good name by eguriase s. m. okaka

GOOD NAME

BY EGURIASE S. M. OKAKA A name is a word or a set of words given to things or people for easy identification. For example, Dog is the name of a kind of animal. ‘Joseph is a name of a person usually a male. ‘Josephine’ is a common female name. Your name refers to you and its represents your identity; that is why when you are called by that name you answer. A person’s good reputation is tired to his good name. I don’t want the scandal to ruin my good name. If you always have this in mind you will not want anything to dent your respect in the eye of the public and you will live peaceably with your neighbors and others around you. If you have a good name you are a light to others and you will attract others to yourself because that light will always radiates in you. Such people are always a blessing to their communities. That is one great reason why people cherished good names.

Having a good name requires having honorable motives and priorities. It also requires living with a clear conscience by taking responsibility for your actions and making restitution when you have offended someone or done something wrong. So if you want to have a good name you should have the following qualities: • Your motives should be honorable. What is honorable is what is honest and truthful. • You should have a clear conscience. To have a clear conscience is to take responsibility for your actions and making restitution when you have offended someone or done something wrong. • Have a steady priority. Your priorities are your values. Those are things that are most important to you as a person e.g. your prestige, possessions etc. A good name is like a shining light. It lightings your way and creates good reputation for you. People easily see it and draw near to it. Everyone wants a good name but many are not walking towards a good path that can lead them to having a good name. A young man or woman who is a cultist cannot be said to have a good name. When you see such individuals you don’t wish to associate with them because of the wicked aura around them. A young boy in his late teens wish to ride a car worth millions of naira will ruin his good name if care is not taken. He may pierce himself with many sorrows if he insists on getting such things at his young age. Riding big and flashy cars is now the order of the day. This has led to many crimes in the society giving people sleepless nights. Nowadays, you find a number of youths gathering somewhere in the name of learning ‘H. K. Work’. I do not know what they mean by that. I am still looking for the meaning of that acronym. All I know is that, there are no industries in such places where one can learn a tangible business or trade but because greed has taken over the lives of many parents they are now encouraging their wards to take to such business. How can you have a good name when nobody knows the source of your money? Any wealth that you have and you could not explain how you got such wealth cannot give you a good name. That will raise suspicion and people will start gossip about you and your ill-gotten wealth. Some may say I don’t know how he got his money. He may have used someone for money rituals. People are band to say this because there is no clear cut way how you made your money. Wealth like this can give you bad name among your family and friends. Good name is better than many riches. So desire it! ‘The love of money is the root of all evils’. That is a known fact today and many knew that they are guilty of this. Now if you want to be rich by all means be ready when many sorrows pierce you and you will not have a good reputation in the process. Robbers can never have a good name by their acts they have already chosen a bad path for themselves. Why would you dispossessed people of their possessions and expect a good name thereafter? No you have already condemned yourself in the sight of your Creator and man. He will definitely reap from the seed of evil he has showed. Remember the law of camma will visit all deeds whether good or bad. If it is good the better it is for the individual. It will be sad if it is bad. There is nothing beautiful in wickedness, don’t embrace it in your doings. Some people think that chieftaincy titles can take away their wickedness and give them good names. No my friend it is not like that. You will only die from the disease called title-mania and everything that goes with it. Others think that taking titles in the church will give them and grant them a pass to heaven. No my friend it is not like that. It is only holiness and righteousness that can give you a good name and grant you a pass to heaven. A whore knows that she does not deserve a good name even when it is dash-able, she will not get it because of her ways in the eye of the public. She knows that she is trading away her pride and dignity before men and women. Yes, the society frowns at her job as commercial sex worker for that reason she cannot be bold enough to advised anyone publicly or contribute to any public discourse. She may not have any moral lesson which anyone can learn from. In fact, she is morally debased and spiritually bankrupt. That is what can be said of such persons. Please, you need to have a good name today come out of that trade and make a good reputation for yourself. By and large, if you desire to have a good name avoids the following: • Avoid crime • Avoid keeping bad friends • Avoid gossips • Avoid evil communications • Avoid doing things in the dark • Avoid wickedness • Be open minded • Make honesty your watch word • Be strict in your dealings with other people • Be very fair in your dealings with your neighbors and others • Don’t be self-centered • Above all, give your life to Jesus the good master and he will make you good and better than the best. Who are your friends? This is a big question everyone needs to answer if you really deserved or desired a good reputation. In today’s world, many are copying what is trending in the social media and patterning their lives after such whether it is good or bad. This has influenced youths and the elderly greatly. Many now learn many negative things from such forum in the name of modernity. They imitate whatever they see online. They are now saying that the words of our fathers are no longer relevant in this present world; when many of us grew up having good characters or behaviors because we learnt wisdom from these parables made by our forebears. My father once said ‘Show me your friends I will tell you who you are’. The friends you keep will tell who you are. That parable is very true and this saying holds true in every situation. If your friends are criminals then you are a criminal yourself. How can you expect to have good name when you surround yourself with criminals. Even if you are not a criminal people will still call you a criminal because of the friends you keep. The friends you keep show who you are. If your friends are bad people it means you are also bad as well that is why you are comfortable with them and keeping such characters as your friends. Do you know that light attracts light while darkness attracts darkness? Remember, “Birds of a feather flock together”. Flock with good people and you will attract a good name to yourself. A good name is always better than many riches. I am Eguriase S. M. Okaka, your teacher.