A NEW BLANK SLATE
At the moment a child is born, there exists in the child's life zero knowledge, memories, thoughts, vital decisions made, pain, regrets and needs (well, except to suck and sleep). Philosophically, it is like a floor that wet cement has just been applied on, and over a period of time, anything can be written on the floor surface before it gets dried up and you'll only be scratching a hard surface if you try. Relating the floor of cement to the analogy of the new child will mean that a number of teachings and habits can be engraved into a child's mind or learned by the child up until a point where the surface is too hard to add anything else. In the field of Education, this is called TABULA RASA (Blank Slate).
Although, from stories and life experiences, you and me can agree that there definitely is an opportunity for a new beginning for an individual or a group of people. In Christianity, it is called being BORN AGAIN. More like a whole fresh new blank slate where you have been gifted a chance to re-engrave and make your story better.
Now, I'll like to cut straight to the point of this piece without extra drama. In 1914, when the British amalgamated a few regions of society and called it Nigeria, that was a blank slate. All sorts were written on that slate, but some men fought hard and got us a new blank slate in 1960, then we started to write all of the 'jargons' that has brought us this far, figuratively though, lol. While connecting all of the above together in deep thought, I realised that maybe the reason our situation in this country has continually refused to change is because we're trying hard to write on a surface of cement that is totally dried up. Hence, the need for another new blank slate. Then this question popped up; how exactly are we going write new things when some people benefit a lot from the current sick situation?, they are definitely not going to allow it. Then I crossed off the older generation totally from my picture of a new Nigeria, the older generation that includes all our current leaders and looters. Over time, they will die and fade away, so what we do in the middle will determine where we stand at that time. This message is for the youth of Nigeria, and those who are as open as them; A NEW BLANK SLATE IS POSSIBLE.
First off, you and I as young Nigerians need to do away with the idea that Nigeria is beyond repair, trust me, if you look on long term basis, it isn't. Things might not totally change in ten years but we can definitely make it happen and build a new place for our children, the kind that our parents couldn't do for us. Like I posited in my previous article titled “What are we gonna chant in my country.......” (if you missed it, click here), if you and I do no speak up for our country, nobody will do it for us. Essentially, if we are tired of what we see everyday in Nigeria, we have to do something to change it, because, trust me, we really don't have a choice. Before you say anything about leaving Nigeria for greener pastures, have you seen the news lately?, how humans are being treated like animals?, blacks is the western world, Nigerians in China and the diaspora, you didn't see all of that mess?. Now tell me, is there anywhere else we can save other than our home?, do you really still not think we have no choice but to purposefully start something new in our land?.
Friend, this is way beyond pop psychology or the need to say a few words. If you look at it deep enough, you will realise that there is actually hope, hope for the future, hope in the youth of today. Asides, creating a bedrock mindset that we all in unison can and have to make a change, we also need to act it out. We need to totally eschew corruption in our daily dealings, we need to constantly think of the wellbeing of our fellow citizens, we need to avoid all of the things our leaders and elders did that got us into this mess and start over, we need to sensitize other young people whenever we have the platform, especially those who are poised to carry on the evil deeds of our current leaders, we need to take bold steps and challenge for offices when we can and if you know you have the capacity. This might be a long shot, but it is possible, and totally worth it. At first, we could struggle and toddle like a new child learning to walk, but nobody will deny that we are making progress.
In my alma mater, student-politicians will say “Posterity will judge us” when making vital decisions regarding student welfarism, whether they are sure it concerns the future or not. That mentality prevents them from making poor choices or lazy decisions. Now, imagine the kind of curses our great grandchildren in Nigeria will rain on past generations including ours if we do not act. Imagine the level of chaos, turmoil and quagmire we will be leaving them to face. Do you really want that for your children?. If there are things you can do to help the situation or at least prevent it from getting worse, is doing them not wiser?. I do not expect everyone reading this article to subscribe to my opinions, but if it will get to a good number of people and those ones will pass it along, then it was totally worth the time.
We can be more conscious than we currently are. We can begin to think things deeper. We can be cool and still be concerned about our country. We can start over. We can begin to make a change. We can rewrite our own story.
God bless you, God bless me and God bless Nigeria!.
9 Comments
Nice one man. This is great and sensitizing
ReplyDeleteGod bless us, God bless our Country.
Amen. Thanks for reading bro
ReplyDeleteAmen. God bless you for this piece. More Grace.
ReplyDeleteAmen. Thank you for reading ma
DeleteThat was awesome.
ReplyDeleteReally loved it
💯
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading
DeleteWowww. This is deep. It calls for deep reflection by every youth. God b!ESS you Similoluwa
ReplyDeleteAmen. Thank you for reading
ReplyDeleteDrop a comment, it makes me happy 😀