Free and Fair

Free and fair are words that are peculiar to elections in Nigeria and other parts of the planet.

United States Mission to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe stated that free and fair elections are a fundamental element of a healthy democracy.

To be truly free and fair, however, elections require not only transparent and well-managed election day polling, but also a society that encourages full citizen participation, political parties to operate freely, independent media to flourish, and which builds a judiciary system capable of exercising independent and impartial authority.

By and large, the workability of the above depends on people. Democracy is people-oriented.

Elections are the sine qua non of democracy. But dictatorships make evident the notion that elections alone cannot establish or sustain democracy. Without democracy's other essential elements - consent of the governed, constitutional limits, the protection of human and minority rights, accountability and transparency, a multiple party system, economic freedom, and the rule of law, elections cannot guarantee that freedom will be achieved.

Where democratic institutions are weak, elections are easily used by violent and dictatorial political groups to manipulate the will of the people and seize control of the government.

Saying...Less

Speaking less will make people reveal more about themselves. This is information you may be able to use against them later on. Your short answers and silences will put them on the defensive, and they will jump in, nervously filling the silence with all kinds of comments that will reveal valuable information about them and their weaknesses. The longer you listen, the more others move their lips and teeth. As they move their lips and teeth, you can thereby understand their real intentions.

Speaking Less will force people to listen/interpret your every word carefully. Your silence will make other people uncomfortable. Humans are machines of interpretation and explanation; they wish or have to know what you are thinking. When you carefully control what you reveal, they cannot pierce your intentions or your meaning. They will leave a meeting with and they will go home and ponder your every word. This extra attention to your brief comments will only add to your power.

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control.  Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague and open-ended.

Pendulum - Swing

A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force combined with the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one complete cycle, a left swing and a right swing, is called the period. The period depends on the length of the pendulum, and also to a slight degree on the amplitude, the width of the pendulum's swing. - Wikipedia.

We have the notion that what goes up must surely come down. When pendulum swings forth, we're waiting for it to swing back again, which I am absolutely confident it will.

Duration: Beginning & End

End represents the opposite of beginning.

We should always be sensitive to know when it is ripe to say goodbye...especially when the ovation is at the loudest.