Back in the day; dreams were just dreams- basic.
Go to school, Graduate, Work with a Government Ministry, Build a house, Get married, Procreate and continue working for the government until the retirement packages splash in.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with living an ordinary life, after all, isn’t everything vanity?
Sometimes, it doesn’t come at all but thank heavens for the outliers who thought consciously, dared to be different, ventured into the Arts, mastered the mechanism behind businesses and also created good music – obvious because our parents were subconsciously exposed to several genres of sounds growing up. Still, many people wanted the basic life pattern that came after school. The white-collar jobs were the keys to riches.
In those years, you were either the son of a farmer, perhaps a trader; and you were put through school with constant pressure of realizing you’re the investment and hope for the family.
Finding yourself in this empty vacuum only meant a few career options: Be an engineer, a lawyer, a banker/accountant or a medical doctor. It’s safe to say that they never got the opportunity or support to make use of talents. There was no rebellion, you dare not.
Fast forward to the 21st century, one with a spectrum of Generations XYZ, the period when ‘what it meant to be a millennial‘ evolved. A dispensation of freedom and reflection.
Only that the transition could never have been smoother with Parents from an analog age. Talk about disputes between parents and kids or the exchange between the Malick Sidibe wannabe and his mother who sees him in an office with a stethoscope hanging from his neck, the comparisons of the Bukowski and Maya Angelou worshipper – one who saw herself only living the life as a poet and a writer, not forgetting her erudite father who saw her as the only heir to the estates and chambers when things get calm. Or the daily argy-bargy between the potential next Frida Kahlo and Picasso in one body and her overly strict parents who have made it a point of “purpose” that she seeks pharmaceutical knowledge for her future. The suppression of the Michael Jackson in the little brother watching across the room.
The scripts never end when highlighting the problems of artsy, outliered Millennials.
These problems pose as threats to unseating the youthful fire that burns in our marrows, resulting in the debacle of hopes and dreams, and the leading of unfulfilled lives.
Another problem? The effects of the internet on our relationship with these people. The web stole our free time. Somehow, it taught us [for the lack of a better way to phrase it] more than our parents could ever teach us. The issues they never discussed, the matters they allowed to sink and the questions they left unanswered.
Liberality: deviance from self-righteous religion and the defying of mundane cultural norms appears as the “devil” they were always warned about.
But it is the air of our Youth, our untamed rambunctiousness. The uprising of the ideal Feminist [“ideal Feminist” because a lot of people really mistake what it means and stands for], questioning of patriarchal norms in our society, one that has eaten deep-rooted in the fabrication of African mentality.
The realisation that it isn’t always enough to be obedient and obeisant, but that sometimes you need to make your own choices and bear the consequences. The truth is, not everyone is cut out for the office.
The realisation that sometimes, choices have to be made in order not to live a planned life all in the name of being humble, meek and obedient. A black sheep is so called because it stands for its beliefs and defies structure. Sometimes you have to be that black sheep to die happy. But sometimes; the elders are right, it’s always trial and error or maybe destiny, as they say, designed it to be happy-go-lucky.
