Discharged And Acquitted

Y'all know the feeling of guilt when you've done something wrong, but that is nothing compared to when someone capitalizes on it to rain blackmail on you. Let's hear the story of Okon; maybe you'll learn something from it. Little Okon returned from school one afternoon, and when he couldn't find food in the pot, he decided to go to the backyard and pluck some mangoes.

_Pixabay

When he got there, the pluck-stick was nowhere to be found, and he needed to eat something to hold his stomach. He resorted to using stones to throw at the mangoes, hoping that one would hit a ripe mango and it would fall. In the process, one of the stones went wayward and hit one of his mum's fowls, and it died on the spot. At that moment, his elder sister was returning from school, and she saw what happened.

"Fada lawd!!" She screamed, "Okon you've killed mum's bird, I'll report you to mum and she'll flog you and use your school fees to buy another bird". Okon pleaded with his sister; but it was like she was waiting for something like this to happen. The sister gave him some conditions to fulfil - You would be washing my school uniform for me, you'll be doing the dishes, and you'll be sweeping the floor. Okon didn't have any choice, so he agreed to the terms just to save a scene with his mum.

This things went on like that for a while, and Okon's sister would quickly delegate her duties to Okon and go outside to play with her friends. One day, Okon's senses rose up from hibernation, and he went straight to his mum - "Mum, please forgive me; last month, when the fowl died and I told you it was hit by a car, it was actually a stone I throw to pluck mango that mistakenly hit it".

Surprisingly, the next words of his mother left him in tears; "son, I was at the neigbour's house that day, and I saw everything that happened, and I also figured out that was why your sister has been capitalizing on your errors; because you allowed her to... if you had come earlier to apologize, you would have been free from your own guilt - I forgive you son".

Soon again, his sister came as usual to delegate duties to him, but things changed, and he refused the delegation. When the sister threatened to report to mum, he told her that mum is already aware; and she has given him a pardon for the error; in his word.. "hey sis, I ain't under your terms and conditions again; I've been discharged and acquitted".

Moral lesson: Humans are not immune to errors, but it is human to ask for forgiveness when we err; so we wouldn't be haunted by our own mistakes.

Thanks for reading