Apart from Terrorism, a supercharged word, that beat it to a second position, Multitasking is the new word (in my own view and by my own reckoning) on the lips of young and upwardly mobile corporate individuals. Anywhere you go in the corporate world and marketplaces, it is Multitasking! - a new word that has relegated division of labour to the background and has given juggling of different tasks at the same time, a pride of place. You hear it in the board room when Directors and Management are planning about how to optimize efficiency using the cutting-edge technological approach. The same word finds its way stealthily into the bedroom when couples are marshaling plans for increased growth and production (whatever that means!!). It is Multitasking all the way!
I tried to look for the actual meaning of the 'vexed' word (Multitasking) and I discovered that, etymologically it originated in the computer engineering industry. It was used to refer to the ability of a microprocessor to apparently process several tasks simultaneously. But the computer word has been embraced not only by the tech savvy business world who sees it as "the art of being able to switch back and forth from one job or task to another repeatedly " (Dr Samjay Gupta) but also by the indigenous housewives who simply see it as "the ability to do several things at the same time".
Employers of labour wield this newfangled corporate vocabulary (Multitasking) to poisonous effect with the way they, for instance, task their staffs (mostly females) to function as secretaries, receptionists, personal assistants to the M.D and marketers of company's products (when they are off duty). Also, applicants these days are expected to include the word Multitasking in the "skills and abilities" section of their resumes, failing which, their days in the labour market would be without end.
Numerous researches and studies have shown the dangers of Multitasking . But it is beyond my pay grade and my brain power to begin to pontificate about its fatal danger to the brain and the toll it might be taking on the economy. I really must admit I am not expert enough to discuss all of those. Besides they are not the subjects of this article.
However, what really caught my attention is the way and manner the womenfolk have elevated Multitasking to an art form. Don't be surprised that the lady you are chatting with on Facebook or Yahoo Messenger or Skype is also breastfeeding, sending out an email, chopping vegetables (without cutting her fingers), and watching "Desperate Housewife"- all at the same time. Gosh! It is amazing how they do all of those, with just two hands, without losing concentration! Frankly, I reserve a special place of adulation for all ladies who would have to juggle a frenetic workday with an equally chaotic home life and having not a hair out of place, at the end of the day! For me it is a feat!
And, if you are a man out there, you think this is no big deal, I challenge you to try talking on the phone, send your buddy a fax, change your baby wet diaper, get your toddler girl some snack and monitor what your school-aged boys are watching on television - all at the same time - and see what I am talking about.
Of course, just like everything else, science has some explanations for this phenomenon. It says women are capable of using both hemispheres of the brains at the same time, while men can only use one. It goes further to say, the back part of the Corpus Callosum is larger in women, hence there is better communication between the two hemispheres in their brains. So, that explains why women are able to focus on a number of different things at one time and men are only able to concentrate for longer periods of time on one task (and do it better than women)? Well, that is one thorny question I really would like the womenfolk to brace up and answer.
Nevertheless, in my own subjective view, the explanation provided by science lends credence to the reason why men always see the big picture (Vision) while the womenfolks are only concerned with the basic details. Hmm, I know that viewpoint won't wash with a lot of the 21st century modern ladies out there. But before they go beady-eyed and wrinkle their made-up faces; before they clench their beautifully manicured fists and charge at me like a feral cat, they should just pick up any science textbooks - Physics, Mathematics, chemistry, etc - or medical textbooks, and they would discover to their chagrin that most theorems, principles and discoveries are overwhelmingly named after men!
Does that now mean guys are better than gals? Hell no!!! As a matter of fact without women and their multitasking magic, men are nothing but mere basket-cases; a large mass of disaster going somewhere to happen!!! Just like an architect cannot say he has no need of builders (men are architects, women are builders), no man in his correct state of mind would scorn at a woman or despised her nimble and multitasking fingers, which keep the earth in its orbit!
Women are just wonderful!!!
ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI
Shh ....silent Nigerians! Close your eyes and rip the lid off your cobwebbed creative faculty! Yes, let your imagination off its leash. Let it soar, soar like an Eagle in the sky. No! This is not a flight of fancy. And of course you are not spinning fantasies here!
Just imagine. Imagine a new Nigeria!
Refuse
to dig up the past or rake over the ashes. Resist the temptation to
dredge up unhappy memories or revisit old feelings. Don't think about
the senseless orgy of violence that has taken up residence in the North or ponder over the
ignoble business of kidnapping still going on in the South. Just close your eyes. Close your eyes and shut the door of your mind against the negative mainstream view of your country. Close your eyes and block your ears to the empty rhetoric and sophistries of your present-day leaders, whose emergence is a product of crude
manipulations and systemic dysfunction; who are another failed expectations and extinguished hope.
Just close your eyes and imagine. Imagine a new Nigeria!
Imagine
Nigeria blazing new trails and charting new frontiers in every sphere
of human endeavor. Imagine a Nigeria where the outlaws and the moral
Lilliputians will not dominate our political landscape. Imagine a
Nigeria where our schools are hatcheries for Visionary and benevolent
servant leaders and not hot-beds for the most hideous of crimes and the
most horrendous transgressions.
Imagine! Imagine a country where Nigerians will sleep with their two eyes closed without having nervous pangs (or panic
attack); a country where the Police is indeed your friend and not ally to godless money-hungry criminals. Imagine a country where
the mass of the people are the centre-piece and focal point of
Government's policies and spending; a country where corruption is no more the
societal ethos and norm; where honesty and integrity become the pervasive culture.
Imagine a made in Nigeria cars in the U.S, in the gulf region and many parts of Europe. Imagine your country, Nigeria, in the G7!!!!
Imagine. Imagine
a Nigeria where inaction and blame game would no longer hold sway; a country where her citizens would not bow to mere tokenism and blandishment of government officials; a country where we would no longer resign ourselves to fate in
mute indifference and cold complacency. Imagine a Nigeria where everybody makes
it a point of honour to grab the wheel and drive the change!
Imagine. Just imagine a
new NIGERIA!
ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI
"...don't go trying some new fashion; don't change the
colour of your hair; I could not love you any better; I love you just the way you are... "
These are some of the words of the music belting out from the sound system of a cab I boarded while going somewhere important, a day after the 10th year anniversary of 9/11. Not sure who the artiste with such a lush baritone was, I asked my Filipino driver, who said something in smattering English which I could not make head or tail of. But I was enjoying this music. It was freewheeling down my soul. I really relished the lyrics, especially the part that said "I love you just the way you are". Boy! It was as if the music should not end. The music drown my worries and muffled a babel of jarring voices of doubt. However, not quite long, the music came to an end but not in my mind, and the announcer told us the artiste behind the baritone which has held me spell-bound. Barry White!
Of course, I should have known this guy! Any genuine lover of good music should have known this iconic artiste. But, before you go calling me a fuddy-duddy, let me state here that I grew up as a Christian in an era when the so called Scripture Union (S.U) Christians also known as Born Again Christians used to literally retch at secular music. There was this pervasive belief then, that secular music came from Satan's 'inner sanctum' of vulgarity and you were in danger of hell if you continued listening to such "unholy" music. So, as a young believer who was still wet between the ears I became so ill-disposed to secular musicians and their music to the point of avoiding them like plaque even when some of these music were not so replete with sexual innuendos and violence as we were made to believe. Thankfully, that mindset helped in a way. Yes, it prevented me from swift descent into the abyss of social vices and guided me through the difficult maze of youthful exuberance. And if truth be told, some of the beliefs acquired at that particular period of my history have formed the bedrock upon which my core values and belief systems are built today.
However, now that I am of a free spirit, I have an axe to grind with a provincial thought that says secular songs should not be listened to by (Born Again) Christians or anybody at that. I venture to say that some of these so called secular songs are not only inspirational but also do touch a chord , just like the song (by Barry White) in question had done to me, that beautiful morning.
The wordings of the song kept coming to me even, long after I have alighted from the cab and forgotten about the driver. The song reminded me of God's love towards me and the fact that He loves me just the way I am. The lyrics of the song, especially the part that says "just the way you are" made God's love towards me so real, so practical and not just another airy-fairy philosophy of a confused theologian. No doubt, Barry White is serenading a belle in that song, but as far as I am concerned, it is God telling me "don't go trying some new fashion; don't change the colour of your hair; I could not love you any better; I love you just the way you are".
As a matter of fact, it takes a deeply reflective mind to really appreciate God for His unconditional love and undeserved daily mercies. I do choke back tears when I remember that despite my failings, faults and foibles, He never send me to the pillory or gas chambers like some sexless African gods would have done. In spite of what I did last summer and this summer and my hole-and-corner activities, He never ask me to do time in the purgatory. He just loves me warts and all!
I do not have to tint my Afro-textured hair or grow some Arab-style side whiskers to be accepted of Him. I do not have to slather some expensive Paris-made bleaching cream on my body or alter my facial symmetry to impress Him. I do not have to fake an upper crust English accent or go learning one foreign language to have an audience with Him. He just loves me the way I am .
He loves me, with all my morning breath and other breaches of hygiene. He loves me, just the way I am.
ADEDAYO GABRIEL FATOKI
