Crownwell is Not Dead

One of my sober moments in 2018 was reading an aggressive comment of a newly recruited Catholic politician attacking a Catholic priest for condemning the oppression of a government: “Father, stay out of this” he warned twice. When Christians sacrifice truth in defence of evil regime, it is a painful reminder that Michael Crownwell is not dead. Not much of history changes, only characters change names.

So many Nigerians are wondering how we got to elect Buhari in 21st century. Worried by annoying newsfeed I on my wall, I wonder also how odd people got confirmed as my Facebook friends. I still retain their friendship for the same reason Jesus did not delete Satan after the wilderness encounter but kept a date with him for final defeat at Calvary.

The fooleries being displayed daily on social media by party boys can make one wonder how much they paid to acquire such abundant stupidity. That they are able to successfully switch off from normalcy to utter madness is something I commend them for; although I do not envy them.

To defend the indefensible, they reduce deaths, glaring victimization and hardship occasioned by bad leadership to political arguments. Lies are heaped on victims of political rascality as if they deserve their fate. That many youths are employed today to lie; and that they practice lying as an art in a society where their own children will have stake tomorrow is the most unpatriotic of all acts, something more worrisome than re-electing Buhari in 2019.

For political expediency, truth has lost its universal character and interpretation now depends on interlocutors’ lens.  Moral determinants have shifted from acts, circumstance and intention to interest, party, race and religion. The consequence is painful.

In a political climate similar to ours Michael Crownwell defended King Henry VIII’s atrocities, did all the cover-ups including the murder in the cathedral. He would later die unceremoniously in lonely hospital bed deserted by the kingdom he defended, the family he did it to feed and horrorfully hunted by the ghosts of their victims. He didn’t die without leaving a message to the future Crownwells, ‘if I had served humanity the way I served the king, I wouldn’t have been abandoned on my last days.’

Any person who does not follow the path of people’s distress has no chance of escaping nemesis and his popularity never lasts beyond the regime he defends. If we do not become friends of the suffering, we will not find a path to the heart of humanity, the secret place where posterity blesses man.

The rate of lies told against hapless Nigerians in the name of propaganda cries for vengeance. Citizens are denied their rights and privileges plus the opportunities to tell the world their stories. When people share their predicaments, they unleash new energies, deploy them to new initiatives, and open new ways.

At this time of low values, our solidarity must go to the excluded, Lazaruses crying for crumbs that fall from the table of Dives and who are not even getting them. Any lie against reality of Lazarus’ hunger in defence of Dives is a solidarity that excludes.

Away from party, race or religion that can urge us to turn on one another, our humanity urges us to turn to one another and spread the message of freedom and love. To elevate humanity calls us to fight for people’s freedom, to be the voice of the voiceless and never part of the oppression.

Elevating humanity means never ever defending any government policies that dehumanize. While some resign midway after the defence becomes unbearable, it is most laudable to reject any position as soon as compromising humanity is discovered to be part of its bidding.

Humanity is not achieved; it is being built little by little when each according to his/her profession, position and talents works with respect for the other to promote liberty of conscience and of speech, and open the vulnerable members to the world that in its turn looks for paths to guide them to the future. We can build our humanity when we adopt a mission faithfully committed to caring for the one Jesus welcomed as a priority: the least one among the brethren.

Each one of us is a small cell: necessary for its life. When it feels hurt, bashed, excluded, it is the whole body that suffers. Let us accompany ourselves with brotherly love so fascinating and joyous.

To those who have expressed worries on my seeming silence, this is my testimony that I can’t give up on humanity till all Crownwells renounce their ways. Mission goes on; it has not yet met its end.

© Felix Uche Akam 22.04.2018@Dragnet