The reports on climate change are not old news. If it feels persistent, it isn’t just because of the recurring change in our atmosphere; it’s because it reminds us of our collective failure to protect the earth. It exposes our egoistic urge to own everything by all means necessary.

However, there’s a “pushed narrative” that the African continent is the least involved in avoiding the risks associated with the climate crisis. This is very debatable because we could sit and spend hours discussing how our political leaders exploit this crisis for monetary gain, but what we want to talk about is the people. To understand why many Africans seem disconnected from the climate discussion, we need to diminish this talk of a single story and instead look at the rhythm.

The key to disturbing a rhythm is to introduce a foreign object — something that feels authentic and new, yet very different from the norm. It’s intriguing and has the potential to remain relevant even though it could seem like a pre-packaged gift.

To us, the western way of life was that object: prepackaged, intriguing and relevant, and slowly, it encroached into our lands, our beliefs and culture. We adapted, ambushing our culture and making it feel ancient, archaic or “too old” to be lived. Our current lifestyle is, in many ways, a good example of all these historical shortcomings.

However, while we were going through this metamorphosis, we failed to acknowledge our Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) that came with observing and watching the earth grow alongside us. We ignored the distinct framework that was built from a spiritual responsibility to protect nature, an inherited knowledge passed down through generations which has kept ecosystems healthy for thousands of years. We were a people long before colonial masters landed on our shores.

We had adapted and evolved with the beating heart of the earth. Cultural nitty-gritties like our oral traditions, rituals and seasonal festivals were cultured responses to the continually changing seasons that our generational grandfathers spent lifetimes observing. But alas, when we abandoned that rhythm, we broke our innate connection to the earth, severing our strengths and adopting a westernized culture that killed this connection.

Today, many of us have lost that part of ourselves, chasing a beautified dream that is so streamlined and ingrained in our bodies that foreign terms like ‘climate change’ seem odd or distant, even as the weather feels off-putting.

Regardless of the role the Western culture played in accelerating the current climate crisis, we are still a resourceful people. We are still trying to incorporate this new normal into our lives, but honestly, we are not doing enough.

I believe we could go back to our roots, remembering what our fathers taught us about the earth, the soil and the changing seasons. We know that western solutions will always vary from what we innately need because the rhythm isn’t ours. However, we can change the narrative by employing our ancestral understanding of the land with the tools the modern world offers.

If we can resync our hearts to the beating of the earth and its surrounding environment, we won’t just be participating in a climate discussion; we will be leading it.

How the rhythm of our hearts no longer beat with the earth was originally published in ILLUMINATION on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The topic of feminism is a subject that I got acquainted with in my early twenties, but it’s a subject that has been around for far longer than I’ve known it. It’s a subject that young women around me referred to as a woman’s identity, but it’s also a subject that had been used so frequently that I couldn’t tell if the meaning had shifted over time or if it had always carried the context in which I have seen my fellow women use it. This context has always bothered me, so one day, I decided to look into what the term feminism meant and how it came to be.

The word feminism was first used by Charles Fourier in his book: Theories des quatre mouvements, in 1808, but notable figures like Mary Wollstonecraft penned the idea in her book: A vindication of the rights of a woman in 1792 before the term feminism came about. When you read her book or the work of many women who wrote about things pertaining to the suffering of women in the past, you will find out that women have always been subject to much mistreatment and oppression because there has been little or no law to protect them.

Women, back then, were normally seen as the weaker gender and were only significant if they were needed to take care of the house or birth children for the family. This has made it impossible for women to have a say in societal matters, which led to many women trying to take matters into their own hands.

These women challenged the patriarchal society, addressing problems like discrimination and exclusion of the female gender, gender roles and stereotypes, objectification of the female gender, et cetera. They stated that in order to bring about a peaceful society that respects and values women’s perspectives and experiences, factors such as female rights, equality, and freedom should be imposed in the system.

After looking through these past stories, I found out that the fights that were fought in the past have mostly been won in the present, and this claim is very evident by the presence of women in places of authority, governmental organisations with women as their leaders, human rights laws protecting women, et cetera.

While it is true that most of the wars that were fought in the past are very different from the wars that are fought in the present, I believe that our wars are almost similar because we evolved from the past, and the past keeps repeating itself in our present generation.

So, has the present generation taken advantage of this term, feminism, or are there women that use that word as a double-edged sword?

In this day and age, feminism has become a very strong word that can evoke a sense of patriotism and togetherness, especially among women. Apart from this sense of duty towards that word, feminism has also created a stable social structure that could protect women from any form of oppression, but from my experience, I believe today’s generation has lost the meaning of that word.

From what a friend of mine says, she believes that feminism is when a woman stands up for what she wants, which is an admirable thing until you find out that she’s fighting for her right to fetch water first because there’s a line of men before the tap, and she wouldn’t budge all the while knowing she wasn’t first in line. It makes one think: do some women really believe that if they change their minds about what they wanted, they are not feminists? How can that even be debatable? That’s just being stubborn and stupid.

If left unattended, it can cause a massive loss in the idea of feminism, and what the women of the past fought for will be lost in history. I believe that as we fight for our women in this growing society, we should also take the time to instill the real meaning of feminism in this generation and the younger generations to come.

Is our present-day feminism at a stalemate, or have we advanced to a new idea of feminism? was originally published in ILLUMINATION on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Do your beliefs center around what other people think, or do you investigate a claim before you believe it?

The Grimm variation is a Japanese anime that highlights the true folklores the Grimm brothers had gathered in the eighties. Driven by their love to protect the German culture, the Grimm brothers searched far and wide to collect stories that stem from the life and beliefs of the Germans at the time. These stories were told to teach future generations the complexities of life and to pass down vital information that would be useful to Germans in their everyday life.

But as time went on, the Grimm brothers stories underwent a lot of editing, creating different editions according to the times of the growing literary world and the original stories, and the reasons for collecting them were buried with the intention of reducing the horrors in these stories and putting a fairytale spin that would appeal to children.

In the Japanese anime, the core morals in the original stories told by the Grimm brothers were used to make these stories in this anime. Our first review is the first episode, called Cinderella. In the fairytale spin-off, the tale talked about how true love can end every struggle and suffering.

The aesthetics and the meaning of the spin-off fed our imagination with beauty and luxurious life that would always come for those that are suffering, making us believe that all we needed was our prince and the rest would be taken care of.

Of course the meaning and understanding of this spin-off is subjective, but we can all agree that we didn’t notice how Cinderella had to go to the ball for the prince to notice her. All we took notice of was true love; no matter what format it is, we believe it’s the answer to everything, especially for those that are suffering. True love is a ray of sunshine that they would grasp until their dying breath.

Well, the anime had a different spin to it. The anime tells the story of a young girl called Kiyoko living with her widowed father. Her father met a woman in the village and wanted to marry her. He asked for Kiyoko’s permission, which was granted to him, and he and the woman wedded.

The woman had two daughters, Makiko and Sawako, and according to the servants, they were mannerless, impolite, and thoughtless girls with a vendetta against Kiyoko, but the girls believed that Kiyoko was a manipulative person, which is not up for debate because Kiyoko is a little girl. She was always seen trying to please her stepsisters, apologizing on their behalf, and trying to get them to play with her. Her servants believed that her stepsisters put her through with it, and she’s afraid to fight back. It will be impossible to believe that someone like her would be suspected of the murder of her parents, the sickness plaguing her stepmother, and her stepsister’s ill-perceived behavior by the society.

The moral of the story teaches us that people are not always who they say that they are, and we shouldn’t always listen to hearsay or gossip. The little girl, Kiyoko, in this story, for lack of a better word, was a psychotic child. She plotted everything down to the last scene in the anime, and her reason for doing so was to have a little bit of fun in her life.

Her stepsisters, her father, and her stepmother were victims in her plot, but the villagers and the servants were not victims; she created a monster out of them, and they became perpetrators who believed that her stepsisters were evil and sought to protect Kiyoko by spreading the gossip and tarnishing the names of the sisters. It’s easy to believe what the majority says about someone, but if you could just lower your ears to the floor and try to listen to the rustling on the floor, maybe you could make out something you’ve never heard before.

Review of the Grimm Variation (1): Cinderella, a story that doesn't involve true love was originally published in Deep Chat on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The term "androcide" might not be familiar to many, but it holds significant meaning for numerous men in Nigeria. Androcide refers to the killing of men simply because they are male. This phenomenon can stem from various factors, including:
- Violence fueled by toxic masculinity
- Power struggles
- Revenge or retaliation
- Competition for scarce resources

I recall discussing the term with my brother, who believed it was an exaggerated expression. However, some of my friends argued that acknowledging androcide could highlight the often-overlooked struggles men face.

The stigma surrounding male victims of violence is deeply rooted in societal norms. When we hear about a man suffering, we often perceive him as weak or pathetic. This stereotype is fueled by:
- Lack of research and awareness on violence against men
- Limited historical documentation of such violence
- Stigma attached to being a man
- Focus on female-centric studies
- Lack of recognition in international law or academic circles

Our societal expectations have conditioned men to conceal their weaknesses. This mindset has created individuals like my brother, who downplay the significance of addressing androcide.

While it’s essential to acknowledge differing opinions, it’s equally important to recognize the value of discussing androcide. By doing so, we can encourage men to open up about their struggles and work towards creating a more inclusive and supportive environment.

It’s time to shed light on the often-ignored experiences of men and work towards a more comprehensive understanding of gender-based violence.

Are Men Taken for Granted in the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence? was originally published in Unpopular Opinions on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Water is very important to the human body. The average human body contains up to 60% water. Why is that? It’s because the body needs water to carry out almost every body function, like metabolism. In our world today, we’ve come to realize that water is needed for our survival. That’s why our country is flooded with industries that manufacture pure water, but what differentiates one from the other?

If you could remember your chemistry, you would know there are two different types of water, namely:

• Hard water
• Soft water

Soft water is known for producing more foam/lather than hard water, while hard water is known for how many minerals it contains, specifically magnesium and calcium.

Well, what are minerals?

If you can remember your basic science, you would know that there are six classes of food, and minerals are one of them. Minerals are nutrients that are needed in small quantities for the healthy development of the body, and they include: calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, iodine, sodium, and selenium.

Rainwater (the ones that haven’t seeped into the ground) and water that have gone through a softening process usually lacks or have very little of these minerals, although those that have undergone a water softening process usually contain sodium. These types are known as soft water, while water that is normally located underground or has passed through deposits of limestone or gypsum is known as hard water. Examples of this type are springs and wells.

Now, the problem is, how do these types of water affect human health? Hard water can be safe for drinking when the individual lacks some of the nutrients known to be in hard water in their daily diet, but like I said, minerals are needed in small quantities, and so, excess intake of these minerals can lead to health problems like the formation of crystals in your kidney, which causes kidney stones, a change in your skin pH balance, which can make way for bacteria infections, itchy dry hair and skin, et cetera. There are some unverified effects that require more research to be proven, like an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Soft water is safer than hard water in that respect, but it does come with its own problems too. During a water softening process, the hard minerals in hard water are replaced with sodium ions, which increases the sodium content in the water. This can be detrimental to people suffering from health conditions like hypertension or any cardiovascular diseases. It also doesn’t help people that are running on a low-sodium diet, but it can be helped if you use potassium chloride during water softening. Other than that, soft water is safer than hard water.

Nigerians! What do you think is inside your water, and how can it help or destroy you?! was originally published in ILLUMINATION on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When I was little, I loved to read stories and short novels that had this line that divided good from evil. It was very prominent that I always knew that the good will always triumphant over evil, no matter the trials and tribulations the good went through.

All those stories and short novels would illustrate a character that always cried, always got bullied, or their next of kin will always be dead, but there’s always a silver lining: they are the nicest girls/boys, the most intelligent, or the one that had luck by their side. The villain or antagonist would be the bully, the richest person, or the most fortunate person in the beginning, but something bad would always happen to them later in the book.

At the time, the good can never be bad. They can never think about anything bad, and we would root for them within the confines of our hearts, while the bad will completely be bad. They would do everything evil that will make people hate them and wish bad things to them, but what happens if you leave the fiction world and decide to live a good life in the real world?

As I grew up, my distortion about the good always being good and the bad never being good began to change. Everywhere I turned, the good never got reprieve from whatever trials they were going through, and it always hurt my heart. That age-old question started hunting me: why do the bad never suffer and the good always die or never get any reprieve? In my teenage years, the movies I watched became fakers and liars that would always try to distort humanity, and the stories I wrote were to submerge myself in a fantasy that would make me feel better after leaving the world for a while.

When I reached my last year in secondary school, I knew I would soon leave my parents' cacoon and live with the monsters and angels of the world; only I wouldn’t know which is which. I spent my days researching what karma really meant: did it really exist or was it wishful thinking?

As of recent, I got an answer, but it wasn’t one I was looking for. There’s an ongoing case in South Korea known as the Miryang case. It’s a case telling the story of 44 high school boys who raped a fourteen-year-old girl. As of this year, we know that the girl is still suffering from the aftermath of the abuse while the men are out living large. That is twenty-two years ago from now, and the good girl isn’t a famous model or the housewife of a hardworking man.

My question is: did the girl get any reprieve after the abuse? No, she didn’t. That was what made me know that karma does not exist. People only use karma when something bad has already happened to the bad person. Let me introduce you to something I would call probability. It’s the likelihood that something will happen depending on the circumstances.

Life is pretty much unpredictable, and just like I did not know you before we met in this circumstance, you do not know me either.

• Who are you?
• What did you do before we met?
• What are your beliefs?
• What will you do after the circumstances we met?
• What will be the fire or water that will fuel your future opinions and beliefs?

These are the probabilities that are always weighed without your knowing.

There’s no cause without a fire or a hand pushing it, and we, as humans, always weigh the pros and cons of any situation before taking action. In the Miryang case, the attitude and beliefs of the YouTubers brought about an eyeopener and an urgent review of the Miryang case again, and this circumstantial situation will always remain stagnant until another human weighs in a probability that will either kill the case or revive it.

Looking at this case, I came to the conclusion that there’s no such thing as a good or bad person; there’s always a gray line in between waiting for a circumstance that will push someone to cross it.

What’s that line between good and evil? was originally published in ILLUMINATION on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On the 9th of August, 2024, a female trainee doctor bid farewell to her colleagues, stating that she wanted to rest after eating her dinner. That night, at 2 a.m., she went to the Seminar Hall of Chest department at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital (the hospital where she works) to get a shorteye because she had been working long hours since she had a 36-hour shift. The medical report that was written post-mortem stated that she died somewhere between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., but no one knew what happened to her within that time.

In the morning, her remains were found in the seminar rooms, and by 11:30 a.m., her parents were called and told that their daughter was ill, which prompted the parents to rush to the hospital. When they got there, they were told that their daughter had taken her life. This is supposed to be followed by her parents trying to get her remains, but they weren’t allowed to see the body for almost 3 hours.

When the parents saw the body, they were horrified by the state of their daughter. The medical report stated that there had been injuries to her temporal bone (located close to the ear), blood coagulation in the frontal region (located on the forehead), and external injuries to her jaws, cheeks, and lips. She had multiple penetrations before death, and 150 gm of semen was found in her body. Eyewitnesses stated that her eyes and ears were bleeding, her legs were spilt 90 degrees from each other, her glasses were crushed on her eyes, and she was seminude when they found her.

With the details of the victim stated for all to see, you would think the police would deem this case a homicide, but they didn’t. First, they stated that it was a suicide, and then they carried out a half-ass investigation by arresting someone with a violent history before it was registered in the State High Court. The State High Court demanded that a transparent investigation be carried out, but it seemed like the police were not ready to carry out a transparent investigation. The court then transferred the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

While the CBI was investigating the case, a series of events happened. First, the local government decided to renovate a few rooms just 20 meters away from the crime scene, and on August 15th, during a vigil held by a group of women for the deceased, a gang of men broke into the hospital and tried to destroy the crime scene. They injured doctors and disrupted the hospital before they ran away. Witnesses stated that the police was nowhere to be seen.

Looking at the series of events after the death of the female trainee doctor, it didn’t make any sense. It was a straightforward investigation that wouldn’t really take a long time if the police played their cards right, but it makes a lot more sense if there is foul play involved. While I was looking through this case, there was a brief mention of the principal of the college in a Reddit post, Sandip Ghosh. He did a lot of questionable things, like lying that the deceased had a history of psychosis and showing fake remorse by resigning but still getting the same job immediately from another college.

Mr. Goyal, the police commissioner, was also mentioned, and what was said about him was suspicious. He didn’t record a witness statement even though the witness was the one who reported the case; he allegedly tried to convince the parents not to look too deeply into the case and also allegedly tried to pay for their daughter’s cremation. All these events suggest foul play, and if placed within the story, it makes a lot of sense, but what do you think?

Were the police officers just victims of the citizens trying to get the government to notice something that was not worth noticing, or were the police the main culprits trying to stop the investigation because of some hidden agenda?

THE MORAL INSENSITIVITY AND BRUTAL MURDER OF A FEMALE DOCTOR IN KOLKATA, INDIA. was originally published in Unpopular Opinions on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Was Clifford Orji really a serial killer or a mad man?

It is alleged that news reports that are broadcasted through legit channels in Nigeria can be misleading sometimes. Most citizens seem to believe that news reports are not told to keep them updated but to keep them in check. These beliefs and the circumstances surrounding these beliefs were brought about by the line dividing the rich from the poor, and this was more prominent in the late 1970s and 1980s, when the rich would do anything to remain rich and the poor would struggle to become rich.

In Nigeria, there are three main religions: Christian religion, Muslim religion, and the traditional religion. The traditional religion was passed down by old men of the older generation (also known as ancestors), and most people still practice it even to this day, but they do it in secret. Ever since the coming of the Christian religion, most people believe that the traditionalists are evil and their religion should be abolished. This thought or belief didn’t just spring up from thin air; they came about due to how problematic the practice became.

It is believed that the practice isn’t all about praising a personal god (chi) like the older generation, but they kill human beings and sacrifice them to their chi. At the time, it was unclear why they performed these sacrifices until a revelation came up. These sacrifices were done to increase the chances of a person’s business flourishing, increase the chances of someone getting rich, take revenge on someone who you believe is a rival, or maybe you just hate the person, et cetera. These were the problems associated with traditional religion, but it didn’t stop anyone from practicing the religion, even the rich.

On February 3rd, 1999, a woman’s cry was heard from under a bridge. At first, people were surprised because it came from a well-known madman’s shack—he was known as a reclusive man who had barbecues in the night—but they took action and ransacked his shack. An emaciated woman was found in his shack along with human bones, freshly cooked soup with human meat, a check for #80,000 (naira) and a mobile phone. The man was known in the media as Clifford Orji, who hails from Enugu State but is living in Lagos in Oshodi-Isolo under a bridge.

He confessed to killing people for their meat, and it was alleged that he has accomplices, but only one man was arrested, Tahiru Aliyu. After his confession, the media portrayed him as the first known serial killer in Nigeria and a cannibal. The title must have been so huge and mind-boggling that no one could see past it, and like a huge signboard on the road, everyone would look at it and either throw stones or spit on it. Clifford spent approximately twelve years in prison without a trial, and every piece of evidence that the police would have collected and used for the trial must have either been contaminated or wiped clean.

Nairaland stated that during his statement to the police, Clifford Orji gave these statements:

I would entrance women by blowing on their foreheads, and they would follow me back to the underpass. I will have a sexual affair with her to a state of coma before we slaughter her and roast.

I am not alone. I have between four and ten people. They take their own parts and go while I wait for another meat.

I and my accomplice have been eating human meat for seven years before coming to Lagos. It is our culture to eat human meat.

Based on the items seen in his shack and these statements alone, anyone can tell that he wasn’t killing humans just for the meat. It is clear that something else is going on, but that would remain a mystery because in April 2012, Clifford Orji died in prison. It’s been twelve years since he died, and no one knows if his accomplices are still out there killing more people or if they were caught for other crimes. But what do you think?

There was little information about him online, and so no one knows who he was before he became the madman except that he was a razor-blade merchant, but do you think he acted alone or is there something else to his statement?

Let’s start this article with an interview from Conversation Weekly. Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, was asked about the origins of the Taliban, and he said this:

While the Taliban emerged as a force in the 1990s Afghan civil war, you have to go back to the Saur Revolution of 1978 to truly understand the group and what they’re trying to achieve.

Well, let me tell you this: the Saur revolution, or sowr, in the Dari language (a word that represents the month in which the revolution took place), is a sour topic for Afghanistan, especially during that period. That was when the then president, President Mohammed Daoud Khan, was overthrown in a coup by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), a group of people that believed in Marxism-Leninism ideology.

He had organized a coup, known as the 1973 Afghan coup d’etat, against his cousin, the then King Mohammed Zahir Shah, overthrew him, and established a one-party system under the Republic of Afghanistan. He was the first president of Afghanistan.

Looking through the 1973 Afghan coup d’etat, it should be noted that, with the help of the PDPA members, Mohammed Daoud was able to organize this coup, but after he took office, his priorities shifted very far away from the principles of the PDPA, which led to his assassination in the Saur revolution.

As president, he was bent on unifying a part of the Pakistani people (the Pashtun people) with Afghanistan, but this would involve him disregarding the international border line (also known as the Durand line) between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This led to a lot of fights and bombs orchestrated by Afghanistan and retaliation from Pakistan.

The PDPA were communist (although in the public eye, they were known as national democracies or socialists), but they had different political ideologies that divided them into different factions, the biggest being the Parcham and the Khalq. After the Saur revolution, Nur Muhammad Taraki of the Khalq faction became the leader of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (renamed after the assassination of Daoud), but with his leadership came a lot of reformation that mostly subdued the traditional and Islamic laws that had been in Afghanistan, like the eradication of illiteracy (that is, increasing education for both men and women), abolishing the Sharia law, abolishing feudal practices such as forced marriage and bride price, land reform, and increasing the minimum age for marriage. These reforms were seen as un-Islamic and an approach to adopting Western culture in the rural part of Afghanistan.

The Taliban (also known as students in the Pashtun language) emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan (source from the BBC news website). Throughout Mohammed Taraki’s regime and after his assassination, there was unrest in Afghanistan, with people with differing opinions. This continued into the 1980s, with the Mujahideen warlords making life difficult for civilians. The Taliban rose through all that struggle and took power from these warlords.

Initially, their takeover was seen as a victory and a momentum that could stop the warlords from exaggerating their power over the civilians due to their first response to a local warlord, in which they promised security and religious fervour (source: Britannica). But it changed after they installed policies that included the exclusivity of women from public life, harsh punishment of criminals, and destruction of non-Islamic artistic relics.

It is worthy of note that the Taliban are a group of students that were primarily taught in traditional Islamic schools. Mullah Omar was one of the teachers in this school, and he believed that he had a revelation that he should fight against the happenings in Afghanistan. He took up the mission by organizing his students and using them to fight against the Mujahideen warlords.

As of this moment (2024), the Taliban have overthrown the central government and are now ruling the country. They kept on fighting and recruiting members after they were overthrown in 2001 by the United States of America (USA) and took back Afghanistan after overthrowing the central government in 2021. During their second anniversary (on Tuesday, August 15, 2023), in Herat, a crowd of Taliban supporters chanted: Death to the Europeans, death to the Westerners, long live the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, death to the Americans (source: Al Jazeera news website).

In other news, the women in Afghanistan (aged 12 and above) are no longer going to school. The Taliban claim that they are trying to create a situation in which the girls would go to school in a safe and secure place under Islamic laws, but when will that situation be achieved? It’s been three years since the takeover, and the women are still sitting at home.

This can serve as a breeding ground for suicide, forced marriage, rape, and an increased crime rate (especially for those women who are the sole breadwinners of the family). To understand this situation, try putting yourself in their shoes.

What do you know about the Talibans?! was originally published in Unpopular Opinions on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Which part of you captures the realistic part of life?
Is it the eyes?
A camera that views an object,
Captures them to be mulled around by the mind,
Or is it the mind?
An artistic organ that comes up with ideas,
Thoughts or facts based on its previous experience,
Or is it the hands?
A part of the body that blindly holds and folds,
Waiting for the brain and eyes to interpret what it holds or folds,
Or it might probably be the feet.
Carrying the heavy body of a human, the feet are a beast of burden.
Dragging its loads from one place to the other without any thought,
Nor acknowledgement of the weight of its burden,
Or maybe it’s the ear.
An organ that captures the sound from the outside world,
And place them at the door of the mind for interpretation.
Or would it be the mouth?
I hardly doubt that.
A hypocrite in its own right,
But also a truthteller,
The mouth is a colour to the soul of the mind.
It could be deceitful in red.
Or happy in pink,
But it needs the mind to protray its thought.
And that brings us back.
Which part captures the most realistic part of life?
The truth is, the eyes can.
They capture life as it is.
But the brain interprets its lenses subjectively.
And feeds its thoughts to the lens,
Colouring the definition of whatever the eyes had seen, 
In that case, there’s no objective lens that explains life as it is.

MY UNHUMAN CAMERA was originally published in Paper Poetry on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.