₦airaland Forum

I assume many of us are too private, personal and unconcerned about what the people around us do daily and we generally think it’s none of our business until finally, we get into trouble.

What I’m saying this morning is, it’s possible to get punished for a wrongdoing you were completely uninvolved in. In life you don’t just reap what you sow, you reap what others around you sow as well. You get punished for the evil you ignore and the silence you maintained permitting people in and around your life to carry on with all sorts of wrongdoings.

Your innocence, good deeds and proper character aren’t enough to protect you from harmful consequences. Ignoring the evil in a land can land you in big trouble. I do not understand it but I’m sure there is a spirit amongst us that makes us criticize, judge and condemn those who try to expose the wrongdoers and their evil deeds.

Remarks like “what’s your own”, “holier than thou”, “mind your business”, “wetin concern you?” “You’re just jealous”, “is it your life, is it your money?” are popularly used to shade, criticize and shut up those who want to expose, fight and condemn evil deeds in and around our lives.

We are mostly deluded that what people do is their business and when the consequences come, it is none of our own business, how untrue this is.

So there is this man I know long ago who was very promiscuous, married with three children, yet was all over the street chasing anything in skirt. He has some change and his priority was to spend this money on as many ladies as he could get for gender favours.

The wife was very unhappy, disturbed and anxious about the indecent and risky behaviour of her husband. She complained to everyone she believed could intervene and help out but sadly, none of them were truthful or realistic about her challenge. The husband had money and was somewhat generous to these close associates hence, they were subjective.

Even her mother told her all men are like that and she would have to just tolerate the situation for the sakes of her own peace of mind and the children. The Mum told her marriage is a school you endure not really and experience to enjoy. She said, as long as he doesn’t beat her and he pays the bills she should be contented.

This poor woman couldn’t stand her husband’s dirty behavior and at a point wanted to quit the marriage, her father threatened to disown her and not accept her back in his home and her religious associates said the key to her marital challenges is prayers, that there is nothing prayers can’t do and it was probably, the testing of her faith. She was told if she prayed enough and applied her faith, her husband will one day change.

My counsel was different though and very unpopular, I told her to leave the man until self-control and discipline fall on him, she thought my advice was extreme considering the counsel and advise from other quarters she respected.

To shorten a long story, barely thirteen months after I spoke with her on the issue, her husband became very ill and after some medical tests, he was confirmed to have contracted HIV and AIDS and five months later he died. Everybody became worried and apprehensive, he was the breadwinner, this poor woman had little and she couldn’t effectively support three children and herself with her paltry income.

Her parents had stories on why they couldn’t support her financially and the religious group she committed to in time and cash when her husband was still alive had nothing more than prayers and visits to offer. Only a few friends and I were there for her financially. Now that wasn’t the worst part of the story, five months after her husband’s untimely demise, she became ill too and of course, it was confirmed she had contracted the same illness from her late spouse and in 2012, October, this lady died as well.

She was buried and the three children, now orphans were separated – the last born with her parents, the elder two with her younger sibling and a distant cousin in Ore, Ondo state respectively.

A few weeks ago, I was around Tejuosho market in Yaba and I came across the youngest of the children who was with the grandparents, about 14 years old now,
she was hawking books in traffic and was trying to sell me a book as I drove by in the slow traffic. She apparently was no longer in school, I assume she had to hawk in traffic to keep herself alive and surviving.

The grandparents are now too old and their irregular pension definitely can’t pay for any quality education for this poor girl. She didn’t recognize me, she was only seven years old when her parents died back in the days when we all lived at Surulere.

Today everyone connected is paying for the evil her dad did, her mother paid the ultimate price and the kids are suffering and have lost important advantages in life.
The parents have lost a child and a son in law as well simply because they didn’t hold a firm stand against evil and an evildoer.
There is a collective consequence in life.

Many of us erroneously assume the law of karma only operates at a personal level, this is not the case;
it also operates at a collective level. The law of karma applies to persons, families, groups, organizations, tribes, ethnic groups and even nations.

When as an individual you do evil, you will reap it, when as a family you perpetuate evil, the whole family and sometimes even the unborn members of the family can reap the evil reward, when as an ethnic group or a nation, you perpetrate evil or permit evil, the whole nation would reap the consequence of such evil perpetrated.

A person that ignores or justifies, or defends wrongdoing is as guilty as the doer of the evil.

A thousand falling by your left and ten thousand falling by your right and you remain standing can only apply if you spoke out loudly and clearly against the evil that consequently brought about the falling and destruction of the thousands. If you ignore, defend or protect evil-doers, you are as guilty and you will definitely fall with them consequently.

It is speaking the truth that keeps you protected in the days of consequences, it is the courage to speak the truth when the majority choose to lie or keep silent that protects you in the days of collective repercussions.

Perhaps if this lady had listened to me when I asked her to leave her promiscuous husband until he repents, she would today, be alive to carter and protect her three children.

But my counsel then was considered extreme, and the general reaction to the potential danger of her husband’s bad behavior was, “God forbid, it won’t be her portion”, it eventually was her portion, as wisdom is the principal thing, prayer is good, but wisdom is the principal thing.

The family and religious group who wanted to be politically correct so as not to offend the husband were no longer and couldn’t stand sure when the worst happened.

My dear friend, there is a collective consequence. You’re a wife to a criminal, a lover to a looter, and a close friend to a money ritualist, your own is just to chop the money abi?
it’s a matter of time, wait for it. Yes, you are not directly involved, don’t worry the consequence will also indirectly find you and embrace you.

A colleague at my office recently shared with me her disappointment and shock at how many Nigerian youth were in support of internet fraudsters and scammers popularly called yahoo, yahoo and how many young Nigerians think it was a smart way of making money.

I simply told her, those in support of internet fraudsters are mostly those with empty bank accounts and their parents also have empty bank accounts. Scammers don’t go after broke people so the broke have nothing to fear.

Eventually when they make money however, the scammer will succeed in scamming them and taking away their life earnings overnight, then they’ll cry God why me? Keep supporting, keep encouraging crime, there is collective consequence, Karma will one day knock at your door.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is hard to fix a country where people remain quiet or defensive when corruption tends to serve them right or work in their favour.

Many people are perhaps crying and complaining today because they are no longer benefitting from corruption, and learning legitimate ways to earn is too hard for them to embrace.

There is collective consequence my friend even for nations.

A bad road can kill your son, hospital without drugs, good equipment and power supply can kill your daughter in labour, and unemployment can derail your graduate child and make him or her embrace crime or prostitution.

Are you such that remain silent, or encourage wrongdoing because many people are doing it?

Do you castigate those speaking the truth; mocking them and calling them names because you benefit from the wrongdoing they speak against?

You may not be directly involved, but be rest assured, when you least expect, Karma is coming for you. The yahoo money you chopped, the ritual money you enjoyed, the loot you shared, and the silence you kept when evil was being perpetrated right in your presence and in the land – don’t worry,

Karma is coming for you, maybe not today, but someday, perhaps when you’ve completely forgotten – it will show up and strike, then you’ll say, God why me?

Dear friend, collective consequence is real, it’s time to repent.

FRANKLY SPEAKING BY MUYIWA AFOLABI
http://www.muyiwaafolabi.com/today-on-frankly-speaking-collective-consequence/