Kenny Brandmuse
When I read about Linda Ikeji's Banana Island testimony, I felt happy for her. How exciting to have a young woman work so hard to make it happen for herself - all without the glorified maleness factor, but something about this testimony and the likes irk me when I consider that most of these testifiers always push that tired 'GOD DID THIS SPECIAL ONE FOR ME' narrative.
I have sat in churches where people come forward to exalt God for 'SPECIAL ' job promotions, 'SPECIAL ' new homes they never worked for and how the key just dropped in their laps. I have read on social media various accounts of people who claim 'THEY BECAME SUCCESSFUL TODAY BECAUSE THEY FOLLOWED GOD'S SPECIAL SECRET.' And suddenly, this God excuse becomes a lame excuse for a generation that celebrates mediocrity instead of substance. Hence, everybody is waiting on God for that 'SPECIAL' thing.
Take Linda Ikeji for instance, this is a blogger who prospered on other people's stories and pictures that she stole without their permission. But God did it. God showed her how to steal other people's stories and use these stories to drive ad sales, right? We thank the Lord. Amen. What about top executives who gave heavy kickbacks to land some mega projects for their companies or who cheated their ways to the top? What about people who lied at visa interviews to travel abroad and are now thanking God for a SPECIAL favor at the embassy? What about families who paid so little in wages to their workers and yet they stepped forward to claim they are richer than the rest of us because God showed them a special way? What about people who understudied someone else's business or skills, mastered such skills, and now are claiming God dropped this new skill into their brains while the rest of us were sleeping? What, for God sake, is hard about acknowledging that you learned something from someone and now you are using it effectively? What about connections you made because your former boss exposed you to such people you would never meet on your own? I know ad agencies who pay substantial amount of money to executives on their clients side in order to retain their businesses, but are soon on social media to tell us HOW GOD HAS BROUGHT THEM THUS FAR. Phew! Candice, you lie!
And finally, what about people who honestly tried and for lack of connections, money and resources cannot have the banana island house? Are their successes less valid because they are not on the cover of glossy magazines? I doubt much. We need to stop the way we frame success in our generation. We need to teach our young ones how to celebrate their worth by dignifying every labor. We need to show people how to work harder and smarter without hoodwinking them into this myth of GOD DID IT. If you stole, say you stole. If you cheated, say you cheated. If you need to celebrate God, whatever name you call God, celebrate the divine for the little things around us we often take granted.
I want to believe a woman with a banana island home is as valid as a woman with a piece of banana. Either does not make the divine one bigger in scope and size.

I think he made a lot of sense though.

Well - said but this dude funny sha.. Implying that she stole.. Hmm