Momma, I am so Sorry...!

I have never seen a woman in the process of giving birth before.
But I have seen one or two pregnant women in sporadic pain... in readiness to give birth.
Yesterday however, I learnt something new. I watched a woman being delivered.
It was not the most pleasant sight to behold though. But, it is something I feel all matured men should see.

This woman, I was made to understand had been in labour for two hours. Her man was by her side. And you could see anguish written all over him. I felt her pain too as I watched. Each time she screams, her husband flinches and I winced involuntarily where I was seated.
Eventually, the tiny creature was shot out into the world after about four and half hour of torment. It shrilled with a wail...
My attention went back to the woman. The look on her face was that of depletion. And then I focused on the tiny creature again...the cause of the pain and anguish of both mother and father.

What immediately came to my mind was...'so this is how I came into the world'. Instantaneously, I felt guilty.
The feeling of guilt was not because I saw a woman give birth. But because, I have caused my mama alot pain and embarrassment in the past. In my estimation, all women deserve the utmost respect from their children.
And I say mama, I am sorry!

I could still recall vividly one of such embarrassing moments I caused my mum.
I had just gained admission into the university of Ibadan to study in the same department where Wole Soyinka left an indelible footprint. And wanting to follow in his(W.S) footsteps, I joined the Pyrate Confraternity. The Pyrate confraternity was a legitimate and registered organisation in the university of Ibadan then. So, we were free to carry out our activities in broad daylight.
To be a Pyrate in those days require that you have more brains than the average student. For many were called, but only few were chosen. Ahoy seadogs!

As part of the grooming process for new in-takes, you are not expected to speak to lubbers 24 hours prior to the initiation ceremony.
All those who are not pyrates are regarded as lubbers- this is a very strong term for stupid,awkward and clumsy fellows.
From sunrise, the new in-takes would come out in their Red beret. And in companies of twos or threes, they are scattered around the campus... guarding the Black Jacks- Pyrate Confraternity banners with dreadful human skull and cross-bones.
That, was your duty post. From that moment until sunset, you are not to speak to anyone who is not a pyrate.
You stand in full glare of passers-by; some of them- your roommates, others your course mates and you are not expected to blink or even as much as indicate that you know these people. Worse of all, that Black Jack MUST not be touched by anyone who is not a pyrate.

This was the day of all other days in the calendar, that my mother chose to pay me a visit in school.
It remains the most awkward moment till date for me.
Instead of running to embrace my mum, I started running away from her to avoid my talking to her.
Poor woman, she stood transfixed, looking confounded as I widened the gap between mother and son.
How that case was settled will be another tale for another day...

Seeing that tiny creature delivered, and the pain and anguish the parents went through, I felt so small and guilty.
Momma, I want you to know that I am truely sorry for all the pain I caused you!

The Huddles of Writing...

Not so many people will agree with this assertion. Writing is the most difficult art in the world. Yes. Some people however might argue, that writing is a science...
Well, be it science or art, I still consider the act of writing as one of the most difficult things to do (sounds a little bit confusing). I don't want to prolong the argument, whether it is a science or an art. So, I will call it a 'process'.

The process of writing is not an easy one. Not every dumbass can write. Even if they think they can do so. This is because, writing entails much more than just putting pen to paper. Do people still put pen to paper these days...? I don't think so! People, apart from Nigerian judges, type straight into the computer. Judges in Nigeria, I feel so sorry for them. They have to write everything out in long hand. May be, thats why cases take so long to conclude.

Back to the process of writing. By writing here, I do not mean this blogging of half a page or two pages. I am talking about writing a book. Or novel, if you like. That process is a very difficult one. To put your thoughts into words- either experienced or imagined- is an uphill task. Then, putting these thoughts down in chronological sequence is like a character portrayed by Sophocles in one of his dramas. This character tries in vain to push a huge rock up hill... and each time he nearly gets to the pinnacle, the rock rolls down again... He has to start all over again! Attempting to write is similar to the character mentioned above.

I have been trying to write a book (if I say the number of years... some of you will laugh) for a very very loooooooong time now. I have written a considerable number of chapters. Going by the plot of this my book, I have my doubt, if I will ever finish it. Do you see why writing is a difficult task...?
Writing a book is just one aspect. You have to publish, and then market. If you come up with something wishy-washy, your effort will be rejected by publishers and you will end up with a bundle of manuscript- may be, not even good enough for akara sellers because, they preffer newspapers. If the guguru and ekpa seller accepts them, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, dustbin!

If however, you manage to scale the huddle of the publisher, and you fail to make an impact on the readers, then your effort will end up in some local bookshops with cobwebs.

For those us with eagle eyes, critical and difficult to satisfy, writing a book is no tea party o... ehe!
Some of us only know how to read. Then, we criticise- "the story is disjointed or some of the sentences are ambiguous...;the ending is flat...popodu popodu papadap..."
Don't you know how tough it is to come up with something readable in this blogging thing...oho!
Try and write a book, then you will know how far!
In fact, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, Zulu Sofola,Femi Osofisan, Chimamanda Adichie, Uzodinma Iweala, and all the other successful writers are geniuses!
We should doff our hats for them!

The Niger-Delta in Me...

I used to have enormous respect for my boss. This has changed. Now,I treat her with suspicion. My boss is a lady. She is Swedish. Is Sweden close to Denmark? I don't want to be too close to anybody that is close to Denmark. And you know why.
Anyway, we were the best of friends until she robbed me of my annual holiday last year.
It is our companys' policy for all employees to apply for their annual holidays at the beginning of the year. The bosses then streamline, re-arrange, approve or disapprove as the case may be. It is always very rare to disapprove.

Somehow, I wanted my holiday in the month of April; but she (my boss) shifted it to November- saying Mr Blah-Blah-Blah has been scheduled for April. I grudgingly accepted.
November eventually came, but there was too much work to do. I was paid all entitlements but could not proceed on my vacation. It was not funny! And I guess she saw unhappiness written all over me that period. She placated me with this gift of a mini DVD player(£99). I smiled. I have too many DVDs already. And I would have preferred my vacation.

Yesterday, I submitted my application for vacation. I did not seal the envelope. I wanted her to open and read the application while I am still there. She did. "October...? She wailed! "I don't think that period is still...emm..."
I did not allow her to complete the statement. I said " AM, (administrative manager) do you know that I was raised in the Niger Delta of Nigeria...?" She dropped the application on her table, and looked at me through the rim of her glasses.
" What has that got to do with your application...?"
I said nothing!
I decided not to let her have a clue of my game plan.

Wahlahi, if she tries anything with my vacation this time around, I will kidnap her children. After all, the children are very close to me. Nobody will suspect. Then, I will make my demands. I might even add some other things-an official car, with a driver. That my office is too small, I might demand for a bigger one- with a secretary. Yes! I am more qualified than half of the morons who are attached with secretaries and official cars in that company.
Who knows, it might work. Anyway, why won't the plan work...? My boss loves her children... unlike the Federal government of Nigeria and Obasanjo who do not care whether the people of the Niger Delta are alive or dead...or whether the kidnapped expatriates are beaten, tortured or killed.

I hope I won't have to carry out this plan. It will be too bad for her and the children and her husband...( that ugly husband of hers) and the company too. It will teach them a lesson! And I hope they learn from the lesson...not to deprive people- especially the males of their annual vacations next time... (there are too many women in that company).
Let nobody try to discourage me from this plan... that is, if she tempers with my vacation this year, I will teach her a bitter lesson! I pray she doesn't!

Cartoon Protest Revisited...As Maiduguri burns...

I went to New Castle on Friday with my boss. I was going to write about this in the morning. Somehow, I have to shelve this, because Northern Nigeria is on fire once again.
The cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammed has sparked off religious riots in Maiduguri. Christians who are not Danish have been murdered. Sixteen the reports say. Churches-eleven as at the last count have been torched. This is sad!

The Danish editor who came up with the blasphemous cartoons is still very much alive. There are muslims in Denmark. They too protested against the outrageous cartoons. But nobody to my knowledge was reported dead there.
Does anybody know where the head-quarters of the Islamic Organisation World-wide is situated? Is it in Nigeria? May be, it is in Maiduguri...
I wrote about the protest as reported by Sky news on this blog, the very day it started. I also pasted stories of how the riots were spreading and excalating in other parts of the world.
In all of these, there was no where reports came in that christians and churches were targeted. Not even in Denmark.

However, muslims in Nigeria- Maiduguri ( maybe they are more islamic) have taken matters into their own hands. The rest of the Islamic world have delayed for too long. To them delayed action may amount to denial. Since the Danish editor is not a muslim, he must be a christian. And if he is untouchable for now,irrespective of the prize tag on his, other christians' blood will suffice. The Prophet must be avenged. Christian or non- muslim blood will do.
Yet, Islam is a religion of peace and total submission to the will of Allah...

It baffles me the way muslims react in northern Nigeria whenever "blasphemy" is committed against Islam. These muslims in northern Nigeria, do they have leaders...? Who are these leaders? If they don't have leaders, then, we have a huge problem in our hands. If however, there are leaders- people who direct, or organise such gatherings before the protest went out of hand, they should be held accountable.

But, why is it that whenever an individual 'offends' Islam, christians or non- muslims must pay the price?
Danielle Isioma wrote about the beauty pageant to be held in Abuja some years back...
She dared then to write about the Prophet. And she made comments albeit jokingly of a particular contestant and how she would have probably passed the Prophet's approval... It was blasphemous; according to some muslims. And the gate of hell was opened wide to swallow the offender or anybody remotely associated or as much as bear a christian name.You are a 'barawo' if you are not wearing a kaftan. Some christians and non-muslims and churches were used as sacrifice...

There must be, some fundamental problems associated with muslims from northern Nigeria that we have not been able to identify and address. Otherwise, why is it that other muslims living in other parts of Nigeria do not deem it appropriate to react the way their nothern counterparts do in these matters...?
Is it the high level of illiteracy... and lack of adequate enlightenment/education or the absence of responsible leadership that is making religious riots in northern Nigeria and the unwarranted killings of christians/non-muslims a recurring decimal...?

EFCC and Obasanjo...?

When the EFCC try to probe Obasanjo....

Is the World on My Shoulders...?

I went for confession today. I haven't done this in years.Somehow, I felt the need to bare my intestine before somebody.
I chose the priest- because he listens without interruptions.
For the record, I don't believe the priest has any power to forgive my sins... I only see him as a psychologist.
There I was before him though shielded by the veil...
And I said...' father, I think I am sick...'
The only time that he had to interrupt me... he asked: 'how do you mean...'?
I said, father, I worry too much about people around me...
most times I worry about my Dad- who just acquired another wife...
often times I wonder if my mama who passed away ten years ago is still watching over me...
I worry about the one lady in my life...I worry about my choice of her over others...
Father, as I am speaking to you now, I am worrying how I would put this confession down in my blog...
Yet, I still worry about what people will think of me when they read this...

I am particularly worried about a friend of mine... who is in Russian and wants to visit me in the UK...
the problem is money...
I am also worried about Nigeria... sometimes I wonder if I will ever see her again in one piece...
I am worried about another friend of mine who can barely take care of himself... yet, his wife is expecting another baby - the third!
I am worried about my baby sister who is going out with a neurotic(as if I am not one myself) and I also suspects he uses drugs...

I am worried about Iraq and all those who have died for nothing... I am worried about life... sometimes, I think of tomorrow...even though, I strenuously try to take each day as it comes...
I worry about death and the hereafter...
I worry about what will become of me... when I eventually pass on...
I worry even about my house, my car, my dog, my clothes and my prescious shoes- what will become of all these...
And then, I worry about you...why you have choosen to be a priest... and listen to these dirty confessions...
Father, am I sick...?
Father lifted the veil... and said, "my son, you have just lifted the world off your shoulders; go in peace and worry no more..."
Somehow, I am relieved...

Are the American and British Soldiers Out of Ideas...?

Before this invasion of Iraq, I was in Nigeria. And I watched an interview program - can't really remember the exact Television station now, but one professor Uka; a political scientist, I think from Unilag, predicted then, that America and her allies would win the battle-they would oust Saddam Hussein; but they won't and can't win the war.
He said then, that the war will rage on and on until the average die-hard Iraqi fundamentalists could stand no more. And stand they have...

When I listened to this discourse, I was probably too young to appreciate or comprehend the import of the statement.
Today however, I am beginning to understand what he meant.
America and her allies have won the battle long ago ... The maximum dictator - Saddam Hussein has been removed from office; the Iraqis are now free, but the war rages on.
And because of the protracted nature and style the Iraqis have adopted, the British and American soldiers have resorted to outright brutality of civilians irrespective of age.

The world woke up to the shocking images of British soldiers brutalizing defenseless teenagers last Sunday.
Are the soldiers short of ideas on how to conquer the militant gorillas of the iraqis...?
Are these signs of frustration or vendetta...
The world is watching...
Please read more...

A Genius Who Could not Pass His SSCE...?

When Adams introduced me to his young nephew Shodia, I felt elated meeting a prospective genius.
I was told he made five distinctions in his SSC examination back in Nigeria.
And now, he has come to the UK to study medicine
I would not have paid much interest to Shodia's performance, if not for Adams constant reminder that his nephew is going to be a medical doctor.

So, one chilled morning, we drove all the way to St. George's Medical School to enable Shodia sit for the entrance examination.
Two weeks later, the results were published. Shodia's name was omitted,I was told. And the big uncle - Adams refused to believe that it was a typographical error.
Adams called me again and we drove to St. George's Medical School to confront the admission officer.

I did not accompany Adams into the office. He went in alone. When he however came out,he had this embarrassed and confounded look on his face.
How did it go ...? I asked. He said that boy is a disgrace. I said "what..?" I thought you said he is a genius in the making... how come he is now a disgrace...?
Adams then carefully explained to me what the admission officer told him.

He said out of the fifteen questions given to Shodia, he could only attempt two. And of these two questions, he got one correctly. So, in a nut shell, Sodia, scored one out of fifteen.
He said the dean of the faculty had to come in to expain that Shodia's performance was the worst in the history of the entrance examination.
To enable you appreciate Adams embarrassment and confusion properly, I have reproduced Shodia's SSCE result below:

Eng. Lang = 2; Math = 1; Biology = 2; Chemistry = 1; Physics = 2; Economics = 1; Geography = 1; Yoruba = 5

How in the name of anything good can someone with this brillant result fail another 'O' level exam..? This was what baffled us.
Adams vowed to get to the bottom of this mystery.

When we got home (Adams')... he called Shodia to the sitting room. Adams told him bluntly that he failed the entrance examination woefully.
I was expecting Shodia to challenge his uncle by saying...' it is a lie...' Instead, he remained quiet gazing at the floor with this utter vacant look in his eyes.
I then asked Shodia these questions: " Shodia, was the exams too tough for you...?" He said ..."yes"!
Were the questions tougher than your SSCE questions...? Shodia replied by saying..." I don't know.." What...? Shodia replied defiantly..." I said, I don't know...?".

At this stage, Adams was enraged. He screamed at Shodia..." are you not the same person who wrote the SSC examination..?"
To our disappointment and astonishment, Shodia said he was not the one wrote the SSC examination. He confessed that one of his teachers was paid by his mother to write the examination for him.

For good thirty minutes or thereabout, we were too stunned to speak.
The following week, Adams bundled Shodia into a Virgin airplane back to Nigeria.
I have only narrated what happened. I reserve my opinion/comment.

Check Out the Grammy Photos...

See some of the beautiful images from the 2006 Grammy Award.
Photos

Grammy Award... Winners and Fall Out!

The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place in Los Angeles at Staples Center on Wednesday, Februry 8, 2006, and broadcast nationwide on the CBS Television Network beginning at 8 p.m. (ET/PT),Pop favorites Green Day and Mariah Carey were given top nods this year, along with Rap favorites Eminem, 50 Cent and R&B stars Alicia Keys and Usher.
Also, Sly and the Family Stone get a special tribute with an appearance on stage by none than group leader, Sly Stone.
To open up the show, the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, performed in a duet with Grammy nominees Gorillaz.
On the Web, check out the complete list of Grammy nominees & winners in major categories, plus find out more about the Grammy Awards, along with their history, related pictures, video clips and photo galleries ....

Bird Flu in Nigeria...?

08/02/2006 11:09 PARIS, Feb 8 (AFP)
H5N1 bird flu outbreak in Nigeria, first in Africa: Animal health agency
H5N1 avian influenza has occurred among poultry in northern Nigeria, marking the first time the disease has been detected in Africa, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said here Wednesday.

The outbreak, reported to the OIE by the Nigerian authorities, occurred on a commercial chicken farm in the village of Jaji, Kaduna state, the agency said in a press statement.

"The OIE/FAO [Food and Agricultural Organisation] reference laboratory for Avian Influenza in Padova, Italy, has characterized the isolate as a highly pathogenic H5N1," it said.

"The OIE, together with the FAO, will take immediate action and coordinate a common response to this event. A team of experts will be sent to the affected area in order to assess the situation and provide technical advice to the national authorities."

OIE spokeswoman Maria Zampaglione told AFP it was the first time that H5N1 avian influenza had been detected in Africa.

Cartoon Protest Is Getting Out of Hand...

By ALBERT AJI, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City,
Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Thousands of Syrians enraged by caricatures of Islam's revered prophet torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday — the most violent in days of furious protests by Muslims in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
In Gaza, Palestinians marched through the streets, storming European buildings and burning German and Danish flags. Protesters smashed the windows of the German cultural center and threw stones at the European Commission building, police said.
Iraqis rallying by the hundreds demanded an apology from the European Union, and the leader of the Palestinian group Hamas called the cartoons "an unforgivable insult" that merited punishment by death.
Pakistan summoned the envoys of nine Western countries in protest, and even Europeans took to the streets in Denmark and Britain to voice their anger.
At the heart of the protest: 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in September and reprinted in European media in the past week. One depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. The paper said it had asked cartoonists to draw the pictures because the media was practicing self-censorship when it came to Muslim issues.
The drawings have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Aggravating the affront, Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said repeatedly he cannot apologize for his country's free press. But other European leaders tried Saturday to calm the storm.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said she understood Muslims were hurt — though that did not justify violence.
"Freedom of the press is one of the great assets as a component of democracy, but we also have the value and asset of freedom of religion," Merkel told an international security conference in Munich, Germany.
The Vatican deplored the violence but said certain provocative forms of criticism were unacceptable.
"The right to freedom of thought and expression ... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.
The United States called the burnings "inexcusable" and blamed the Syrian government for security failures.
"
Syria must act decisively to protect all foreign embassies and citizens in Damascus from attack," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement. "We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support."
But Denmark and Norway did not wait for more violence.
With their Damascus embassies up in flames, the foreign ministries advised their citizens to leave Syria without delay.
"It's horrible and totally unacceptable," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said on Danish public television Saturday.
No diplomats were injured in the Syrian violence, officials said. But Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds — whose country, along with Chile, has an embassy in the same building — said she would lodge a formal protest over the lack of security.
In Santiago, the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Chilean Embassy in Damascus was also torched but nobody was injured.
The demonstrations in Damascus began peacefully with protesters gathering outside the building housing the Danish Embassy. But they began throwing stones and eventually broke through police barricades. Some scrambled up concrete barriers protecting the embassy, climbed into the building and set a fire.
"With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!" the demonstrators chanted. Some removed the Danish flag and replaced it with a green flag printed with the words: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
Demonstrators moved onto the Norwegian Embassy about 4 miles away, also setting fire to it before being dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons. Hundreds of police and troops barricaded the road leading to the French Embassy, but protesters were able to break through briefly before fleeing from the force of water cannons.
Amid the furor, Syria's Grand Mufti urged calm, noting the demonstration had started in a "nice and disciplined way," but then turned violent because of "some members who do not understand the language of dialogue."
"We never expressed our anger in such a way, and we believe that dialogue should be done through guidance and teaching, not through killing, harming and burning," Sheik Ahmed Badr-Eddine Hassoun said in remarks carried by state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, or SANA.
In Gaza, masked gunmen affiliated with the Fatah Party called on the Palestinian Authority and Muslim nations to recall their diplomatic missions from Denmark until the government apologizes.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, about 50 Palestinians marched to the headquarters of the international observer mission there, burned a Danish flag and demanded a boycott of Danish goods.
"We will redeem our prophet Muhammad with our blood!" they chanted.
Mahmoud Zahar, leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, told the Italian daily Il Giornale the cartoonists should be punished by death.
We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet and instead here we are, protesting peacefully." he said.
Hundreds of Iraqis rallied south of Baghdad, some carrying banners urging "honest people all over the world to condemn this act" and demanding an EU apology.
Anger swelled in Europe, too. Young Muslims clashed briefly with police in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, and some 700 people rallied outside the Danish Embassy in London.
A South African court banned the country's Sunday newspapers from reprinting the cartoons.
Iran's president ordered his commerce minister to study canceling all trade contracts with European countries whose newspapers have published the caricatures, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the caricatures showed the "impudence and rudeness" of Western newspapers against the prophet as well as the "maximum resentment of the Zionists (Jews) ruling these countries against Islam and Muslims."
The leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan denounced the publication of the caricatures. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned nine envoys to lodge protests against the publication of the "blasphemous" sketches.
___

Cameroun Is Out of The Nation's Cup...

Most of us we wrong, the supposedly good Camerounian team is out of the nation's cup game.
It was Cameroun 12; Ivory Coast 13...nations cup game

BECAUSE OF THE CARTOON:I WAS ALMOST STRANGLED

Before leaving home this morning for work, I had to listen or is it watch the news on television. I particularly love Sky News.
There it was again, angry protesters chanting war songs and stepping on anything that is 'kickable'... The problem?

Some European newspapers have republish the controversial cartoon of prophet Muhammed(PBUH) which first appeared in Danish daily newspaper in September, 2005.
This satirical illustration of the prophet with a timed- bomb in his turban, has sparked off protest by muslims world wide. We are just hoping that these protests will not get out of hand.

About my almost being strangled, when I got to my work place, I decided to discuss the issue of this 'controversial cartoon' with two of my Muslim colleagues.
I never knew they were extremists or die-hard fanatics.
I was the one who informed them of the development.
I then proceeded to ask them... 'why is it that anytime someone(ignorantly)makes a comment about The Holy Prophet - depicting Him as anything different from their perception, all hell is let lose...Why?
One of them ( I think he is actually from Yemen) then asked me..." what will you do if people make caricature of your prophet- Jesus Christ...? I made the mistake of trying to correct him by saying... Jesus Christ is not a prophet. He is the son of God. He said..."whatever..." All I'm asking is... "what will you do...?"
I said..." me,..." of course I will do absolutely nothing!
I then asked them..."what could be more 'caricature' than nailing Him to the cross.
They both looked at me as if I don't know what I was saying or doing. Maybe they thought I was there to make a fool out of them. But I was very serious.

One of them (though I could see he was not too comfortable or he was getting worked-up)looked at me with that' I feel sorry for you and your believe' expression, and said..."look, we, muslims, we fight and if necessary, we kill anyone or group of people who try to defile our prophet and our religion..."
And I said, "what..?" " You guys are sick..." that was all I said...
One them angrily grabbed my collar and shoved me against the wall... "saying, don't you ever say I am sick again... " All I could say in a shrill voice. was..." I whas unnli qidding..."
When he eventually let go... I hurried way. Jesus H Christ! That, was a near death encounter.
Do you want to see the controversial cartoons at your own risk...? Click here

Valentine's Day... What does it Mean to You...?

I love humanity. They have a way of putting their problems behind them. Often times, they celebrate anything from sunrise to winter and the first snow fall.
But never in the history of celebrations has there been so much controversy as 'Valentine's Day'. For the so-called progressives, Valentine's day is a day set aside by lovers to celebrate their love in a special way.
However, the conservatives and a larger part of Asian and the middle Eastern bloc see Valentine's day celebration as frivolity. As far as they are concern, there is no need for a day to be called 'lovers' day. It has no religious foundation.
Others like the Jehovah's witnesses see the celebration as a gift from the pagan cumminity.
The world over- especially in the west, Valentine's day(Feb.14) has become a huge commercialised celebration.

The last time I witnessed Valentine's Day celebration in Nigeria some years ago, I was shocked. I was shocked not because Nigerians are celebrating the day. I was shocked because virtually every one - from the very young to the aged were involved.
The amusing or should I say annoying part of the whole thing was that the under-aged who were obviously in a state of mental tension - were trying to behave and do things that adults do.

I have decided to let my journalistic nosiness have a better part of me this morning as I interviewed various students of Glamorgan university on their views about Valentine's Day celebrations.
It was quite an exciting experience for me...

I walk briskly to this lady ( she looks like an Indian; she is wearing the popular sari-with very long pony-tailed hair and thick bifocaled lenses):

Hi, my name is so-obscure...(let me save you the boring details of the hassles I went through):

So-obscure: what do you make of valentine celebration?

Sarita: ... well, i am Hindu, so we do not have such celebrations in our religion; more so, what lovers do... should be their private business don't you think?( very very ambiguous question... was she asking what i think about lovers' private life or was she insinuating that as a human being, she expects me to think... Pls be the judge of that)

I decided to move on to another group. this time I presumed I had the right crowd - noisy yuppies.

Hey, my name is so-obscure... (one of them interjected... what kind of name is that..?)
I said...well, is not my real name... its just a pseudo name. And he said... I see. An undercover name... yes, how can we help you?

So-obscure: I just want to find out what you guys think of Valentine's day, and its celebrations.

Douglas: ..i don't think there is anything to find out... it is a day for lovers; and we are looking forward to it. The only regret is the 14th is a Tuesday... we would have loved it better on a Friday.

Rhys: You know, Valentine's Day is actually a special day for lovers. And in most cases, it is a day when love is share between friends.

So-obscure: Was that the original concept of Valentine's Day...I mean this idea of sharing.

Rhys: No, not at all. I believe the original idea was strictly for lovers to share and celebrate in private... but somehow, the world has come embrace the valentines' concept...

So-obscure: But Valentine's Day is not celebrated world wide- especially in regions like India, Israel,-the middle East...etc.

Rhys: you know hard core religious regions you mentioned now....

So-obscure: Israel is not so religious....

Douglas: ...but you can not say Israel is a christian state, neither are they muslims.

So-obscure: ...majority of they are Jews.... don't forget, we are still talking about Valentine's day celebrations...

Rhys: ...yeah, Valentine's Day to me should be celebrated by those who care...if you want to celebrate it, no qualms, just do your thing.However, if the day is just like any other day, well, fine... you can still do your thing...

So-obscure: But must human being set aside a particular day in the to show or share love...?

Owen who hasn't spoken at all decided to contibute...

Owen: Well, I think human being are always looking for something to celebrate... otherwise, it doesn't make sense. If nlove is showed and celebrated on the 14th, what happens on the 15th... do we then abandon love? I think every day should be made a Valentine's day.

So-obscure:.. that was nicely put. For if every day is made a valentine's day, there would be less quarrels and divorces or separation....

What do you think? Should every day not be made a valentine's day by lovers?
Is it true that valentine's day celebration is a pagan tradition as evinced by the Jehovah;s witness?
What does valentine's day means to you... do you celebrate it just because others are doing so...?