At last there was eerie calm. The heated tussle was over. She clutched the bloodied, sharp butcher knife, her hands totally saturated in blood, which trickled down the cracks of her fingers in rivulets and dripped all over the floor.

In the frenzy of the struggle, the blood had splattered everywhere, including the walls. She was surprised at the amount of blood which had pooled on the floor. Indeed, it would require a thorough clean up, if not the stains will become affixed and she would hate such constant reminders.

Hissing in pain, she turned on the kitchen tap which simply sputtered, coughed up a few drops of water and ceased. Wishful thinking she said to herself. This night is just going nicely. Stomping out of her back door, she fetched a bowl of water from one of the  jerrycans of water that they purchased from the roaming water vendors…

In deed, nothing I have is truly mine,

I am simply a beneficiary,

Of the benevolence of a Supreme Being: God,

I am only a conscious receptor of goodwill and grace,

I am simply a custodian of blessings bestowed upon me,

A mere guardian of gifts innumerable.

Not to be taken for granted.

However we look at it.

I know this.

I am just a sojourner, a wayfarer.

Nothing I have is truly mine.

Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

*We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.*

The last wishes of Alexander the Great………
On his death bed, Alexander summoned his army generals and told them his three ultimate wishes:

1. The best doctors should carry his coffin …
2. The wealth he has accumulated (money, gold, precious stones) should be scattered along the procession to the cemetery ….
3. His hands should be let loose, so they hang outside the coffin for all to see !!

One of his generals who was surprised by these unusual requests asked
Alexander to explain.

Here is what Alexander the Great had to say:
1. “I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that in the face
of death, even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal ..”
2. “I want the road to be covered…

In shocked disbelief, I stared at the face on the boxed inset on TV. The headline news was making its evening rounds again on the local news channel. They had shown her in the morning, but as I rushed around for my morning engagements, I had glanced with vague interest at the strangely familiar face without recognition; but now, it was all coming back to me.

It was a couple of days to Valentine and I was growing heartsick and overdosed from seeing all the love shaped hearts stuck on store windows, the heart shaped chocolates, the balloons and cakes, the little teddies with their sugary messages, lovers making moon eyes at each other, even all the television channels seemed to be peddling the same syrupy valentine messages. I felt like the loneliest person on planet Earth. I was just getting over a broken passion and part of my therapy…