A Functioning, Robust Democracy Requires A Healthy

My Parents Were Early Converts To Christianity In My Part Of Nigeria. They Were Not Just Converts; My Father Was An Evangelist, A Religious Teacher. He And My Mother Traveled For Thirty-five Years To Different Parts Of Igboland, Spreading The Gospel.

We Cannot Trample Upon The Humanity Of Others Without Devaluing Our Own. The Igbo, Always Practical, Put It Concretely In Their Proverb Onye Ji Onye N'ani Ji Onwe Ya: 'he Who Will Hold Another Down In The Mud Must Stay In The Mud To Keep Him Down.'

It Always Surprised Him When He Thought Of It Later That He Did Not Sink Under The Load Of Despair.

One Of The Truest Tests Of Integrity Is Its Blunt Refusal To Be Compromised.

An Old Woman Is Always Uneasy When Dry Bones Are Mentioned In A Proverb