A CONFUSING MAZE OF MORALITY AND VIRTUE

The young man had to wake up with a start. As if he was stung by a bee. But the flashing pain he had experienced in his stomach could only come from one source,Hunger!He wanted to shout how bad his lot was when he noticed that his best friend and room mate in medical school was also awake.
“Perhaps his case is worse than hunger “,he thought. Both of them had to go through the remaining part of the night gnashing their teeth and groaning, praying that it get to morning so that they dash to mallam’s to increase their indebtedness to him.
Alas!,Mallam had gotten used to their pranks and tricks. He saw them coming and sniffed out their intentions. Of course, he started closing his shop. He met them in their track and with a twinkle in his eyes and a weak smile on his face he told them the bad news of going to watch a Nigerian match in the ongoing world cup qualifiers .How Mallam wants to watch a match that comes up at 4pm by 7am was difficult to understand. They got the message all the same. On their way back to their room, they saw a crowd beating a man whose offence was stealing a stick of corn.
The above scenario is played a million times in our country, community and society. Ours is a society that has gone mad.Probably, caused by a protracted era of military dictatorship. A society that does not reward hardwork.One that does not have heroes, icons to look up to, where, being a “yes man” is the key to survival and “no man” a tag for disdain and even a mark of death. This society prides itself in putting square pegs in round holes, with worshiping of money that makes even the devil hide his face.
Let us ask ourselves, these questions? If a group of the best minds in the society could go through such harrowing experience, what will happen to the lowest of low? Will they be excused if they are driven by hunger to do what they had not intended to do? Will they be excused by society or even their conscience, if they do what they have been thought all their life not to do?Afterall,this society allowed a man who stole billions of Dollars to walk free, while another was imprisoned for stealing a piece of corn!
Will they be excused if they direct their vengeance at a society that had not paid attention to their grooming and nurturing and thus their present state and station in life? Will they be excused if they head dysfunctional families that will bring forth street urchins that will continue the cycle of vengeance?
Worse still! Will they be excused if they rob God’s house because they have the full knowledge that the supposed man of God is not one?
Alas, what we will excuse and not excuse as a society becomes a hazy muddle because we have thrown our morality, norm and virtues to the dogs. Pity