Mbaise USA, Trials and Tribulations!

The idea to have a common forum or an umbrella that can hold all Mbaise people in the US together is a noble and praise worthy one. Many people have tried and failed in this wise. They did not fail because of lack of effort but because the typical Mbaise man is a know it all kind of being. They rather be at the helm than to follow. Mbaise the land of the educated has fallen badly behind other entities with similar demograph. The reason for this turn of events is not far fetched. Since the advent of our immigration to the United States,we have lost our sense of self, culture, respect for our elders and above all we have become more american than the Americans themselves. How many Mbaise people do you know who still speak the Igbo language? Not many I can assure you. The only industry that Mbaise has is education, thus most Mbaise people both home and abroad are educated.I recall with nostalgia how it used to be a thing of pride to address your elder brother as "dede". It was a time when you do not get up to speak without being recorgnized to do so. One can go to meeting and people will speak in wispers and you can not hear any one shout or scream yet the aim of the gathering will be achieved. These days it has become tradition to insure that all the elder people in an Mbaise family meeting are insulted before the meeting is over. No one respects any one any more. The younger generation no longer have respect for those who paved the way for them. It's not even better with the women folk, gossip, inuendos greed and jealousy has become the hallmark of Mbaise women. We used to be our brother's keeper. What went wrong? You can only observe decorum and harmony amoungst our people these days only in weddings and wake keepings. Is this what we have become? Have we so destroyed ourselves that we have now become the laughing stock in the United States? A look at the Igbo Forum will reveal that most of the people who are at daggers drawn are Mbaise sons and daughters. Their degrees sound like a list of who is who in the accademic world yet instead of channeling their strenghts and know how to the betterment of our land they prefer to engage in frivolities. These are men and women that most Mbaise youth should be looking up to yet they have made themselves the provobial rice that children got their hands into. How many Mbaise family meetings have ended up in litigation against one another?How can a kingdom stand when its divided in itself? The most densely populated community in the entire black world has been reduced to its former self. What will it take to get our people to their senses? I congratulate Mr. Charles Abiahu for his piece"The Challenge for the New "Mbaise USA" administration", which I read through Mr. Paul Onuoha. I do not know Mr. Abiahu personally but after reading his write up, I felt that there was a meeting of the minds. Hopefully through his initiative and the likes of Mr. Onuoha a new set of leadership will emerge to lead Mbaise and show her the way foward. Given our past record they have an uphill task. May I through this meduim recommend that they reach out to those Mbasie sons and daughters who have gone under ground rather than be insulted by kids. Mbaise belongs to all of us and to salvage what is left of our pride and diginity is a task that must be done. I still believe that our tomorrow will surely be better than our yesterday. So let all hands be on deck while we strive for a better us. Long may our land live.