Thoughtful article from M.I.

Nigerian rapper M.I. (Jude Abaga)wrote this very thoughtful article! The hope is the worst part of it The way they lay there, beaten and broken, battered and bruised. Knowing their end had come for certain. Knowing that the crowd meant to see this through to the end. And yet, in the midst of all this certainty, in some small corner of their hearts, hoping. That something would happen, some miracle perhaps. I am speaking of course, of the #Aluu4, students of University of Port Harcourt who were beaten and set ablaze last week. I’d heard the news sometime last week and devoted all of 10 seconds of thought to it. I wondered briefly who the students were, and what could possibly have driven them to steal. I briefly wondered if they were really guilty but my mind quickly shied away from where that road could lead. I remembered all the stories I grew up hearing about thieves and the instant justice meted out to them, and mentally shook my head. That would have been all, I suppose, but for the video. It is probably the most gruesome thing I have ever seen, and the worst I ever hope to see. Hope. There, I’ve said it again. Somehow it seems there is no escaping it. Because when things like this happen, it seems our default reaction is to hope it will never happen to us or any one we know or love. Then we hope that our religion and hard work and luck will exempt us from senseless suffering. Sometimes we hope that right thing will be done, the wrong doers brought to book, and the victims receive some sort of justice. Every day we hope the country we live in will be a better place for us and for our children. And that is the problem with hope. That we have allowed it to cripple us and render us inactive. You , me, all of us who sit by hoping and doing nothing to change. Read on Bellanaija