Many of us have taken to wearing visors and other similar devices to protect our eyes and visages from the possible effects of harmattan.

Taking Nigeria as a case study, many would testify that the ongoing climatic phase causes virulent feelings, and may as well lead to various virulent diseases, whilst some would definitely testify that it is a welcome scene, therefore ought to continue for eternity. Honestly, these and more similar phenomena observed amongst mankind are not man-made but wholly natural.

Let’s put it this way; if brandy is good in bringing the real man or woman in you as a person at any given time, and that fellow that appears to be intimate to you believes in the work of whisky in respect of similar purpose; then conclusively, it signifies you both are of different nature, or possess distinct idiosyncrasies.

Thus significantly, no matter the level of intimacy in any relationship or affair, be it symbiotic or parasitic, the exact nature of the two or more parties involved can never be compromised or interchanged.

In geography, we were taught that about seventy percent (70%) of the earth’s crust is covered with water, while about thirty percent (30%) is engulfed by land. There’s a big problem or error attached to this geographic estimation coupled with approximation.

The astronomers who carried out the research and rounded off with such conclusions were so myopic to understand the fact that, even the part of the earth crust covered with water is equally made up of land. It’s not a paradox. It’s a fact, and it is natural.

Of course the bedrock of any sea, ocean, river, pond, lake, et cetera, is land. In agriculture, we call it the soil. It suffices to say that every part of the earth’s crust is covered with the soil (land).

But this is not my optimum interest in this piece. My concern is; despite the level of intimacy between the land and the natural water, they still don’t mix together. This simply signifies each of the compounds or substances in question is made of a certain distinct nature. This is a fact.

Each of the paragraphs above has proven to us that nature is indeed very powerful. Nature could be regarded as all the animals, plants and other things in the world that are not made by man; and all the events, features and processes that are not caused by mankind. In a nutshell, nature is anything that is not man-made.

In other words, it’s older than the world. Yes, nature has been in existence before the world was created. This is the reason most times anything caused by it seems to be mysterious; that is, beyond man’s imagination, creativity or creative ingenuity. Therefore, nature controls; it rules; inter alia, it finalizes.

Let I digress; this piece is solely focused on Christmas otherwise known as Xmas. We’re discussing its annual commemoration. First and foremost, what is a Christmas celebration or commemoration? It’s simply a religious festival or ritual being observed on every 25th December by the Christendom to mark the birth of Christ.

Then, who is Christ? Christ is one of the names of Jesus whom Christians believe to be the only begotten son of God and whose teachings are the basis of Christianity. According to the Christian writ, the Creator sent Him to sanctify the sinful world and He wholeheartedly obliged.

He came, saw, taught, healed and delivered the world. Most importantly, He died for our sins to be forgiven. It’s needless to assert that He eventually conquered during His sojourn on earth.

As a devoted Christian, Catholic to be precise, I understand that Christ was not really born on the 25th of December, but such date was selected by the ancient Christendom in order to mark the day such generous being came into the world since the actual date of His birth was not recorded by the scribes or historians of His time.

They considered it consequential for such a date to be monumental or be remembered by mankind, because the day in question marked the beginning of mankind’s sanctification, deliverance as well as total emancipation, which remains the most vital Christian tool in existence.

Truly, Christ came or was born, saw and conquered. Above all, He accomplished His mission, because mankind was freed from bondage by His death. After the death of Christ, He resurrected. Before His death, He resurrected many souls; this remains the most mysterious act performed by Him.

Hence, resurrection is nature. If truly we believe that such a vital tool is nature, in other words, Christ is nature. He’s beyond man’s imagination. Starting from His birth down to His death, everything about Him was mysterious.

So, as we commemorate this season of holy birth and love, let’s endeavour to recall the spiritual essence of its existence towards doing the needful as long as it lasts. Therefore, I enjoin us to use the period to have a rethink in our respective endeavours with a view to making our immediate societies a better place for the residents or occupants.

There is really a tremendous reason for this season. Such a moment set aside to mark the day Christ was born ought to not in any way be compromised, because it’s the birthday of our Messiah.

This signifies that Christmas remains a worthwhile Christian virtue, which is arguably ‘the best of its kind’.

As the world goes digital, incorporating emerging assets such as cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token), the need to protect the assets has risen accordingly. The intriguing question of what happens to an individual’s assets in case of death has remained unanswered for long – now a company is providing an answer.

GoodTrust, a digital life and legacy platform, is helping families organize their digital lives today and prepare their online assets for the day they pass away. It addresses the growing problem of what happens to our priceless online accounts, photos, documents, crypto, and assets when we die. And it helps us prepare and organize while we’re still alive. VentureBeat has the story.

The company also recently launched Singing Portraits, a humorous product that uses AI to immortalize people singing fun songs. “It’s a fun way to kind of make those old memories come alive a little bit,” said CEO Rikard Steiber in an interview with VentureBeat.

GoodTrust is expanding fast this year and it has created partnerships in the insurance, funeral, death care, and benefits spaces.

“We have grown to 80,000 customers. Once you have the digital vault, you can share all of your documents, accounts, your photos, your assets, and share it with someone today or only when you die,” Steiber said.

The investors include Moxxie Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Concrete Rose Capital, Bling Capital, Synetro Ventures, Azure Capital Partners, Alumni Ventures, Primer Holdings, Gaingels Network, and Lane VC. Several current and former Google executives are also investors, including Nikesh Arora, Margo Georgiadis, Scott Levitan, Arjan Dijk, Tony Fagan, Jori Pearsall, and Gopi Kallayil. The funding comes after the Palo Alto, California-based company previously raised $2.3 million in January.

“All of us have experienced the loss of a loved one,” said David Weiden, founding partner at Khosla Ventures, in a statement. “GoodTrust solves the growing issue of what happens to our priceless digital assets, online accounts, and assets when we die, protecting our precious memories and legacy for everyone.”

Steiber, former head of the HTC Vive online store, founded the company after friends died during the pandemic. He saw their family members struggle to complete tasks like closing social media accounts, securing photos, and dealing with financial services accounts.

With GoodTrust, you can set up an account that will take care of your digital affairs after you die. That might sound ghoulish to some, but we don’t want to leave our loved ones with a big mess. GoodTrust’s platform protects your memories and digital assets, including accounts, photos, social media, financial data, and documents.

The company has partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Veterans Day to offer all veterans free usage of the GoodTrust Premium Plan and a copy of the company’s book, Digital Legacy.

There are other services that cover some of the same ground, but GoodTrust tries to handle all of the legal, financial, and emotional legacies heirs typically have to deal with. And it has moved into enabling people to create their own wills, trusts, and other legal documents, such as durable power of attorney and health care declarations.

A big need

With 80,000 accounts this year, the company is just at its beginning. Around the world, 150,000 people die every day. While each tragedy affects loved ones on a personal level, it also means the number of deceased people on the internet is growing fast.

You can designate and share access with loved ones and other trusted third parties to organize your digital afterlife. GoodTrust also recently launched new features, including Last Goodbyes to create a time capsule with an email, social post, or video that can be shared after someone passes away.

Beyond the task of tracking down sites that you never knew existed, shuttering an account on someone else’s behalf is made more complicated by legal requirements that vary from site to site. Retrieving personal photos from a loved one’s account on Google, Apple, or Facebook requires expert legal knowledge and a court order. Those companies aren’t trying to make a survivor’s life hard — just think of the consequences if they turned over an account to someone claiming to be a survivor when the “deceased” person was still alive.

Even if the family is aware of all of their loved one’s online accounts, most families are overwhelmed by the process of closing them down. But when these accounts lie idle, the individual’s information is at risk of being lost forever or even hacked.

“As our digital and physical lives are now forever intertwined, we all need a new way to organize our digital lives and legacy,” said Steiber. “We believe that all people have the need to control their digital life and afterlife and ensure their priceless memories and assets are preserved.”

In addition to a direct-to-consumer business, GoodTrust offers its service as a benefit to enterprise partners in the insurance, financial, and funeral industries, as well as to employee or member organizations like AARP’s Rewards program.

Recent surveys show that some 65% of U.S. adults do not remember their passwords, and another shows that most people have made no plans for what happens to their digital stuff when they die. And two-thirds of U.S. adults do not have a will today, with minorities reporting even lower rates of having wills.

“This summer, we launched a new feature where you can create your will for yourself and your family at no extra cost,” Steiber said. “We also let you create estate planning documents that we all should have. Two-thirds of Americans don’t have a will, which is kind of crazy, especially if you have kids.”

GoodTrust offers the ability to create a free will, funeral directive, and durable financial power of attorney with more directives coming in early 2022. Broadly, GoodTrust’s solutions include a Digital Vault, Free Will and Directives, Digital Executor service, and meaningful ways to share life stories.

In the GoodTrust Digital Vault, users can store access to important accounts, documents, social media, photos, and device passcodes. GoodTrust provides a straightforward and simple way of managing all these assets today, as well as designating and sharing access with loved ones and other trusted third parties. GoodTrust also helps you manage the online accounts of a loved one who has passed away via a unique Digital Executor service.

Another important part of anyone’s digital legacy are our life stories. GoodTrust offers tools to enhance and preserve stories and memories through animated photos (GoodTrust Memories) and messages sent via a “digital time capsule” (Future Messages), with more to come.

Just in time for the holidays, GoodTrust has also launched Singing Portraits, which lets anyone create a lasting and shareable memory with any photo, coupled with a favorite song. The AI and facial-recognition technology are provided in partnership with D-ID.

Singing Portraits is designed to encourage people to also consider their lasting digital memories and assets. A limited number of Singing Portraits are available with a free GoodTrust account, or users can create 10 per month with a premium plan ($8/month), which includes a Digital Vault to store account access and content, Will and Directives, and increased online storage. A pet directive is on the way.