Even though it was not happening for the first time, the story stroke my heart this time and I imagine the task ahead of us in creating the future we want, the future devoid of darkness of illiteracy, crisis, rape, blasphemy and war. She has been a good friend over the time and she foresees and nurtures a bright future, dreaming of igniting the potentials of the youth, both the lost and the confused. But this dream was cut short when she was powerless; a paedophile took advantage of her innocence when she was 4 years old. As if that wasn’t enough, she lost her virginity to a deceptive man who claimed to love her in the early period of her undergraduate years. Yet she confided in me to keep the bad event a secret, as she sadly told me some of them when it happens. Her dream darkens more as the years roll by as she kept on falling in the same temptation every time; she never really cares anymore. It’s an irreparable loss. But I still believe in her dreams until this last one happens.
She just arrived from her home for the weekend and she was living in a hostel with her brother. He had a course mate in the next room that have been helpful whenever cash flees from the brother. He seems to be a good guy and the girl respects him for that. But on this fateful day, his cloth of humility had been torn; he was drunk! Unfortunately, there was no one in the hostel and he raped her. I could not but weep in my heart as she told me this saddening story. It was as if I was struck in the heart because I was sure this is another bad event that will seal her chance of living a normal life ever.
There are a lot of untold stories like this that happens to women all over the world. While some are caused by the victim’s naïvetés, some are a terrible incident that becomes an irremovable stain. In Nigeria, the increasing rate of rape cases is alarming and there is no law to checkmate the perpetrators of this crime. They easily escape the whims of the law as if they are infallible. History has made us understand that it is not only men that have set a landmark for the progress and success deserved in this world, women have been and are still much in the contending rallies for success. The African culture asserts that “For every successful man, there is always a woman” which implies that without the pure, articulate and focused woman, there is a 90% assurance that the world has no future. What a brink future that will be!!!
The nature of our brain is such that it stores information as data in the biochemical neuron cells and in as much as you are alive, the flashbacks of the daily routines and events in your life comes often and tells how efficient you can be in problem-solving. A troubled mind cannot get things done no matter how much effort you make. It begins to haunt you till you feel debased and confused. Though some bounces back after this trauma, but the chance is so slim. While some says that the event is due to the improper presentation of women in the society; the unethical way of dressing and exposure of some sensitive parts in their body, which arouses the human instinct of a man that cannot control himself; some believe that it is a decadence that must be curtailed and put to an end within the shortest possible time.
I hold on to this two philosophies and thus I really hope a future replete with pure and untroubled mind heralds, a future where the integrity and dignity of a woman is uphold with utmost sincerity and scrutiny. A future where a woman will not say “Virginity is not dignity, but it is a loss of opportunity”. I dream of the brightest future where we all live in peace and harmony.
No comments:
Post a Comment