Dear brother, sisters, (egbons, aburos), uncles, aunties and friends, I hope you will indulge me in my letter to you. I am feeling rather sentimental, prayerful, joyful, and full of grace and gratitude and want to share this with you.

It has been almost a year and a half since Above Whispers was created by our very own Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, a woman extraordinaire. The sky and beyond is really the limit for this amazing woman, who  has accomplished remarkable trail blazing feats, is already at the top of her game and is nowhere near the pinnacle yet! This website has grown in leaps and bounds and you have all played a big part in that growth, something you can take great pride in.

As I looked back at the postings over the past year, I was particularly struck by your generosity as readers and your willingness to take ownership and be responsible for your own participation in how you communicate. This requires mindfulness, thoughtfulness, honesty, open mindedness and a willingness to learn. I certainly have learnt from all of you and look forward to acquiring more knowledge from the information that appears on this site.

It is possible to have difference of opinions and discourse without descending into abuse and hateful comments. It feels as if we are building a community at Above Whispers, and I am of the belief that there is a genuine desire to be uplifting, to be honest and fair, and to bring hope, love and kindness, by most people who make up this community. I also include all the many silent members of the Above Whispers community.

This attitude does not and should not stop differing points of views, even robust conversations and opposition. In fact it is through these disagreements that growth, change can take place. What sets this apart from the noise on other sites is the respect and appreciation that is afforded to one another. There may come a time as we grow that passions may increase and whispers do indeed get louder, but something fundamental has been established, which are the rules of engagement and our editor has been very clear about her desire and determination to make this non negotiable.  And as we see, it is possible!

Building friendships, relationships, and all things worthwhile take time and nurturing for it to be sustainable. However we all know that destruction can be almost instantaneous. Take for instance the awful tragic fire that engulfed a tower block in the UK a few weeks ago. The irreparable damage was done in less than 10 mins!

The devastation of human spirit explored in the story craftfully examined in Loud Whispers this week, as most comments rightly suggest, we all know is more truth than fiction! We are in times of destruction and we see the evidence of it everywhere, so if you feel you want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, it requires a different mindset from the status quo. This is no mean feat, as it is a lot easier for many to be part of the herd mentality and to jump on the band wagon of displaced angst, envy, hatred and outright pettiness. It is a lot harder to remain true to yourself and to find your own voice even if it has a different sound to it.

A few people who have visited this site recently contacted me to comment on how delighted they were at the vast variety of its intelligent, educational, humorous contents, but even more so they said they were particularly enamoured by the manner in which dialogue was conducted in the comments section. They said this was not their experience on other sites Nigerians were engaged in.

Some of us are directly involved in one to one work or other work that directly involves supporting and helping people spiritually, psychologically, medically and many other ways. However I firmly believe that ministry is something that takes place anytime anywhere by anybody. What we are all involved in on this website in the Above Whispers community is Ministry. We minister to one another through our words of encouragement, appreciation, respect, honesty. We Minister every day at work, at home and anywhere we bring our authentic selves, where we bring honest intentions and purpose to our interactions with humanity.

How do you feel about your daily experiences with friends, family, and colleagues? Is there anything you would like to add to this discourse?

Gloria Ogunbadejo writes a weekly column for Punch Newspaper. She is a Psychotherapist, a life coach, a holistic counsellor and an ordained Minister

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