Blog Detail
By Chidi Ezekobe.
A few weeks ago, I found myself on a farm where I had been to see a friend during my leave of absence from work. I had decided to travel to North America to visit some of my love, on the weather immediately welcomed me. I had never seen Canada during the winter, so I was in for a rude awakening. Coming from an environment with an average temperature of about 32⁰C, encountering the piercing cold of a -16⁰C environment was an experience I was unprepared for.
You see, back home in Nigeria, the weather report section of the news barely ever paid any attention. It was the perfect time for bathroom breaks, responding to chat messages, catching up on social media or grabbing a drink and snack from the fridge. In Canada, the weather report is the most important part of the news. Everything that facilitates living depends on the prevailing weather conditions: ease of movement, meeting schedules, school s opening, banks, shopping malls and other essential services.
I watched as strong winds caused some trees to sway almost rhythmically, like some dance, while the sturdier trees would barely move as if reluctant to dance. The slenderer trees were bent by the wind, almost to their breaking point. Some trees drooped from the weight of the snow, and most seemed naked, having shed their leaves. I am still fascinated by having to buy and outfit the car with snow tires. Snow tires? In Naija, all you needed to do was drive. Should you get stuck in the sand, you must find ‘boys’ willing to help lift your car out for a fee.
Observing all of these, I could not help but draw similarities between the stormy weather conditions that I was presently experiencing and the storms of life, especially as it pertains to our families. While some individual family members are built to survive and even thrive, others may not be as well adapted to weather certain storms that may arise in life. In the end, we all need help. We all need resources, tools and support structures, much like snow tires, to adapt to changing and challenging conditions.
The weather report informs our decisions as we go about our daily activities. Many times, we make wrong decisions, not due to a lack of information, but because we choose to ignore the available information. This happens in all spheres of life, including family life. I remember attending a cousin’s wedding in June 2022. Conventional wisdom dictates that you do not plan a wedding in a garden during the rainy season. But love conquereth all things. The bride demanded a garden wedding, so we booked the best venue with the best available date and planned the wedding around it. The wedding day arrived, and the Heavens sent down showers of blessings. One of the guests muttered under his breath, “today, we will find out who is wearing the original shoes!’
Just like these Canadian residents dutifully check the daily weather report to be fully prepared for adverse conditions, so in family life and raising children, we should prepare each other to develop the best possible dispositions to life’s many challenges. There is a saying that no one can live long enough to make all the mistakes needed for a good learning experience. So, why not learn from others? It would be a good idea to monitor trends and new research and find content about family enrichment. We should seek the necessary information to prevent our families from catching up in a storm. We are bound to be safer and make more informed decisions by monitoring the ‘condition’ of our families. If you need a platform for truth-based dialogue on family, marriage, gender, faith and other topical religious and socio-cultural matters that affect the daily lives of people today, then visit pearlsinthesands and thank me later.