Gone are the times when we had to stand before each and every elder that crossed paths with us…..and MAKE SURE that we exchanged greetings with them…..
Gone are the times when we had to write a letter, to a neighbor that lived about 10 kilometres from us and had to wait 6 months, for a reply.
Gone are the times when we had to nod our heads in the horizontal format, to ALL of societal demands and most especially, those of our parents and families of origin.
Gone are the days when sitting with your legs apart meant a curse to whoever was sitting before you! Such an omen.
Gone are the times when your academic papers did the speaking for you, as far as jobs and a good life, went.
Gone are the days when only the rich had the privilege of owning a telephone and a mobile phone was a necessary scarcity.
Gone are the days when guns were a scary-item at Musa’s shop.
Gone are the days when moving alone at night was totally forbidden….either by the government or your parents or the community.
Gone are the days when we would sit around bon-fires and listen to folk-tales from our Jjaajas
Gone are the days when it was really prestigious to don a suit
Gone are the days when it would make news all over the village that you were seen driving a car…..how about owning one? We would literally sweep the way you walked on, with our tongues.
Gone are the days when having a laptop in your bag would summon all the security there was, to search you THOROUGHLY.
Gone are the days when staying locked inside your house and home, was considered a very good practice, for a child, by their parent.

the-safest-way-to-gamble-in-uganda-body-image-1424894257
Photo credit: news.vice.com

Gone are the days when it was total chaos, in Uganda, as soon as someone heard of the word, “graduated tax”.
Gone are the days when a wedding ceremony cost you 600 Uganda shillings.
Gone are the days when honesty was paraded on our foreheads as our jewel that made us stand out.
Gone are the days when owning a radio was considered so special and only for those with the money for battery cells.
Gone are the days when owning a passport could literally get you on the next plane to the Brussels.
Gone are the days of donning dreadlocks and you became a dangerous criminal instantly.
Gone are the days when owning anything in gold form, was considered an international crime.
Gone are the times when everyone had to stick to one particular dress-code, for us all looked good, that way!
Gone are the days when you were instantly martyred simply because you wore your Rosary and Scapula.
Gone are the days when your Surname actually meant something in your society
Gone are the days when being a public servant meant something and held some very heavy water.
Gone are the days when divorce was something dreaded, so much.

ife-scowling
Photo credit: ifepiankhi.com

THOSE WERE THE TIMES…

These days…..eeeeehhhhhhh…. some people would even say that byareema!
It’s like, we the youth, decided to rewrite our rules of living our lives.
We don’t want anything to do with those olden days anymore.
Anything that’s not of our times is frowned upon and considered irrelevant to our ages.
We strive to be more accommodating of everyone, in their respective capacities.

Isabelle Kubwimana (Youth Think Tank Researcher)
Photo credit: nowebagency.com

Our days have so much hate and dislike, than it used to be in the olden days
These days, you just can’t pluck someone’s banana without having the cops hot on your heels.
These are the times where we have all the power we need and not, in the palm of our hands but we haven’t even bothered to find out, about it and it’s potential.

Do you see the difference between “the Times”?