Of Birth Control and Death Patrol

Shidu Parent

I was thinking this morning.... about the increasing number of 'shidus' in Nigeria. I am not talking about 'Chiedu' or 'Shittu' but 'shidu.' I am sure you are saying, 'what on earth is shidu?' Stay with me please. I was thinking about the senseless killings going on across the country. From Edo to Benue to Kogi to Plateau to Taraba to Zamfara, it is one bloodshed after another. It is like death literally patrolling from one community to another, one state to another. Even as it seems Nigerians have  become numb to the deaths, my escape tactics was to avoid the news. But one news headline about the killings in Plateau state last week caught my attention, 'Father recounts ordeal: How herdsmen killed my three children, including twin boys.' With a heavy heart, I wondered what this man who has lost all his children will be referred to.

 

Think about it. When a man loses his wife, he is called a widower, when a woman loses her husband, she is called a widow, when a child loses his/her parents, he or she is called an orphan, but what special name do you call parents that have lost their children? Should they still be called parents even though they do not have the children with them anymore or should they be called childless?

 

But why is there no special name for parents that have lost their only child or all their children? My thinking is that it is because it is not expected that parents should bury their children. It is anathema. As I wondered, I found out that a new word has just been introduced into English from Chinese and that word is 'shidu.' Shidu is a phenomenon denoting the loss of a parent's only child. Wikipedia explain that parents who have lost their only child are known as 'shidu fumu' in China.

 

China introduced the one child policy in 1979 to control their population and according to the Chinese government, 400 million births were prevented. While they may have achieved their objective, they did not reckon that many parents could lose their only child for different reasons. Hence, by 2010, they had about one million shidu parents. As I thought about the shidu phenomenon, I started suspecting, by the actions and inactions of our government, that they may be using this senseless killings as a form of population  control. Otherwise, how can one explain the lack of action to stop the cycle of violence. Rather, the President is blaming some 'powerful people.' While China is preventing birth, Nigeria is promoting death. Hmm!!! While the Chinese birth control created shidu parents, the Nigeria death patrol is creating orphans, widows and shidu parents. See our sense?

 

As depressing as the situation may seem, one thing I know is that these merchants of death creating shidu parents will not go unpunished, because Prov 6:17 says God hates the hands that shed innocent blood.

Happy Sunday.

.....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey.