Nigeria, April 11 -- It is the weekend, and a reader once wished I would confine my writings to relationships and social interactions instead of politics. I was not surprised it came from a woman; I had earlier written, perhaps provocatively about what I described as a "women's phobia for political news," a claim that did not go unchallenged. Still, even for someone who sees politics in almost everything, there are moments when life insists on a quieter reflection. This Saturday offered such a pause, gently pulling me away from public affairs into the intimate theatre of personal relationships.



It was my wife who first drew my attention to a lighthearted post, a trainer urging his trainee to strike a punching bag with the same intens...