The Sniper and the celebrated scores of his Rifle

Opinion | by Benson Agoha | London

The activities of elite forces during their various missions around the world are usually not among dishes served for mass consumption.  Indeed they are often meals `cooked’ for an exclusive club of High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI).

Paradoxically, in recent days, thanks to Holy Wood and the exception of one divergent elite soldier’s book, titled `The American Sniper', written by a former Navy SEAL named Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, now a movie celebrating his exploits as a sniper, is still surging at the box office across the pond.

It prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to declare Feb. 2 `Chris Kyle Day' in the author’s home state of Texas.

Chris Kyle reportedly scored 160 direct hits (or kills) in his various missions – making him the most lethal sniper in American history.  Kyle’s recognition and the performance of the movie featuring Bradley Cooper (below) in cinemas has forced out another revelations – that the worlds most lethal sniper is actually a Brit. How awesome! Never mind `kill' isn't a word we like to hear under normal circumstances.

Chris Kyle's book may be surging at the box - good for the cinema and movie bosses - but the world's most lethal Sniper record is still resident on this side of the pond. And, according to an Evening Standard report, the Royal Marine elite soldier scored a huge 173, watch it,  "confirmed" hits (or kills) and we are not talking of chickens or foxes.

Put it into perspective, this is a shocking revelation of an otherwise priveleged information, from only two friendly sources. And we have not yet heard of the record held by the Russians, or the Germans, the French, the Nigerians, Chinese and more, nor are we ever likely to.

Neither do we care about the scores (kills) from countries and groups known for their irreverent targetting and wastage of prescious and priceless human lives.

Still if our minds are allowed to wander or venture to estimate a global score, one may begin to worry that the world's estimated population of 7billion people may actually not be correct.

Isn't it amazing how, words, hitherto regarded with revulsion, gradually acquires, in the first instance an element of respect, and then general acceptance - often made possible by advances in technology.

Consider the word `hacker' - a disdainful word that no one dared resonate or identify with, but which have now acquired a high degree of respect and general acceptability. So much so that global enterprises now consider is necessary to put a "hacker" on their payroll.  Many hackers now proudly describe how "it was necessary to hack a software, in other get an disturbing problem solved.

Of course, such problems have to have a huge impact on the public. As for the MNC's, like Google, that appoint hackers, one begin to undestand why.  It takes a thief to catch a thief.  So invariably, instead of allowing a thief to wreak harvock to your expensive establishment, you put another thief on your payroll to monitor and thwart theif efforts - hopefully, even before they strike.

What a paradox but let's ride the progressive wave of human existence.

I Have A Dream - May I Serve You?

Asks Lucira Jane Nebelung | Connecticut

"We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization":

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

I have a dream that the Light that We Are shines brightly in Life illuminating and dissolving all darkness. Imagine a world where decisions and actions throughout our own lives and in business, government, education, and religion are made for the dignity, mutual benefit and well-being of all.

There is only one law to enact - The Universal Law Of Love: We are awakening and remembering our future: Our origin is our destiny. It doesn't matter what role you have, how you got there, or the symbols of status and power you possess, if you aren't Leading as Love, you are simply not a Leader, moving us forward into our greatest potential and possibilities of the future. You are managing within the prevailing patriarchal mindset and holding us back by perpetuating the past. One must Lead ones' own Life as the Love of the Sovereign Self before one can Lead others.

Our greatest Influence, Power and Impact is when we move with and as the Sovereign Self within, in active co-creation with Life, rather than posturing, manipulating or dominating with the mind's fixated images, perspectives or agendas of the patriarchal mindset. With Leading as Love, these roles and labels lose meaning and emphasis. With Leading as Love, we see and embrace ourselves and all others as human beings, engaging with one another without the limitations and expectations of roles and labels. With Leading as Love, rules and beliefs of the patriarchal mindset are superseded by the wisdom and passion of the Sovereign Self.

Leading as Love is a way of Being for both individuals and organizations, showing us where we are congruent and attuned to Life and where we are out of step. It is not "self-help" for something that needs "fixing" or "healing" or to feel good about ones' self. It is not a "how to", a prescription for doing or achieving something. Leading as Love is a foundation for exploring, discovering and expanding who You Are as Love, in your unique relationships with others and Purpose and Contribution to Life.

BEing Love: Love Serves Life Life Serves Love: Through one's Centerpoint for Being, Leading as Love reveals our integrity, the integrated wholeness that You Are that emerges as Light in Life. The Centerpoint for Being reveals our Purpose, illuminates our Path and ignites and fuels our Passion. The Centerpoint for Being quiets the mind, invites and allows us to open and yield, to connect with our essence, the Sovereign Self; our true Power emerges and we Lead as Love.

Leading as Love allows us to move beyond the patriarchal mindset and its appearances, judgments and needs for power and control, security and support, status and approval into a deeper experience of Life: One of Truth and Freedom, of Meaning, Purpose and Fulfillment. Leading as Love is the embodiment of the higher order of Love of the Sovereign Self in social consciousness.

One cannot feed the ego's fixations and fears and nurture the Love of the Sovereign Self at the same time. Leading as Love does not support the ego's images, "doing" and busyness within the structures and rules of the patriarchal mindset. Leading as Love is a Call to Being, to Serve the uniqueness and expansion of the Sovereign Self in its contribution to Life in a way that acknowledges, balances and integrates with the personality, one's unique experience and story.

Leading as Love is the Freedom to create in the moment unencumbered by the patterns of the past; to make decisions and take action that generates a future that Serves the highest good and well-being of the Sovereign Self of all. As we become more collectively centered, personal definition and acquisition take on lesser meaning.

The Significance of Service:  Leading as Love is for individuals and organizations that value the growth and evolution of human consciousness as Love. There are no rules; each Path is unique and sacred. There are two commitments as active priorities in each moment:

• Willing to cultivate self-awareness, to look at oneself deeply in the mirror of Life with the Truth and Freedom of the Sovereign Self.
• Willing to drop judgments of oneself or of anyone or anything else.

Leading as Love is a virtual community that generates the Power of Light, the movement of Love, in Life. As you illuminate your own Light by Leading as Love, like a candle you illuminate the Light of many others. As you commit, I can promise that all aspects of your Life will take on broader and deeper meaning, purpose and fulfilment.

The most important and challenging relationship we will ever have is with our Sovereign Self. We are here in Life to enact the Love of our Sovereign Self. Service and Servant Leadership mean Serving the Sovereign Self, our own and all others. It is "simple", not "easy."

Perhaps This Is Your Dream As Well: If this feels "right", piques your interest, draws you in, or excites you, perhaps it is your Sovereign Self Calling you forward as a step in your own Path of growth and evolution. Or you may feel the impulse to share with another. Just say, "Yes!"

I don't know the hows or whys for you, you do. They are within you. Leading as Love initiates and opens the connection to and process of discovery of your Sovereign Self. The Fulfilment of the Love, Truth and Freedom of your Sovereign Self awaits your reply.

I am here solely to Serve the Sovereign Self to Lead as Love. May I Serve You? 

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* Lucira Jane Nebelung, Founder & Principal of "Leading as Love", is a faculty member at The Graduate Institute. USA. She writes from Connecticut.

Resurgence of Excessive Brutality: Are We Beefing Up Against The Wrong Enemy?

by Benson Agoha

A day after a lone gunman took 17 people hostage in a Sidney Cafe, the world woke up to another horror of unimaginable proportion. The Martin Place attack resulted in a 16 hour face-off with special forces, and ended only after he was shot dead.

If the incidence inside the Lindt Cafe shop resulted in 3 deaths, the shooting of 100 school children in a military school by the Taliban, only a day later, has brought a whole new dimension to an unraveling scenario on which, no one as yet, has a proper grip.

Across the plane in the middle east, the Islamic State, in their on-going drive to unleash as much mayhem on perceived enemies as possible, has reportedly killed several women (a reported 150) and buried them in mass graves - for refusing orders to marry militants. This was in addition to the thousands of unarmed civilians, already similarly killed, for either not being converts or for having sympathy for other faiths.

How come our values for human lives have taken such ignominious dimension? When a Mexican gang beheaded a woman for infidelity, and posted it on Facebook, the rebuke by Prime Minister David Cameron led to its immediate removal. Yet, the Islamic state had gone ahead to behead not one or two, but a minimum of five Western aid workers, captured and held as hostages, then posted the video on social websites.

Excessive and despicable brutality appears to have pushed its way to the fore. Reports say, the Taliban attack on school children did not just end in gun shots, but that some bodies were seen with there heads already hacked off.

But while these horrendous evil are being perpetrated, parallel reports from some countries has been about how much boost they are giving to their military, or how much they are investing in space exploration.

On Wednesday, India launched the biggest rocket into space, said to be a strong statement highlighting their ambitious space programme. The contents and components of the rocket at the time of launch, included heavier communication and satellites and an unmanned capsule, which could one day carry astronauts into space. It successfully blasted off from Sriharikota in the southeast state of Andhra Pradesh. How laudable!

India is enjoying its rising profile as a result of its ambitious space programme, even as it showcases its technological might.  It went on a separate mission to the Moon after the NASA's experiment popularly known as `moon bombing', to independently confirm evidence of water. And it has an ongoing mission to land a shuttle(already on its way) in Mars.

Russia, still reeling on the weight of sanctions imposed by the West for meddling in Ukraine, has revealed it plans to put up its own Space Station, that will effectively rival the International Space Station - the current symbol of international cooperation in space research.

When the US retired the last of its shuttle fleet after 30 years of service, Russian owned Soyuz Capsules were handy - even as a compliment to private operators on which NASA had to depend to ferry supplies to the ISS. With a separate Russian station up there, such co-operation might not be possible again.

In, China the push is to develop three large nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the designs of which were found similar to the Nimitz- and Ford-class carriers of the United States.

All these makes one wonder over the why's and how's we have managed to become `proud savages', easily slipping into a life of crudeness and  morbid wickedness against fellow humans, when even animals have been granted a degree of rights - without actually asking for one.

Imagine the heartlessness of a modern man who, though manifestly well polished in look, speech and manners,picks up a kitchen knife and hacks off the head of another living being. Even animals get better treatment from the butcher these days.

So since we are busy decimating others within our own national boundaries, the question becomes: who are all these high-tech space and earthly arsenals being built for?  Of course, they were products of strategic thinking from various defense headquarters, albeit initiated years ago in peace time.

The decadent condition of the human mind can be seen all around our immediate vicinity, and in our daily relationships.

Two muslim ladies set fire on an Islamic Flag in protest against
unacceptable moral prescription. (PhotoCredit: JK)

Our initial thoughts about one another these days have been "death...death...death". For example, man was standing beside the ticket machine in front of a train station, searching for an apparently missing item inside his bag, but as he rummaged inside the bag, another approached and stood in front of him - just looking, saying nothing.  The he turned and walked away. 

The object of observation suddenly looked up, cigarette dangling between his lips, changed his countenance and said.."don't go if you know maybe you want to die."

The rational question on which those massive investments have always been anchored is "If earth is threatened from outer space, what will human's do?"  But while we try to respond to that question, it may seen appropriate to insist that our penchant for degrading decadence is not overlooked.

Perhaps mankind defies the theory of evolution. But if a British citizen can sneak out and join a group that hacks off peoples heads, one must wonder if it is time to redefine `the civilized man'.

Are we civilized or have simply backs lidded into the dark cave era? Or is nature simply cyclical.