It is not being cynical to say that our world has gone south, completely and totally. One finds a common feature from the west to the east, and from the South to the North Pole: fallen standards. The global human population seem to have lost our sense of ethics, of morality, of value. Now, we nonsensify excellence and excellencify nonsense.
Look around the globe. Even in the United States of America -of all countries- politics has returned to what it should never be: crude, selfish, puerile, empty, immoral. Europewide, one finds no respite as even the United Kingdom -an otherwise beautiful, powerful nation- prefers to unite in injustice, in apartheid, in greed, in underdeveloping others and well, I wanted to add in shamelessness. Sssh, things are no better in countries of other continents: the story is the same, even worse; if not the worst!
Human beings have become like animals. There’s no love in the alarming majority of hearts. There’s no truth. There’s no virtue.
Our once peaceful, sweet world seems to have been seized by (or did it fall to?) a merciless gang of mediocrities whose one-point agendum is to steal, kill and destroy as much as shouldn’t. Up and down, people of trust can be seen in broad daylight betraying that trust, taking out for themselves as much as they shouldn’t. Most of those who ought to add no value to the system anymore. That’s why no one values any value added let alone the adders.
Our world is in a free fall. To be fair to the current handlers -internationally, nationally and locally- the free fall is not a recent phenomenon. However, the men and women who now call the shots ought to do things differently with a view to not only changing the narrative positively but also redirecting our world towards Eldorado. And, the ad hoc roadmap is easy to think up and follow.
Let human beings return to being human beings again. Let love, truth, justice, morality and excellence return as guiding principles to male and female, big and small, rich and poor, black and white, believer and unbeliever. Once we take these first two steps, everything else shall be added autopilot on to us. Human beings should stop fighting and inhibiting ourselves, as that’s what holds back our world.
We should learn the mechanics of coexistence and development. We should learn love and patience. We should learn support and peaceability. We should learn apology and forgiveness.
We should learn followership and leadership. We should learn unity and courage. We should learn accomodation and appreciation. We should unlearn, learn and relearn until we have sense enough to understand that impact is when you add -not subtract- value!
No need, at this juncture, to prolong the mischief. The caption of this piece ought to have been delivered in quotation marks. Of course, the caption is not me: it didn’t come from me. As we do -almost always- in this trade, the caption is left naked just to cause confusion and, therefore, provoke interest in the reader.
Welcome to the 60th birthday luncheon in honour of Associate Professor of Broadcast Aesthetics of the University of Uyo, Nsikan-Abasi Nkaña, Ph.D., which took place in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, two days after the D-Day of December 2, 2021. Family, colleagues, friends, students -past and present- had gathered in Hall 4, Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre, in the heart of the city, to celebrate the iconic academic. From the two masters of ceremonies, Aniekeme Finbarr and Ndueso Imose (Mrs.), to the chairman on the occasion, Dr. Anietie Ukpe, who’s director-general of Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Corporation (AKBC), to special guest, Prof. Peter Esuh, head of Department, Communication Arts, University of Uyo, to secretary of the planning committee, Dr. Nsikak Idiong, a gentleman lecturer in the department, to the celebrator’s mother, Mrs. Christiana Sam Nkaña, and indeed everyone who spoke, it was a smooth sail. Speaker after speaker spoke of a life of value, of service, and of discipline.
Chairman Ukpe set the ball rolling when he spoke of the celebrator during their boyhood as a football teammate and much later as his postgraduate lecturer. Both ways, he scored him high, saluting his dexterity, persistence, and discipline. Special Guest Esuh, the celebrator’s immediate boss, Secretary Idiong who read the citation, the church representative and all others toed the same line, pouring encomia on his life of sacrifice. Then it came time for the man of the moment to speak and then, phew! the bubble burst!
Holding the microphone and speaking aesthetically, the associate professor -who had set out to follow his father’s military career footsteps- systematically ran through the lengthy protocol list. Then, he looked up, scanned the head table and audience and then he looked down. Then, he looked up; then he smiled his trademark smile. Then he dropped it: “I have never been celebrated!”
The hitherto applauding crowd died for a nanosecond, which lasted like an age. Seeing the untold effect his verbal bomb had on the audience, he made to walk it back with the addendum that his wife, Mrs. Enobong Nsikan Nkaña, had always marked his birthday every year. Alas, the deed had been done. The audience could not but grumble in guilt.
It was not and still is not their guilt alone. It was and still is also the guilt of all of us, especially those who have ever sat under a teacher. Pray, how does a teacher who has taught for decades go uncelebrated? How and why can it be said that such a one waited until own 60th birth anniversary to enjoy the same public celebration that we regularly treat mere lovers, commonwealth thieves and sundry impactless people to?
Sadly, Associate Professor Nkaña’s experience is not peculiar to him. This, therefore, should be both an eye-opener and a wake-up call. For those who have the capacity to make it happen, has your parent or teacher or priest or mentor or helper ever been celebrated? Today is not too late to call up an event planner and add some years to someone’s life!
And, just as I was rounding off this entry, I ran into a young policeman on night duty on Nwaniba Road in Uyo. He flagged me down. So well dressed for someone on night duty, he sounded well bred. I liked him immediately.
He was straight to the point. He asked me if I had made plans to reach out to a policeman this Christmas. Then, he waved me on. That tiny message remains so powerful I have been ruminating on it, ever since.
I cannot suffer the torment alone. So, I pass it on. Do you have plans to celebrate this season with your parent or teacher or priest or security person or mentor or doctor, etc.? God bless Nigeria!