One of my favorite portions of scripture is 2 Kings 13:14-19. I really love that passage so much and I get inspired each time I meditate on it.
“Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows.
16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.
17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.”
18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped.
19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
There was a clear problem that the Elisha generation could not solve. The problem transcended Elisha and was inherited by Joash who was of GenerationNext. Elisha was a father figure but Joash consulted him for wisdom. Elisha was on his death bed but he wasn’t considered useless.
Elisha had a key to solving the problem even though he didn’t have the strength. He knew the right strategy to overcome that challenge but he wasn’t going to be the one to carry it out. His time was up.
Elisha guided the young man. He told him specific things to do. Elisha put his hands on the young man’s hands. That’s a picture of guidance and direction. He directed him to open the East window- not just any window.
Any other window apart from the East window would have been wasted efforts. It would have led to frustration.
Then Elisha gave the command and the king obeyed. He specifically asked him to strike the ground. Not the air. Not the wall. The ground.
We can say Joash succeeded where the previous generation failed- though he also achieved limited success because he struck just 3 times. His success however could not have been possible without the assistance of the father- the generation before.
No generation is useless. No generation can also truly be successful on their own. They need to learn from generations before by consulting history. They need to truly be humble like Joash and accept that even though they are smart, they don’t have the solution to all problems.
They need to submit their hands to be guided by fathers. They may excel in strength but they can do with some more wisdom. They can shoot arrows but they need to know the direction to shoot.
The humbling part of the story is that Joash too didn’t fully solve the problem. He handed it to the next generation. But now he was wiser. I guess he told the next generation, “Don’t shoot thrice. Shoot as many times as possible”.
“The glory of young men is their (physical) strength. And the honour of aged men is their gray head (representing wisdom and experience)- Proverbs 20:29 AMP
One of the greatest abilities of exceptional leaders is their capacity to build for the future. A true leader always thinks tomorrow even though he lives today. The present is too little to contain the exceptional leader.
His realities may be in the present but his sight is set on the future. That is why he is always a step ahead of others. He doesn't live in today- he lives in tomorrow. People can't stop talking about them because of how they lived in tomorrow for tomorrow.
If your actions are just for the present, your memory will not endure. That is why it is easy to forget so many leaders.
What Next After The Protest?- The Gatekeeper Strategy & Other Ideas - 2
In the first part, I gave a background and referred to the October 1945 Pan-African Congress which held in Manchester, United Kingdom exactly 75 years ago.
In this post, I want to propose a few thoughts on how to move ahead. I believe these are critical steps to be taken if we don’t want the gains of the protests to go into oblivion.
1. It’s Time For Political Engagement
You have echoed loudly but to make that transition into being a voice, you need political power. Real change can only happen through the ballot box.
Monday Motivation: A Letter From Prison That Was Never Delivered
Exactly 3 years ago on October 26, 2017, I was at Kirikiri Medium Prison (now Correctional Centre) where I was handed a letter (see actual letter posted).
It was a letter of anguish. Though written in smattering English, it was meant to invoke deep pity for the author and spur the recipient to action. The inmate who wrote it wanted help in securing his freedom.
I was at the Prison with @Lamboginny to secure the freedom of 27 inmates whose fines we paid by raising the sum of N850,000 for them via social media.
What Next After The Protest?- The Gatekeeper Strategy & Other Ideas -1
Dear Young People,
Many of you are disillusioned right now. For some, hope has given way to despair. What you thought was an emerging light at the end of the tunnel now looks like a mirage.
You’re despondent because of the energy dissipated. It’s like a bad ending to a movie you thought was properly scripted. The violence the nation is now grappling with is an unfortunate turn of events and stands roundly condemned.
Nothing progressive can be achieved through violence as you can’t build by tearing down. We all must stand against this violence and make all efforts to douse the tension all over the country.
Watching the videos of the #endsars movement brought a lot of memories. I recall several struggles, protests and Aluta that we were involved in.
I had the uncommon privilege of being the Students Union President during my undergraduate days when Sanni Abacha was the Head of State in 97/98. The late MKO Abiola was also the Chancellor of the University so those were really dark days.
I recall very fondly how the Students Representative Council named our Students Union Building after Kudirat Abiola. It was a very daring move which came from a resolution to immortalize the Amazon.
One of the key things about leadership is that it also comes with structure. For any movement to survive, a good structure is key. Structure is the reason APC and PDP still remain the most dominant parties in our clime. You can find them in all the 774 LGs of this country.
1
Without structure, any movement will fail. With a structure, there are better chances of success.
Leadership will understand that movements go through different phases- street protests should lead to engagements and actionable plans.
2
Leadership will help a movement to understand when to evolve and which causes to fight or drop. They are both tactical and strategic in their approach.
Have National Coordinators for the protest. Have State coordinators. Have Local Government coordinators. Develop a structure.
3