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āRemember when, before the internet, everyone thought that lack of information was the reason for stupidity?ā
- Random commenter on YouTube
Itās September already? š±
THE CATāS LAIR ā ļø
Put Your Phone Down For Once
We are fortunate to live in modern times. Many of us have access to technology that our ancestors could only dream of. With the rise of modern medicine, we can live much better and longer lives than at any time in human history. Magnificent leaps in communication have made it possible to reach anyone anywhere at the mere push of a button. The internet, arguably one of humanity's greatest inventions, is an archive of information. Never in history has so much knowledge been at the fingertips of humankind. Never in history have plebs had access to the same books that elites store in their private libraries. We truly live in an unprecedented age. However, many are oblivious to this reality. Despite millennia of human wisdom at our fingertips, modern man seems even more foolish than ever before. Why?
Now, I have not run any studies to explore this phenomenon. I speak plainly from observation when I say that modern man seems to be embroiled in a unique brand of foolishness. The fools of the past did not have access to a lot of knowledge. Imagine living in a time where no book, school of thought or advancement challenged your beliefs. One would have lived thinking they knew everything there was to know about the world. Many of our ancestors who happened to be fools were living in times of limited information. Their folly could be excused because of their apparent knowledge limitations. The modern fool, however, cannot call on this same excuse. Now, not all modern-day folk are the same. I can see reasons why an undereducated woman in a rural Nigerian community might be a fool. But why is that well-educated guy who wears a suit and a tie to work every day so incredibly foolish?
Now, dear reader, I have always defined a fool as a person who believes he has all the answers to all the questions. Not knowing does not qualify a person as a fool. It is possible to have no education and be wise. A PhD holder can be a fool. What qualifies a person as a fool is a lack of awareness. A fool is a person who is unaware that he does not know everything about a topic. The essence of the fool is perfectly captured by this Confucius quote: "He who knows all the answers, has not been asked all the questions". Once you believe you are wise, you are already knee-deep in folly. The journey to wisdom begins when we know that we do not know everything.
As a wise woman travels through life, she acquires knowledge and experience. Through exposure to new information, she is constantly asked new questions that force her to re-evaluate her beliefs. Over time, she comes to realise that she is not always right and there is a lot she does not know. Personal experience is the best teacher, but humans have only one life. We cannot experience everything first-hand. However, we can gain second-hand experience through reading, listening and observing. With an increased number of first or second-hand experiences comes a greater chance of realising that we do not know it all. But it is only through reflection that we can come to this realisation. In an age where there are thousands of books on thousands of topics, is there a reason why wisdom is far away from many of us?
Yes, there is. I believe I have a working explanation for this strange development. My answer? There are an infinite number of distractions in the modern age. Despite the wealth of information around us, we do not utilise it because we are preoccupied. We are focused on things like work, family, children, social relationships and our faith, which are all good. But our highly interconnected world has turned these things into unhealthy obsessions. Work is good, but now we're working 24/7. The average employee can no longer switch off her brain. She is tethered to her email even when on vacation. Social relationships are beautiful, but talking and chatting on the phone nonstop is toxic. Why? Because wisdom is forged in meditation, reflection and solitude. When we're talking, we are not thinking deeply.
The average university graduate today is constantly preoccupied with work, social media, and entertainment. She is working, chatting and watching Netflix on her phone all at the same time. A bona fide dopamine addict, each time she gets a chat notification, the chemicals in her brain fire up, and she becomes excited. Always talking to people around her or in the digital world, she never sees the need to unplug and look inward. Even when she's in Church, she has her phone out chatting. Nothing the pastor or priest says penetrates her thick skull. She even goes so far as hunching over to answer calls right when prayers are ongoing. An unthinking individual, she hardly reads. But even when she reads 50 books in a year, she learns nothing because she never reflects on what she reads. What a sad reality!
The capacity of the average educated person to engage in deep thought is almost non-existent in 2025. Once again, this is my personal observation. Our phones have replaced our brains. Our entire life dances to the tune of our phones' notifications. If it rings, we must answer immediately. If we get a WhatsApp message, we never rest until we have responded. "What if it's an emergency?" We ask ourselves. In 2025, every mundane thing is an emergency. I want to talk to my girlfriend, "it's an emergency". I want to ask Anita what I should wear tomorrow, "it's an emergency". I'm talking to God, and my phone rings, "Hold on, Lord! Something more important than you is happening.ā I remember those days when the only emergencies were health-related. Good times. When I turn off my phone for hours to work, think, write and reflect, I get the age-old, "This is how you miss opportunities" comment. I also reply with "I am not interested in any opportunity that cannot wait for at least 12 hours". Phones were made to serve us, not the other way around.
Strangely, there are thousands of Churches scattered across Nigeria today, and yet the country is in terrible shape. Every Sunday, millions of Nigerians attend Church. We kneel down, stand up, sing, dance, pray, hug and shake hands. Yet there are no visible changes in society. In Church, we listen to what is being said - that is, if we are not chatting on WhatsApp or taking selfies during the sermon - but because we are allergic to personal reflection, the words enter one ear and go out the other.
When it comes time to dance in Church, everyone is agog, but tell them to go home and meditate on the teachings for just ten minutes, and their Christianity deserts them. They will go on marathon prayer sessions lasting hours, but ask them to stop and spend five minutes in deep thought, and it seems like a herculean task. Many Christians would rather die than be alone with their thoughts. Yet we wonder why Nigeria is the way it is. Everyone is talking, watching someone else talking, dancing or cracking jokes. Few people spend time in solitude. In a country where no one thinks, the fool is king.
The "educated" mind today is a fertile ground for propaganda. Thanks to the perpetual flow of information, coupled with the lack of reflection. This isn't just a Nigerian problem; it is a global one. We are inundated with information every waking hour. Some of it is useful and objective, a lot of it is noise. However, rather than put down our phones to sort out truth from lies, we do no such thing. We see passing headlines and suck in the message without any scrutiny. We don't know how science works. Once an expert from a reputable institution makes a claim, we accept it one hundred per cent. We love to circulate academic studies that agree with our opinions without even reading through them. Those of us who manage to do so just read the abstract and take it as gospel truth. Yet we act like we know it all and look down on people who question the unquestionable. Scepticism is truly dead in 2025.
Today, the most educated people are seemingly the most foolish. Could it be because they're the ones most likely to afford gadgets that prevent them from thinking? Maybe. Nevertheless, we live in strange times. In the past, education made one more open to knowledge. Today, it seems the more educated a person is, the more closed off they are to knowledge. Is the solution less education? Definitely not, education is and will always be a desirable thing. The solution is more solitude and more reflection.
When you put everything together, it all begins to make sense. There's a vast database of information that has been gathered over centuries right there on the internet. But we are so busy with our phones that we hardly have time to dive into this knowledge pool. Even when we do, we learn absolutely nothing because we don't go back to synthesise the new information we have absorbed. The result is a generation of educated fools who think they know it all. This is why it is very common to see people who claim to be educated advocating for the suppression of beliefs and groups they dislike.
It doesn't matter what you studied, where you studied, your title at your workplace, or how much money you have in the bank. If you never spend time in solitude, your odds of succumbing to folly are high. We should all be flexing our mental muscles.
Please put down your phone for once. I promise you will never see the world the same way again.
Interesting stuff:
CHELSā WORLD š
Grief, Love, and the Spaces Between
In the past three months, I have been learning that grief has no template, no manual. Sometimes it comes so suddenly, so shockingly, that I feel actual shockwaves course through my body. I have found myself in the fetal position, weeping, because sometimes thatās the only response to a pain that has no words. The littlest things trigger it; a story of someone elseās loss that drags me right back in time, a picture that makes me feel the absence just as keenly as the very first time.
I donāt think I will ever fully have the words to explain what grief feels like. I have lost loved ones before, but with each loss, I am ever more reminded of the Fourth Station of the Cross and manās response to Christ:
āMy Jesus, Lord. I know what you are telling me. To watch the pain of those we love is harder than to bear our own. To carry my cross after you, I, too, must stand and watch the sufferings of my dear ones, the heartaches, sicknesses, and grief of those I love. And I must let them watch mine, too. I do believe, for those who love you, all things work together unto good.ā
Fr Justin Fulton captures the heart of this truth:
āAll of us can relate to the above passage. Sometimes there are no words. Sometimes the only thing we can do is share in oneās agony and simply witness the suffering and be present to them. And in that presence, we find out that love indeed hurts, love indeed is a sacrifice, love is a crown of thorns, and indeed love is the Cross. To watch a loved one suffer and not be able to assist, help, console, or alleviate the pain is oftentimes harder to bear than the actual suffering itself.ā
It is a different kind of pain to watch someone you love suffer and know there is nothing you can do to ease it or change it. And yet, that is the truth of life: we must watch. Those we love will fall sick, will carry burdens that we cannot shoulder for them, and we are called to be present in those times. I remember last year when my dad was ill. I touched him and felt the heat of his fevered skin, and it made my eyes well with tears. In that moment, I realized how deeply afraid I am of losing my parents. But the reality is, one day, I will. The people we love will die. And no, this isnāt a morbid letter; it is just the rhythm of life. We are born, we die, the cycle continues. And just as we watch the pain of others, so too must others watch our own struggles, our own helplessness.
Maybe thatās the lesson grief keeps pressing on me: that love and loss are inseparable. That to love deeply is to one day grieve, and to grieve is proof that we once loved deeply. And maybe the only way forward is not to try to escape that truth but to hold it close, to live more tenderly, to give people their flowers while they can still smell them, to love loudly and wholly, to be fully present, to show up for the ones I love, and to allow others to do the same for me.
So, I pray that I might carry my cross with the patience, humility, and courage Christ shows us. That I may watch without despair, grieve without losing hope, and love without fear. That I may offer presence where words fail and find in my own suffering a deeper awareness of Godās mercy. Because one day I will be the one left watching, and another day I will be the one being watched. And maybe, in that quiet, fragile space between watching and being watched, love quietly endures.
I found this interesting:
CURRENT READS š
The Cat: The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (By Ulysses S. Grant)
Chels: And So I Roar - A Novel (By Abi DarƩ)
RANDOM STUFF š²
