One thing that makes our past very significant is because it has been written to direct the future. What was documented in the past could be either positive or negative. It is the lesson of the past that directs us towards the unwritten future, which is yet to come. Therefore, our written slipups of the past are supposed to teach and direct our philosophy about life and the unwritten story of the future. Our past cultural misrepresentation and caricature should be seen as huge lessons today, and in the future. Even as we continue to look at our past mistakes, making amendments and resolutions in order to grab the better part of the future, we must not stand too long staring at the past. We must never again mix up the past and the future.
I’m writing this, particularly because our past hunts us today. We are still subsumed in the past. We still imbibe the terrible culture and ideology of the past. Most of us have continued to try those things associated with our past. I will always ask, who says the old way is the right way?
Culture and norms of a people is usually made and protected by the same people, so when someone says, the culture of the past cannot be changed today, it then means we have incompetent people all around the world today.
My argument today is that we must not continue to do things the old way. Some cultures that were initiated in the past are obviously inimical to societal growth and must be discarded before we are all annihilated by a culture that inhibits societal growth and progress.
Today, Obama has decided to do what appeals to his conscience, by discarding the popular views of the American people which has all along not been based on reality but rather on the past culture of the American people. No leader was ready to do things in the new way by passing the bill on same sex marriages. Obama has decided to take a bold step by considering that they have the same right like every other person does in America. This may be against the existing beliefs and norms of the average American. Obama had not taken this decision out of sentiment, but for the fact that the right thing must always be done irrespective of what was obtained in the past. It takes a dedicated leader to break such wall of cultural resistance. Even though the bill has remained a major criticism of his administration, it is a breakaway from the past, which continually hunts some segments of America.
Relatively, the new Catholic Pope, Francis has decided to hold on to the oath of abject poverty by insisting not to live in the mansion prepared for all catholic Popes, but prefers to live in moderate and humble environment. Aside that, he has disappointed many Catholics including some cardinals who had taught it was business as usual when he made the choice of a beetle as his official car against the very expensive cars the Church had provided for him. How many people would be willing to take such action today? How many will be willing to go the left when others are going the right? How many are willing to play the fool today even when they know it’s April fool? We all like to join the overwhelming voices of our past and our culture instead of trying to effect a positive change. It takes a fearless leader to change certain norms that exist in some questions.
Today, our culture has continued to affect us negatively as a country. Zoning system traditionally and cultural introduced by an unstructured past political arrangement has been brought to the present democratic system, making our modern democracy- undemocratic. This is so because our leaders have not been receptive to societal change and kept on with the old way of life. Who says the old way is the right way?
Our wrong decisions in the past have given rise to a new political structure through killings and kidnappings by the dreaded Boko Haram and the Niger Delta Militants. This is because our leaders continue to play the extant politics of their political fathers who ruled based on” Divide and rule”. Even with the ban on slavery globally, we still breed such ill-disposed culture.
I’m afraid, but how do you justify a situation where some people are regarded as sub-humans in a human society? Those who banned slavery saw the very terrible impact such will create in the society and they decided to kick against it. God created all of us equal right from the day of creation, and who says the other person was from the lineage of slaves? What even makes you to think that you are not even the slave? There is actually no documentation to prove our conclusion, yet we are quick at drawing such conclusions. How industrious are you that they are not, how supper- intelligent are you that they are not? Who gave us the authority to create such dividing lines in a society where we should live in peace? Such categorization and segregation based on one’s status brings violence into a community, hence it must stop.
It will be important to draw inference from the happenings in Oguta, my own community where the idea of Ohus and the freeborn has not been discarded up till today. It is a sign that we are not receptive and open to change. For how long are we going to stoop low to an aged-long culture, which has continued to divide us? Many have died, many have been denied love, many have been denied position, chieftaincy titles, marriages, and a host of others because of the Ohus stigma. For how long are we going to live like cat and dog in the same community? For how long are we going to nurture this bad culture and ideas amongst us? As for me Charlyboy, I represent freedom, and freedom I will always preach. If we want to be free as a community, if we must enjoy ourselves, then we must begin to see ourselves as one. I know many of us are afraid as to who takes the first shot, but it’s simple. We created this law, and the stigma, hence we have the power and the right to dismantle it. Human beings make laws. People agree on a particular culture before it becomes a way of life. Today, we have disagreed over this practice; therefore, we must discard it. The lessons of the recent past should direct the future of Oguta. The continuous killings and unnecessary kidnapping should have communicated to us the amount of hatred in the land. Our written past should henceforth direct our unwritten future. I know you are Afraid to take the first shot, but someone must start this. We are a new generation of the Oguta people, and we must not allow the past to continue to hunt us.
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