OPINION

Brother

By Odimegwu Onwumere

It does not take a male child to come from the same parents or parent with you to be your brother. Some persons who have brothers are crying that they do not have, while others who do not have are always crying, asking questions upon questions, why they do not have.

Many people have found their brothers in their friends; likewise, many have found their enemies in their brothers. This is the world we are in. Some are crying while others are laughing. Some are even experiencing both. What does it take to make a brother? It only takes two persons to be brothers, irrespective of their genealogy.

It was in the days of our fathers that love of a brother was supreme. Hardly these days, because the bond that once held families together had been pierced by the unknown enemy, who sold a lot of discord to humanity, hence are humane hearts and charitable hearts in dearth.

Believing that ancestry makes people brothers is a fallacy in the present days. People can only be siblings, without brotherly love and relationship, but these can be found in persons who are not related to you in any form, just that they are human beings.  

It is crassness to believe that if somebody is your brother, then the axiom that blood is thicker than water is supreme, but this is not true. Brotherly relationship has to be worked on, just as friends work on their relationships. Some brothers take this fact for granted, and have the belief that since parentage is concerned, there is no love lost. This is one wrong notion that has held mankind down for ages.

Birth is even an accident, and not a choice. Is friendship which is a choice not better than that which happened by accident? Some friends are brothers in disguise vis-à-vis.

Some of our childhood friends are the ones who are our real brothers, and not the brother who does not know anything about your childhood memories and grown-up dreams once experienced. 

Many times, our friends are there for us than our brothers. Many brothers knock down dreams than friends can possibly think, let alone, executing them. Many friends are brothers given to us by nature, and many brothers are enemies given to us by nature. What is a brother when you cannot leave on him or trust him? Some brothers would want a brother drowned; a habit a friend would eschew and help the friend boat across.

Brothers no longer agree because of some selfish derivations. Brothers no longer endure brothers; they churlish their brothers. They no longer know each other’s heart. Confidential issues with brothers are most times made open in a nervy form. Hardly are brothers enduring family feud and quarrels. Brothers these days love outsiders than insiders. Brothers despise their brothers because of relationships with especially their fiancées. At worse, their wives!

There is no longer justice and teamwork and kindheartedness and compassionate among brothers, but these can be found among friends. So, it is foolery the continuous acclamation that blood is thicker than water. It is presumably that water has taken the place of blood. Blessed be those who see a brother beyond parentage.

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Odimegwu Onwumere,
Poet/Author, Media/Writing Consultant and Motivator, is Founder of Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State.