In the wake of the news that the corporate giant Haliburton has negotiated an agreement to pay Nigeria $250 million if the country drops the bribery charges against its former CEO Dick Cheney, it seems time for another synchro from Augustine who relentlessly links his country synchronicistically with the U.S. or Great Britain. But first we can’t pass on commenting that the deal struck by Haliburton sounds like another bribe! So it goes.
Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth this time links Steve Jobs with a Nigerian entrepreneur…and there’s more, including my own American-Nigerian connection tale. But first, let’s see what’s on Augustine’s mind.
***
“In California, Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955. The much talked about business mogul
rose from grass to grace. He was known to walk long distances for free meals provided by the adherents of Hare Krishna. Born of a Muslim Father, he has an aversion for television and has ben described as a technology evangelist.
“In Lagos. we have Jimoh Ibrahim born February 24 1967. Known for his phenomenal rise in the business world, he was known for eating on credit as an undergraduate.Also born of a Muslim father, he has an aversion for video films and has been described as a motivational speaker
Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College, which has the only nuclear facility operated by students, whereas Jimoh Ibrahim finished at the Obfemi Awolowo University, which has Nigeria’s only program in nuclear engineering.
“Also in California, you had Leland Stanford, born March 9 1824. A pioneering business man, lawyer and philanthropist, he lost a son. Stanford kept dogs, bred award-winning horses and had a deep interest in farm machinery.
“Relatedly, in Lagos we have Subomi Balogun, born March 9 1934, a lawyer, pioneering banker, and philanthropist. He also lost a son. Like Stanford, Balogun loves animal life and agriculture. Balogun keeps ostriches, rabbits, goats and grasscutters. He also loves cultivating food crops.
Stanford was governor of California and Baloguns influence looms large over Lagos State. Most of the managing directors and senior managers of banks in Nigeria once worked under him.”
***
Okay, now for my Nigerian-American link. It’s not from industry, commerce, or politics…but rather from the trickster.
There is a long history of trickster deities throughout the cultures of the world and the image of those gods are reflected today by folks who are not exactly deities. In America, we have comedians, such as David Letterman, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle, and Kathy Griffin.
They have much in common with an ancient Nigerian trickster god, known as Eshu.
Eshu provoked humans to argue among themselves. He wore a tall hat that was red on one side and white on the other. He walked between friends, who later got into an argument about the color of the hat. The two friends came to blows, and Eshu walked over, laughing at the bloodied and angry men and showed them his hat.
The hat trick was a way of getting get people to understand that everything is not always black and white, that sometimes there can be two perfectly valid perspectives.
So, if you think Nigeria has nothing to do with the U.S., make sure that you’ve seen both sides of the ‘hat.’
There must be a connection between Nigeria and the Bush/Cheney/Obama/Haliburton wars. Oh, yes natural resources, Iraqi/Nigerian oil and Afghani minerals. Other than money and recourses has the US ever gone to war? Even the Revolution was over commerce.
I like the trickster story. It reminds me of the man in the gorilla suit in the criminology class exercise on the unreliability of eye witness testimony.
Ray
This week there was an example of an "idea who's time has come" being duplicated in more than one place at the same time. 😀
There is often more than one way to bake a cake. LOL!
I'm with Daz. Really good lesson there for us all. It turned out to be a synchro today, with a friend talking about two sides of a coin in regard to people's different value systems. If we have only ever been exposed to a 'heads' value system, we couldn't really comprehend a 'tails' one.
I liken it to ants and birds, we have to be a bird and see the big picture, not an ant looking from a limited perspective.aka re /white hat.
Great post, Rob. 🙂
wv =morabac
Rob put up this one, Daz. I love it, too, and your interp is spot on!
I love this story of Eshu and his multi-coloured hat.Where one person sees red and the other doesn't,so they ague about it until they beat the crap out of each other.
And in a way,they were both right (from their own viewpoints),but ultimately,both wrong from the viewpoint of reality.
If either one of them had of backed down and let the other save face,then both would have literally saved face,because they failed to looked at the situation from all angles.
Love this one,Trish.
This would make a classic Children's Picture Book,and a very important lesson it would teach from an early age to any child who read it.
Cheers / Daz
WV = subha
(subconscious laugh/joke)?
Nigeria must have something to do with the US … and also UK, France, China and everywhere. Isn't everything and everyone linked?
I love the story of the trickster god – I remember Joseph Campbell talking about this story in the "Power of Myth" series.
In Bali, the high curbs of Ubud are painted like a checkerboard, black, white, black, white. The sacred clothes laid on tables at shrines are also checkerboards, black and white. I learned that this is to represent the balance, Sekala and Neskala, of light and dark, the yin and yang. Religious and ritual function is to maintain the balance, and much of Balinese thought, it seemed to me, is much the same as this parable – the truth can have many sides.