BEING GENUINE

A foolish student
Will one day become a wise teacher
An unyielding sinner
Will one day become a moving preacher

The gap that yawns in you today
Will be filled by the pain of growth
Perfection and Imperfection may look like opposites
But when they arise in you, embrace them both

Because you don’t know which is which
Who is really poor and who is really rich.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

WISE SAYINGS AND ORDINARY PEOPLE

A stitch in time saves nine. –
Where are the nine in need of salvation if the one has already been saved? Find one good person in Sodom and Gomorrah, and destruction will be stayed – one good person. Just one. Is there a good person on earth?

All that glitters is not gold. –
Why aren’t they all gold if they all glitter like gold? And why does gold glitter, were it not also gold? Gold glitters because it is gold. But humans glitter because they are not gold. Good people are silent, walking unnoticed. Golden hearts do not require additional glitter to shine. The shine inside.

In November, trees and people reveal who they really are. –
In the eleventh hour, the power of humans to deceive shall begin to fail, and Creation’s autumn shall brutally strip all naked and cold, and we shall see ourselves as we are. If I deceive you, I will come naked to you tomorrow, asking for warmth. Please clothe me.

Every saying is wise, but it would be very unwise of their poets to presume themselves in any way to be sages or wise people. That would be foolishness.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.