CHANGE THE WORLD WITH GMII

Have you been looking for a platform to change the world?

GMII is offering you opportunity to do so!

Great Minds Initiative International (GMII) is an organization founded in 5^TH of September 2015, it consist of like-minded Great Minds who have chosen non-conformity to certain norms, traditions, cultures and ways of life that does not necessarily add to the values to humanity.

They are people who are willing to be the change they desire with their unique ways of thinking.

Their dream is to affect the world positively with their unique ideas, talents and resources.  

Their first and major vision at hand is TEC (True Education Campaign), which is aimed at redefining and balancing education for the benefit of all.

In their bid to provide the type of education that will make for larger productivity and enhance the values of humanity, they have written several essays such as:

1.      When education becomes indoctrination: http://greatmindsinitiativesinternational.blogspot.com.ng/2016/03/when-education-becomes-indoctrination.html

2.      A society in need of true education: http://greatmindsinitiativesinternational.blogspot.com.ng/2016/01/a-society-in-need-of-true-education.html

3.      Misunderstanding of education; the basis of continued poverty in Africa: http://greatmindsinitiativesinternational.blogspot.com.ng/2016/01/misunderstanding-of-education-basis-of.html  and many more….

They have shot their first documentary on education which is titled, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN EDUCATION BECOMES INDOCTRINATION, it will be out latest by May, 2016 and they are also organizing seminars and workshop where people will be enlightened on what true education is and how to be more productive as an educated person.

They are working on collaborating with several prominent companies and business empires such as Dangote, Coca-Cola, DSTV, Inspiration FM, Metro FM and several other local TV stations and many more to in order to educate and empower people. 

TEC is lifetime vision and GMII is out scouting for like-minded people, who are tired of sitting down and watch things happen; people who are ready to be the change they want,

People, who are willing to use their talents and resources for the benefit of everyone,

All you need to be a part of this movement is PASSION and WILLINGNESS to make positive impact in your society.

You think you have what it takes?

Then join us to make the world a better place for everyone.

For more information on how to be a part of this great movement, contact GMII publicist on: +2348163800077, also available on whatsApp.

Please pass this message on; it could be your way of affecting a life positively.

Information is power!

DATING AND HEARTBREAK

Has it ever occurred to you that most once dated never end up as friends?

In fact most of them ended up as worst enemies.  At this, I couldn’t help, but ask why until recently. Experience they say is the best teacher and even though I didn't need it to learn my lessons, it takes two to tangle.

On a fairy note Christie and I started what looked like my first ever relationship–dating just a few months ago. She expressed her desire to be my Girl, I didn't ask her out, but I needed to play along because there is always something to gain in every relationship. We had it good for some time, she loved my company and she was a true lover. She forced my first kiss on me, she took advantage of the injury in my mouth to get her wish, that was painful, but it showed she was in love. However, Christie started asking me about our future and I always told her to enjoy the moment while it last. She wasn’t pleased with that; she wanted more assurance, but I was only being sincere since I couldn’t tell what the future held.

WHEN EDUCATION BECOMES INDOCTRINATION (THE UNIVERSITY IS A MUST SYNDROME)

Education is good, but can be really bad and unproductive when it becomes indoctrination.

When someone talks about education and being educated in this part of the world, people are fast to think about going to the university.

They see those that have access to the university education as being educated and those without the privilege as illiterates.

Having seen and experienced this, I realized: when schooling becomes indoctrination, only the truly educated ones become successful.

Now, what does it mean to be truly educated?

What does it mean to be indoctrinated?

What connection does these two have with schooling?

To answer these three significant questions, we'll need to define the nouns and verbs from which each of them is derived and analyze them.

Longman Dictionary defines education, a noun from which educated is derived as: the process by which your mind develops at school, college or university.

Indoctrinate, a verb from which indoctrination is derived, according to Longman dictionary mean: to train someone to accept a particular sets of political or religious beliefs and not consider any others.

The English dictionary defines indoctrinate as:  To teach with a biased, one-sided or uncritical ideology; to brainwash.

School, a noun from which schooling is derived is defined in the English dictionary as: an institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution.

It must be noted that school is not limited to a certain institution, it is simply any institution for learning and education can be derived from any of these institutions. It is only indoctrination that makes people glorify one ahead of the other.

Education in Nigeria has for long become indoctrination that a lot of folks have been seriously affected by this development.

Almost everyone in Nigeria belongs to the school of thought that without university education they are not educated.

Our government have not also helped in this regard, they have so much glorified university certificates ahead of practicality and this is one of the things that leads to our rotten sectors.

Our government is ignorant of the fact that the university is just an institution among many institutions of learning that churn out professionals therefore, the polytechnics, colleges and other institutions of learning that make up schooling, through which someone can also be educated and certified have been relegated.

A polytechnic graduate is always rate lower than a university graduate regardless of intelligence of the formal, therefore certification have taken the place of real intellectualism and technicality.

This indoctrination is a great tragedy to youth development in Nigeria; we have been made to believe that without university education, we are nothing better than illiterates and when you talk about intelligence, people are fast to measure it by the good grades acquired through formal education.

We also have not been studious enough to see the difference: being a university graduate does not guarantee a successful life. The evidences are here, but we couldn’t see, that’s indoctrination.

It is a gross waste of time to sit down and wait for admission when what you want to study in school is unrelated to what you really want to become in life, perhaps what you are skilled at.

It is stupidity and lack of vision to accept a change of course just to be a university student, but our society has provided us with no other choice than to "join them if we can't win them". Everyone just want to answer the name "university graduate” just for the sake of it, so we forgo our visions, dump our dreams for the title that comes with certificates which we might dump in our wardrobes and not make use of for the rest of our lives.

It is true no knowledge is lost, but such indoctrination comes with lesser or no profit.

For the records, not being university student doesn’t not make anyone less or illiterate,

University education with good certificate is most times just an achievement on its own, it might not enhance productivity or efficiency in the labour market neither is it the most accurate determinant of both. Year in year out, young folks register for universities entrance exams (Jamb and post-UTME) and when they fail to make required grades, they are considered failures. The ones that are tired of tying settle for colleges of educations, technical schools or polytechnics that could accept their lower grades while the so-called determined ones, most of who have no idea what they will do with their lives continue in the struggle of rewriting universities entrance examinations.

They keep making money for the universities when it is certain most of them have no business being university students.

Now, what does it mean to be truly educated?

Going by the definition of education which according to Longman dictionary is the process by which your mind develops at school, college or university. The dictionary makers only made mention of school, college or university in order to foster understanding for layman, but the true meaning of education is: The process by which mind and the whole being is developed through learning. This learning could be acquired in any designated institutions, however; there can be no true education where there is indoctrination.

In Nigeria, we have a lot of school, college, polytechnic and university graduates that are not truly educated; what they had was indoctrination in the name of education and that is why they cannot be translated to something tangible.

Education is about learning how to liberate one's passion and goals while indoctrination, going by its definition is: believing what one is told or what seem convenient and best in order to avoid the stress of learning or engaging in its practicality.

In the University of Lagos, most professors and HODs won't take it lightly with you if you call them without their titles; they always punish students that make such mistakes.

That's what indoctrination has done to them, not even with their PhDs will they ever understand that calling them those titles doesn't enhance their productivity or earn them more respect, but a truly educated folk even without university education knows it is not about title or position, but the responsibility given.

That is one major difference between the truly educated person and one who is indoctrinated in the name of education.

If one who does not attend university is considered educated then who is uneducated?

An uneducated person is the person who doesn’t know anything about his life's visions and goals and how to pursue them; one who does not have what it takes to succeed in his chosen lifestyle. For instance, if all you want to be in life is a footballer and you go to the university to study mechanical engineering when you should register yourself into a football academy and develop your skills, it doesn't matter if you have PhD in it, you are simply uneducated because PhD in mechanical engineering will never make you a better footballer. Imagine if Messi and Ronaldo have left football academy to go to university, will they have become the famous and successful footballers that you know today?

These guys and the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many others who didn't become graduates of any university are among those who chose to be truly educated when schooling becomes indoctrination.

True education means the development of the mind and the whole being through learning and putting to work what was learnt.

However, being an illiterate (Unable to read and write, having less than an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature, or having little formal education; not conforming to prescribed standards of speech or writing) basically, inability to read and write will always limit anyone's level of education if one have to learn about his goals and passions, except natural talents that does not require being taught in order to have them. Education could be acquired via other sources, but literacy (ability to read and write) is vital.

However, being a university student is not the proof that one is educated. For you to be able to sit for university entrance exam you must be educated (be a literate and have at least ordinary level of formal education).That means you can be educated even without university education.

University education is not for everybody and those who are there are not superior to those who are not.

It is only a required type of education for those whose goals and dreams in life could be shaped therein, if not it is a gross waste of time and wrong indoctrination.

I am not against university education and certifications, what I’m against are the indoctrination.

I want everyone to be liberated from the sick mentality that university or tertiary formal education is a must. Not everyone, judging by different skills, talents, passions and destinies and how they could be developed and attained should be in the university. If truly some of these folks knows what they want and how get them, most of them would not have thought about university education at all.

I want the parents to understand and discover their children’s passion and give them appropriate education as required by their passions and dreams instead of forcing them to the university thinking without it they will not become successful in life.

I don’t want our government to place more than necessary emphasis on certification; let them focus more on practical evidences of these certificates and we will have capable hands at different sectors.

I want the government and the labour market to recognize other certificates aside universities’, they should not place universities certificates ahead of those obtained from other institutions since all of them are certified institutions of learning.

I want the young folks also take their destinies in their own hands, follow their dreams and not unnecessarily crave for university education and become nuisance after graduating even with their good grades.

Remember, when schooling becomes indoctrination, only the truly educated ones become successful. To be successful in life requires more than just university education and most significant success stories in life are not as a result of it. The truly educated people are people that are original, resourceful and creative, who dream dreams and think out of the box to attain their dreams and fulfill their passions. They are those that acquire the type of education that liberate their passions and help them to reach their set goals not necessarily university graduates.

This essay is written by Eneji Stephen Toluwalashe, popularly known as Soul’e Rhymez,

He is a Poet, a Public Speaker, and a member of Great_Minds_Initiatives_Interational.

He is based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Twitter: @Soulerhymez

Facebook: Soul’e Rhymez

He wrote this for Great_Minds_Initiatives_Interational to support True Education Campaign.  He believes being truly educated against the existing indoctrination is a vital tool in restructuring the nation, restore her fortunes and make our youths become more relevant in the society.

To be a part of this initiative,(GMII) support/sponsor it, please contact Tanimola on: +2348163800077 (also available on WhatsApp).

Together we can make this country great!

THE TRAIT CALLED LOVE

Love, the undefined gift

Love is one of the most used words around the world, but it is amazing that nobody has been able to rightly define it yet. Some call it mystery yet claim to have it for the other person. It seem like anyone that claims to love the other person is only unsecured and want security; most likely have no idea what they are saying. How do you give people what you don’t know?

Many believe love is a feeling, a sensation; a deep craving for the other person or thing, but whatsoever it is, we all know there is something that exists and we call it love. The Christians believe God is love, which is the closest one can get trying to define love, but they can’t really explain it well.

Everyone talks about love even when they have no clue what it really is, it is said that “love” is the most misused word in the dictionary; we often use it to get what we want because everyone wants it. Everyone keeps saying “I love you” even when they have no idea what it means to love the other person or have consciously tried it. Most of us would have been right to say, “I just want to use you to express love to myself and show people how capable I am” If truly people love the other person as they often profess, the world would have been a better place with no problem for God to solve, he would be sleeping yet we will do fine. That’s what love can do.

Love, a God’s trait in us

Love is God’s trait in human beings which makes them to nurture and preserve their lives. However, abuse of selfishness, another God’s trait in mankind makes them limit love for themselves alone, without caring about others. Does that mean they don’t have love in them? No, they do. Every human being have love, it is one of the traits that make them the image of God; the difference is in whether they limit it to themselves alone or they expressing it to others. Love and selfishness, according to THE IMMAGE OF GOD, a book written by African foremost writer, Soul’e Rhymez are traits inherited from God, but abuse selfishness which is self-centeredness aids limiting love to oneself.

Describing love, John, one of the disciples of Jesus said, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:8)

 Though he was talking about love for the other person, he made a very good point, saying, “God is love” that’s absolutely true because love is one of the traits that make up the personality of God and being his image, we have this trait in us too. Remember, John didn’t say “He that loveth not is not created by God”, that means everyone has ability to love but can choose to make use of it or not, having said that, showing love to the other person as much as you show to yourself is the right use of love. This come as a result of right use of selfishness without which one would have acted against God’s plan for it and it will confirms John’s assertion that “he that loveth not knoweth not God.”

The culprits

Self-centeredness and mismanagement of ego cripples people’s ability to love just more than themselves and what they own alone. It is impossible to love the other person when you are self-centered. I once said, “When your life is all about you; how you feel, what you want and how you want things done alone, then you are ungodly and a problem to yourself as much as you are to everyone else. This seem to agree with John’s assertion, I guess the inspiration came from the same source.

Ego is an expression of self importance and once you don’t know how to manage it, you will have a huge issue loving the other person.

Ego not evil, according to THE IMAGE OF GOD; it is an attribute of pride, one of the traits that make human beings the image of God, but we abuse it.

Self-centeredness which prevents people from loving others is a major problem the world is facing, from it comes stinginess, greediness and leads to several other social vises such as stealing, corruption and several wicked acts. In reference to this, I once sent a quote out saying, “If all you care about is you and your immediate family alone, then you are a big problem to the world; a potential disaster that does not deserve life.” Here is what it means, caring about yourself and your immediate family alone means you love yourself and what you own and do not care about others. That doesn’t mean you don’t have love, but it is limited to yourself alone. This is inspired by self-centeredness and it is a horrible disaster.

The horrible disaster

Talking about hoarding love to oneself alone, this is why we have people in government who embezzle public funds in order to have enough for them, their families and their unborn descendants alone,

This is why Warlords wage wars, have people kill each other, but won’t step out or send their own children to such wars,

This is why, people send their own children to schools abroad without caring about the education of other children in the country,

To mention just these few among millions of them, you will agree with me that caring (loving) oneself and immediate family alone is a disaster to the world.

Hoarding love all to yourself is an abuse of love and it is more disastrous than you can ever imagine. This is why people commit all sorts of atrocities. Talking about sex which is a major way of expressing love to oneself and the havoc it has caused around the world, you will agree with me that loving oneself, without loving the others just as much is a horrible disaster. We have cases of rapes, pedophilia, rejected pregnancies, most of which cripple people’s lives and contribute to high rate of mortality around the world. These acts are carried out by people who only love themselves and don’t love others as much. They do to others what they can’t take because of the love they have for themselves. If they love their victims as much as they love themselves, it will be hard to hurt them.

The Pride of Ownership

The world gets worse by the day, not because love has seized to exist, but because people hoard it for themselves alone leaving virtually none for the other person.

Most people think they love the other person when they are actually out looking for people through which they can express love to themselves and be respected for so doing.

For instance, on my street lives a lady, who I do not like because of her less attractive appearance, the more I tried to like her, the more I see faults on her outlook to pull me back. Regardless how cute she tries to look, all I see was ugliness. It never occur to me what I wanted from her was just sex, it wasn’t exactly in my mind neither did I think of it to her, but it was in my sub-consciousness.

I was subconsciously living with the mindset of dating every other girl I meet which included her. Even though it wasn’t visible in my mind and she wasn’t beautiful enough for me to imagine making love to her, I didn’t like her simply because she didn’t fit in as a girl I can eventually have sex with and be proud to do so.

Dating her does not mean I love her, not that I hate her too; it only means I wanted to use her to express love to myself and since her appearance won’t earn me praise among my peers, I didn’t like her and couldn’t help but admit she’s ugly.

After I rid myself of wanting to date her and get sex from her; which is an expression of love to myself and not necessarily to her; I started to like her and she no longer look ugly to me. This is why I said, “If your love for people is always determined by their physical appearance, it means you are always focused on what you want from them which is often sex and sexual activities.”

Message to the atheists

Sorry to disappoint the atheists; there is no way you can talk about love and not include God because God is love. Having said that God is love, he doesn’t just show this love to himself, we know that he is love because he expressed his love to us, first by sharing his traits with us, one of which is freewill that enable us to even make choices against him, but he won’t stop loving because that is his nature. He could have kept his love to himself but he didn’t, he decided to show us how to make use of the trait.

He gave his son to die for our sins (John 3: 16) without requesting anything in return, no love is greater than this and it means the author of love have shown us how to use the trait.

It doesn’t matter how eloquently you can speak against God’s existence, it doesn’t matter how intelligent you think you are, much that being a theist is intellectual suicide to you, the fact that you show love to yourself and at times to others is a proof that God exists; it is a trait you inherited from him. The extremists who commit suicide bombing are only being indoctrinated against loving themselves; not putting the love in them to use. They need to love themselves first before they can love others, but even though no one can love you as much as you love yourself, it is futile to hoard love all to yourself; loving others just as much as you love yourself is the right use of love with eternal reward.

A Clue from Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ in one of his teachings made a world-class speech that the world never thought was about love and here is it, “and as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6: 31) as simple as this statement look, it is what the world need to be a better place. He didn’t say, treat others the way they treat you; that would have meant revenge, but aware that people hoard love to themselves alone and always want it from people, he told them to treat others the way they want to be treated. Jesus was not being religious or spiritual here, it is a psychological statement; nothing makes interpersonal relationship better than that statement. It is simple, anything you expect people to do to you, do it to them first.

This encompasses loving both your friends and enemies alike as it is about doing to people as you would want them to do to you and not doing to them, what you do to yourself or what they did to you. However, people have become so self-centered about love that it takes oaths with consequences of breaking them, to get them to share some dose of love with the other person. I tell you, If loving one’s neighbor as oneself as said by Jesus is understood and put to practice, the world would have been a better place and there will be no need for the contract called marriage which sometimes reduce the quality of life.

The abuse of love; being self-centered about love is the reason why the world is on a massive decline and nations wage war against each other.

Celebration of vanity in the name of love

Many events are set up, such as wedding, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and so on, these could aid sharing love with other people, but even during these times, people only crave for more love from others without giving out. They take delight in insignificant things such as colour of clothes, gifts they get from others and places they love to visit. Many people believes wedding is a celebration of love, but it is actually a celebration of pride and vanity, if not why do couple divorce on the basis of infidelity after lavish weddings?

It will interest you to know that marriage, a supposed love union is not actually based on love. Many go into marriage, not because they love the other person, but because they want to look responsible to people and earn some respect.

The first thing that comes into play in marriage is pride of ownership. Why do you think that lady wants a tall, handsome and intelligent man as husband? Why do you think that man wants a curvy, sexy and industrious lady for a wife? You think that’s inspired by love for the other person? Not really, they are only in love with the qualities through they will show more love to themselves, enhance their pride and earn some respect for doing so. In Marriage, 'I will love you forever' simply means 'I am glad to own you forever’, this is why infidelity is hard to forgive; it is a break of vow since sex is a major reason for such vow.

If marriage is truly marriage is founded on love, then couples will forgive infidelity and still be together.

Or does love not forgive again?

If it is hard to forgive such then it is a testimony that such union is not based on love.

Attributes of Love

According to THE IMAGE OF GOD, the attributes of love are as follows: attention (attraction), kindness, giving, forgiveness, patience, perseverance, boldness and justification. These are explained in details in that book.

Whosoever these attributes are expressed to, it means love, but unfortunately, we are selfish about them, we don’t give people attention, we are cruel, stingy, inpatient, lack perseverance, fear and at worst, we judge other people, these shows lack of love for them and it’s often due to lack of understanding of what loving the other person really entails.

According to THE IMAGE OF GOD, the most powerful and visible attribute of love is kindness and without giving, kindness will seize to exist thus, there is no way you will love the other person and not give them things that are valuable to you such as time, attention, which is the first attribute of love, money; helping hand and sympathy (patience and perseverance), those are acts of kindness and it shows you love the other person. Love, according to Sir. Paul Aboje, a cinematographer and church member of mine, is all about sacrifice, that’s absolutely true. Loving the other person means you have to sacrifice (share) for their sake, most things that make your life worth living in order to make theirs worth living too.

This essay is adapted from “GOD IS NOT RELIGIOUS” a book written by Eneji Stephen Toluwalashe, popularly known as Soul’e Rhymez, a member of Great Minds Initiatives International. He believes if love is rightly utilized, the world will be a better and safer place to live in.

Twitter: @Soulerhymez

Facebook: Soul’e Rhymez

To place your order for “GOD IS NOT RELIGIOUS” call: +2348163800077 or send email to: soulerhymez@gmail.com