Searching for randomness

I have a personal chore to navigate WordPress “random” tags. I want to find out what warrants a post to be tagged “random”. I have tagged a few posts as random in my time – but looking back, I doubt they were really random. Random means unsystematic, accidental or haphazard (yes, I used the synonym checker on Microsoft Word). So if I have a whole bunch or posts tagged “random”, surely it defends the purpose. Clearly, quite a lot of posts are unsystematic, which perhaps means that there is in fact a system. Well, there’s a task I’ve set out for myself – to browse as many posts as possible tagged “random” and find a new meaning. For now, I’ve come across this blog with a post tagged “random”. It’s about the death of an inspirational person. “Death” is probably as random as it gets.

Another interpretation of Randomness (Photo credit: Samyra Serin)

Tribute to Professor Pete Tayo Olafioye.

Posted on February 24, 2012

This Death, where’s thy conquest?

If there’s anyone who wrote his pain out in words, in beautiful words of poetry, such would be Professor Tayo Olafioye. He was such an inspiration to me at the University. Despite the pain he went through and challenges, he made it to school daily, lectured and even supervised some of my friend’s final year projects. Some even wondered why he couldn’t sit his butt at home with all the money he had. He was passionate with his niche!

Death where’s thy gain?

When he arrived in Nigeria from the United States of America where he was based, to launch books he wrote at the point of death, not many people recognized him. The frail-looking writer, battled with prostate cancer, he could hardly talk. But I remember that smile on his face that said quite a lot. His health improved remarkably over the years but I guess when the time comes, who are we to fight death? Death where’s your victory? His first lecture I attended was many years in a matchbox-like room with a lot of students screaming on top of their eccentric voices. He walked slowly into the classroom and scribbled on the chalk-board ‘’The Grandma’s Sun’’. I was the kind of student who usually fought to have a space in the front row, doing that paid off during that lecture. In the midst of the noise, he shared his memoir growing up and the mishap when he got a ‘head-cap’. My inquisitiveness let loose listening to him in his whispers, I spent the whole week studying his poems. ‘Bush Girl Comes to Town-1988’ remains my favorite till date.

Death where’s your defeat?

 Over the years, Tayo Olafioye published a series of works and most importantly, collections of poetry that cover divergent subjects such as culture, family, international encounters, politics (The Parliament of Idiots), and an array of the human condition. His works celebrate and testify to the survival spirits of mankind, and, where possible, offer hope to human disillusionment he gave me hope! Death be not proud as you only took away his body and pain but his muse will continue to live in my heart and the heart of millions of people all over the world who knew him.

Die not Professor Tayo Olafioye! Rest in the Bosom of the Lord! Till we Meet to Part no More!

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