The world today

I am truly at my wits end this week. What with all the nasty news making the rounds across the world. One is frustrated, shocked amazed and even frightened. The Dapchi girls are not the only abductions going on in the North East, the papers are awash with unbelievable crimes across the nation and Internationally, Oh wow! So I woke up today to the very depressing tale of a couple living in London who are alleged to have killed their young French aupaire and you will not believe some of the reasons adduced. But first let’s get to what a London court is hearing as what took place in the couple’s London flat. They put the young girl through intensive and relentless interrogation, abused and tortured her, finally murdering her and burning her body and then buried her charred remains behind their flat. Really? This is the nanny of their children whom they accused of spying on them and bringing persons to their house secretly and also abusing their children. The police describe the torture and interrogation as the couple’s way of getting the Nanny to confess to these “fantasy stories” the couple was spinning. The face of the mother of the young girl on her way to court in London on this case just tells me how tough and unbelievable things are everywhere. What exactly is going on in the world as we now know it.

I have sat up all night sometimes wondering about wickedness, murder, emotional blackmail, distrust, love gone sour, cheats, pedophiles, mental health issues, self-esteem erosion, wars, depression and all the things that have affected the world adversely in spite of our new technology and can see how easy it is for people without sufficient resilience to give up on the world and lie down and die. But certainly this is not the answer. The answer is to trudge on and be the change you want to see. We can change the world one person at a time. We can conquer our troubles, one piece at a time without allowing them overwhelm us. Psychologists and psychiatrists encourage everyone to do “journaling.” Write down your pain, then writer down your blessings. Putting them down can be cathartic and it helps to empty you of pent up emotions and gives a certain release. Those of us who write understand this. Practice journaling. Believe me it helps, it is like talk therapy, itself a useful device for combating anxiety and depression.

I know we are all trying to conquer our fears and anxieties but I certainly cannot let the Cambridge Analytica case go by without my commenting. These are perception consultants, image architects and persons who have affected the election process from Russia, to the United States and guess what even Nigeria. Prostitutes are sent to mess up with an opposition candidate in order to make their client look good by publishing the story of the prostitute’s involvement with this candidate to discredit him to favor their client. Dirty tricks department for elections at its most extreme and bizarre. Yet everything looks normal to the ordinary eye while so much is been choreographed. Add this to the fact that Facebook enabled Cambride Analytica access thousands of personal data on their platform which were now used to profile Facebook users in America for purposes of targeted advertising without user’s knowledge or permission. Your online business is less than personal and you are sitting statistics for people to use psychology to target you. Wow! And you thought elections in the west were always free and fair. Someone somewhere is messing with brains in such a sophisticated manner, it’s hard to tell. As all of this unravels we watch and see where all of this will take us. And those of you who believe your life should be lived on social media, well another reason to be wary. The fact that you like chicken and your favorite color is red could be used to get you in a targeted advert. Interesting times. 

As the world turns on its axis and Syria is raging, while the Rohingyas are permanent refugees, with Kidnaps and abductions in Nigeria, parents please speak softly to your children. Monsters do not happen in one day. They are made from disgruntled children, physically and emotionally abused children, mean parents, bad company, terrible ideologies and the absence of love. That child of yours who you are now afraid of, who is today a terrorist started sliding when he/she was young. Never tell a child he/she will amount to nothing, let your criticism be constructive. Be open to learning from your children. They may not always be polite, discerning, caring, grateful or kind but love conquers all. Let us be more welcoming, more tolerant, less abusive, lest we contribute to the broken world we now live in.

Eugenia Abu