RESPONSIBILITIES

 Dear firstborn child,
Remember how we walked around with a chip on our shoulders at eighteen because we were free from all the grueling chores we did and scoldings that we endured even if we were innocent of the crime? Do you remember? How we walked around, dazed with the freedom of newfound adulthood, thinking ourselves responsible?

 We thought ourselves responsible, we made our decisions, we took risks, we thought minor situations major and flared up at the slightest notion of being thought irresponsible.
We thought we were responsible and sometimes we just wanted to throw off all these 'huge' responsibilities off our shoulders.
We however didn't know what responsibility was until Papa died and we had to face the glaring realities of being fatherless. We thought Papa's job was easy, all he ever did was a shout and shake his head in disapproval of whatever we did and the friends we kept, but then he died and we had to think fast. How would Papa be buried? How would we keep our uncles from tearing Mama apart? How? How? How? So many questions, not many answers.
Now, our eyes are opened to the true meaning of 'responsibility'. We are now Mama's husband, our siblings' father(which is no easy feat), and the family's spokesman. We are now indeed responsible.



Welcome back!
This piece was inspired by the death of the father of a family close to mine. I went to visit them and after hearing about all the rites they were to perform, their mother especially, I thought about how the first child, a boy, was going to handle it and how he is feeling about the whole thing. And so, I wrote this. This post is in no way saying that all firstborn children are responsible or all fathers will be missed when they die. I am only celebrating the ideal firstborn child and the ideal father.

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