‘Get a grip!’

I read something on the internet recently which chilled me to my bones and got me wondering how on earth we got to this point. I realize I could be talking about any one out of God knows how many dangerous, destructive and devastating trends and tendencies in what is turning out to be by far the most perilous Century in man’s history thus far. And believe me, it’s just the beginning. I don’t mean to alarm you or anything but we are in deep trouble, way in over our heads. Let me get back to what I read so you understand what I’m on about.
Apparently, some guy called Freddy Buhl, a 19 year old rapper killed himself, influenced at least in part by his pain and sadness at breaking up with his girlfriend. Sad as this must have been for his family and friends, this isn’t the newsworthy thing about the story; not to be callous but there are about 30, 000 suicides in the USA every year. What caught my attention about this particular incident was that this poor fellow eerily tweeted about it as if he was discussing a social outing with friends! Some of his tweets read “this is all bad y’all *puts finger around trigger*” and “if there’s a God He’s calling me home. .this barrel never felt so good close to my dome. . .” in addition to expressing his pain at being alone and his apologies to his family for what he was about to do.
My first reaction upon reading it was incredulity; I mean this couldn’t possibly be real. Or could it? I guess we all know the answer to that one already by now. I refer to him as a poor fellow not derisively or out of contempt, but with pity because I reckon that much as this particularly poor decision was his own and the responsibility for the consequences should not be passed on to any one (the unfortunate ex-girlfriend for example), he was also in another sense a victim. His judgment was impaired by the prevailing social ethics and what is the accepted standard of behavior especially among his age group, influenced as they are by the mindless pop culture that is developing right before our eyes in which reality and drama are two barely – if at all – demarcated spheres of existence. Many a teenager thinks this life is one big music video and who can blame them? The over-exposure to mind-numbingly violent song lyrics, meaningless and irresponsible sex and the desire to live “the good life” (i.e having exotic drinks, fast cars, bikini clad women, sunny Island beaches and money to burn) means that at critical life moments the average young person can be counted upon to make the wrong choice, take the wrong turn in life. After-all, for all they know life may just be some sort of game show - Big Brother Universe or something. Sadly, sometimes you simply don’t get the option of coming back from some mistakes. Like this poor fellow.
Someone reading this may be thinking “well thank God we haven’t reached that stage yet in Nigeria”. I feel sorry for you. Like the bad guy Screwface says about Steven Seagal’s character Hatcher in the movie ‘Marked for Death’, ”him dead, him not even know it!” Your kids, siblings and other junior family members and friends are facing acculturation by a culture you don’t understand, that is big on superficiality and materialism, and their world view is being shaped by all the social interaction they’re exposed to daily while you on the other hand are doing nothing to influence the kind of person they become and you think the problem is far away in America?
Do them and yourself a favor: grab a hold of them and keep screaming “get a grip on reality” till they do. May God help us all.