“Lola, you haven’t said a word since we got here. Is anything the matter?” Aunt Becky quizzed. “Hmm, nothing really,” Lola answered in her characteristic way. Aunt Becky who could read Lola’s thought like the pages of a novel, blurted out and said, “it is fine young lady if you don’t want to talk about it now.” Lola thought to herself for a while, and then asked “Is Purity an Old Fashioned Word?” The question in no way took Aunt Becky by surprise. She intuitively knew that what could have been bothering her has a connection with relationship and peer pressure. She was glad anyway that Lola has opened up. Aunt Becky felt the best way to explain the subject to Lola is to tell her a story.
Many years back, three young men embarked on a journey, whose destination they did not even know. They were to search for the most valuable gift of life. After many days and weeks of search, they got frustrated and decided to discontinue their journey. The anger and bitterness they felt over what they considered as a worthless and a fruitless journey could set ablaze a massive forest. After they made the decision to return back home, they spotted a farm land in the distance and decided to stop by the farm. On the farm, they met an elderly woman who beckoned to them to come closer. “My sons, you all look so tired, come and take a rest at the farm house”, she said.
While at the farm house, the three young men voiced out their frustration to the old woman. She listened patiently and when the young men were done, she asked them, “What drink quench taste better?” The young men looked at each other and smiled and then chorused “water.” She went further to tell them that the treasure they long sought was already in their possession. Water is the treasure you seek. The bewildered look on the faces of the young men did nothing to change the old woman answer. “Water has been in existence even before man was created. Yet many fail to realised what a treasure it is,” said the old woman.
Like the three young men in the story, many young people feel “Purity” is an old fashioned word. The reason for this is not far fetch. The word, “Purity” like water, has always been in existence. Remember, the creation story, that everything made by God is good. That is, everything was pure and not corrupted. This in no way should make the word, “Purity” old fashioned. It is an aberration to consider it in that light. It is a fact that the world has gone global. There are so many inventions in the world today some positive while some others negative. Just has man has always be in need for food and water in order to stay alive and has never considered food and water has been old fashioned and as such not needed, so Purity should not be consider as archaic or old fashioned.
Aunt Becky paused, to see if Lola was still on same page with her. Lola, looked at her aunt and gave a reassuring smile that she was listening with in-depth attention. “What do you think about the word ‘Purity’ now?” Aunt Becky asked Lola. Lola again smiled looking more relaxed than she was earlier, “I think Purity should never be traded nor substituted with anything else, it is a priceless jewel that should be kept sacredly.” Lola answered.
Joy Obehi-Ayemhere