IN THE TRAUMA OF OSTRACISM

A young promising man called Harry Paul was so eager to break away from poverty that was ravaging his parents. To them, poverty was like hereditary and it was passed from so many generations back to his generation. In so many occasion; he was humiliated by poverty and it seems as if he was the only person among his siblings that feels the pain. In his village, they have no house of their own but attaching from one person's house to the other; a family man for that matter. People have been using their poverty condition as a topic for discussion.

Often times, harry would sit in a secluded area thinking on how to proffer a permanent solution to poverty; being a struggling young man, he picked up courage to venture into education. Though the means and the resources were not there but he believed that he must be among the learned people in not only his State, Adada but his country, Abia. He has mentors such as Thaddeus, Eyi and Moses who were in the universities respectively. Thaddeus was a super mentor because he inspired Harry into education. He was equal in poverty status with Harry but with determination, he broke out of poverty by hard work. He was a student of Pharmacy who studied at the University of Abia, Uturu; Eyi was a medical student who studied at the University of Benin and Moses was a law student who studied at the University of Adada. These guys were wonderful and heroes because they inspired others to pursue good and lucrative courses in the universities and achieve their life ambitions. These young men do not have what it takes to go to school in the first case but they made the Federal Republic of Abia proud by writing their names in gold.

Though they came from different states but Harry tried to have a link with them and always in close contact with them for directions. But Harry faced one of the most difficult moment and challenge in his life. This young man was so much loved by his parents; Mr. Joseph Paul and Mrs. Cecilia Paul and obeyed by his siblings both young and old but there was a twist along the line. Harry was the second child of the mother, the first son among eight siblings from his parents. Harry demonstrated a super intelligence and always does things differently. He was envy of all because he was an all rounder. Not only that he was intelligent but humble to the core. He followed the footstep of Thaddeus who read at all times, in short, his nick name was T.D.B. The acronym means Till Day Break, that is, the one who read in both day and night. It is a kind of customizing one's life in such a way that he or she reads at least twenty hours in a day, in short Thaddeus was a brand and whoever work in close contact with him must be a first class material. To Harry's greatest surprise, he was ostracized by his mother and siblings after the death of his father, Joseph Paul.

Ostracism is a deliberate evil perpetrated against one by an individual or group of individuals to tarnish and decry the image, reputation, goodwill etc of the person being ostracized as a result of envy, jealousy, rancor and hatred. All these make up of ostracism are not in a vacuum but anchor on ill-feelings which were nursed over a period of time. These ill-feelings metamorphose into bitter heart which could lead to murder and finally ostracism. To ostracize someone is to excommunicate him or her, avoid anything concerning him or her, treat him or her as an outcast and prefer the dead to him or her. There are numerous conflicts such as; trauma, daunting, puzzlement, etc that arises from the one ostracized. Each of these predicaments are capable of destabilizing and disrupting one's already laid down plans and procedures on how to go about life. Dilemma, rejection, gossip, etc are associated with this ill treatment meted against the ostracized. Provocation, death and threat to life are all the necessary ingredient of ostracism, which made the ostracized person to take to his heels for safety. Ostracism is an eye –opener, which makes the ostracized to know actually who does what. But I tell you, when two large elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. This evil practice against the innocent prevent progress and diverted the attention which would have been put into useful planning for man power development, thoughtful planning and for the general good of humanity. It breeds factions and perpetual imbalances in both physical and mental development of the parties involved. In a nut shell, ostracism is a necessity for self actualization to the positive minded but destruction to others. Ostracism has made Cecilia to reject her son, his ever loving son. But the big question we ask is how ostracism comes about. Actually, as has been stated, it has never been existed in a vacuum but moved and supervised by an individual or group of individuals.

There was a conspiracy to make sure that Harry was frustrated in life even as he did all he could to succeed. One will imagine and wished that the conspiracy came from the outside but it was not. It actually came from the inside. Many great men and women were brought down by their own people. Harry did not put thought to that but thought that all were working for a common goal which was to eradicate poverty through education and hard work. He was the last person to believe his life experience, one of the shocks of his life. His down fall came from one of his trusted siblings who know much about him; he narrowly escaped death. Your real enemies are from your home and while dealing with insiders, be very careful because your rise and fall is from home. Harry thought of all these and decided to kill himself. The weight was too much for him, a promising young man who wanted to eliminate poverty in his generation through functional education. The very fabric that held the family together has been broken. What could be the cause of this? He retorted. Could it be the death of his father or could it be that his mother could not handle problems? He was confused as where his ostracism could come from. His mother and siblings were so mean to have him eliminated; they tried it on many occasions but could not succeed. The trauma was so much that this young man preferred to die than to live. He did not know where his travails were coming from and who did he offend?