Business Will Never Kill The Child
Written by Odimegwu Onwumere
Beating a child
is not the abuse,
but the abuse
is the mind
used in beating
the child.
Sending a child to hawk
is not the abuse,
but the abuse
is in the mind
used in sending
the child
to hawk.
If beating a child
and sending him to hawk
is abusing the child,
is sending a child to school,
at the early age,
perhaps against his wish,
not an abuse?
Most things
man has learnt
on the glebe
started before eighteen,
not when he is eighteen.
Heartbeat!
What is the abuse is:
not disciplining the child
when he wrongs,
not allowing him learn anything
because he is ‘underage’
and allowing him live his ‘life’,
not the universal life?
Work will never kill a child,
but laziness will.
And that is the heartbeat!
Letter to a Child
Written by Odimegwu Onwumere
My dear,
needless of asking, “How do you feel?”
Because, I already know how you feel.
You feel, and it is true,
that you have a voice,
but can’t speak;
and not that you can’t speak,
but your comments
are not regarded,
and are taken as puerile,
or an insult to your elders.
However, this shouldn’t deter you.
Rather, it should make you strong.
Because, tomorrow is for people like you.
So, save yourself, save posterity.
Save yourself
by never
indulging in crime,
for its end is cruel.
Never lose hope,
for tomorrow
is too bright for you
as a bright child
like the brightness
of the star.
Mind you!
We,
adults,
are all victims
of one abuse or another
by the members
of our families,
but our world
yet never ended.
Remove
any sadistic mind
or cruel mind
or confused mind
or bitter mind
or complex mind
from your mind and thought
occasioned by your abuser
for his days
were of wars and warring.
Now that you experience these cruelties,
you must exhibit love,
not limited to those you know,
but to all the world’s people
and never think of how
you can sort out the feelings
to love again.
Feelings that result from abuse
should be obscured forever
and never should it be exhumed again
but it is necessary to share the pains,
but not in retaliation.
Hope you heard me?
This is a speech delivered by Odimegwu Onwumere, a Poet/Author and Media Consultant, the Founder of Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on 26th May, 2010, in marking of the year’s Children’s Day ( May 27 every year). Contact: +2348032552855. Email: apoet_25@yahoo.com