Dennis Onuigbo
I am posting this article here which I wrote on August 16, 2019. For One to be Better, there is a Cycle.
At a start point, one has something; he learnt something new and left what he had; he needs to come back to what he had before and refine it with what he learnt - for him to be better.
The above thought came to mind as i ponder over the shameful act of some fellow brothers who have now learnt how to become depressed, lonely, heartless, and sometimes suicidal. These are not attributes of the original humans - especially our African culture does not support these derogatory attributes.
The culture was that of community life and well-being, it was a culture of hardwork and fun filled leisure in most community square. Communities have their theater of arts and entertainment. free for all and open for all. people were creative and desire to perform in the theater. Praises and nice names were showered on the great performers and rules of the game are clear and understood by all. No one assumed the other is ignorant and weak. We have learnt new things and failed to refine with what we had. Now ignorance and weakness have been exposed and the gap between people are widening. The old performers knew that the purpose was for fun and enjoyment, the weak performers were not despised nor destroyed but are motivated to bounce back stronger. Stories in Chinua Achebe's "things fall apart" could help. We knew that we are one and need each other to survive. We have learnt new things and forgotten the good past.
We have learnt to kill and destroy heartlessly. We forgot that humans are sacred and each has the image of God. We forgot that the spirits of those killed can return to fight against the killer or evil doer. We once believed in reincarnation and in the village names of forefathers were given to the new born signifying the return of the great man. These stories help the young one to stay strong, focused and guided. We have learnt new things and forgotten where we started.
Our inability to reconcile the new with the old has earned us terrible attributes such as loneliness, depression, insensitivity to fellow humans and at extreme suicidal thoughts. Once one thinks of suicide, it is an indication that he/she cannot reconnect to his/her past - so, cannot see how people went through hard times and came out victorious. He/she has belittled his/herself to the current situation and do not hope to make things better for his/her community.
There is a cycle - for one to be better. To be better, one must reconcile the new with the previous.
Cheers!
For One to be Better, there is a Cycle.
