Akudaaya is a metaphysical phenomenon but socio-culturally relevant and real, not in the Yoruba world view alone but of the entire human race, fearful but awesome. Though, it is expressly contradictory to the real value of the cliché- ile aye laagbe (earth is the only habitual haven) Indeed, no one would in my thinking willingly chose to, with the little human beings are already exposed to about heaven, earth, hell, galaxies and stars etc, etc, live in heaven, not when they are not sure about the composition of that world, heaven, except for what is often heard from religious preachers or the folklore stories. Human beings will forever be comfortable with the earth-world because they know it inside out, they understand the manipulations here; be it good or bad, they are always comfortable with it hence the aphorism - No one wants to die!
Unmindfully of how, everybody wants to be comfortable, and this is often than not, the human albatross. In the quest for comfortability, some reach for the far end while some bring some quantum of ego into it, even with that, it’s a craving for another cadre of comfortability, maybe not in the general and more popularly known kind of comfort but a kind that makes you feel good in the innermost of your heart that whatever happens, your reputation is intact. In all, collectively or individually, human beings aim at being comfortable all the time. As the world turns over with years, standard of what is acceptable as comfortability increases therefore; human beings continually would crave for these acceptable standards, though some never get there until they are wiped off the surface of earth. Which brings to mind the question; what is a culturally accepted standard of comfort?
With culture comes tradition, and for every culture, tradition differs. While tradition stays stiff, every culture manipulate the world and her accepted standards so, it leaves every human being to few sets of choices especially the dos and don’ts because some traditional ideals, as horrible and simple as they seem, the cultures are yet to water them down to comfortability zone. The issue of adolescent pregnancy is to my mind, a global monster that trades its stock stiffly on tradition irrespective of the neutrality applied by every culture and our growing standards. Because she’s an adolescent still supposedly, tied to the family’s apron strings therefore, the reputation of the family comes before her comfort so she must protect it with every pint of blood in her, and where mistake occurs, she suffers it sometimes with her life; what a burden to bear!
Conflicting comforts zones have brought the world almost to her knees. Take the growing culture of a girl of fifteen years old having a boyfriend. Even though there are certain unwritten sets of rules of what they could do together at that age, moralistic though, but when their bodies hover and their eyes catches the glimpses of their images’ sights, their mouths are bound to water for the thirst of the devil’s apple, and in their own quietude and solitude, they’ll do the thing. And if par chance they become unlucky, the male semen will contract the ovary, and that is the beginning of the journey into the realm of, according to societal norm, unwanted pregnancy which is totally an upset to the world’s set standards. The first option for whichever family this happens to is, secrecy; it must not come to the public domain because it is considered shameful even though bearing children is a thing of joy.
If we take a look at the issue of adolescents unwanted pregnancy in Asia, China specifically, where even legally married husband and wife apply the Federal Republic’s constitution to have two children otherwise it is one child par family because China is the most populous nation on earth so the population has to be regulated. Or in the Americas where hypocritically, morality is an institution, transparency is the norm even though a whole lot is covered-up. Patriotism is a ritual that must, though lip-serviced, be performed daily by every American even if at the cost of lives. Or in the Europe where standards are peculiarly high, so high that even angels would fall foul of the constitution or set societal values par day. In Europe, a child still living in his parents’ home could enforce her right to the point that she could invite the police to arrest her parents for ‘over’ scolding her and if proven, the constitution will oblige a punishment to the parents because it’s a societal set standard. Or in the Middle-east where religion and war or civil unrest is so pervasive that you never could understand the peace value of religion anymore. Israel, Palestine and Saudi-Arabia are countries symbolizing religion so youths are supposed to be a direct preserve of the holy books; the Torah, Bible, Hadith, Koran, etc. which set standards on morals are applied by almost all cultures in the world yet, Saudi-Arabia is said to harbour the highest number of youthful sex workers in that region. Or in Africa, where inferiority complex has reduced our mentality to hoodwinking on neo-colonialist suppression; the set standards in Europe or America is the pedestal on which our youth ape their lives, and most of the time, it contradicts the African set values. So perpetually, the Africans live their lives in a state of ‘social confusion’. Yet the African cultures, so potent that it wrestles neo-colonialist tendencies everytime. But quite unfortunately, the children of this generation are born in the jet-age where the entire world has turned a global village operating on a single digit set of standards. Then abortion in this case; for an impregnated girl of fifteen, becomes a stained value no matter where in the world. And often than not, abortion for a teenager is done in secret, most of the time, to protect the family’s name.
Makinde Adeniran
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