15 Lessons For My Kids

1. Stand by your principles, even if you have to stand alone.
2. Have ‘shame’ (different from humility) as ‘shame’ creates boundaries, becomes a natural restraint from doing things outside the principles / parameters you have set for yourself.
3. You and you alone are responsible for your actions; not witches and wizards, nor evil neighbors, enemies, Emery or Ogbanje spirit… only you.
4. There is no such thing as an ‘anointing pen / pencil’ or prayer sessions to banish ‘the spirit of forgetfulness’. These are just gimmicks conjured by smooth talking charlatans to lead you astray. The only spirits you need to pass your exams (and you don’t need to caste and bind them) are the twin spirits of studying and hard work. You are lucky, my late father flogged those spirits into me.
5. Be analytical, always seek to understand…never accept anything by rote or faith for there is a reason you have a brain.
6. Feel free to profess to any faith or none at all….for all faiths are but moral codes and rely on transcendent good-evil distinction; "This is right, that's wrong." Always remember Nietzsche’s ‘MPS’ - Morality in the Pejorative Sense, for people who are guided by ‘morals’ dictated by their society / religion stubbornly and inexorably assume that their “morality” has universal applicability. You live in a world that has several cultures, societies and religions so it goes without saying that there is no one “Universal / Absolute Morality”. If in doubt ask Christians and Muslims, they have been on it for generations!
7. Whatever your faith or lack of it, focus on Ethics. For Ethics assumes that moral’s standards exist and seeks to describe them, evaluate them, or evaluate the premises upon which those standards exist. For with Morals you have to ‘CONFORM’, Ethics on the other hand are “principles of conduct that you ‘CHOOSE’ (remember why you have a brain?) to govern your life as a guiding philosophy.
8. Praying is good but remember that ‘laborare est orare’…..to work is to pray.
9. “Know thyself”, for “experience / history” is another man’s (of your generation or another) “know thyself” packaged in books to help you know yourself. For only when you truly understand yourself can you understand others.
10. As a corollary to “Know thyself”, please “Be thyself”. Don’t be railroaded into living another person’s life simply because you want to fit in…to conform to society. 
11. Success is relative and true fulfillment is in living your own life. Frustration and unfulfillment is in trying to be like another.
12. Pray (work) for a healthy mind in a healthy body, always remember ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’.
13. When you love, love with all your heart and never be afraid of heartbreak, for in search of true love, your heart will be broken before it’s truly loved.
14. Talent / brilliance is simply not enough. In whatever path you chose; focus, be disciplined, persevere and persist. Master failure and whenever you fail, try, try and try again.
15. Make saving a habit…for you will never be rich enough. Life style and financial obligations, if not reigned in, will catch up with and overtake your income. So learn to save / invest, no matter how little you earn and when the rainy day finally arrives (for as sure as death it will come) you will be shocked how much you have salted away.
Adhere to this and you wouldn’t need to “use wisdom” when confronted with adversity, you will be “wise”….wiser than your peers.




Jekwu Ozoemene