Monday, 17 August, 2009 by Omo Nyja.

Hello world,

it’s been a while since I’ve written on this blog. 438 days to be exact. But for some reason, I’ve decided I’m going to give this a shot, again. I don’t know if anyone will actually read this, but hey, I’m paying for it, so I might as well use it… lol.

Ok, so what has happened since I was last on here? Obama became president, Michael Jackson died… can’t think of any other major occurrences, but I’m pretty sure I’m missing at least one. In my life? um… I moved… I have a roommate now. It’s not as bad as I feared, but after two years of living alone, it takes a little getting used to. But hey, at least I get to save some money every now and then … life is pretty good, I must say… don’t get me wrong, things aren’t exactly where I hoped they’d be at this point, but I am very fortunate to be where I am on my journey and I thank God for it. I’ve got a wonderful family (spread out in 5 cities/villages and 3 continents), some good friends, a job that pays the bills and I live comfortably. I’m not exactly, ‘living the life’… but I really believe that optimism goes a long way, and I always try to keep a smile on my face… I like to say, “lie to yourself, sooner or later you’ll start to believe it…”

By the way,  I am now a season ticket holder for the Seattle Sounders FC of the MLS. If you told me this time last year, that I’d be cheering for an MLS team, I’d have called you a liar. But life doesn’t always take you down a path that you expect. So yeah, those of you that follow me on twitter or facebook are probably tired of my constant updates about the Sounders. What can I say, I fall hard sometimes … We had friendlies against Chelsea and Barcelona and there were over 60,000 people at both of those games… we lost but they were both fun. Also on the sports front, Manchester United had a pretty good season, lost in the finals of the champions league in May, which was really painful… lol… and the Orlando Magic made it too the NBA Finals but lost to the Lakers (boooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!).

I’m guessing that none of this is news to most of you, but I didn’t really know what I was gonna write when I started typing so I’m pretty much just pouring out whatever random thoughts are on my mind….

So the big news here really is still this debate about healthcare. I’m not too sure why people are so angry. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with someone else and having a debate about it, but all this fear mongering and outright racism is really appalling. I do believe that the crazies we see on tv are in the minority, but they seem to have some numbers behind them. Personally, I’m in support of the plan for healthcare. People seem to talk about Canada and the UK as examples of the evilness that is healthcare for all. I have been sick while I was in England and my aunt took me to the hospital. Didn’t pay a dime… on the flipside, when I lived in Florida, I once had to drive myself to the hospital, in pain, after bruising a bone (felt like it was broken) because I didn’t want to have to call an ambulance and have to pay close to $1000. I think healthcare should be a right to all, especially children. As a child in Nigeria, I remember going to work with my mom (she’s a doctor) and seeing her react to a death for the first time. I was a little surprised to see that she was angry… I must have been 8 or 9 at the time, but I remember asking her and she told me that the baby’s parents had tried to medicate the child at home and only brought the baby in when the child’s condition got worse. My mother said it was too late and there wasn’t much she could do to save the child. I know Nigeria has a long way to go when it comes to healthcare among other things, that’ll have to be a whole ‘nother post, but this is supposed to be the greatest country in the world and I know there are families that have to decide between hospital visits and paying bills and I don’t think that shouldn’t happen.

Ok, so I think I’m done blogging for now, hopefully, it won’t be another 400 days till my next post… Enjoy life people!!!

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Friday, 12 October, 2007 by Omo Nyja.

The world ‘Islam’ means “…submission, or the total surrender of oneself
to God.” If you asked any religious person if this sounds like a good thing,
they’d more than likely say yes. Yet, in the world today, most people are of
the belief that Islam and Muslims are evil. They seem to associate
everything that is even vaguely related to this faith with terror. We’ve all
seen the pictures or videos of men who say they are Muslims, committing acts
that are at best worthy of condemnation. Why do these people speak for the
millions of Muslims around the world? Why do the actions of the few cause so
many problems for the many.

I grew up in Nigeria, in a Christian home and I am a Christian. I had the
opportunity to be in close quarters with Muslims for most of my life…
observing, they’re customs and beliefs from not so far away. I would be
first to tell you that Muslims would probably be more willing to do things
in the name of God. To me, that is not a bad thing. One of the things I
admire about the religion of Islam is that for the most part, they have
specific rules on how to practice their faith. They pray at a specific time
and in a specific way for example. Some may say that this is somewhat
robotic, but how is it any different from the hymn singing and creed reading
practiced in some churches. In the end, these actions are between us and the
God we believe in and worship. We all believe we are in the right faith so
questioning the method of our worship is almost like an attack on our
souls… but I digress… The point I was trying to make was that Muslims
are raised with strict rules to govern their faith. I think it’s safe to
assume that as children, many of them don’t really understand the
significance of what they do, but do them anyway. I would like to believe
that as they mature in their faith, that they begin to realize the full
value of their customs. Nevertheless, there must be some of the mindset
left, even in adults and it would definitely be easier to convince someone
to commit terrible acts for their faith, even though this is almost never
the case.

In world history, more wars have been fought, and more people have died in
the name of God. It’s obvious to me that most, if not all of the wars do not
have the approval of God. At one point in history, people killed in the name
of Christianity. I have had the opportunity to be in close quarters with
Muslims most of my life and in my eyes, their no better or worse than us
Christians. Like us, they take their religion serious and from time to time,
they stumble in their religious walk. So why does the world condemn them so
much?

I know it must be hard to separate the Osama’s of the world from other
Muslims, like the people I met at a mosque in Redmond WA earlier this week,
who were very hospitable, amicable and respectful of my faith as I was of
theirs, but I believe that demarcation must be made. Hatred only begets
hatred. If we try to understand other people and their chosen way of life,
we might do a better job of living together.

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