The question that kept popping up in my head was: how did we get here? If it were even an adult, I would have understood, but a teenager is something disturbing.
I can remember that a decade ago, we barely looked an elderly person in the face when they were talking to us.
You can not walk past a group of people who are older than you without greeting them, even if it's just a year they are older than you.
It was not that anyone would punish you or report you to your parents, but we knew what it means to respect; the spirit was spread across the community.
In those days, it didn't matter what the situation was; once an elderly person intervened, it was concluded, and everything settled.
Unfortunately, today, that value is lost; the young don't see elders as anything. If not for certain reasons, I can safely say that the young don't know what respect is anymore.
Even the ones who try to respect elders just do so to fulfill all righteousness, but deep down they don't really care.
I can remember when these things started. I know some people will criticize me, but I don't care.
It began when the issue of Internet fraud, popularly known as “yahoo" became rampant in Nigeria, when the young began to make huge amounts of money illegally.
And instead of the old cautioning them and protecting their self-respect by refusing to have anything to do with their wealth and support, they sold themselves by begging these young ones for money and taking favors they ought not to.
One thing is certain in life: not all who pay your bills and grant you certain favors will still see you as equal or superior to them.
That favour is bait; it automatically steals something from you, either your respect or your dignity, and in worse cases, it makes you a subject even when you are supposed to be superior.
We are truly the cause of our problems. Each time I see people blaming God and circumstances for certain misfortunes befalling them, I just wish they could check their lives properly and see if they didn't play a role somewhere along the line.
Nevertheless, I wish the world could be good again, and it's quite achievable if only we can be intentional about fixing it.
One thing I wish to bring back to society is respect for elders; I wish that culture would be revived. I wish we could go back to those good old days.
The days when we honor those older than us and follow the already laid down patterns rather than following modernity that is currently deteriorating our society.
Honestly, whenever I see the way things are going in this generation, I get scared, and I wonder what the next generation would look like. Meanwhile, I believe that things can be good, and I will never cease to be positive about it.
