The Power To Make A Choice

Ngozi Okpalaenwe

Description

Is it possible to make a difference in your life that no one else has ever made? What difference will you make as an individual in your life�s situations? Have you ever considered yourself a possible obstacle to your future plans? Some people toil and amass knowledge and fame to make a difference. Some engage in a life of politics where they believe they can make a difference. Still, there are some who make a difference in a quiet way and move the world on. The difference you make may lead to negative or positive results and both ways have a price. It is worth exploring the powers you have and discovering the real you. Life is full of surprises. Life around you might be ignorant but you have the potential to move to a better understanding. This story portrays and affirms the uniqueness of each person: how one moves on in life amidst all the difficulties that life presents. Life is beautiful if we are able to challenge what we can and accept what we cannot change. The Power to Make a Choice is a powerful story on how to look within ourselves to make a difference.

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Langaa RPCIG
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 14
• EAN13: 9789956726219
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The Power To Make A Choice Sr. Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe

The Power To Make A Choice Sr. Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe Langaa Research & Publishing CIG Mankon, Bamenda

Publisher: LangaaRPCIG Langaa Research & Publishing Common Initiative Group P.O. Box 902 Mankon Bamenda North West Region Cameroon [e-mail] www.langaa-rpcig.net Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookcollective.com

ISBN: 9956-726-30-3 ©Sr. Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe2011

DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Langaa RPCIG.

You, Not Others Do you ever laugh at yourself and laugh with others? Look at your short comings and empathize with others? Acknowledge your limitations and commend others? You can only give what you have to others. How often do you complement yourself and others? Accept your mistakes, and excuse others? Take responsibility for your actions and free others? Every choice demands price from you and not others. Your life leads you near or far from others, Your choices can invite or scare others, The rhyme of your music belongs to you and never to others, The Power to make a choice belongs to you and not others. Respect yourself and stand by others, For unity stands while division scares others, Often our story begins where it connects with others, Your world begins when it creates room for others. Selfishness erupts as you hide your gifts from others, Look within and share your gifts with others, You are your own happiness and cheering belongs to others, The rule is Love to yourself and then others.

Acknowledgments I am immensely grateful to God for His unwavering love and mercy that has always sustained me, especially throughout the period of my writing. I can never appreciate Him enough. Next, I wish to express sincere gratitude to Mr Tangyie Peter Suh-Nfor and Dr John Niba Ndongmanji who appreciated and edited this work- for their time, ideas and useful advice. I am highly indebted to Pauline Mason, for her invaluable assistance and care and to Ruth Roberts for proof reading it at the early stages of my writing. Both of them showed a rare promptness to participate and made useful corrections. My profound gratitude equally goes to my lecturer, Mrs Sarah Bower, for her intuitive challenges, criticism, support that helped me while I was writing this novel throughout the period of my studies in Norwich. To my colleagues of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, I offer profuse appreciation for their generous time they spent with me during lectures, helping with useful ideas and suggestions. May God bless you all abundantly.

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Foreword The Power to Make a Choice, highlights the question of choice in human life in a very innovative manner. In the preface to his Homage and Courtship, Shadrach Ambanasom writes, “To prescribe only politics and proscribe any other subject matter would be to kill our creative spirit, to stultify our imaginative efforts and to truncate our Literature.” Elizabeth Ngozi Okpalaenwe attempts an eclectic approach to the debate on subject matter in creative writing in her novel. Major concerns about Cameroon’s political landscape which feature in the works of a number of preceding writers, are reiterated with a new voice. These include, brain drain, the antipathy between French speaking and English speaking Cameroonians, partisan politics, election squabbles, unemployment, the judiciary, the economy, the cancerous bribery and corruption and many more. These issues are developed as the main story of Joe’s family life unfolds. The kick-off conflict between Joe and his wife, Mary, over the education of their children sets in motion a series of squabbles, battles for survival and revelations. Joe plans to enrol his son Peter in the army school once he obtains his GCE Ordinary Level and his wife asks if he has discussed the option with Peter. Hear Joe, “There you go, that is why children are spoiled. He has to do what his parents decide for him.” Peter who overhears the quarrel tells himself, “No, I will not join the army, if dad refuses to educate me, I will find my own way to become a lawyer.” He recalls what his History teacher used to say, “Our future lies in our hands and not with others.” “Yes I will struggle for my life,” he assures himself. iv

The rest of the story is not just that of Peter’s struggles, but that of his siblings - their trials, their victories. Joe, his wife and an adult world keep on in the background in apparent parallelism. Especially striking is the fact that the characters, who move the story in the main, are young people. Ngozi’s profession (a Sister of the Holy Rosary), inadvertently plays into the moral tone admonishing the lives of these young people. The final message is akin to that of Tatah Mbuy in , “The moral responsibility of the writer in a pluralist society: The case of the Cameroon Anglophone writer,” who believes that any human being who is not aware of his moral responsibility, neither deserves to be what he is, nor be where he is.” Peter demonstrates such awareness by consciously using his power of choice and choosing the direction of thought that feels good, and it is this that actually makes the tone and quality of his reality and by extension, that of young people specifically and humanity in general. Ngozi does what Norbert Platt says of the art of putting pen to paper - that it, “...encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.” The range of choices we must make for a fulfilling life are varied, the themes in this novel as myriad as in her first novel,The Power to Succeed, but the style and structure here, impress greater mastery of the art. While a work of art can be treated at any level, this novel can be very appropriate for a secondary school Literature syllabus as it offers relevant perspectives for an approach to interpreting a novel, or prose appreciation in general. It also tickles critical debates on the definition of national Literature; as Ngozi is a Nigerian, but demonstrates a full understanding of Cameroonian realities. Students can easily identify with the

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issues at the individual, family and socio - political levels; thanks to the acute crafting of characters. Peter Suh-Nfor Tangyie Writer, Critic, Theatre/Film Practitioner Principal, GBHS Bamenda

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Introduction Is it possible to make a difference in your life that no one else has ever made? What difference will you make as an individual in your life’s situations? Have you ever considered yourself a possible obstacle to your future plans? While some people toil and amass all kinds of knowledge in the world and become the famous scientists, archaeologists, prolific writers, directors, dramatists, musicians, famous businessmen and women, some engage in a life style of political jargon and believe that they can make a difference there. Still, there are some who make a difference in a quiet way and move the world on. The difference you make may lead to negative or positive results and both ways have a price. I feel it is worth exploring the powers you have and discovering the real you. Life is full of surprises. Why get stuck in your narrow world? Life around you might be ignorant but you have the potential to move to a better understanding. This story portrays and affirms the uniqueness of each person in society and especially in a family set-up: how one moves on in life amidst all the difficulties that life presents. Life is beautiful if you are able to challenge what you can and accept what you cannot change. The difference you can make is within you if you wish to do it. Society is corrupt, people say. What is society? If people in the society change, society will definitely be renewed. How could you make a change in your own way no matter how small? You can’t plan life’s perfect moments, but you can give things a nudge in the right direction. It is worth taking trouble

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