In those days as children, we felt that we were living the best of lives. The routine was that of going to school in weekdays and return to fetch water from streams and help our parents in other domestic works. During weekends, I followed my father to the farm.
We ate mostly carbohydrates because that was what we grew in the farm. Balancing it up with other classes of food was done once in a blue moon. I never knew what luxury life was. I didn't missed it either because I was ignorant of the existence of any better form of living than what I was getting from my parents.
I could remember that festive seasons were the periods we ate chicken in my family. The most popular food round the year was pounded yam which was always served for me and my siblings in one plate.
At my leisure time, I would go to where bicycle was being given out for ride at a price for a span of time. The rich kids had bicycles to do this and I remember that such was my dream then - to have a bicycle. When I finished my secondary education and visited a city for the first time in search of university education, I could not cook noodles successfully while in my sister's house. That was my first time of getting to prepare noddles.
Presently, everything has changed. Civilization penetrated and life in the city was imported to the village. The economy of the village wasn't allowing such penetrations to be financed effortlessly and in order to meet up, youths are now engaging in fraudulent activities. The bicycle that was my dream as a child is no more the dream of children now. They've moved ahead.
If you visit the village where I grew up, the youths are no more contented with what their parents provide for them. You see a teenager who is supposed to be doing all he could to get good education thinking of how to Mercedes Benz. Social media has made the world a global village. Some youths see the lives displayed on social media as the standard for them. They feel challenged by the displayed successes of their mates on social media and by extension indulge in whatever thing they could do to live such life.
Some go to the extreme of doing money ritual.
This is not to say civilization is all about negativities. There are numerous positives. A time was it when some places in Africa were killing twins for some unconvincing beliefs. The contact with the outer world put an end to such barbaric acts. In like manner, civilization and socialization of any form brings numerous improvements to the living of the people.
My childhood was fun devoid of being overambitious or lack of contentment. I wish our present day children can strike a balance between being ambitious and also having respect and contentment. For as long as one lives and is continually exposed to other people physically or virtually, one should make sure that such contacts result to humanity advancement and personal development.