Culled from
October - December 2016 •
The Lion King
• 57
POETRY & arts
Lessons from a $100 note
A motivational speaker took out a $100 note from his wallet.
Holding it up, he asked, "Who wants this $100 note?"
Lots of hands went up. A slow chorus began to build up as
people began to shout "Me!" "Me!"
I secretly wondered (and I am sure others did too) why he
would simply give away $100. Even as the shouts of "I want
it" grew louder, I noticed a young woman running down
the aisle.
She ran up onto the stage, went up to the speaker, and
grabbed the $100 from him. "Well done, young lady," said
the speaker.
“Most of us just sit and wait for good things to happen. You
have got to make things happen. Make a move. Simply
thinking about doing something is of no use and not good
enough.”
Our lives are like that. We all see opportunities around us.
We all want the good things. But the problem is, we don't
take action. We all desired to have the $100. But despite it
being on offer, we were reluctant to grab it. We looked at
it longingly.
Get up, and do something about it. Don't worry about what
other people might think.
Take action.
Later, the speaker took out another $100 note and held it up
for all to see and asked "How much is this worth?"
"$100!" The crowd yelled in unison. "Right," said the speaker.
He then took the note and crumpled it into a ball and asked
"How much is it worth now?"
"$100!" Screamed the class. He then threw the note on the
ground, stepped all over it and picked up the note and
asked one more time: "And how much is it worth now?"
"$100!" was the response.
"I want you to remember this," said the speaker. "Just
because someone crumples it, or stamps on it, the value of
the note does not diminish.
“We should all be like the $100 note."
“Just because someone or some people reject you does
not change you, or your worth, one bit!”
Do not allow your self-worth to diminish because someone
says something nasty -- or rejects you -- IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU;
it only shows the person does not yet appreciate who you
are and where you are going to.
Never let your self-worth diminish because of someone’s
action or opinion.
Never knew it was time to know, never even knew it was
time to go.
For a Friend… An Ex
By Moshood Azeez
Breathe,
Hold tight, deeply inhale
Flashback through the times
Perceive the fragrance of your man
Realistically
See,
Flutter your eyelids, shut and open
Flap it like the wings of an infantile chick
Observe the tremor of your love-stricken man
Empirically
Listen,
Stay calm and breathless
Like steps of the crawling night spider
Hear his mind racing, panting and swirling
Erratically
Feel,
Be sensitive, be aware
Like a gust of dusty wind against your face
Experience the tussles tearing his mind apart
Empathetically
Speak,
Like the reddish-green talkative macaw
Perching on a spiky cherry tree branch
Let the soothing words out now
Caringly
CONTROL
By John Okumu
Control Control
But you cannot control everything
You cannot control birth, death
Old age, diseases.
Control is a beautiful thing when you posses it
Control is power, control is responsibility
Control is the ultimate privilege.
If we lose it, we become unbalanced
No longer harmonious, we feel powerless
Control is defined as to have power over something
To direct the behaviour of a person
I am proud to be in control
I am control, control is me
