A KOBO FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

“All lovely things will have an ending, all lovely things will fade and die; And youth, that’s now so bravely spending, will beg a penny by and by.”…Conrad Aiken

Fact

The word ‘Penny’ may have come from the English ruler Penda, King of Mencia (in todays English Midlands). During his reign around 626 AD, he issued coins that were called pending.

The old English word for penny is ‘penige’; in fact the Danish still use it for their money now.

As with most idioms, no one is sure who first said ‘a penny for your thoughts’, but it was first popularized in a book posthumously published in 1522 for Sir Thomas More, titled ‘Four Last Things’.

It was a book of meditations on death, God’s judgment, pain and how to combat spiritual diseases. In it reads:

“As it often happeth that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that, not without some note and reproach of such vagrant mind, other folk suddenly say to them “a penny for your thought.”

A penny for your thought is actually a saying, which is directed at someone to know what he / she is thinking, especially if the person has been quiet for a while, but who says you can’t use the Kobo?

I somewhat want to make the poor Kobo prominent also, and in extension to the Nigerian Naira.

“The great miraculous bell of translucent ice is suspended in mid-air. It rings to announce endings and beginnings. And it rings because there is fresh promise and wonder in the skies”…Vera Nazarian

Ding goes the bell!

If I may inquire, what quite rings a bell for you?

Well, in observance of the laws of distraction and exhaustion as a principle, we most often times ask ourselves ‘what is on your mind’ just like we are constantly helpless, needing direction or deliberate distraction from the apparently overwhelming boredom and predictability of ourselves and the future, or maybe we’re just mystified by the spontaneity of the brave lots amongst us.

Judge me or stay with me, the fact is we are all vulnerable to ourselves and to the bell especially when we are hypnotized by lies even if we constantly deny publicly to escape, but embrace in secret and get seduced to accept as our reality, even in the presence of the truth before our very eyes.

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something”…Plato

Say what?

I know, you are thinking what is this dude saying again at this crucial time when we all need answers to the impending mysteries and misery that plagues and that we yet condone.

Trust me, it is quite a life’s work to break down, which is why it is highly imperative that we are on the same page for the sake of continuity in the picture of well systemized succession plan.

Wouldn’t you know that the world is falling apart? And with science, history and prophesies pointing to Africa as the solution and hope for the future as refuge, yet we under-estimate the possibility by being reckless, irresponsible and out rightly unsteady with our hands, and by implication unready for the uncertainty that is coming at us.

“Even the purest and most high-minded scientist finds it expedient sometimes to assault the fortress of truth with the blunt weapon of trial and error, sometimes it works beautiful”…Isaac Asimov

Oops!

Believe me, being vague is the last thing I intend to be, neither do I intend to feign being overtly insensitive, but you do the math. Look around you and tell me what you see. Although the kids don’t see anything past pizzas and their homework, but we that are aware of our environment perhaps due to its apparent dramatic prevalence are saddled with the responsibility of salvaging it by whichever means possible.

Well, you might be justified to say we are doing it after all. Look at how the world has turned out with our wonderful discoveries such as mysteries and drugs, inventions such as high-powered machinery and equipment, and interventions into world crisis and procedures to alleviate poverty and end violence.

To be fair, we might as well admit that despite all the progress we have made, we are not quite there yet.

Our greed, selfishness and secrecy due to ulterior motive induced information classification, have led us off the path of disunity, and has caused wars and avoidable conflicts.

“Krishna: Go straight, then left, then right, then left and your house will be next.

Kanji: If you can drop me here, then you can drop me at my house.

Krishna: My job is to show you the way, its your job to find destiny.”…OMG

Oh my God!

Yeah I said it, who do you run to when you’re in so much trouble that it seems hopeless? The human mind is very well calibrated to look up for hope and guidance when in trouble or in doubt.

A school of thought tells us that hope is an essential ingredient in wanting to be alive, no matter how bad the situation is that makes you cry at night, so far you are alive and you have the courage to see the brighter side, you are on your way to telling a fine story in the morning.

So would you want to know what rings a bell in our ear, like we want to talk about it no matter or despite how clumsy we have been that makes us kneel at the mercy of God?

It is love.

We have failed to love ourselves. We have made money and material things come in-between us so much that we have strayed almost beyond redemption.

We work till we lose track of time, family and friends. 
We see the world population in numbers and not as a people. 
We make ourselves vulnerable to technology and our actions reiterate the teachings of the Bible; ‘the more your knowledge the more your sorrow’. 
Now the weapons and the gadgets, which we have invented, reveal our bright crimsoned fluid to the bowels of the earth as we shed both self-inflicted and crocodile tears respectively.

A Kobo for my thought, oh yes I’m way deep in thought of how we shall indeed break away from the prison we have locked ourselves up in.

Thanks to you!

Akin Abimbola. (akinzogee@yahoo.com, akinzogee@gmail.com)

Twitter: @akinzogee

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SOURCES; Brainy Quote, Good reads, Google, OMG (2012), Only A Trillion, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration, thinkexist.com, Wikipedia

This article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable opinion and a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.