Just as they say that there are thousands of ways to die. In same manner, I think there are also thousands of ways to get rewarded for one's deeds, be it evil or good. 'What goes around does come around,' they say. This is just the case of this man (name withheld). He is a notorious 'omo onile', that is, unlawful land owner. These omo onile(s) are well known for their evil deeds in some parts of Nigeria, my state inclusive. To keep my point from getting watery, this man has beaten his mother several times as rumoured, and the time I witnessed him beat this mother was when he had to side with her wife. He even stopped building his mother's house since then. Alas! few weeks ago, there was commotion in his house which caught the attention of the neighborhood. He caught his son and the new wife red-handed having sex. The boy has run away from home now and the wife was sent packing, leaving her two kids behind.

My point is: what goes around comes around. I'm sure the man would never have thought that the reward for beating his own parent would take such a drastic, regretful and shameful measure. Please let's be watchful of how we treat our parents, most especially in the presence of one's child(ren).

Meanwhile, how does one explain/narrate such an ordeal to the wife's kids in the future? They might long for knowing why their mother had to leave. Like Yoruba would say; omo t'o ni obe baba oun ko dun, itan bi iya e se lo ni o fe gbo (a child who rejects the food prepared by his father is likely to hear how his/her mother left).

May God never make us the subjects of parental/family curses.

Thanks