I have come to realize that common sense is not the most common of senses. I mean we see it in all spheres of life.

Corrupt officials, from the top dogs we ironically call ‘Ministers’ and ‘Commissioners’ down to the lower ranking officials accepting dirty money and allowing illegal activities to permeate and find comfort on their watch.
From the pregnant little girl down the road, who is days away from her sweet sixteen allowing a drunk old, pantsula looking taxi driver to impregnate her even though she knows that he is more likely to leave her for one of the 3 girls that occupy the front office of the taxi when she’s not around.

What about that nigga who knows very well that his mother’s trying her best to get him through school and still chooses to experiment with drugs and crime, even though he has seen the Special Assignment documentaries and the News. Even in the movies most of the bad guys either get shot or die. Except for Oceans Eleven but they’re gonna get caught one day, either by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence from Bad Boys, or Bruce Willis and Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon…just watch and see, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

But why oh why, do we human beings fall into the same traps that are conspicuous in their placements? We, Human beings are so dumb that even if a trap was placed in front of us, with a sign that read, “TRAP” and another one that says, “DANGER, GEVAAR, INGOZI” we would still go into it.
And when we get caught we either call it, a mistake or my personal favourite, “A POLITICAL CONSPIRACY”. I swear these days when people are asked in court, “How do you plead?” They reply, “Political Conspiracy!”

It’s funny how these ‘mistakes’ or ‘political conspiracies’ often contain passionate or material benefit that we seem to enjoy, even if the joy is fleeting.
I don’t know about you, but I think it ceases to be a mistake when I actually help you take my clothes off and hide the picture of my mate.
And it ceases to be a political conspiracy when I took the money, bought a flashy 7-series, that I still have in my possession.

It’s funny how creative we have become in trying to cover up our blatant wrong doing.

This is the reason I was praying last night, for myself and for a few of my friends. That God give us 3 basic qualities:

1) The ability to clearly distinguish between right and wrong;
2) The boldness to choose the right, and
3) The patience and persistence to bear the results of choosing that which is right.

That even when the passion cries out from the pit of our pants, or the emotions are raging like a fierce summer storm, even when the right decision threatens our economic or physical security, we will be able to stand for that which is right.

I think it is in this profound yet simple wisdom that God will be able to trust us with much more than we have now.

-SGM