While growing up as a child I was thought to understand that anything I do must attract a corresponding response either in the negative or positive form just as seen in chemistry. I am among the group of kids who grew up in the ways of military training because my father was in the military back then even though retired now, he is still not tired. Just like every child born in a family, I experienced love and affection from both parents and they made believe that I could do anything or ask for anything. I remember an incident that happened while I was still below 10years of age, my dad was preparing to leave for work while I was being dressed for school by my elder sister. I rushed out of our room straight into his room and greeted him. He responded and asked me what I wanted, at that instance I shouted with all my strength that I want him to buy a football for me. My father looked at me for some seconds and gave me a positive look of agreement and before he could finish, I was already out of his room filled with happiness that my wish was granted little did I know that I crossed the line which meant that I have grown to the level of knowing what I wanted.
Before that incident, I did not ask or demand anything in the house because my father always reads my mind so well that he gives me things even while I am thinking about them in my mind but on that day, I took a very wrong turn which opened a new door of family training for me. On the evening of that day when my dad came back from work, I rushed out to welcome him and just like every child expectant of one favour or the other, I inquired from him if he bought the ball I asked him to buy. That was how my discipline process started. He looked at me and gave me his back to carry which meant I was going to following him straight into his room. While we worked into the house, I notice the look on the faces of my older siblings and the look was not that of excitement rather it was that of pity for me. As we got into his room, he asked me to seat while he removed his boots. As I asked him for the football the second time, he gave me a very stern look and what came out of his mouth pushed fear into me at that very moment.
I have known my father to be a disciplinarian due to the way he treats my older siblings whenever they mess up. I have never had direct contact with his military discipline because I was the youngest but on that faithful evening in his room, while I requested for a football, he roared a question which at first I did not understand out of fear. He repeated his question the second time and by this time it sounded clearer. The question was for me to recount the roman figure from 1to 20. It was not as though I do not know the answer, but I was not prepared emotionally for it. As I opened my mouth and started dropping them one after another, I got to a point where my mind began to play tricks on me and I started mixing the whole thing up. At that instance my father said; “so you only go to school to play right?” this statement came like a flood or fire and before I could open my mouth to say anything, he roared and asked me to frog jump right from his room to the sitting room and the rest became history.
Each time I remember that incident, it makes me understand that in life I must be ready to take responsibility for every action I take. If I did not ask for the football, I would not have found myself in such a situation where I will be defending myself academically. Most times we see people treating us in one kind of way because of what or how we have acted in the past or even in recent times. We have all heard that the measure we give is the measure we will receive but have we bothered to understand what this means? If your actions come in the negative, do not expect to receive a positive response from the other person even though you might good friends. Let us look at it this way, imagine slapping or stepping on someone’s toes while trying to walk past them and you expect them to just smile at you even with what you have done. Whether you did it intentionally or not, their response at the first instance will be that of someone who is offended. So when people react to you, how do you see it? Do you feel like they are overreacting or do you try to calm the situation by making them understand that whatever that happened was your fault and that you are truly sorry?
We must understand that life is about give and take just as those in the field of science will understand that mixing the wrong chemical will cause a negative reaction. As we all know that action speaks more than words, we must try to align our action in the positive light so that the reactions we will get will be in the positive. As we are in the season of love, let our actions flow from the streams of love and affection for each other.
