Sen. Dillon’s Saul to Paul Comments Metamorphosed Back to Saul

Simply Thinking Thoughts

In my thinking thoughts, my human agency became confused and overwhelmed with the battle raging within the Liberty Party (LP) regarding Chairman Musa Bility’s mass suspension of top LP brasses including its Political Leader Senator, Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence. In response to Musa’s action, the political leader released a statement debunking and nullifying the action as illegal and holding no iota of common sense. The battle continues to rage and may be dragged to the highest court.

Fellow Liberians, my confusion was birthed by Senator Darius Dillon’s constant assertions that he regrets supporting Musa Bility and he has proof his friend Musa is a criminal.  Dillon’s statements against Musa generate questions regarding his previous advocacy that Musa Bility who was found guilty of corruption and banned by the international football house, FIFA, had gone through a period of cleansing and metamorphosis. As a political thesis, Dillon declared to the world that if it is possible for formerly wicked Saul to change to an edified holy Paul, Musa could do something similar.

For the sake of the layman, metamorphosis is one of the mysteries of our omniscient God whereby he presents one of his creations the power to transform to another creation. It begins with a very ugly grotesque, nasty caterpillar with thorns all over its body. The caterpillar is usually a nuisance to decent societies and ecosystems because it gnaws and feasts on the flora and destroys ecological niches. The nasty ugly caterpillar is the biggest nemesis of consumers, farmers and agriculturalists.  

Now, at some point, the ugly creature produces fluids and wraps them around its body, and goes to sleep as a cocoon. When it wakes up from sleep, it becomes a beautiful, gentle butterfly with magnificent colors that any eye would crave to behold. Oh, what an aesthetic sight for the naked eye. Yes, true metamorphosis! 

Illuminating Light Blinded Saul to Paul

In the Epistle according to Acts chapter 9, Saul was a wicked and hateful Roman soldier who killed any living being who claimed to be Christian or follower of Jesus Christ. He searched every nook and crania to look for such a people to torture and take their lives in any fashion or method that gave them sufficient pain before death.  In an aspect of the Order of the Eastern Star (OES) fraternity, one of the Heroines, Electa was annihilated because she refused to denounce the Savior, Jesus Christ. 

According to the story, on one of Saul’s journeys to persecute Christians, he was blinded by a very bright light and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” From that moment Saul changed his name to Paul and became an advocate for Jesus. It was the formerly wicked Saul who wrote several books of the Holy Bible referred to as the Epistles which are letters to God’s children regarding decent living and the salvation of their souls.  Of the 27 books in the New Testament, 21 are letters or epistles of which 13 were written by Paul the former wicked Saul. The Pauline Epistles are Romans; I and II Corinthians; Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians; Colossians; I and II Thessalonians; I and II Timothy; Titus; and Philemon.

When Musa was elected chairman of Liberty Party (LP), there was public outcry regarding his suitability for the job based on his character. Musa was investigated by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) for corruption and found guilty of misapplying thousands of dollars intended to improve the football program in Liberia. Musa was banned for 10 years from participating in football events the world over.

Now listen my Brabbies, instead of the LP taking the public outcries seriously, they proceeded to elect a man whose integrity was seriously confounding. To put gasoline on fire, one of the stalwarts of LP, Senator Darius Dillon defended Musa’s ascendency with all his heart, body, mind, and soul that, if Saul could change to Paul, it was possible that Musa Bility, a former corrupt Saul could change to Paul as the chairman of a highly acclaimed and incredibly potent political party in Liberia. Darius Dillon hence rubbished all of the concerns raised against Musa’s election as LP chairman, approved his chairmanship, and cuddled him. Dillon assured the whole world that he had shone a light in Musa’s eyes and made him a new clean Paul.

Chinese Light Returned Saul to Paul

Brabbies, it looks like the light that Dillon shone in Masa’s eyes was a Chinese light. As the so-called “illuminating light” in the Senate and Liberia, the whole nation expected Darius Dillon to shine into the eyes of people to change them from evil to goodness, corruption to uprightness, dirtiness to cleanliness, and ugliness to beauty. Of course, that was exactly what Darius thought he had done when he declared a FIFA labeled corrupt Musa Bility, an edified Paul who was supposed to write Epistles to the partisans of the exuberant Liberty Party. Unfortunately, instead of writing Epistles, Musa Bility has begun to “kick asses” in the LP starting from the top brasses. The same Musa who had become Paul, turned around and suspended Darius Dillon, the light that changed his story; Musa allegedly changed the constitution; suspended the Political leader and Executive Committee members including the powerful Senator Steve Zargo. From where I sit, it appears like Dillon used a Chinese light to clean Musa’s eyes because no sooner had Musa the evil Saul changed to the edified Paul had he changed back to the corrupt Saul-Musa again. Wasn’t that a peculiar metamorphosis?

Traditional Peculiarity of Contemporary Political Thesis

My Fellow Brabbies, in these contemporary times, there is no doubt a cascading and resonating effect of the traditional peculiar political thesis in Liberia persists. I have learned over time that an average human is free to live life forward but must understand it backward. Unfortunately, Liberians are just the opposite because they have refused to understand life backward and instead simply continue to live it forward.

 The point. It does not take a Harvard graduate nor a neuroscientist to discern that Liberty Party is falling apart by the minute due to the strange or peculiar modern political thesis propounded by Senator Dillon et al. You see, this is the result when people fail to call a spade a spade and in the words of our great grandparents’ adage, “Your small voice cannot be under a conflict and your big voice resolve it” If Musa Bility has become a devil, he might have been dressed by some actors within the Liberty Party hierarchy especially Senator Darius Dillon; if they do not undress that devil by mid-year June 2022, they might have themselves to be kicked in the butt and below the belt.  

 Albeit, fellow Brabbies, we need to stop pretending as if the situation in the Liberty party is something new. The situation of a tainted character Musa Bility leading a potent Liberty party and kicking asses is not strange because it is based on the traditional peculiar political thesis Liberians are used to. There is a history of similar contemporary political theses whereby we Liberians fail to do due diligence when selecting people to represent or lead us. For example, President Tubman who was a Southeasterner got re-elected over a period of 27 years of his regime, but the road from Monrovia to Harper, his hometown in the Southeast is a complete venture through hell; during President Taylor’s regime and allegedly for peace sake, we had “you kill my man, you kill my pa, I will still vote for him”; Nimba County has a sitting Senator Prince Johnson who was branded a “notorious warlord” and negatively profiled by Liberia’s foremost benefactor, the powerful United States of America; Grand Gedeh County has a representative in the house of Legislature, George Boley who was also dishonored and dumped on Liberia by the US Government; the House of representative has a sitting Speaker who is using a fake doctoral degree and a fake name as alleged by his former Maryland County schoolmates; Cape Mount County has a sitting Senator Varney Sherman who was labeled corrupt and banned by the US Government rendering his law firm closed and his law practice dysfunctional. 

So my Brabbies, what is the big deal in Liberia about a FIFA miscreant and malefactor sitting over a Liberty Party which has twisted the arms of the Mighty CDC two times? Isn’t this our particular tradition or way of thinking? Don’t we always prefer the worst over the best? Nothing strange my Brabbies, won’t Liberia always be Liberia? As the poor pepper and bitter ball market woman would say, “Your give people chance to pass man! We ta-yah with your yama-yama so you just leave us alone!”, “Yor want lie, yor mon lie; yor want steal, yor steal. Yor just leave us alone with yor politics bisnay!”  

The Benediction

My beloved Liberian Brabbies, as we ponder the trend of events in the Liberty Party and draw all sorts of conclusions regarding the ugly nasty caterpillar that Darius Dillon’s light changed to a beautiful butterfly and it changed right back to nastiness, let me console you with a word from the Lord.

The 18^th Century songwriter Arthur W. F. Lloyd in his hour of reflection penned the hymn, “My Times Are in Thy Hands, my Lord I wish them There” 

All we, as non-politicians and laymen can do is to look up to God and place our times in His hands because He is the comforter of the desolate and the One who understands everything because His omniscience. It is only God who can change our sorrows to joy and conclude our stories and not any sinner man.

To those ends, please join me Brabbies, let us sing or cite Arthur Lloyd’s consoling verses as I pray the Lord will act swiftly and very swiftly too. Note the third stanza.

MY TIMES ARE IN THY HANDS MY GOD, I WISH THE THERE

1. My times are in Thy hand; my God, I wish them there; 

my life, my friends, my soul I leave entirely to Thy care. 

2. My times are in Thy hand, whatever they may be, 

pleasing or painful, dark or bright, as best may seem to Thee. 

3. My times are in Thy hand; why should I doubt or fear? 

My Father‟s hand will never cause; His child a needless tear. 

4. My times are in Thy hand; Jesus, the crucified! 

Those hands my cruel sins had pierced; are now my guard and guide. 

5. My times are in Thy hand; I’ll always trust in Thee; 

and, after death, at Thy right hand I shall forever be. 

About the Author

The Rivercess man, CEO and founder of the Diversified Educators Empowerment Project (DEEP), Mwalimu-koh M. Blonkanjay Jackson holds a Master of Education from Harvard University, and Master of Science in Mathematics Education from St. Joseph’s University; he is a Yale University Teachers Initiative Math Fellow, and UPENN Teacher Institute Physics Fellow. He is s part-time lecturer at the UL Graduate School of Education. Mr. Jackson served the government of Liberia diligently for four years and returned to private practice as Development Specialist and Education Engineer. The Mwalimu-koh can be reached at 0886 681 315