We, as humans, have emotions, and feelings. We have feelings of what we see as right, and what we consider wrong. We have feelings based on what we see as natural, and what we see as quite unnatural. These feelings are deeply inbuilt, and even though they come with individuals, they are many times influenced by the society we live in. To break this down and save your time, it’s safe to say that people in the US think it is right for children to speak up to their parents when they feel they aren’t treated right. In Africa, many people don’t see that as right; your parents know what is best for you and whatever they are doing to you is actually something they are doing for you. You see? Different people hold different thoughts.
It doesn’t end there, with peoples’ differences; it also breaks into individuals and their thoughts. A generally accepted knowledge of what is wrong is that it is anything that causes unnecessary pain, and puts people into danger. Only a psychopath would disagree with this, and only a psychopath would find it OK to cause pain upon people. Have that in mind. Now, humans as individuals all have their own mindset on what they want to do to themselves, and how they want to live. Some people are OK being religious and chaste and being teetotalers, while some prefer clubbing, drinking, and ‘living life to the fullest’. You see? Different persons have different thoughts.
Now, this essay is going to dwell more on the saying “Live your own life”. Truly, man is guided by where he is and where he grew. Our ideas are usually guided by what others around us think and our pattern of thoughts are usually aligned in one direction. This is why many people find it difficult to understand things, or patterns of thoughts that aren’t theirs. Africa will be my case study, and Nigeria will be taken precisely.
Nigeria is a country with over 140 million persons. In this country, there are Christians, Muslims, Traditionalists, Pagans, Atheists, and what have you. I used religion as the #1 determinant because Nigerians are really religious people. In this heterogeneous society, many people have a big problem, and that is the problem of hate. The average Christian doesn’t like the Muslim, the Muslim feels the Traditionalist isn’t practicing the right religion, and they all hate Atheists because, well, why will you not believe in God? This hate is everywhere, in built in many of us.
What I believe in is simple, and short. Live life, and let others live theirs. When you talk of religion, it may be hard to tackle this because many of these religions preach dislike for other religions, and preach that any religion that isn’t theirs isn’t the true one. I will not talk too much about that. However, many of these beliefs should be cushioned with the fact that all religions preach love, and love includes letting people live the life they believe they enjoy and is best for them. In order words, you are allowed to think of people in a certain way (since we don’t usually control our thoughts) but what you say and do based on these thoughts can be very much controlled. In Nigeria, we have a problem of division because of what we think of our religions and ethnic groups, and how many of them manifest in how we act.
Behavioral differences also exist amongst people. Everyone has the right to decide what kind of life they want to live (so far they are not hurting anyone), and maybe this is where things like smoking, and drug use comes in. A fact remains that drugs are not good or your health- well, sugar also isn’t- but we place a form of cloth over it, and make it seem like it’s totally devoid of morals to take drugs. True, it messes with your senses, and its hazardous to your health, but then, so is the inhalation of chemicals in a lab for a lab worker, and many other things. My point is this. Many Nigerians see smokers in a bad light, but in the end, the drug use (unless it is in form of smoke affecting others) affects just the user, and others have no business calling him out or trash talking him all in the name of helping him.
This extends to sexuality which is also a delicate part of our lives which is affected by religion. Nigerians don’t feel it is OK not to be straight. It’s normal here because even the Law is against it. However, the Law here is nothing to write home about, because this same Law that makes you wonder if Law isn’t overrated. Here in Nigeria, many people would beat up two consenting adults of the same sex who have chosen to have sex with each other without being forced. It goes against human rights in all manners, and only religious reasons can be used to back this up. However, many of these religions also place punishments upon things such as sex between two unmarried people of different sexes. Why, then, is that case not treated with as much hatred as the one involving two persons of the same sex? Perhaps, it is not ‘natural’ to engage in such things, and maybe even those doing it are destroying themselves. However, it does not change the fact that it is their own life, and their decisions affect them.
Not to take things too far, I would like to conclude by reasserting the fact that Nigerians hate too much, judge too much, and bother too much over minor things that should not matter. We have a future that does not seem so bright, yet all we do is harbor hatred in our hearts. Such feeling slows down development, and distracts the entire country from what really needs to be done. Perhaps we should all learn to LIVE, AND LET OTHERS LIVE.
What a thought provoking write-up. Keep it up.
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