The plight of the Boy-child

It first started with a feminist slogan that read: What a man can do, a woman can try. That was the kindergarten of feminism. However, it didn't take long to advance to: What a man can do, a woman can do. Sooner than later, the slogan then changed to: What a man can do, a woman can do better. In this day and age, that very feminist slogan has attained a masters degree and it now reads: What a man can do, a woman can outdo.
While myriad girl-child empowerment organizations and feminists are quick to convince the world that all the above slogans are as holy as heaven, my conscious force of reason begs to differ. To my best of knowledge, the objective of girl-child empowerment was to contrive gender parity through inculcating moral values not to bring a competition between the two genders through instilling a superiority complex mindset to a girl-child.
Unfortunately, the present day girl-child is being empowered in expense of a boy-child no wonder the rampant silent cry of a boy-child who has already found a spot in the world list of endangered species.
 In their incessant speed towards the realization of a gender parity world, what most if not all feminists have forgotten is that; diversity is the equity that contrives equality. This literally means that: If we empower both boys and girls  simultaneously and with equal measures, we shall happily achieve a complimentary virtue in place of the already existing competitive vice. While complimentary is the most suitable relationship virtue since it contrves tolerance,  the present day girl-child empowerment campaign is responsible for the unnecessary competition between boys and girls which has contributed to rivalry between the two genders in a dire quest of wanting to prove who's more superior than the other.
Noting that the boy-child is already in the world list of the endangered species, when push comes to shove, the number one question that every boy-child must have the courage to ask is; when did the rain start beating us?
To put matters into perspective, the boy-child has been neglected for way too long which makes his long awaited sense of patriarchy to seem unachievable. Even though it seems like  boy-child empowerment is unattainable primeval endeavor, with unabated commitment and relentless efforts, every predicament becomes a story of victory.
In order to close the gender parity aperture that's widening by every passing day, we must understand that boy-child empowerment is a responsibility of a man who must be totally ready and wholeheartedly willing to mentor young boys from preteens to young adults lest we continue to witness a generation of impotent and irresponsible young men.
'A boy needs a father,  in order to love himself as a man, he needs the love of a man. This means that; boy-child empowerment is not about the presence of your absence,  (physically present but emotionally unavailable) it's about being physically present and emotionally connected to the boy-child under your watch. 
It's extremely tough being a man since failure isn't an option. The worst thing about it is, there are no shortcuts whatsoever. Due to the very high societal expectation of leadership that's bestowed upon a man regardless of whether he was mentored or not, any mistake be it morally, spiritually, socially, financially and the like tends to diminish his sense of manhood, a view that makes most men to live with unforgivable and unforgettable social gaffe.
While my intention isn't to discredit the decades efforts that have made girls to believe in themselves, I am calling forthright on the need to stop empowering girls in expense of boys. Setting a competitive mood between the two genders is going more harm than good in the present day society.
Nonetheless, the boy-child should be taught how important it is to enshrine good morals and hard work because sooner than later his future will be at his doorstep demanding virtues which he won't afford simply because we never gave him some.
It's our responsibility as concerned and caring fathers to instill the boy-child with good morals and equip him with adequate skills for running his future socioeconomic affairs. 

By so doing, we shall have subdued the present day generation of majority of disoriented boys with sociocultural direction in matters, authority, work and morality.
Men, kindly don't give up or shy away even when you encounter failure. While your failure is an inspiration to the boy-child, your furtive quiting discourages the boy-child from staying focused and determined to accomplish the extremely demanding race of masculinity. In the very words of Nelson Mandela: The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling but in rising up every time you fall. 

JUNETEENTH

On 1st January 1863, the 16th president of United States of America president Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation proclamation that declared the end of slavery in all the Confederate territories. Nonetheless, two years and six months later, slavery was still alive and well in some Confederate territories. Texas was the last Confederate territory reached by the Union army. This happened on 19th June 1865 which is popularly known as Juneteenth when Union Army General Gordon Granger announced General Order No.3 in Galveston, Texas.
Worse still, slavery continued in the border States like Kentucky and Delaware until the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution on 6th December 1865 that abolished slavery entirely in the United States ending the distinction between slave and free states.
On Thursday 17th June 2021 which is 156 years later, the 46th president of United States president Joseph Robinette Biden signed the S.475 JUNETEENTH NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE DAY ACT into law designating the Juneteenth National Independence Day as a legal public holiday.
All the same, my force of conscious reason begs to ask one intriguing question: How free are we 156 years after the abolishment of slavery? In the very words of the the 32nd first lady of the United States, madam Anna Eleanor Roosevelt: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,' i am persuaded to believe that; superiority and inferiority complex perception is entirely a personal choice. That's why I totally agree with the words of Bob Marley: 'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.' These very challenging words are inked in the lyrics of his 1980 reggae song namely: Redemption Song.

The fact that the greatest wars are won or lost in your mind validates my claim that: The greatest rewarding act of freedom is fleeing self from mental slavery. Anything that your mind perceives impossible is totally unattainable in your life.
Although physical freedom is an important aspect in a human being's life, failing to free yourself from a mediocre mindset is the worst form of slavery. That's why I believe that: In the occurence of failure, the chains that buckle our mind are more strong than the shackles that fastens our hands. Success in life is entrenched in your ability to emancipate yourself from a mediocre mindset. That's why failure isn't aiming high and missing but aiming low and hitting. 

International Day of the African Child

It was Wednesday the 16th day of June 1976 which is exactly 45 years ago today. The place was South West Town popularly known as SOWETO in South Africa.
A while ago, the apartheid government of South Africa had passed a decree to impose  Afrikaans (the Boer language) as the medium of instruction in half the subjects in middle school and high school. This malicious intentions from the oppressive apartheid government wasn't far from what Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon did to the four Hebrews boys (Daniel, Hananiah, Michael and Azariah) when he tried to lure them into worshipping the idol gods of the Babylonians. As unfortunate as it might be, when someone wants to rule over you, he deludes you into believing that your language and culture is inferior thus the need to impose his language on you.
Nonetheless, black students perceived imposing Afrikaans on them as an insult because this was the language of the inhuman apartheid government.
That Wednesday morning, about 20,000 unarmed school students from all over Soweto marched towards Orlando soccer stadium where a peaceful rally had to take place. En route to the stadium, they were confronted by heavily armed police who upon a futile attempt to disperse the black students decided to fire life bullets.
That's when hell broke loose. Although some students decided to run for their dear lives, some students retaliated by pelting the police with stones. 
Even though the apartheid government never came clean to the number of students who were killed, it's certain that more than 700 hundred students lost their dear lives. This extremely dreadful atrocity which is popularly known as SOWETO UPRISING  saw the inception of a YOUTH DAY HOLIDAY in South Africa and 15 years later on 16th June 1991, Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) present day Africa Union (AU) initiated the International day of the African child in honor of the 700+ students who lost their dear lives during the Soweto uprising plus their colleagues who survived the massacre.
Apart from commemorating the Soweto uprising of 1976, the International day of the African child raises awareness of the dire needs that African children are facing to this day in quest for quality education.
With a new theme every year, this year's theme of the International day of the African child is: 30 years after the adoption of the charter, accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2040 for an Africa fit for children. Agenda 2040 is a 25 years aspiration that consists of ten items. It was initiated by Africa Committee of Experts on Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on 2016 with 2040 being the expected year of full achievement.
Among other things, the paramount objective of the agenda is to restore the dignity of the African child through assessing the achievements and challenges faced towards the effective implementation of the African Children’s Charter.
As we commemorate the international day of the African child for the 30th time, we must not forget the 2014 theme which was: child-friendly, quality, free, and compulsory education for all children in Africa. 

Even though some countries have already attained quality, free and mandatory education, in most nations, this aspiration seems far-fetched. Needless to say, education aspiration must be attained by all means if we are serious about the attainment of all the ten 2040 aspirations coined by ACERWC. 
  

It's a marriage not a business venture

Apart from missing heaven, the next worst thing that can happen to a Christian is to be in a bad marriage. Without a blink an eye, or a smidgen fear of contradiction whatsoever, I will confidently say, "besides companionship, marriage becomes irrelevant."
Unfortunately, in this day and age, most marriages if not all are just but a competition in a dire need to outdo each other especially on financial matters and the pecking order of life.
In the very words of Idris Elba, "ask a lady to define a man and she will define you a slave," to most young and nubile ladies in pursuit of marriage, these words are not far from the truth. Times without number i've asked numerous ladies on the qualities that a gentleman pursuing them for marriage must hold. To my greatest surprise, eight out of ten ends up using the very famous phrase among most bachelorettes: 'A financially stable man.'
It's extremely unfortunate that we have a generation of young ladies who have totally disregarded integrity and morality in place of money and material possessions. Although it's a bitter pill to shallow, the truth of the matter is; any lady who believes that her success will become a reality out of marrying a rich gentleman is a lady who is unknowingly stuck in identity crisis and is far from finding her purpose in life. 

In this day and age, most people fail to find their purpose in life simply because of the centuries old misconception that ties success to financial achievement.
Just like the old English adage, 'fire is a good servant but a bad master,' from the force of my conscious reason, I do believe that; money too is a good servant but a bad master. Please be advised that your chances of urging otherwise are extremely slim due to the dire consequences that comes as a result of dissenting with the word of God. In his first epistle to his mentee Timothy, apostle Paul inked these words; 'For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.' 1 Timothy 6:10
Kindly let me address nubile ladies who think that they're ready for marriage. The sole reason to why these scriptures, (The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.” Genesis 2:18) are recorded in the book of Genesis which literally means beginning is because, as a responsible lady, you are supposed to be a suitable helper to your husband right from the beginning. Becoming a suitable helper is the only way your husband can become what most present day ladies are looking for: 'A financially stable man.'
Marriage is neither a business enterprise nor an investment. If you're an intrigant wife who is in a marriage to carry out surreptitious monetary achievements, you are not better than a fraudster.
In inarguably true that, any person who is money hungry is also a selfish person. In other words, a lover of money or material possessions is also a narcissist. This is the spouse who will never ever care about you as long as he or she is okay.
For a great marriage to happen, both the husband and the wife must be okay not one of them and no argument about that whatsoever. Having understood that truth, my school of conscious thought compels me into saying: "If your spouse's problem is not your problem, your marriage is a problem." Although it's very ironical to be okay while your spouse is not, to a self-centric person, this isn't much of a bother. As long as he or she is okay, nothing else matters.

On the other hand, it's extremely imperative for every gentleman to always keep this in mind that: 'Any lady who is not a suitable helper can never ever make a great wife.'
Apart from being selfish, a lover of money and material possessions is a proud and a conceited individual who holds an insatiable sense of entitlement. When the bible says that the love of money is the source of all evil, the fundamental of all these evils is pride, conceit, selfishness, self-importance, greed, jealousy, pathological lying and an insatiable sense of entitlement.
Narcissist are the people who operate under the entitlement mindset namely: Me, Myself and I. As long as he or she is okay, nothing else matters. And if you have any good thing, to a narcissist, it's never good enough unless it belongs to him or and her not to mention that, to a narcissist too much is never enough. No amount of love, money or possessions can satisfy a self-centric person. In other words, selfish people are unlovable not only because they can't love back but also because you can't love them good enough. 

The fact that a lover of money and material possessions is also an intrigant means that; if you're married by such a person, developing yourselves in life as a couple will be totally impossible. From opening and operating secret bank accounts to making secret investments, an intrigant spouse does it all. A self-centric wife hold an extremely biased mentality that; her money belongs to her alone but her husband's money is their money. 

A marriage is not about what you can get, it's about what you can give. That's why I can confidently say: "When everyone meets to give, everyone receives."

Since selfishness and conceit is a vice whose formation goes back to the formative and developmental years of a person, it's almost impossible for a selfish person to change. If you are already married to a selfish conceited spouse, my recommendation is a spiritual deliverance. 

Noting that selfishness and conceit doesn't start when you get married, if you're dating a selfish person, kindly don't ignore that red flag lest you spend the rest of your life in total regret. I rest my case.