Messi: The Danger Of Being So Good

Sports8 Comments

“Just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real”– Jesse Williams

I had a fairly difficult time titling this piece. I played around with “The Stars Also Cry,” thought that wasn’t quite good enough and changed it to “Geniuses Also Cry,” and had opted for that until I had some sort of eureka moment and finally settled for the current title which I consider more apt. I may have been wrong, so feel free to work with whatever title resonates better with you. With that out of the way, the Copa America finals which culminated in the seventh consecutive defeat in major international tournaments for the Argentina national team, and a fourth consecutive loss at the finals for the magical football genius called Lionel Messi in the colours of his home country was one loss too many. It had become perennial thorn in the flesh of a man whom many regard as the best footballer to ever play the round leather game. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had had enough. Consequently, he announced his retirement from international football immediately. 

“Successful People” And Their Vague Success Stories

Essay, Stories10 Comments

                   Typical conversation between a Journalist/Interviewer and a Successful Person

Interviewer: Please tell us how you were able to achieve so much success in your career. 

                          OR                

What many would like to know is how you were able to rise to prominence and                                             wealth in spite of your humble background.

Successful person: In 1998, I left my small town to seek greener pastures in Lagos. I had only one       shirt with me, which was what I had on that fateful day. I was poor, but I                                                         struggled and worked hard. I paid my way through school with the little money I                                         was able to make from the odd jobs I was doing until I left school and met Mr                                             John…and the rest as they say is history.

                                     OR

It’s been God all the way, God has been very faithful to me and I give him all the                                       glory.

Now That The World Has Gone Crazy

Essay, Stories8 Comments

Someone may be wondering if this title isn’t quite behind time, given that many already believe the world has been in a whirlwind romance with chaos for a while now. But like we say in some parts of Nigeria, there are levels of madness. There’s the infantile stage where the presumed mad one has only just begun to manifest the symptoms of possessing a few “loose nuts” by way of acting strange, saying things that are off topic or laughing for no reason…you get the drift. There’s the stage where they have been certified crazy, but are still deemed manageable by family and friends. Each time their condition gets a little out of hand, their relatives are quick to get them to the psychiatric hospital to see a doctor, who manages them until all is well again. At least for a while. And there is the stage, where they are undoubtedly mentally deranged. In  local parlance. we say “they have “entered market.” Dear reader, the world has entered market.

The Gospel Of Change According To St. Internet

Guest Blogger, Stories6 Comments

This week, Lolo’s Thoughts features guest writer, Adedapo Adeniruju who examines the huge potential that the internet has to drive socio-economic change. Dapo is a mechanical engineering graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He has a lifelong thirst for personal development, youth capacity enhancement and social integration. He writes for The Reflector Team and tweets via @TreasureNGA

 

 

 

 

The online community is growing very fast and might someday outnumber the world’s population – with over a billion websites now online. This has positioned it as the fifth estate of a society rather than the outranked entity it used to be. As the gospel of change reaches its climax across the globe, developed nations are fast to employ the strengths of the digital age in fast-tracking social integration. Consequently, developing nations like Nigeria are beginning to lay hold of this indisputable reality – the role of the internet in improving the social, economic and political standing of a society.

I’ll Write About You

Essay, Stories16 Comments

One of the concerns expressed by family, friends and even acquaintances since I began to write actively is that I would write about them, especially if they did something wrong or out of character. I have had it said to me as a joke and sometimes in a more serious tone. And many times, I would laugh it off and simply tell them to relax and not be afraid to be themselves around me. A couple of times, I have written stuff about my general observations of happenings around me only to be subtly accused of referring to a particular person who coincidentally bears some form of resemblance to a character or issue I addressed.