Just 4 Rubies

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.' One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her,’ Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'  The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him. Her boyfriend left her in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.' This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situ...

Chief Kunle Adetunji and Laide had been married for fifteen years before Kunle decided to take a second wife – Flora. Not only did he choose to tread the path of polygamy, he also got married to Flora without Laide’s knowledge. Expectedly, Laide could not stomach the intrusion of a rival. She fought vehemently when she got wind of her husband’s move. However, with the intervention of some family elders and friends, Flora was later accepted into Laide’s matrimonial home (a heavily furnished duplex in the heart of town) after two years of her (Flora) affair with the chief. As expected, the two rivals were engaged in constant squabbles and jealousies. During one of their frequent quarrels, Laide reminded her rival how that she had a talk-of-the- town traditional/church wedding with Kunle before he stumbled into wealth and was accorded a chieftaincy title. She also taunted Flora with the fact that she (Laide) was given a wedding ring by Kunle whereas Flora got none; hence she ...

Gwen Ifill arriving, with Wendell Pierce, for a state dinner at the White House. Credit Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images Stories by David Brooks Smartphones change death. When I heard that Gwen Ifill had died on Monday I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the photo album There were pictures of Gwen and her “NewsHour” colleague Judy Woodruff laughing uproariously together, doing little exploding fist-bumps, which I sneakily took while she was heroically covering the political conventions this year. There was a picture of her joyously driving a boat full tilt during a “NewsHour” party a few summers ago, the wind blasting into her clothes and face. There were pictures of her posing with friends of mine who had come to visit the set. Everybody who came wanted a picture with Gwen. Every reminiscence you read about Gwen will describe her smile. It was not subtle. It shone from her face like some sort of spiritual explosion. Once, during a walk through Rock C...

“Beauty, dignity, focus and determination! She ran a good race; the first woman to run for this tough job”, that was how Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, Principal Consultant/Managing Director at Edumark Consult cum Goals & Ideas described the great Amazon, Hilary Rodney Clinton, who many have come to admire as the most affable female champion of our time. Ogunde recalled, “A few years ago I applied for a VITAL VOICES FELLOWSHIP FOR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. My business was selected and thus began a full one year training program co-ordinated from their US office. Weekly tutorials, Harvard Managers program and loads of other things. The journey took those of us in Africa to Tanzania where we had very exciting sessions with various consultants…and mentoring on our businesses for three years. I did not need to pay a dime. Vital Voices was set up to support women by Hilary Rodney Clinton. Today, I have friends in various African countries –Barbara Kasasa, Diana Nsereko, Pa...