Once you wear correct life lenses, you should see lessons everywhere around you, even on the streets and you should pick the relevant ones when you can.
In fact, my Pastor, Reverend Olusola Areogun, would say that, in life, there are several unconscious teachers, but you must choose not to be an unconscious learner.
In the midst of these, there are several unserious students of life. Many times we charge the fathers not to be absent, silent nor missing. We encourage mothers to continue in their queenly quest. We insist they are the role models for their children. The family is the acclaimed foundation of every society. We ensure that teachers at the Sunday school church (children and teenager's church) teach them proper lessons.
In fact, Civic responsibility has been included in some secondary school education syllabus.
However, do you know as much as there are lessons everywhere, people upholding righteousness in several quarters, there are still these sets of people that are taking these life lessons unserious?
Those are the sets of people of interest to me in this piece. I will not admit that the society has eventually become sane enough. In fact, it does not seem like it would ever be. Nevertheless, as much as vanity, craze, and perversion are sold for less than a cent on the streets, there is as much wisdom likewise in the streets.
Proverbs chapter one and verse twenty (KJV) says, "wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets." Regardless, some do not take heed to her cries.
There are people, who grew up with the best of queenly mothers, present, active and available fathers, they attended godly schools, with correct doctrines being churned out from their church altars, but somehow, they were not taking these lessons serious enough.
Some other days, I write about being a vessel of wisdom. I write to encourage us all, to be an instrument of peace, with every medium we have, but today it is about those who have had the privilege of correct trainings all their life, but ended up perverted.
It is as simple as the worst student in a classroom is. The teacher definitely doled out same course materials and trainings. His choice was to neglect the trainings.
The primary inspiration for this write up was marital relationships.
I am Yoruba. I hail from the southwestern part of Nigeria. One common adage in my dialect is that "oko buruku se e fe, ana buruku ni o se fe." Loosely interpreted, it means, a terrible husband is bearable, but a terrible in-law is unbearable.
I say this, because of the thousands of men and women who have gone ahead to marry people who had excellent parents, with best of character, but their spouses were just wrong on too many levels.
So I have heard it said a couple of times, that "no be say the guy too okay, but sha I like his family."
You see, that is a faulty ideology. I am not suggesting that you do not forgive people's weaknesses. However, in the face of pertinent life decisions, it is sentimental to forgive a person's numerous flaws because they have a good resume.
It is like when you get a splendid job because the board was impressed by your resume (the numerous schools your parent could afford and force you to attend) but if your character consistently falls short of the company's reputation, you are not likely to remain in that company.
So I have met people with such beautiful and cultured families, but he is just the black sheep. What is the point? If he never took seriously, the training he got for over two decades in that family, what is the assurance that he would ever take any more serious in the future?
That is too much of a lifetime gamble! Indeed, just as Socrates said, "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; NOTHING on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."