THE ATTITUDE OF COMMODIFYING PEOPLE: THE TEXAS EXAMPLE

In times like these where the middle class is still under attack and at the risk of being eroded from the American society, an interesting essay worth revisiting. Have a good read…

Ezeocha Post's avatarThe Ezeocha Post

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By Chinedu Ezeocha for Ezeocha Post
Originally Published on Friday October 3, 2014 at 4:37 PM CT

 It is no secret that in Texas, businesses runs the government. Friendly laws and policy decisions are made to benefit businesses than we the people – the very consumers that businesses rely upon for their survival. This is because of the generally accepted belief that businesses create jobs and by so doing help grow the economy. We the people on the other hand are seen more often as unwelcome inconveniences especially when we demand from government certain social privileges or when we demand that our rights be protected against predator businesses that prey on the vulnerable. In a nutshell, if there is ever a contest match in Texas between businesses and we the people, and the state government is the umpire, businesses will always win no matter how hard we the people…

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Happyness

Ezeocha Post's avatarThe Ezeocha Post

happy

So the sun came out today and we all have seen it. And it’s one helluva of a reason to be happy.

You probably woke up this morning, rushed into your bathroom to prepare yourself for work, and obviously, you had a chance to see your reflection in the mirror and loved the person that stared back at you. You stopped, observed you for a while and smiled. The beautiful you. The macho you. The curvy you. The big-boned you. The thick you. The pot-bellied you. The slender-built you. The athletic built you. Whatever your body type, you probably are in love with it and carries yourself with confidence, projecting an image of self-assurance. You should. You have the Ezeocha element in you and I love you. Be happy.

Even though Picasso said there is nothing more beautiful than the line on a woman’s back. Yeah. But if your own…

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Time to Tell the Losers to Kiss Off

By John Hope Bryant

Let me be immediately clear. While I am talking about all losers, I am mostly and primarily talking about the loser within you. Me too.   There is a loser, within all of us.

I saw this great scene in a movie recently. An otherwise great person, just always whining and complaining about almost everything. How ‘everything is crap.’ And then, the killer follow-on line just nails it —

“People need to give this destructive voice in their head ‘a name,’ and then tell it — to go kiss off.”

Well, they didn’t say ‘kiss off,’ but you get the point. This is the LinkedIn-friendly version.

The reality is, we all have these destructive voices going off almost constantly in our heads, in one way or another. And so….

If I don’t like me, it is hard for me to like you.

If I don’t respect me, it is hard for me to respect you.

If I don’t feel good about me, it is hard for me to feel good about you.

If I don’t love me, I don’t have a clue how to love you.

And here is the big one — if I don’t have a purpose in your life, I’m going to make your life a living hell.

Continue reading “Time to Tell the Losers to Kiss Off”

Is GOD dead?

GOD

When I came across a Christian movie titled God’s Not Dead, gazillions of questions popped up in my head. Chief of which are:

What is the implication of this movie title, in isolation, to the Christian faith and to a world that doesn’t necessarily believe in God but a world that nevertheless hope that God is and that He is inherently good and caring as the Bible say?

Why are Christians trying to prove to the world that God is not dead? Has God become so powerless and incapable of going around the world showing Himself strong in the lives of His own, as ought to be, that Christians now have to come to His defense and explain why He is MIA?

Is God dead?

Or as many think, including many Christians who will never admit to it, is God now a tired and senile old man who has lost his grip on the affairs of mankind to a vibrant, zealous, and innovative Lucifer?

Where is God?

Endless questions. But legitimate questions nonetheless.

Now, if someone is alive and well, you do not need to make a movie, a documentary, or a TV commercial to prove his or her existence. Because the person is well and alive, he or she simply goes about his or her everyday business. And family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, admirers, and everybody that comes in contact with them on a daily basis sees them and knows that they are alive. And there will be no need for any form of advertising to prove that they are alive.

And for God who we assume to be as big as the world is big, that advert of a movie is not necessary because God, if He is who we have come to believe that He is, can advertise Himself. And whenever He wants to, He does that through miracles, through healing, through deliverance, and through signs and wonders. But most importantly, He does that through His visible angels called everyday people, in our daily human interaction, as we try to lend a hand to each other, in times of need, by our kindness, gifts, our time, and our love. Thereby manifesting Him.

If God is alive, the world will know it because He is omnipresent, because He is omnipotent, and because He owns the earth and everything that is in it. He is the superpower of all superpowers and He cannot hide Himself, even if He wants to. Just like America throws its power around because it is the superpower and because it can. Just like the peacock cannot help but always parade its beautiful colors. And just like any giant in any group cannot help but exercise leadership over the rest of the group – analogies that doesn’t necessarily measure up to God, but still analogous – God then cannot help Himself, if He is who we believe He is, than be visible to all. It is in the nature of the powerful to be seen. But that seem not to be the case with God.

So is God dead?

Continue reading “Is GOD dead?”

AMERICA IS ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE

weThe preamble to America’s constitution started with “We the People,” meaning that the republic is all about the people. Not necessarily that for every important legislation, piece of law, or ordinance that all of the people must agree on it before it takes effect. No. We the people simply means that majority of the people must agree on anything before it will apply to all of the people. It also means that government must always listen to the wishes of the people in all maters of the state.

That is why a presidential candidate must win with more than 50% of the votes cast in general election for him to have the mandate to lead the nation. And that is why elected public servants sometimes depends on polling to know where the heart of the people are on certain issues, which helps them choose what issues of the day to throw the weight of their office behind and what issues are left for the future to take care of.

We the people do not mean all of the people. When the issue of slavery came up for debate, some of the people wanted slavery to be abolished and some wanted the practice to remain legal. Majority of the people wanted it abolished and despite the minority that wanted it to remain legal, slavery was abolished. It never diminished we the people. When the issue of women’s right to vote came up for debate, some of the people were for it and some were not. Majority of the people were for it and majority carried the day. The same goes for Civil Rights Act when the rights of African Americans to vote and to participate in the political process of this great nation came up for debate. Majority carried the day. That is democracy and that is how democracy work. It is a game of numbers and the people that find themselves to be in the minority side of things does not always take kindly to losing their argument.

Gayness is as old as the bible. Even before the city of Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed because of their gayness, their gayness got to a fever pitch high that the men of the city wanted to rape the angels who came to destroy the city for its gay practices.

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REMEMBERING CHIKELUE UWAFILI

From Left to Right – Ezeocha Post’s Chinedu Ezeocha (wearing shades), Eseosa Sowemimo, Akin Omoyoruba, Michael Amankwa, Ebitari Tekenah (of blessed memory), Chikelue Uwafili (in stripped T-Shirt and jacket), and Dilioha Igbo (far right). Blackpool, England. June 2008.
From Left to Right – Ezeocha Post’s Chinedu Ezeocha (wearing shades), Eseosa Sowemimo, Akin Omoyoruba, Michael Amankwa, Ebitari Tekenah (of blessed memory), Chikelue Uwafili (in stripped T-Shirt and jacket), and Dilioha Igbo (far right). Blackpool, England. June 2008.

Last Saturday morning, June 20, 2015, I logged in to my Facebook account to wish my friend and former graduate school roommate – Chikelue Uwafili, a happy birthday. I had received notification email from Facebook the previous day about his upcoming birthday.

Upon logging in to my account, I went straight to Chike’s wall and posted my birthday wishes for him. Then I decided to attend to other notifications and messages before logging out.

It didn’t take a minute after my writing on his wall that somebody close to his family responded to my post saying that I should cut off with the wishes, that Chike died the day before. I thought it was a joke on the guy’s part and got mad at him for such an irresponsible joke. He told me he that wasn’t joking and went into details about the death. Suddenly I remembered a message Eseosa Sowemimo, our mutual friend left for me on Facebook the previous day asking me to call her ASAP. The tone of the message was serious. And I connected the dots. And for a brief moment, my heart stopped.

Why did my heart stop?

Yes, people die every. And I am not completely shrouded from the experience of death’s ugly fangs upon someone dear. Actually I have slept with my cousin in the same room when death came in the middle of the night and snatched his life away. A very close cousin who passed for my little brother when he was alive. I missed him and I still miss him. But Chike is different. He is not the type of a friend or young man you want yourself or humanity to lose at a tender age of 30.

Chike and I met for the first time in September 2007 at an event organized by the Nigeria Students Society, University of Manchester chapter. Both of us just arrived at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom for our graduate studies. It was the inaugural meeting of the society and I was the coordinator. So after my welcome address to the group, I opened the floor for networking. It was during this session of milling around and exchanging pleasantries with fellow students of Nigerian extract that I met Chike. We clicked right away because we had so much in common. He loved politics more than I do. He was an ardent follower of Keith Olbermann when he was an anchor at MSNBC. We both are ardent soccer fans even though we supported rival English clubsides. He was a Chelsea FC of London fan while I was a Manchester United FC fan. We both graduated from the same college in Nigeria in the same year. Ironically while he spent five years in the engineering school and I spent four years in the natural sciences school, two schools that is a block away from each other, our path never crossed until we got to Manchester.

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Jim Jefferies, Australian Stand-Up Comedian Rubishes America’s Gun Laws. Watch And Have a Good Laugh

This comedian just made a mess of the NRA’s argument against gun regulation even though Charleston is pure racism and got nothing to do with gun regulation.

UBER AND I: A MICROCOSM OF LIFE IN PUBLIC SERVICE

President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush arrive at the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas in 2013. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush arrive at the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas in 2013. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A new CNN/ORC poll conducted by telephone on May 29 – 31, 2015, with 1,025 adult respondents, finds that more Americans have a favorable view of former President George W. Bush than of President Barack Obama, our current president.

Hold your thoughts.

Two months ago, among numerous good men and women who work in the oil and gas industry, I was laid off. As a result of the dramatic drop in the price of crude oil in the international market. As a father and as a husband, I have to continue to provide for my family irrespective of losing my job. So after considering my options on how to go about my manly duties, becoming an Uber driver tops the list. For one, meeting the security requirements was a cakewalk for me. Secondly, the idea of being my own boss and working the hours of my choosing was so appealing I had no choice than to latch on.

On my first day as Uber driver, my first ride request came from a Russian guy who is an international student in the U.S.

For those of you familiar with how the Uber thing works, well, brush to the next paragraph. But for those who do not know and haven’t used it before, this is how it works. Uber drivers have the Uber partner app in their phones and the riders have the riders’ app on theirs as well.  Each Uber driver has the make and model of his car, the license plate number of his car, and a picture of his included in his Uber profile.  On the driver app, whenever the driver wants to work, he has the “Go Online” button on his app. Once he clicks it, because going online is GPS-enabled, every rider wishing to hitch a ride in his area can see him. Anytime he wishes to stop working, he also has the “Go Offline” button, which takes him off the radar. Whenever an Uber driver goes online, which means he is ready to play, the rider who needs a ride can see how far away the driver is from him or her, and if the information on the driver’s profile in addition to his distance from the rider meets the rider’s needs, the rider can request a ride from the driver. Once the request is sent, it goes to the requested driver’s phone and the driver has 15 seconds to accept or ignore the request.

So on my first day as Uber driver, being excited about this new gig, especially the part about meeting new people – am a people person, when my first Uber request came in, I just accepted it at the first beep.

Continue reading “UBER AND I: A MICROCOSM OF LIFE IN PUBLIC SERVICE”

“One” by Mary J. Blige featuring U2

This music speaks to me. I hope it speaks to you too. Enjoy it…

WELCOME TO THE LATEST BLOGGER IN TOWN

0520151945
Our Founder/Editor carrying baby Kinsella minutes after birth on Wednesday, May 20, 2015.

We at the Ezeocha Post congratulate our founder/editor, Mr. Chinedu Kinsella Ezeocha on the birth of his first child, Chinedu Kinsella Ezeocha II.

A statement released by the family said that baby Kinsella was born on Wednesday May 20, 2015 about 8:30pm in the evening. Mother and baby are doing great.

We welcome to Earth baby Kinsella, the most recent blogger in town!!!