UNMASK

Hello good people. :)

Hope you have all been well. Remember the 1994 movie “The Mask” starring Jim Carey where the bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss is transformed into a manic super-hero when he wears a mysterious mask and without it he was normal? Well I do, in case you didn’t watch it or weren’t born then you can Google and see what the movie was about. That’s what is happening to most of us. We are putting on masks to cover so much which makes us feel superficial for a short time then when we remove the masks we are back to normal.

 

Today, I would like to address some social issues as youth (me included) and parents to teenagers are going through. (I promised I would write about parenting in my first post J) Well, I want to illustrate using two stories what you probably don’t know or know but ignore or it may just be happening around you. So here we go;

Illustration 1

The other day I was talking to my two friends who are teachers and they were explaining to me how bad the situation has become in schools especially where kids from well up families go to. It was very sad to learn that teenagers of about 14-18 years can tell a teacher words that I can’t even write here on their face without shame. I remember in my days you wouldn’t even look at the teacher sometimes when they were reprimanding you. Some of these kids are also engaging in adulterous activities and while their parents are aware they do nothing about it. The same parents also finance their children to partake in alcoholism and some grown up social functions where drinking is involved and this has even become a common excuse for missing school. It is quite a sad state of affairs. 

Illustration 2

I meet this girl at a social function and she is amazing I will call her Suzan for now. Suzan is beautiful, smart, and funny. Suzan is in her early 30’s.She is struggling with alcohol and being ratchet because anytime she has a problem she runs to get a bottle and the eventually in the process engages in extracurricular activities with several men. This amazing girl is having a problem dealing with her problems and how she deals with it is making the situation worse. As we speak, this awesome soul has drunk so much of her cash and has nothing to show for what she has worked for. She is also constantly going to get checked if she has contracted HIV or other horrible infections.

My two cents on this whole issue is please PARENTS make time for your children get involved find out what is going on in your kids lives also, you need to ask yourself what kind of an example you are for your kids. Would you be proud of them being an exact replica of your character? Think about it. Money cannot replace time for them. It’s actually the substitute that is causing all these problems and eventually it is going to bite you. One teacher was telling me how one of her students was complaining that she is not given enough money for shopping. Enough here means 25,000 in my days 2,000 was to cater for a whole term inclusive of shopping and pocket money. Again, I don’t know about you guys but the cane has been forgotten and this thing for “stand in the corner and think about what you have done” could be contributing to this disgusting lot of kids. The saying “spare the rod spoil the child.” This is exactly what is happening. Also, parents please stop burdening teachers with your responsibilities they are now the ones dealing with the crap (for lack of a better word) that you aren’t dealing with. For the parents that are actually doing something about these issues well done and keep it up.

Suzan my friend on the other hand has major issues and doesn’t know how to deal with them. Which is a very common problem among our youth now. People are dealing with issues in all the wrong things. How about getting a hobby, exercising, reaching out and talking to someone, church (yea I know but trust it helps) praying, talking to friends an older person or someone that just cares about your well being? Eventually this way of  ”dealing” is exactly why many of the youth are getting depressed, suicidal etc. Let’s look out for each other and stop masquerading real issues. (I hope this post has helped someone)

Disclaimer: This has been the hardest post I have ever had to write but someone has got to say something right? Also, I hope that it helps someone somewhere.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Blessings,

Miss Wainaina.

xoxo