I Finally Have Your Answer
Once upon a time, a girl met a boy and she thought she fell in love. And over time their conversations got long, as conversations usually do. And big questions were asked, not by her but by him.
It would be some of those questions that would give an insight to who they were fundamentally as humans. And he asked her, not out of the blue, “why do you care at all? Why do you care about this place ? You could have moved to Canada. Why do you have so much faith in these people?”
Her answers would be the same “I don’t know. I’m here for my parents. I’m less depressed here. I’m not sure but I just do. Empathy I guess”. She could never really figure out the answers to those questions but she knew it felt right.
So, to the man I once loved, it’s October 13th, 2020. It’s been two months since we imploded with great relief, and I finally have the answers:
Empathy, Watson. Have you heard of it? Empathy is simply defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. You and I may complain about the pitfalls of our respective upbringings but it’s empathy that keeps me going. You represent a sect of our generation. The evils of society hides in plain sight. Werey likes to disguise often. You complain about how apathetic our parents generation is and how they take no responsibility for what they’ve done. And yet with your powerful parents, you all sit in silence pretending to not see what’s all around you. You’ve inherited their apathy. It’s not your business until it is. Your apathy is telling, now. I wish it had been telling then.
I have so much faith in us because look at what we are doing now. We are writing history. Our generation. A generation you had written off so many times. A generation and a people who are rallying around each other. Crowdfunding and coordinating. Protesting and donating. Causing international embarrassment because that’s the only language our government knows. I have faith because I want better for us. If I took your advice and I ran away like you plan to do, I’d be no different from our politicians who take and take and give nothing in return. I’d be no different from you.
I care because we are all we have. I care because we really are the wrong generation to fuck with. You have all that righteous anger. Put it in here. I care because Nigeria is home. And I, like everyone else, would prefer if home was a place of comfort and not a place of fear, not a place of beatings and harassment and definitely not a place of extortion. I need home, we need home to be a place where I’m not being targeted for how I look, with my dyed hair, tattoos and piercings. You may not see this country as your own but e sure me die that many of us see it as ours. I wish you would too.
You said I talked too much so I’m putting my words to good use. And when the words and tweets fail me, I’ll be in the streets protesting. And when my feet start to fail me, my bank account will carry me to the donation links.
We rinse and we repeat. Standing firm. Because a cowardly mother is not my daughter’s portion. Daughter. We talked about having one of those. I’m glad we didn’t. Our realities really are different, and it’s funny how we would laugh about it but now it’s both infuriating and sad.
It’s not that you aren’t aware that our realities are different, it’s that you don’t care enough to understand the plight, even if it’s my plight as a woman who will deal with SARS, abi SWAT. Apathy Watson, apathy .
We will dismantle the system, my love, but we have noted your silence. Now answer this question for me, WHY DON’T YOU CARE?