Do we realize how much we
harm our good neighbors and ourselves daily? I was in Abuja last year and my
host was a simple man. Everyone else in the middle-class tenement apartments
lit-up their generators throughout the night except for my host. Noise
everywhere and the generator fumes gradually took over the air. I was happy to
leave that city the next day but I became very sick. I had been ‘fumigated’
heavily and my lungs were ‘paralyzed’. I was just an overnight visitor. What
about those who live there. Generator fumes are very harmful and they spread
far and wide. At least, houses located within 200 yards of our generators are
bombarded with fumes emitted. Let us consider little children whose hearts and
body tissues are very tender. Oh how they are fumed and they become health destitute
as they grow. How we believe they are sleeping but we do not know they are
slipping into death instalmentally. Consider the aged, the frail, and the sick
in our midst; that need fresh air to get well and strong. Do we realize how
much we deny them the privileges of a good life? One man said to me, “I can’t
sleep without AC”. God humiliated him, now he tells me his needs are few. His
vanity took hold of him then.
How we become inconsiderate by our fleshy selfish desire.
When your generator is only what can guarantee you a good sleep, is your
neighbor being disturbed, praying for all to be well for you or silently
cursing you? You sleep well or so you believe while he becomes a waste pipe for
your vanities.
When GaniFawehinmi was alive, he lived among the common
folks. He was a man of deep concern for the welfare of others. His generator
was usually off before it was 10pm any day and it would only be on from 6amif
there is a need.
He said, “I would not want
to disturb my neighbors. That was a truly great man.
A friend of mine got a bit affluent the other day, so he
acquired one of these 45k generators. He was having a very sound ‘sleep’ when
thieves came and plundered his car. The brain box, dashboard, and some
sensitive sensors were removed from his Honda jeep. He coughed out a whooping
sum, thrice the price of his generator to replace them. He could not hear a
dime thing because of the noise from his generator.
Generator noise shroud criminal activities. A pregnant woman, whose husband was not home, was killed in her
apartment in Lagos recently. No neigbour could hear her shouts for help.
Last year, the Community Development Association (CDA)in
my area here in Lagos made a law forbidding the use of generators from 12am to
5am in the morning. Oh what a peace we had. You could hear a pin drop at night.
We breathed fresh air at night. We realized what peace we had so much forfeited
and the needless pains we had borne these long while. We realized that God is a
friend of silence. Those who heard what we did, yearned for such in their
areas.
The project did not last however. You should know your
people. Too many ogas. Too many who want to lord it over others. Too many vain
and selfish men who do not believe in order and good concerns, who are
shortsighted and selfish and hate the deep truths of life.
Even if they beg us to die in this country, should we not
be reasonable about it. Use your generators with a heart for the good of
others. What goes around will come around. Don’t tell your neighbor, “I betta
pass you”
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