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The Sorry State Of Nigeria’s Judiciary Among Others Makes The Battle Cry For A Revolution Inevitable By Francis Adewale

Lawyers

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
– President John F. Kennedy (1962)

This week may be one of the worst weeks for Nigerian judiciary and they might have made the much vaunted Sowore’s revolution inevitable. The first salvo was the list of judges released by the National Judicial Council replete with the names of their sons and daughters as well as hangers on. Second is the farcical decision in EFCC vs Kalu where the Supreme Court “suo motu” created a new section to the constitution of Nigeria by vacating a conviction duly given under an extant law. The strange rationale by the Supreme Court is that the presiding judge, now elevated to the Court of Appeal should not have pronounced the sentence. The Court conveniently ignored the fact that the accused counsel had invited the judge to come back and continue the hearing by a formal letter!

Gone are the days when Nigerian judiciary is famously celebrated as the last bastion of defense for the common man. The days of Kayode Esho, Chukwudifu Oputa, Muhammed Uwais is long gone. Our judiciary is no more like Caesar’s wife, above board. The problem however is not necessarily down to the hydra headed monster of corruption alone but a more sinister evil called, nepotism. It is my humble opinion that an opaque process for selection of judges led us to where we found ourselves this week. And the problem did not start with the current chief justice. The dysfunction and bastardization have been long in coming, and as we will find out in this piece, the cancer has eaten deep into the fabric of this nation. The revolution is inevitable.

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What precipitate this write up is a social media post by a good friend of mine and I obtained his permission to repost his comment with my personal edits:
“It took Orji Kalu only 4 months including Covid lockdown challenge to move from the High Court to Supreme Court to get his so called sound judgment from Supreme Court while it took ten years to get his case completed at the High Court level. Ten good years! And we are told justice in Nigeria is not cash and carry? The Supreme Court is preparing the ground for a revolution and very soon something extraordinary will take place. The same Supreme Court that will give 2021 and 2022 court date for poor defendants, sat and summarily decide a case within 4 months while cases of those facing a life sentence languish in the labyrinth of jungle justice!”

My first response to the post, is to retort that the problem did not start with judiciary, but they seem to have led the “nunc dimitis” for the internment of democracy in Nigeria. The judiciary may have pushed us to the praecipe but they were not the only one. We all recalled the impunity days of PDP rule and how they ride roughshod on people’s right, celebrating acquisition of jets obtained from corrupt practices while hordes of masses suffer the indignity of scrapping for foods from the gutter. Towards the end of that era, we all thought, if we can just get a man of integrity into Aso Rock, someone who will brook no atom of corruption, we will change the country. The election of 2015 seems to have lulled Nigerians into thinking that all we need is someone or a duo with integrity, so we elect Buhari and Osinbajo, a puritan and a pastor and went home satiated. What we were not prepared for or more appositely choose to ignore is the fact that the vehicle that brought them into governance is none other than the decrepit system that PDP used to feather their nest. In the first 4 years, we were told that the problem is with the National Assembly where the legistlooters shifted their control of the vortex of power in Abuja, opposing every anti-corruption moves of the executives. Then come the last election where the ruling party now controls the executive and legislative arm, but corruption runs through the gamut of the judiciary and Aso Rock looks the other way while nepotism festers in its rank.

It is as if the cancer has completely swallowed up the entire fabric of the nation. Cases involving the poor dragged on for years while those who can afford senior advocate can get quick justice. Many warned that this will sound the death knell of democracy in Nigeria. Every attempt to even build on free and fair election has been truncated by the judiciary. What with the recent confounding judgment from Imo and Bayelsa. Our two gargantuan political parties now owned our judiciary lock, stock and barrel. They sit in smoke filled rooms to determine who will be governors, legislators and judges, and those who will play ball are readily appointed as pawns in the chest board of the Nigerian ruling class, wives, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters are made judges and senior advocates overnight without recourse to any modicum of meritocracy. A friend of mine recently quipped that the problem of nepotism is not just that it defeats meritocracy and breeds mediocrity but that it infects the entire body politics and renders it comatose. Corruption can be traced, and ill-gotten wealth recovered but nepotism is more sinister. Those who obtain position of power and authority through nepotism hold fealty only to their masters who appointed them. Such appointee will readily twist the constitution, made up section that does not exist all at the behest of their “godfather”. It is insidious and evil.

I graduated from Nigerian Law School 30 years ago, after an excellent stint at Great Ife. My class at Ife, drawn from the north, east, west middle belt and south-south has in its rank some of the best legal minds any country will be proud of. We graduated with high hopes to take on the world and change the land. Few of us found ourselves abroad on scholarship where we flourish and excel. Those in legal practice in Nigeria, either at the federal or state ministry of justice or private practice are the ones my heart bleeds for, especially those without access to members of the National Judicial Council. I have had the privilege to advance my career abroad as an attorney and public defender. I frequently sit on panels that recommend colleagues for appointment as judges in a fair, open and transparent process; something my colleagues in Nigeria could only dream of.

When I look at the state of Nigerian legal practice my heart bleeds. The career growth of colleagues in the legal profession in Nigeria is stunted not for lack of excellence but influence in the right place. Influence peddling is an art form in Nigeria and politicians used to have the exclusive preserve of selling it to the highest bidder, but our Judicial Council seems to have mastered the art. The problem will not be this pronounced if the sons and daughters they are foisting on Nigerian judiciary are steeped in the Nigerian experience or have a modicum of merit. As many of my colleagues are apt to complain, majority of the recent appointees hardly spend few years in Nigeria. They all went to schools abroad. Totally devoid of the Nigerian experience, and constantly removed from the everyday life Nigerians suffers under. Majority of them lives in the gilded mansions of their forbears in Abuja and other state capitals, where they are rarely touched by the “better angels of our nature” to use the phrase coined by Abraham Lincoln. It is therefore no surprise that they care only for what their “godfather” demand.

Let me however warns that the biggest mistake we could make is to think that the rot is only in the heart of our judiciary. Think again. Nepotism is next door, next street, next town and everywhere in Nigeria. It rampages through the land, be it North, East or West. Just look at our churches and mosques, who do you see minister or lead the prayers when the founder/visioner is not around? You guess right, if you say their sons and daughters. Gone are the days when Pa Fadayomi push to have a meritorious doctor of aerodynamics succeed him. Gone are the days when the leader of the faithful in Nigeria is selected by their aptitude in the knowledge of the Quaran. Nowadays, the exit of the leader is the beginning of the reign of the progeny. It has infected our colleges and universities, scholarship and opportunities that used to be available on merit are now exclusive preserve of the vice chancelor’s children and family members. Woe betide the school senate members that dare ask questions. Advertisement for jobs that has already been reserved for the children of the privileged are means to extort money in the form of application fees a la Abba Moro immigration recruitment scheme. A recent recruitment without advertisement at our apex bank reported by Sahara Reporters shows that successful applicants names were picked out of the rolodex of the governor. Commercial Banks staff are not an exemption, they are either recruited based on sex appeal or influential ministers/senators’ “recommendation” which doesn’t come easy for the educated but less privileged applicants.

A friend concluded an animated discussion on social media on this issue with a distinctively Nigerian resignation: “It is clear that those who do not want things to work properly in Nigeria are more powerful than those who are working towards finding solutions to our problems.” Again, my response is what do we have to lose if we embrace Omoyele Sowore’s revolution, even with its youthful disdain for experience? Especially when our current experienced leadership seems to treat the Nigerian masses with contempt. Look at it this way: They do not need our votes to win election, as they could procure midnight judgment in Abuja a la Bayelsa and Imo. They do not need to legislate to fill any lacunae in our constitutional experience as the Supreme Court proved in Kalu’s case. In fact, as long as oil flows and they have the means to fill their Cayman Island bank accounts, we may as well not exist. Greed and avarice have become the directive principle of Nigerian ruling class. To rescue ourselves from their vice grip, we need revolution now!

Francis Adewale
Tioluwanimi@gmail.com

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May 9, 2020
Police: Where is Mubarak Bala? By Leo Igwe

Leo Igwe

As it stands now, the fate of Mubarak Bala, Nigerian humanist who was arrested last week is unknown. Nobody is sure if Mr. Bala is alive or dead. If he is alive, no one knows the conditions of his detention. Mr. Bala was last seen on April 29, 2020, a day after police detectives from the Kano State Command arrested him in Kaduna.

As soon as the information reached me that Mr. Bala was in the police custody, I contacted the Commissioner of Police (CP) in Kaduna and the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO). They confirmed the arrest of Mr. Bala but could not provide details. They made it clear that Bala’s case was not their case and that Bala would be transferred to Kano for investigation. They declined to disclose the reason for the arrest and if Bala’s case could be transferred to Abuja or any other neutral place.

Leo Igwe

After speaking with the police officers in Kaduna and it was obvious that Mr. Bala would be taken to Kano, I tried to interact with the chief police officers in Kano. I rang up the Assistant Inspector General (AIG), the CP, and the PPRO in Kano. The AIG said he did not know about the case and asked me to contact the CP, that the case must be with the state command. I called the CP and he confirmed that there was a petition against Mubarak Bala at the state command. That they had ordered his arrest in Kaduna. He said that they were waiting for him and asked me to go and get a lawyer. I could not reach the PPRO on that day. I called him several times but he did not pick his phone. The following day I called the CP several times, he did not pick the phone. I eventually got through to the PPRO after several attempts but he was more interested in knowing my relationship with Mubarak. He repeatedly asked me if I was among those encouraging him to make blasphemous posts on Facebook. I urged him to allow the lawyer to meet with Mubarak. The lawyer has gone to the state police command on three occasions without seeing Mr. Bala. The police officers that he met claimed that they had no knowledge of Mr. Bala’s case and where he was detained.

As it stands now, the whereabouts of Bala is unknown. No one has seen him since the police moved him to Kano. In fact, no one can confirm if Mr. Bala is dead or alive. The police have a responsibility to provide information about Bala’s current state. They need to disclose the conditions of his detention. The police cannot indefinitely keep Bala in custody. In fact, it is illegal for the police to detain a person without charge beyond 48 hours. So the police have a responsibility to produce Bala, give him access to a lawyer, charge him in a court, or unconditionally release him.

For now, the police need to provide answers to these very urgent questions: where is Mubarak Bala? Is he dead or alive?

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May 9, 2020
Covid-19 shows why an infodemic of bad science must never happen again

Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, we must work out how to stop the spread of poor information that has helped make a bad situation that much worse

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May 9, 2020
Five Myths Of Internet Marketing For Independent Professionals

So what does that mean for the independent professional whose web presence is primarily aimed at selling his or her own personal services? You know, services delivered the old-fashioned way, by humans interacting face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice. At best, the average professional is likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of Internet marketing advice available. At worst, he or she is being seriously misled by it.
The problem is that marketing your own professional services is simply not the same as marketing a retail product or an anonymous business service. You can’t sell corporate consulting like you do web hosting; nor can you sell life coaching the same way you do an e-book. If you try to market yourself by following advice designed for marketing Internet products and services, you’re likely to make some serious mistakes.

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May 9, 2020
Free psychological help extended to May 15

GEORGE TOWN: The free psychological first aid offered by Wawasan Open University (WOU) in partnership with the International College of Clinical Hypnotherapy Practitioners (ICCHP) Asia will now be extended until May 15 owing to the overwhelming response received.

The aid comes in view of the mental challenges that the people, especially families, are experiencing during the movement control order (MCO), which has now entered its 52nd day.

A total of 223 people had reached out for help in relation to the Covid- 19 pandemic from April 1 to 25.

The programme is scheduled to continue past the anticipated relaxation of the MCO to handle post-traumatic stress from the prolonged lockdown.

The team from ICCHP Asia assisted callers with tips and skills to better manage their challenging emotions.

Although the free psychological service was set up mainly for the frontliners, there were many calls from the people due to various losses and the restrictions, WOU said in a statement.

Suicidal cases were referred to the team’s on-call psychiatrists for clinical assessment, advanced help and close monitoring.

The team helped to calm distressed callers and enabled them to better cope with the current uncertainties and make informed decisions.

Where practical assistance was needed, they worked with the Members of Parliament in the areas concerned to provide urgent assistance, such as medical emergencies, ambulance services and food aid.

Sixteen professionals from ICCHP Asia, including six psychiatrists, are offering support over the telephone.

All conversations are private and confidential.

Students who are doing complete online learning remotely from their homes or elsewhere are also encouraged to call in if they are feeling stressed during the MCO period.

Feel free to call ICCHP Asia from 9am to 9pm daily from now until May 15 as per below, or email icchpcovid19@gmail.com to arrange a convenient time to chat: 0124447032 / 0169271240/ 0124856404 (9am-12pm);

0123021262 / 0124080675/ 0123741558 (12pm-3pm);

0174777746 / 0124736830 / 0164979876 (3pm-6pm);

0122212906 / 0195645868 / 0124252962 (6pm-9pm)

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May 9, 2020
Compendium of research projects at the interface of tuberculosis and COVID-19

As the world comes together to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to ensure that tuberculosis (TB) prevention and care approaches are adapting appropriately to ensure continuous and safe delivery of high-quality TB services. Considering the overlaps in TB and COVID-19 in disease presentation and transmission, the pandemic presents many questions for the TB field that may require learning through research and innovation.

To better understand challenges and opportunities in this space, the World Health Organization Global TB Programme is collating information on ongoing research at the interface of TB and COVID-19 (i.e. research which would improve TB prevention and care approaches in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic). We are developing a living compendium (listing), which will be updated periodically to make ongoing research projects and publications visible on its website. With your consent we would like to include any study you have in this compendium.

To fulfill these objectives, we need the cooperation of organizations and individuals engaged in TB/COVID-19 research to complete this one page template before 20 May 2020. We encourage you to please share this in your network, so we can reach all stakeholders widely.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

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May 9, 2020
Massive proportion of world’s population are living with herpes infection

Virus causing genital herpes may put millions of people at greater risk of infection with HIV

About half a billion people worldwide are living with genital herpes, and several billion have an oral herpes infection, new estimates show.

Authored by staff at the University of Bristol, World Health Organization (WHO), and Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar, and published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
the new study estimates the global infection prevalence and incidence of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) in 2016.

“Herpes infection affects millions of people across the globe and can have far-reaching health effects. We need more investment and commitment to develop better treatment and prevention tools for this infection.” says Dr Sami Gottlieb, Medical
Officer at WHO and an author of the study.

Prevalence and incidence

An estimated 491.5 million people were living with HSV-2 infection in 2016, equivalent to 13.2% of the world’s population aged 15 to 49 years. HSV-2 is almost exclusively sexually transmitted, causing infection in the genital or anal area (genital
herpes).

An estimated 3.7 billion people had HSV-1 infection during the same year – around 66.6% of the world’s population aged 0 to 49. HSV-1 is mainly transmitted by oral to oral contact to cause infection in or around the mouth (oral herpes). However,
HSV-1 can also be transmitted to the genital area through oral-genital contact – during oral sex – to cause genital herpes. Most HSV-1 infections were oral; however, between 122 million to 192 million people were estimated to have genital
HSV-1 infection, depending on the assumptions used in the estimation model.

Because herpes is a lifelong infection, estimated prevalence increased with age; HSV-2 prevalence was also higher among women and in the WHO African Region.

Health and social impacts

Most people living with herpes, caused by either HSV-1 or 2, are unaware they have the infection.

When symptoms do occur however, oral herpes infection can lead to painful sores around the mouth (“cold sores”). Genital herpes infection can cause recurring, often painful, genital sores, often referred to as genital ulcer disease.

WHO and partners published a study in March 2020 estimating that around 5% of the world’s population (187 million people) suffered from at least one episode of herpes-related genital ulcer disease in 2016 (1). Most of these episodes were due to
HSV-2, which can recur frequently over many years.

Recurrent symptoms of genital herpes can lead to stigma and psychological distress, and can have an important impact on quality of life and sexual relationships. However, in time, most people with herpes adjust to living with the infection.

“Genital herpes is a substantial health concern worldwide – beyond the potential pain and discomfort suffered by people living with the infection, the associated social consequences can have a profound effect on sexual and reproductive health”
says Dr Ian Askew, Director of the Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO.

Herpes and HIV

A strong association exists between HSV-2 infection and HIV infection. In 2019, WHO commissioned a modeling study to estimate how much HSV-2 infection might contribute to HIV incidence. The study estimated that almost 30% of new sexually acquired HIV
infections in 2016 worldwide were likely attributable to HSV-2 infection (2).

Evidence shows that people with HSV-2 infection are at least three times more likely to become infected with HIV, if exposed. HSV-2 leads to inflammation and small breaks in the genital and anal skin that can make it easier for HIV to cause infection.
In addition, people with both HIV and HSV-2 infection are more likely to spread HIV to others.

Women have higher biologic susceptibility to both HSV-2 and HIV. Women living in the WHO Africa Region have the highest HSV-2 prevalence and exposure to HIV – putting them at greatest risk of HIV infection, with negative implications for their health
and well-being.

For people living with HIV (or who are living with other conditions that compromise their immune systems) as well as HSV-2, the symptoms of herpes can be more severe and more frequent.

Neonatal herpes

Neonatal herpes can occur when an infant is exposed to HSV in the genital tract during delivery. This is a rare condition, occurring in an estimated 10 out of every 100,000 births globally, but can lead to lasting neurologic disability or death. The risk
for neonatal herpes is greatest when a mother acquires HSV infection for the first time in late pregnancy. Women who have genital herpes before they become pregnant are at very low risk of transmitting HSV to their infants.

No cure – better treatment and prevention needed

There is no cure for herpes. At present, antiviral medications, such as acyclovir, famciclovir, and valacyclovir, can help to reduce the severity and frequency of symptoms but cannot cure the infection.

As well as increasing awareness about HSV infection and its symptoms, improved access to antiviral medications and heightened HIV prevention efforts for those with genital HSV symptoms are needed globally.

In addition, development of better treatment and prevention interventions is needed, particularly HSV vaccines. WHO and partners are working to accelerate research to develop new strategies for prevention and control of HSV infections. Such research includes
the development of HSV vaccines and topical microbicides. Several candidate vaccines and microbicides are currently being studied.

“A vaccine against HSV infection would not only help to promote and protect the health and well-being of millions of people, particularly women, worldwide – it could also potentially have an impact on slowing the spread of HIV, if developed
and provided alongside other HIV prevention strategies” says Dr Meg Doherty, Director of the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis, and STI Programmes.

Related publications

WHO guidelines for the treatment of Genital Herpes Simplex Virus

WHO preferred product characteristics for herpes simplex virus vaccines

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(1) Looker KJ, Johnston C, Welton NJ, et al. The global and regional burden of genital ulcer disease due to herpes simplex virus: a natural history modelling study. BMJ Glob Health. 2020;5(3):e001875. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019- 001875.

(2) Looker KJ, Welton NJ, Sabin KM, et al.Global and regional estimates of the contribution of herpes simplex virus type 2 infection to HIV incidence: a population attributable fraction analysis using published epidemiological data. Lancet Infect Dis.2020;20(2):240-249. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30470-0.

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May 9, 2020
Hard fought gains in immunization coverage at risk without critical health services, warns WHO

Shutting down immunization services in the COVID-19 pandemic risks triggering a resurgence of diseases that can be prevented with safe and effective vaccines, warns WHO in the lead-up to World Immunization Week (24-30 April).

When immunization services are disrupted, even for brief periods during emergencies, the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, such as measles and polio, increase. Last year’s deadly measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, which took more than 6000 lives in a country already facing its largest Ebola outbreak, highlights the importance of maintaining essential health services, such as immunization in times of emergency. Further disease outbreaks will also overwhelm
health systems already battling the impacts of COVID-19.

“Disease outbreaks must not remain a threat when we have safe and effective vaccines to protect us,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “While the world strives to develop a new vaccine for COVID-19 at record speed,
we must not risk losing the fight to protect everyone, everywhere against vaccine-preventable diseases. These diseases will come roaring back if we do not vaccinate.”

WHO is working with partners all over the world to accelerate research and development of a safe and effective vaccine and ensure equitable access for the billions of people who will need it.

But even with an expedited process, development of a vaccine for COVID-19 will take time. Precautionary measures are essential now to help keep us safe from disease, including diseases for which vaccines already protect children and adults.

Too many people are still excluded from the benefits of vaccines

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world had made immense progress in ensuring that children are vaccinated. In 2018, 86 percent of children under the age of five globally were vaccinated with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) and
one dose of the measles vaccine, up from 72 percent in 2000 and 20 percent in 1980. The number of children paralyzed by polio has been reduced by 99.9 percent worldwide.

Yet, global vaccination coverage is still far from the 95 per cent coverage needed to fully protect communities against outbreaks of this vaccine-preventable disease.

In 2018 nearly 20 million children worldwide – more than 1 in 10 – missed out on lifesaving vaccines, such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus. Roughly, 13 million of the children have never received any vaccines, putting them and their communities
at risk of disease and death. The majority of these children live in countries with already fragile health systems, further limiting their access to essential health services when they fall sick.

Measles continues to remain an ever-present threat, especially if vaccination rates drops. Current projections indicate that the number of reported measles cases for 2019 will be at least 800 000. In 2020 there are increasing concerns about another
resurgence, especially if vaccination rates fall due to delay or suspension of scheduled immunization activities as a result of COVID-19.

Outbreaks of polio, diphtheria and yellow fever are also of high concern, especially in the countries least able to respond quickly and decisively to address an emerging outbreak, as seen in previous emergencies such as the polio outbreak in Syria in
2013.

Maintaining immunization services during COVID-19

As the response to COVID-19 continues, countries must act now protect immunization services, in order to further minimize disease outbreaks and loss of life. This includes, facilitating urgent catch up programmes in places where
services have been disrupted, ensuring strong supply chains, disease surveillance and trained health workers. Caregivers should also make sure they continue to vaccinate their children in line with national policies.

New WHO guidelines on immunization and COVID-19 recommend that governments temporarily pause preventive immunization
campaigns where there is no active outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. But it urges countries prioritize the continuation of routine immunization of children in essential service delivery, as well as adult vaccinations such as influenza
for groups most at risk. If immunization services must be suspended, urgent catch-up vaccinations should be rescheduled as soon as possible, prioritizing those most at risk.

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May 9, 2020
THE BOY’S RELATION TO THE HOME

The boy problem.—The boy problem is becoming one of unusual interest to writers, teachers, lecturers, ministers and parents. Books, teaching, lecturing and preaching can aid some, but the real problem of the boy must be solved in the home.

A boy should be treated differently from his sister.—The mental make-up of a boy, his superior strength, his natural aspirations and his duties in life, require that some of his training should differ from that of the girl.

He should be taught to work.—One of the most important steps in the solution of the boy problem is to have the boy actively engaged in some wholesome, pleasant and rational way. He should be given work that is worth doing well and that will be of use to him in future life. This training should begin in childhood and continue until he is matured. Every day he should have some task to perform and he should never be allowed to neglect his work.

Boys enjoy making money.—A boy should be

Ideal Relations of Children in the Home

given a chance to make some money. Rarely should money be given to a child. It is far better for him to earn it. He will in this way learn the value of a dollar. He should be encouraged to deposit his money in bank, to loan it, on interest, or to wisely invest it. It is a great deal better for a boy to invest and lose than to spend his earnings for candy or a ticket to a ten cent show. A boy had as well be allowed to swear, drink and steal as to waste his money. If started right most boys would take pride in saving their money. Usually when parents wish their children to have candy or some other luxury, it would be wiser for them to pay for it, than for the children to do so. A child should be encouraged to give, out of his own money, to the needy, Sunday School and church.

Boys should have their own room in the house, their own things in the room and their property rights should be respected. When he fails, he should be encouraged; when downhearted, he should be boosted and when he succeeds, he should be praised and commended. Give the average boy a chance and he will make a man.

His future vocation.—Very early, boys show aptitude toward special vocations. When they do, they should be encouraged in every way possible. However, they should not be nagged and forced to follow any vocation for which they may have shown interest and natural skill. Furnish them helps and books and allow them to develop their own individualities. Parents should not choose the boy’s vocation for him. They should not interfere with his choice, unless it be pernicious.

Morally, his training should be the same as that of his sister.—Parents, who hold to two sets of morals, do right for the girl and do as you please for the boy, are not qualified to train a boy. A boy should be trained to believe that whatever is morally wrong for his sister and mother is equally wrong for him; it is just as ungentlemanly for him to swear, as it would be unladylike for his mother and sister to swear; that it is just as wrong for him to use vulgar and obscene language as it would be for his mother and sister to do so; that if he can drink and be sexually impure and remain a gentleman, his mother and sister can indulge in the same vices and remain perfect ladies. If parents believe in the double standard of morals, that the boy must sow his “wild oats,” most likely he will. There is no sane reason why a boy should swear and his sister should not, why a boy should use tobacco and his sister should not, why a boy should drink and his sister should not, or why a boy should be sexually impure and his sister should not. The boy, with the single standard of morals instilled in his mind, is incomparably more likely to make a useful, successful, great and good man than the boy trained to believe in the double standard.

Boys should play with girls.—Boys are, by nature, inclined to be rough, rude, coarse and untidy. They need to associate with girls who naturally have just the opposite tendencies. It is refining for boys to learn to enjoy the games of girls.

A girl’s ambition is to be beautiful; a boy’s ambition is to be strong. These preferences are natural and they should be encouraged in them. All boys delight in displaying their physical powers. Thus, they are led to test their strength with their sisters and often display roughness and rudeness. They should be carefully instructed that it is natural for girls not to be as strong as boys, and that for this reason they should protect girls and never be rude with them. Boys should have a place and the proper means of taking exercise.

The boy and his mother.—The mother and her boy should be chums. They should keep on the most intimate terms. The mother can often instill, into the mind and heart of her boy, a refined nature, gentle feelings, pure motives and a manly purpose, in a way that is not aggressive, and yet it is permanent.

A boy’s companions.—It is important for a boy to have good companions. If he has been trained as indicated, he will not rebel when his parents offer

Let Them Play Together

suggestions. However they should endeavor not to appear to be choosing his companions.

Going to college.—Many boys would be better off never to go to college. The contaminating influences of some colleges cannot be overestimated. Of all rowdyism, college rowdyism is the most demoralizing. In very recent years special efforts have been made in some of our colleges to eliminate this objectionable feature. There are some colleges where the manly, the moral and the religious predominate and the boy is fully as safe as at home. Before a boy is sent to college he should be fortified and safeguarded against college contaminations. Parents should investigate college morals before making the choice of a college for their boy.

Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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April 11, 2020
THE MOTHER’S RELATION TO THE HOME

Husband and wife equal partners.—In the partnership of building a home, the wife is, in the truest and fullest sense, an equal partner with her husband. Equal rights and privileges should characterize their financial, social and moral relations. They are complements of each other. Neither is ever completed until the other half is found. They are essential to each other’s highest development. Neither can build a home without the other. Their relations to the home are of equal importance.

How they differ.—They differ in their functional relations to the building of a home. While their interests are mutual and their duties often overlap each other, yet they differ in some respects in their relations to the home. The husband is the producer; nature and God place on him the responsibility of feeding, clothing, sheltering and educating the family. The wife is the housekeeper; nature and God place on her the duty of motherhood and the love and care of children. Both husband and wife need special preparation before and after marriage for their respective relations to the home.

Marriage means motherhood.—Unless a woman loves little children and desires to teach and train boys and girls to become ideal men and women, she should not think of accepting a marriage proposition. Marriage is for the purpose of offspring. All girls should train and develop themselves with a view to the sacred functions of motherhood. Those who are mentally opposed to and physically incapable of motherhood should decline marriage. Such women can and should find some other occupation better fitted to their tastes, or physical condition, where they can be contented and help make the world better.

A farce.—In apartment houses, hotels and lodging places are to be found men and women living together under a form of legal matrimonial alliance, where the true idea of home is not contemplated, children are not wanted and no domestic happiness anticipated. These are human abodes, where the echo of birth is never heard; where the thrill of joy, caused by cooing babies, is never felt; and where conversation is never disturbed by romping children. This is a home only in name. This is a place of lodging where two miserable selfish beings are waiting for death to step in and end the farce.

A good substitute for a home.—I was once entertained in a home where the husband and wife had crossed over the half century line of life. During my first day in that home, every few hours, the husband or wife would bring in from two to six boys and girls introducing them to me as their boys and girls. When the number had run up in the neighborhood of twenty, that home got interesting. When I inquired how often they had been married and how many children they had, I was informed that they were only borrowing them from the neighbors. I never saw a home with a greater influence for good. Though childless, their home was a heaven; for the neighboring children resorted, played games, and received instructions of the highest order there. The children were trained to hunt up the old, the sick and the poor and to daily carry them flowers gathered from the yard and garden of this old couple. This was an ideal imitation of the real thing—a model home. I wish every childless home could be converted into such an ideal imitation, or a real home.

A good housekeeper.—One of the qualifications a wife should have is a reasonable practical knowledge of how to keep house. It may not be necessary for her to do all her house work, but she should understand how it should be done. A man has as much right to demand that his wife know how to wash clothes, bake bread, sweep a room, and make a bed, as she has to expect him to be industrious, know how to form or conduct his business or profession. She must know how to do these things in order to properly manage a well-ordered home.

She should know the value of a dollar.—The wife should know the value of a dollar and how to invest it in food, clothing and household comforts. To do this, she must make these things a study. Unreasonable extravagance of wives has caused many unhappy homes.

She should keep herself attractive.—She could never have won her husband had she not made herself attractive. Marriage does not lessen man’s interest in his wife’s attractiveness. The wise woman will not permit her husband to become ashamed of her.

She should be industrious.—A reasonable amount of physical exercise is just as essential to a woman’s health as it is for a man. The indolent wife who settles down in an easy chair and reads novels all day, satisfied with the fact that she is married and unconscious or indifferent to the fact that she must keep her husband’s respect, is likely to lose his respect and love.

She should take an interest in her husband’s affairs.—A wife should know enough of her husband’s business or professional affairs to enable her to appreciate his ambitions and to sympathize with him in his trials. In this way, some women help to make their husband’s success. There is quite a difference between interest and encouragement, and in interference. One leads to success; the other to failure.

Home first.—A good wife or mother will make the interests of her home first. If her home is first, in her mind and heart, she will not find time or inclination to gossip about her neighbors, or to contrive new ways of amusing herself. Her home interests will completely fill her life, consume her time, satisfy her æsthetic nature and furnish her the greatest opportunities for Christian service in the world. This does not preclude membership in a humanitarian society, a reading circle, or church. Great as this service may be, it is not equal to the home. A home builder is never justifiable in neglecting her home duties for her obligations to a club, a lodge or the church. By spending a few hours, in practical contact with other housewives at a social meeting or church, she is all the better able to perform her home duties. But these things should be subordinate to the duties of home building. Christ in the home will mean Christ in society, the church and the nation.

The anteroom to heaven.—When a woman has entered married life with her prince, determined to make a real wife and mother, she has chosen the highest and most fascinating career that is possible for a woman. Her home will be an anteroom to heaven.

Extract from EBook of Self Knowledge and Guide to Sex Instruction, by T. W. Shannon

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April 11, 2020