Today i had a conversation with a Facebook friend about our history and culture and the relative lack of awareness of the wealth hidden within our heritage.

I found myself writing this comment. Upon reading it, I knew this is one of those thoughts have longed to string together with words, but up until now had not purposely done so. As it were, they inadvertently came out:

My friend Kenechukwu Imachukwu said: Greg Ekhator I am liking you the more and you MUST persevere even in the face adversity. Breaking out of mental enslavement is another phase in the program of emancipation for the black race. We’ll all try quite hard to reach these difficult goals. Your bit is well come and history will not deny your contribution filtered down the hierarchy of social strata. Benin is the seat of our culture and lots more.

My response: Thank you so much, although, I careless about the glory, the least i can do is litter my content with my digital signature/intellectual property; but my goal is the enlightenment of our people, for it will benefit future generations. Who knows who my great grand child will marry, who knows which of my great grand children’s husband or wife if not themselves by connection, this piece of information will directly impact our collective trajectory towards much greater empowerment. We hide many secrets unbeknownst to us, and the owner of the farm, knows how and when to reward the farmer. Oh that many more will have this foresight and not be besotted with the pursuit of glory, which will stll come their way with no effort at the right time. In my estimation, these secrets will stay hidden simply because the spirit of collective action and incremental build that requires many generations, is impeded with our penchant to invest in projects only when we will gain all glory in our very lifetime,. This my friend is our albatross.

This is another piece, another article, another wireframe unit of thoughts to be fleshed out into a chapter, and part of my forthcoming book to be published online and in print soon.

Note: I was thrilled yesterday by a new Facebook friend Patience Oyeme Fada who was enthralled with the compilation work i have been doing over the years, archiving our history. She loves our history, arts, culture and the wealth therein. This to me is the reward, is the glory, is one of the reasons I do this. I still have a smile on my face today.