Where Did We Go Wrong?

Hello there! I'm back again, but this time around with a heavy heart. Do you think Nigeria is getting better or worse? What do you think our generation has to offer? Do you think we'll make our dear nation better or leave it worse than we met it? How many of us are thinking of leaving the country in search of greener pastures to come back to retire in Nigeria or with no thoughts of coming back at all? Well, the question is, at what point did things really start getting bad? Do you remember your primary school Social Studies classes? That we were taught that the family is the smallest unit of he society? Then, if there is something wrong with our society, it boils down to the fact that there is something wrong with it's constituent units. It means that families have become dysfunctional and are the starting point of everything that is wrong with our society. A typical Nigerian/Lagos family starts its day like this: The mum wakes and wakes everyone else, around 5:00 am. The parents set out in their car(s) while the children set out with the driver in another car, around 6:00 am. The children eat breakfast in the car, manage to get to school on time, closes around 2:00 pm, waits for ballet class or swimming class or extra lessons etc, leaves school around 4:00 pm and gets home at 6:00pm. The housemaid gives them food and ensures they do their assignment, some kids might be lucky to have a live-in aunty or uncle (who is awaiting admission to the university or waiting to get a job) to help with their home work. The parents come back around 9:00 pm, when the children are tired and ready to sleep or asleep already. They come back tired, retires to bed immediately and the same mad rush starts the next day! Now, these children, tomorrow's leaders, at that early age barely gets 8 hours of sleep, barely have time to relate with their parents, to have them play games with them, discuss with them, help them with their home work, correct them and so on. Why? Their parents have to work long hours to make ends meet, the roads are bad, they have to queue to buy fuel, traffic is terrible, etc

I, by the grace of God, have written a number of aptitude tests and have never failed any. I realised most of those questions were almost like those ones i treated while preparing for common entrance! You remember? I am fortunate to have parents who had time to coach me all through those elementary stages - my father with Math and Science related courses and my mum with others.

For some of us, in those days, the thought of what our parents' reactions will be was enough to keep us from misbehaving. But these days, how many parents have the time to sit with their kids and find out what they were taught in school? If we do, is it not absent mindedly 'cause of our tired bodies and minds?

To my sisters out there, the greater responsibility lies on us to redeem our society. In Genesis, the Bible records that after the sixth day of creation, god looked at everything He had made and He said it was "good". The same God, in Genesis 2:18 said "it is not good that the man should be alone". Meaning all of creation was incomplete till the Woman came. A woman by nature has the ability to nurture and to bring to completion. However, this same woman has the ability to misuse such potentials and when she does the outcome is always grievious. We are basically, homebuilders and if we go back to esteeming the values that the family as the smallest unit of the society should uphold, Nigeria will be a better place. If we can learn to strike a balance between our quest to help the man with putting food on the table and our primary role of building and molding lives. Remember Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Carson, T. D. Jakes, Bill Clinton etc? They all have their mothers to thank for the leading roles they played in their lives.

My brothers, i have not said you do not have any role to play. We all do, if we can create time out of "no time" to invest quality time in the lives of our children, in our homes and make sure our homes (as the smallest unit of the society) become really functional and represent what our dream Nigeria is, then the society at large becomes a better place. Together, we can redeem our society, our beloved Nigeria and make it the envy of the world.

Shallom!