By Mewhenu Hosu
The Worlds and the Bridge
For this discussion, the physical world has been divided into three: the world of children, the world of disciplined, principled and respected achievers, and the world of wasted destinies, lost purposes and ruined dreams. The world of children is used in this sense to class both children and young persons, especially those who have not been fixed by life. A bridge does at least three major things.
It helps users to fly over danger zones, connects them with places and grants them a wider view landscapes. All these functions are relevant to this discussion. The article offers a thought on how children can transit from their world into the world of achievers, using a particular bridge.
The world of children is the one into which yet-unformed destinies are born. It is beautiful and neutral in a sense, but also risky and quite slippery. These attributes are all valid because both success and failure at this stage could equally be perpetual and reversible if necessary measures are either taken or not taken in each case by the guardians.
Therefore, while any feat might not be an absolute source of lasting joy, any failure is also not a complete state of hopelessness.
Children do not live in their world forever; they transit from there into one of the last two. In ceaseless efforts to have their future shaped and defined, errors are committed and feats are achieved as well. Although this rhythm is part of the journey, handling it requires some wisdom.
The wisdom consists in learning from the errors and preventing recurrence, while consolidating the feats with self-motivation. In the end, some make it into the world of achievers, but some are not so lucky. Either failure or success in this case is a function of combined factors.
So, making an informed choice is a wise decision. There is none reading this article, who does not have a great future to pursue. Neither is there any such future which is not too beautiful to abandon or waste. But there are pockets of worries here and there. There are reasons to feel concerned, especially about those who are on their transition journey from the world of children. I am not a fatalist! But many adults who are as concerned and conversant with the trends and realities of the contemporary times, would share my worries.
Therefore, we must all cooperate and work together to guard against wasting the radiant future.
The children’s world has become steadily more endangered and vulnerable. It is more worrisome because it is a world of innocence, inexperience and naivety. These are neither weaknesses nor faults. They are virtues; natural peculiarities of the said world. They must be cultivated with genuineness of intentions, purposes and fear of God.
Sadly, this world is faced with two serious problems. While the young do not have many good models in the society to emulate, the society is perverse and wants to take advantage of the above features of their world.
What is the way out? The young must be aware of the vulnerability of their world and the need to use the bridge that will connect them with the second world above. Guardians metaphorically constitute the bridge!
Both bridge and guardians have been used in this article to refer to the adults who are sincerely passionate about how the young can navigate through life, and succeed unhurt.
These include the parents, the teachers, the counsellors and other elderly persons around, who truly wish the young well. If a young person makes use of the first three well, they might not need the fourth anyway. However, if they do need them as mentors and confidants, they can identify and select them with caution and God’s guidance.
Note! In recent times, there has been news of even teachers and parents who unfortunately commit shameless and indescribable acts against their students and children respectively. Someone who is honest with himself should be able to distinguish, with near accuracy, between members of society who mean well for him and those who do not. Girl children especially, should deal with the latter with wisdom!
With dogged determination, young persons should do the following: They should picture a future through a profession or an occupation, and choose models who have made great marks in such fields. They can then devote some time to reading extensively about such models. Another important step is to choose mentors. Finally, it is helpful to shun pre-marital sex, drug abuse/addiction, crimes, bad company and any other moves which can constitute a stumbling block. This way, connecting with an adult world of envy, dignity and pride would come within one’s reach.
In the garden of words and thoughts, timelessness is courted!
© Mewhenu Hosu is of the Lagos State University International School, Ojo, Lagos State
