Okay I agree that I have almost 5000 friends on Facebook, but I can explain that easily. I am not a local champion of some sort, neither a superstar nor some self-accomplished dude with lots of fans checking me out. There are two simple reasons why I have generated this number of people to the point that Facebook has officially banned me from adding more friends and require that I create a fan page. First, I am a functional public relations officer of my Alumni association, and by that privilege, I need to connect with as many members as possible to keep information flowing. These members make up almost half the number of friends I have. The second reason is that from 2005 when I joined Facebook, I had determined that it’s either it is of use to me or I drop it. So when I began seeing its potential as a platform for connecting with positive virtue, I started leveraging its power to reaching out to people who have so far made a huge impact in my life. Only a small number of people on my list are personally unknown.
But in the past months I have be appraising the inefficiencies and deficiencies in my life, especially those having to do with online relationships; those affiliations nurtured by cyber ϋber culture. Just like every other outlet of human interaction facilitated by technology, social networking has proven to be the neo-globalization that makes the economic definition trivial. I have created new friendships, reactivated old ones, facilitated strategic partnerships transcending geography and culture, promoted successful events all through social networking. And we know of course I wouldn’t be wrong if I posit that Facebook is now synonymous with the term social networking. So, most if not all of the above feathers in my social cap were awarded by Facebook. But frankly there lies this little matter that needs to be addressed, and this borders on the nature of cyber social contacts. Have they made the world more closely knit, or simply noncommittal?
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A while back I became convicted about certain teachings which we have come to be comfortable with in church. This brought about my close and careful reexamination of the matter of confessing sins by believers. The usual way is to confess our sins to God, repent and He will forgive us. There are scriptures we use when we start out in a prayer meetings; scriptures like 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” When this is done, we then begin speaking to God and confessing our sins quietly to Him and letting no one else hear, afterwards it’s to God we confess to. Very convenient isn’t it? Very easy to do and get away with and do it time and time again, because no one is holding us accountable, only “God”.
My dad was a speedy left winger who played all the way into the then popular Nigerian Ports Authority Football team in Nigeria. He probably quit playing to pursue a career in Law. His younger brother was the captain of the legendary St. Gregory’s College Football team, who were champions of the Principal Cup in Nigeria many years ago. My mother, on the other hand, was a serious football fan who frequented stadiums with the paraphernalia of her chosen team. She only stopped going to the stadium when she almost lost her ear after a fight broke out in a tension soaked match between Nigeria and Ghana in 1969 or thereabout. But she continued her support for local Nigerian teams of which Shooting Stars was the object of worship. I can actually remember my mum having the then coach of Shooting Stars over for lunch at our house in Calabar when they came to play against the Calabar Rovers. Of course they were beaten (smiles). My point is that for most of my life, I have been engrossed with analyzing and assessing skill, technique, team strategy, and pattern of play in football; and I’m proud to say that this has lasted as long as I have had the ability to swallow lumps of eba.
Thoughts of a Calabarboy. 