A permit is not a condom

•      BEHAVE OR BE WARNEDSEE ALSO:

Since the arrival of Coronavirus, our lives have come to be determined by rules and regulations dictated by medical professionals. It is not common that medical professionals dictate our daily activities, unless one is not feeling well health-wise. Today I can assure you that everybody is very much ready and willing to listen to a medical doctor all day. I think they are the most welcome visitors in our homes, if not for the ‘lockdown’ arrangement. Containing the virus and completely eradicating it will require that we be at our best behaviour. Abiding by the dictates of the World Health Organisation protocols and any other advice from the medical professional shall determine the speed at which we conquer this deadly respiratory disease. My short submission today is meant to address some characteristics that I suppose will jeopardise the very course of handling Coronavirus.

•       ‘Permit’ to accessing essential duties or services. In good faith, authorities have decided on a Permit system, to accord residents access to essential services and/or perform essential duties. All intent is to avoid unnecessary movements since the virus is transported in that order. Shockingly, reports are suggesting that some people are abusing the permits trusted upon them. Instead, permits are being used as licence to do every luxurious activity one can think of. The laxity with which we are using these permits goes against the very purpose of avoiding mingling with the masses. Such behaviours suggest to me that we assume that ‘permits’ are a preventative measure. We seem to think that when one has a permit, one is immune from contracting the virus. Permit is not a condom, if I am to liken it to some preventative measure. Let us try by all means to stay at home, and only move out when it is absolutely necessary.

•       Lockdown and ‘Intimate terrorism’. Mounting data suggests that domestic abuse is acting like an opportunistic infection flourishing in the conditions created by the pandemic. The disdain that we are suddenly developing towards our sweethearts is shameful to say the least. Lovers are meant to be tolerant to one another. It may be surprising to learn that human conflict if properly managed, can be the vehicle for transforming an unstable relationship into a vibrant, healthy marriage (Dobson J, 1996). Statistics so far depict that it is us men who are perpetrating such abusive acts in big numbers. I wonder what is so fashionable about abusing (especially physically abusing) your partner. Why not engage in relentless sex if one feels like having too much energy, or better still engage in more productive assignments like making up gardens, exercising or fixing your cars and bicycles.

Myles Munroe, 1984 said that men must adopt an entirely new way of thinking. They need to think in terms of purpose rather than roles. The reason they are having problems today is that they have been basing their worth on the wrong thing all along. Roles have never been the true basis of a male’s identity and purpose. Roles can be helpful or harmful, but ultimately they merely reflect culture and tradition. We are men not because of our fat bank accounts or because we can beat up our women mercilessly, but because we can render that protection that our women are so much in need of. For those men who are culprits of this barbaric act, my advice is that you stop it forthwith, lest the law gets to catch up with you soon. One thing that you can be assured of is that the moment you live for imprisonment; other men will immediately link up with your woman. They will nicely render the services that you were failing to do. If you are a woman and you happen to be abusing your man, you will soon lose a good man and find yourself into the hands of a monster who shall give you double the dosage. Let us all behave accordingly so that we contain Coronavirus, and emerge from this fight as romantic lovers.

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