Posts
…whatever happened to the good old days?
I was listening to this programme on radio called “Nigba Tiwa ( it is a programme that
bring in oldies to talk about their time as children) and the guest for that
particular episode while narrating how things were during their time did
mention that one of those things they
competed with those days was neatness, they made sure their clothes were not
dirty and well ironed because they would not want to be embarrassed by any
teacher for being dirty.
I may be quite young, but I do remember meeting something
like that in my primary and secondary school days, I remember pupils/students
would rather miss school than go in dirty
uniforms or decide to hang around until assembly is over before they come in
because they know they would be openly
flogged and disgraced and as big boys and girls now, they wouldn’t want that to
happen…I wonder if any teacher can still try such with any student today?
How did we get to this point, yes how? While growing up and even now, it is always a
pleasure to listen to my dad tell me beautiful stories of how things were back
then in Nigeria, this same Nigeria, and after each story, I just wonder and ask
how did we get here?( topic for another day)
These days, a whole lot of things seem to have changed, life
is now “care free” so to say, people no longer give a damn.
These days, you see children walking the street dirty, going
to school in dirty uniforms, some even have their lunch box taken to school
just as it is without being washed the next day, because mum or dad was too
busy to check.
Home work, don’t even go there, these days, lot of children
go back to school without doing their home work. I remember when we were growing
up, though my mum, not so learned, ensures we do our homework, she checks our
book to make sure that no page is missing, she check our nails, ears, uniform
and everything everyday you get back from school, along the line, it became a
routine that we were good at observing ourselves and she trusted us with the
task overtime with only supervision once in a while, because of course she has
inculcated that habit in us.
These days, I doubt if most parents have time for such, even
the so called educated ones are worse.
As told, those days
anybody( and even strangers) can correct a straying or stubborn kids,
even if it has to do with beating, these days, even neighbours dare not try
such as it would result into a fight even in the presence of the children, some Yoruba’s
would even go as far as saying “ se mo fi egba omo mi le yin lowo ni? ( did I
ask you to discipline my child for me), even teachers who have the right to
correct , tread with caution, especially in private schools, you hit a child,
prepare to look for another job, infact some parents would go as far as
demanding for the sack of the teacher just because he beats their child.
Those days in Nigeria, I hear a stranger coming from far can
decide to knock on anybody’s door to pass the night before continuing on his or
her journey the next day, these days, both strangers and house owners don’t
even trust themselves, how much more another unknown person, even neighbors try
to play safe with themselves, how much more with strangers.
Those days I hear “wole-wole” as called in Yoruba( Sanitary
inspection officers) go round houses and surroundings to check, as I hear, they
go as far as checking your drinking water, your room, your clothes etc, just to
make sure they are safe for you and if you are found wanting, there is a
penalty and trust me, no one wants to
face it, and this reminds me of a popular TV drama series back then, where the
inspection officer got to a particular house and found “tanwiji” ( a kind of
cockroach I think) inside their drinking water, the household knew it was
trouble for them and to avoid government trouble, they had to cast a spell on
the officer and he went mad and started the song that became popular back then
which goes thus: wole wole ki lo ri…tanwiji wiji wiji tanwiji( inspector what
did you see? I saw tanwiji)
That was how things were, government were concerned about the citizens, they could go as far as
punishing them to get it right, not these days where they seem not to give a
damn. (well with some exceptions though).
Those days schooling and learning was fun, you dare not come
back home with bad grades at the end of the session ( ta lo fe fi jo), people
compete with good things, the best grades, the neatest, the most outspoken etc,
oh not these days, I don’t want to think about what our young ones compete with
these days.
Respect for elders, that one has taken flee a long time ago (well,
some of these elders are actually responsible for it sha) those days, a child
would allow an elder go in front of them in a queue, they would stand for the
elder to sit, these days, any elder that tries that (especially in a BRT queue)
would get serious tongue lashing from
the young ones( though am not saying there are no exceptions)
I can go on and on, and would not stop, but the truth is I miss
those good old days, where students/pupils are inspected on assembly ground
every morning, from their hair, to the nails etc.
Those good old days, when strangers and house owners trust
each other with no fear of one attacking the other.
Those days, when
elders know themselves as elders and the young ones accord them due respect.
Those days when jobs were ready made for graduate and the
environment was conducive for entrepreneurs
to grow.
Those days when people tell you “walahi” and you know they
are being 100% sincere (not these days they have merely turned it into a slang.
Those days when we
have more educative and informative programmes on radio and TV than now,
Those days when oh oh oh
Those days when being a child was fun.
And most especially, those days when evaporated and condensed milk was just #5 (
oh I would drink milk everybody)
Oh I miss those good old days.
