What are our motives?

What are our motives?

 “… In a flash of certainty,” he wrote, “I saw that if one’s motives are wrong, nothing can be right.  It makes no difference whether you are a mailman, a hairdresser, an insurance salesman, a housewife – whatever.  As long as you are serving others, you do the job well.  When you are concerned only with helping yourself, you do it less well – a law as inexorable [unchangeable] as gravity.”

-          Arthur Gordon [as quoted in the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey]

When I was reading the book from which I quoted above, this article stroked me.   It was Sunday at dusk and me, having a cup of tea in a certain café around my neighbourhood.  I had no pen but did not hesitate to borrow from someone around and extracted it on a piece of paper hoping that the issue would be something worth discussing.  Unfortunately, I don’t know who Gordon was or is.  But he gotta be a great man because he’s got a great saying on who we people are. 

Pray what you mean, and mean what you pray

Pray what you mean, and mean what you pray 

(Person): 'Our Father who art in -heaven ...' 

(God): Yes?

(Person): Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.

(God): But you called me.

(Person): Called you? I didn't call you. I'm praying. "Our Father which art in heaven..."

(God): There you did it again.

(Person): Did what?

(God): Called me. You said, "Our Father which art in heaven. " Here I am... What's on your mind?

(Person): But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord's Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like getting a duty done.

ደጀ ሰላም Deje Selam: STEVEN Golding, Son of Jamaican Prime Minister

ደጀ ሰላም Deje Selam: STEVEN Golding, Son of Jamaican Prime Minister: ( Jamaica Observer ):- He is Gabre Selassie, having been renamed following baptism at the Saint Gabriel Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Gond...

አጭሯ ጸሎት

አጭሯ ጸሎት

በሰላም አውለኝ የሚሏት ጸሎት

ጥቂት ትመስላለች ሲቆጥሯት በቃላት

ትርጉሟ ሊገባን ሰላም የጠፋ ዕለት

ያጌት፡ ተጻፈ ነሃሴ ፳፱ ቀን ፪ሺህ፫ ዓም.  በኢትዮጴያ አየር መንገድ ወደጆሃንስበርግ፡  ደቡብ አፍሪካ ጉዞ ላይ፡፡

(Inspired by the deadly suicide bombing of the UN building in Abuja, occurred on 26 August 2011)

መኖር አለመኖር…

መኖር አለመኖር…

አርብ በማለዳ ለሥራ ስንገባ

ኖረን ስለማኖር ለመስራት በአላማ

አንዱ ሰው ያለሆነ ሰው በተቃርኖ ሃሳብ

አጥፍቶ ለመጥፋት ተዘጋጅቶ ከልብ

መኪናውን ሞልቶ ተቀጣጣዬ ቦምብ

በሩን እየጣሰ ፍጥነቱን ጨምሮ

ካሰበበት ደርሶ ሳይራራ አምርሮ

The diary of my ordeal

Date:  Friday, 26 August 2011

Time 10:20 AM

Place:  United Nations House, Abuja, Nigeria

Event:  Suicide bombing of the UN house

                                                                                                         

The day was a normal day in my professional life in Nigeria.   Hectic, so many deadlines to meet, so much on my plate….this is like a norm in my work environment.  The day was special for one thing though.   The new executive management members of the WHO –Nigeria staff association was to be inaugurated.  A general staff meeting was called to witness this event.  With divided heart between attending to urgent issues on one hand and the wish to express solidarity and be part of the historic event on the other, I opted for the later and went to the first floor main meeting room – just above the epic-centre of the bomb blast.

The President-elect made a very passionate speech about his vision and aspiration.  He actually had a campaign-like manifesto and was very enthusiastic to make a difference in the lives of his comrades.   He received a sounding applause for the promises he outlined in his speech.  Once the main event was over, the chairman requested staff to come closer and together for interactive discussion.  It was about 10:19 AM. 

I then decided to go to my office to finish the email I started before coming to this meeting.  I often try to avoid the elevator and take the stairs to ‘exercise.’  On this day, I requested a colleague who wanted to discuss some issues with me to join me in the elevator to the fourth floor where our office is located.  The elevator got us at the 4^th floor. 

 

One…two…three… seconds a sound of explosion was heard…. We turned our face to the east where we heard the voice coming from.  Two seconds later, all I remember was another  deafening explosion accompanied by smoke and so much debris hitting me and sweeping me to the floor.  For the next few seconds (in actual time but felt like much longer than that), I was trying to cover my face and head to save from whatever was hitting me.  The room went dark and filled with dust and smoke.