ROD OF LIFE

As a little boy, I always anticipated that period when I would access freedom from the rod of my parents. The practice was such that when you attain a certain age you automatically get exempted from punishment (flogging). It is assumed that one would have attained a level of maturity with a good sense of reasoning and that of decision making. For me the worst stage to be in is when Daddy and mummy still beats and subject you to various punishments. I remember getting into trouble with my sister one day when we both went out to play with our friends. Obviously my mum needed us to run certain errands but we were nowhere around to lend a helping hand. This heightened her frustration and her resolve to deal with us mercilessly. Eventually she found us and lured us home as though nothing was wrong, but as soon as we got home she unleashed terror on us. She was angrier with my Sister because more expectations were on her for kitchen work. Moved with compassion on how she flogged her I intervened saying “do you want to kill her", this provoked her to divert the whole flogging on me. That was one experience out of many that characterised childhood. It is needful to add that my parents loved us, just that one way they expressed their love was through the rod of correction. This accounted for why I anxiously anticipated a graduation from that state of childhood. Little did I know that life (in adulthood) has its own rod that beats tougher. Truly I got freedom from my parent’s rod but was launched into the invisible rod of life. This rod beats harshly with consequences for wrong choices and decisions made, even also for harmful habits that we indulge in as adult. What would you call the end result of a deteriorating health on a drug addict or chain smoker, what would you call poverty that looms from reckless spending and other poor financial decisions , what about the stigma and complexities that comes with unwanted pregnancy of a teenager , or a school truant who ends up an illiterate. These are few examples of life's rod. It then dawned on me that I wasn't actually free from the rod; I only graduated from that of childhood to adulthood. The childhood spanking, scolding and its like is designed to shield us from that of adulthood. The summary of this piece is that we need to come to a place of maturity where we take responsibility for our lives bearing the consequence of our decisions in mind.