, there is a poverty of the spirit
which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance.
We learn to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not
learned the simple art of living together as brothers.”
One
of the banes of successful living in our world today is the inability of human
race to see and embrace each other as brother and sisters. It was the same Martin
Luther King Jr., who said to the Americans, ‘except we begin to live together
as brothers and sisters we shall all perish together like beast.’ I think
across the globe today, across the race and nationality, a new bond of love
need to be developed so as not to put our beautiful world of pleasure,
technology and advancement into chaos and disaster.
Segregation
in America prior and during the time of Martin Luther King Jr., and apartheid
in South Africa is inability of people of all colours and race to learn and
embrace the simple art of living together as brothers.
The
only difference between the former slaves and the slave masters was inability
of the slave owners to see the slaves as human being like them and the slaves
never had any good intention for the master than to wish him dead.
Even
the slaves refused to let go of the influence of the past so they blame their
present predicament on the havoc the slave master had done on them. I think
someone needs to talk to the former slave that for us to progress in life the
first thing to be done is to squeeze the slave out of ourselves.
It
was Mohandas Gandhi who said “there was no dishonour in a slave, there
was dishonour in a slave in being a slave holder.”
Those
who kill Martin Luther King Jr., JF Kennedy, Malcolm X, Dele Giwa, MKO Abiola,
Abraham Lincoln, Benezier Bhuttos, etc, if
they can just have a rethink that it is a life of a man like them they about to
terminate, I think they would have desist from such act. If the terrorists that
risk their lives by bombing world trade center in November 11 2001 can just sit
and think over the act again that lives of people that can still be asset to
your world is about to be terminated I think they not commit this great
offence. But they did and throw the entire world into sadness, sorrow, tears
and blood and the impact we still feel today.
We
need a new bond of love in our world today, let all of us create an atmosphere
of love and passion for each other so as to salvage the world from outer chaos
and disaster.
The
men who killed JF Kennedy did that because he stood out to uphold one of the pillars
that can make the world stand and not collapse. JF Kennedy said to the millions
of America on a national broadcast and I quote “And it ought to be possible for
American citizen of any colour to register and to vote in a free election
without fear of reprisal. But such is not the case. We say to the world and
each other that we the land of the free. Does that mean it is a land of the
free except for the Negroes? We are confronted primarily with a moral issues,
as old as the scriptures and as the American constitution.”
He
pointed out that segregation was wrong – should a man like that die?
Without
love, unity, togetherness and accommodation of each other, you and I can not go
far in life. Hitler killed 600,000 of European Jews, how on earth can a sane leader
descend so low and wipe out the people he ought to protect? Our leaders in Africa killed and put behind bars anyone who criticizes
their government. Our leader needs a re-orientation.
The
land has swallowed up those who should have become the saviour of our world.
Men and women across the length and breadth of the globe, we need each other
than we can ever imagine. Think of a transit bus with passenger and no driver
or think of the same transit bus with driver and no passenger. Think of a
congregation without pastor, or pastor without a congregation, think of
students who are ready to learn but there is no teacher to teach or teach who is
ready to teach but no students in the class. Can any progress be recorded in an
environment like this?
For
how long will it take for prejudice to blind the vision of men? For how long
will it take us seeing ourselves as brothers and sisters? We need to uphold the
dignity of man and the destiny of humanity. At times history and fate meet at a
single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom,
happiness, expression and serenity.
I
have the feeling that this is the time. Let us start respecting each other and
stop being in a collision course. The political leaders in Nigeria I have to
plead with you; I want you to stop asking your people to burn down their own
neighbours’ home, property and destroy lives.
Where
is the bond of our brotherhood when the people of the same country started
killing each other because of money, position, religion and cultural disposition?
Every
election in Nigeria
creates threats to life and property; I believe this nation need
re-orientation, and re-thinking because we run down our future strength as long
we continue to wreck down ourselves. You are my brother, you are my sister,
together we are destined to live, work, and walk together so as to live a
fulfill life on earth.
