THE EASTER EGG...

When you think about Easter what comes to mind? For many it is the Christian celebration of the death of Christ and His resurrection. Well, that is a good way of describing it! A time to reflect on the BIG sacrifice of God’s love in order for us to have eternal life if we believe in Him! This morning I thought of a new angle to put in my already written article void of statistics, a special to celebrate this season. Then I settled to write it like I'm giving you an Easter egg, a written Easter egg titled “Good decision making”.

An Easter egg is a chocolate egg or rather an egg made of chocolate that is usually given out as gifts during Easter. The egg itself is a symbol of the Resurrection. In some countries, they are specially decorated eggs given to celebrate the Easter holiday. The oldest tradition is to use dyed and painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jellybeans. These eggs are often hidden, supposedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning.

Now back to my write-up, the Easter Egg gift, on good decision-making: do you know good decision is what God exhibited when He gave up His only son for us? It is indeed a culture worth emulating! As young people, a good-decision making skill is very paramount for a successful living. We all make decisions everyday of our lives, some small, other of more magnitude nature. For example, when you wake up every morning, you have to take a decision- to get out of bed or remain in bed. Next month I will be making a decision wheather to write my first semester examination or defer it. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ made a decision to die for our sins (and ressurected after 3 days) so that we can have eternal life. Now we have to make the decision to believe in Him or not.

Decision making is the choices we make from the alternative solutions available to us. Some decisions are very important and have great impact on our lives while others are of less significance. It must be noted that every situation has alternative. Activities in exchange of one decision normally lead an individual to myraids of options out of which he or she is expected to choose the best.

Good decision-making involves evaluating different aspect of a problem, considering various alternatives and making a decision based on that information along with considering personal values. Other factors such as people- peers, family, friends etc also tend to influence our decisions in life, thus the need to stick to positive influence! We can also learn the process by being open-minded to learn from the mistake or results of poor decisions which are those that appear to be irrational or decisions we made for no good reason- experience is a good teacher. Remember, acquiring good decision making skill is like learning to walk for the first time- first we learn to turn over, to sit, to crawl, to stand and then we take the first step! It does not happen overnight! Whatever decision you make this Easter and beyond, ensure that is is one that will not harm you or others in future! Hope you enjoy this Easter egg! HAPPY EASTER!

Ethnic discrimination and the rest of them…

Have you ever stereotyped anyone from a different tribe just because of that- a different ethnic background? We all may have done it before unconsciously, but for some others, it is a lifestyle, 24/7 uninterruptible ethnocentrism and tribalism in action. Why do people derive joy in demeaning others just because they do not belong to their tribe?

These people believe their culture is superior to others, thus, they tend to judge others by the standard of their culture. Such notion is unacceptable, especially in a world that has become a global village. What we need is a more tolerable generation…people who appreciate other people’s culture! Now, in case you are wondering where this sudden concern over ethnic discrimination is coming from, I’d tell you. One of my classmates just suffered from one! She was sent literarily sent packing from her friend’s house because the latter’s family judged her by her physical features and concluded that she doesn’t deserve their accommodation because she was not from their tribe when in actual fact she is, she just didn’t look it!

Someone somewhere has been denied an opportunity because the person/people in authority do not like the sound of her tribe. It hurts to be faced with such rejection, to be defined and judged by others because of your ethnic background, something you have no power over. There are those who meet you for the first time and ask you for your state of origin as well as village of origin, even though it is of no relevance to the occasion. Such attitude often leads to favouritism, resentment or discrimination! Well, maybe you have heard of worse discrimination, or you have suffered from one yourself?

I flee each time I meet someone who wants to put me in a box of ethnic caucus! I got a casual invitation from a classmate once, “you know we are from the same tribe, we should stick together” she said. It sounded very harmless but isn’t that how it all starts? Before you know it, we would start oppressing others with our group and make life miserable. People who converge to engage in ethnic war do not jump down from the sky; they are formed daily, long before the misunderstanding ensued.

In a complex Nation like Nigeria , ethnicity obviously play dominant role in the allocation of power, status, wealth and other societal goals. Ethnic discrimination and its likes are some of the factors threatening our unity. Although foreigners gasp in awe each time we tell them there are about 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria , only we know where the shoe actually pinches. But must we fold our hands and allow its negative impact fragment us?

I do not believe any tribe is superior or more important than others as far as Nigeria is concern. We are all interwoven, each tribe a part of a whole. Our beauty is diversity, our unity is our strength. The earlier this generation grasp this truth, the better!

CHICKENPOX ALERT!

“Oh my God! You have got chickenpox” my classmate exclaimed one morning, staring intently at the big rash on my cheek. “How do you know?” I asked in a stunned voice. “Well, my sister has it and I recognized the eruption by a mere glance” he replied confidently, too confident for comfort. Taking a cue from him, I rushed off to the school clinic where the doctor confirmed that it was chickenpox. “Phew! Why me? Why not me?” I thought quietly to myself as I listened to the doctor’s prescription. “It is a virus infection, it has to play its full course” He started off.

Chickenpox is a contagious viral disease that causes fever, pain, mild constitutional disturbances and rashes that leaves spots on the skin. I had it for only a few days which seem like months- but it had me really depressed because it confined me to a spot due to the recommended quarantine after rashes appear to avoid infecting others! Moreover, these rashes comes out on the face, scalp, shoulders and other places imaginable… so tell me who wants to walk around covered with such eruptions? Not to mention the persisting fever the chicken pox is characterized by!

Chickenpox is not so much of a dangerous disease, it can however be threatening in persons with defective immune response due to other diseases. Chickenpox I learnt is caused by Varicella-Zoster virus which also causes herpes Zoster called shingles, a painful skin rash. After chickenpox, the virus remains alive but dormant in peripheral nerves. Okay, enough of the vibes, for more information, consult your doctor!

I used to think Chickenpox was more of a child-age disease until I discovered even adults can be infected too. Indeed, most adults are immune to Chickenpox except for those who have never had it. So there! That was the reason why I was prone to it- because I have never had it and probably picked it up unknowingly from an infected person in the bus or on the street.

Now I have recovered fully, with the spots to show off as a living proof, I am also surprised to hear from friends that their neighbors, friends or family member is also recovering from the same illness. A few times recently, I have also seen young adults and children alike covered with spots. I can’t help but wonder if this is a chickenpox season or is there an outbreak we do not know about? As you are reading this, you probably know of someone who is infected too! Well, if you have never been infected, boost up your immune system to stay healthy so you don’t fall prey.

THE UNDER AGE SEX PHENOMENON

As the risk of oversimplification of our emotions, what on earth can make Hon. Speaker of House of Representative, Federal Republic of Nigeria Dimeji Bankole cry openly on a national television? It caught me unaware too until my niece said uncle you too are “Cr…” The same reaction I got recently at a gathering when I asked a youth leader that I respected so much, Oluseyi Oyebisi of Triple NGO & RVOY Unicef, he said “I felt it.”

It was during the courtesy visit made recently by their fellow Honourables Colleagues (The Nigerian Children Parliament) at the National Assembly on the issue of underage sex with children. Do we know or ignore the fact of this rampant social vices when uncle, father, neighbours rape underage girls from age 2 to 15? A very absurd and irrating thing to humanity.

Sexual crime, especially defilement of underage children is sky rocketing in Nigeria now, recently a man Niyi Oseni was arrested in Suleja for defiling a four year- old girl in Niger State, another man called Abubakar 26-year old, lured an eight-year-old girl who was asked to hawk kolanut by her parent… you can read details of this in (The Nigerian Tribune, Tuesday 23 October 2007 Pg. 15).

My point here is that what are we doing on this issue of underage sex of child-girl child. It was argued in same quarters that reasons been given for the increase in the number of rape cases as; it is believed that a person with HIV and AIDS who sleep with a virgin would be cleansed of the disease but to debunk this claim the victim is likely to be infected with whatever disease the rapist had in his body system. Another reason for the increase in rape cases is that the young girls were being defiled for ritual purposes – innocent girl-child. Do the culprits think of the traumatic effect of their ungodly act, leaving on the victim with psychosomatic disorder, why the wickedness?

It was estimated that the children under age 14 are more than 40 million but primary school enrolment is only about 24 million, leaving more than 15 million on the streets. Something has to be done urgently! We must keep in mind the MDGs attainment by 2015. We are all affected by this social vices wheather we like to admit it or not. The recent Sexual Offences Bill sponsored by Senator Chris Anyanwu is a good step and speedy passage of the bill will go along way to curb this social menace.

We should all join the Nigerian Children Parliament (NCP) on the issue of underage sex because we do not know the next victim girl-child... Parent should endeavour to look after their children because most of the victims were young girls. Governments, NGOs, Media and law enforcement agencies should do their utmost in this regard.

Voices of Nigerian Child? Someone has to listen to them because “DIS GENERATION” is taking Nigeria to next level, do you believe? I want to thank my colleague, Lady Jenny for this privilege, the Editor, The Nation on Sunday, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin, thanks a million and “DIS-GENERATION” readers.

Reading through my pen same other time.

MAYOWA ADENIRAN
Guest Columnist
AYTV, Nigeria .
aytvbroadcast@yahoo.com