Below is an excerpt from Temidayo S-A’s journal, dated 09-04-2010, exclusively shared on eclectictope.com. Enjoy!!!

“…Yesterday evening, I was telling Hadassah how naïve and innocent I was when I was a kid. She marveled greatly. I have had feelings, I have had crushes, and I wrote love letters as early as age 7, 8 or 9. They contained statements like “yes, I will be your husband”, “you will be the mummy and I will be the daddy”. I remember writing (in response) to 3 girls during the same period and it boomeranged. They all came shouting at and embarrassing me, creating a scene right in the school compound. Chaiii. See my rep on the floor. Does that seem naïve or innocent? Perhaps not! Lol.

Even though I knew some kinda feelings existsed between males and females, I couldn’t comprehend intercourse between a male and a female until Biology classes. I think JS3, SS1 thereabout. I couldn’t even conceive my mom and dad doing anything to produce me. Someone said to me in JSS1 that my dad and mom do get affectionate (hugging, cuddling, kissing). Though I knew what it meant to be affectionate, I saw it as immoral, I felt my sisters and I were just handed over to my parents without anything involved. Lol. I saw the male sexual organ in Pry 6, in a picture – not to be seen as good. An obscene picture of sort. Also, some boys in my class used to buy the “Nackson comic” (a cartoon with some sexual features). Yet still, I couldn’t just imagine its use besides urinating (peeing; easing myself). Atleast, that was the only thing mine was doing at the time, lol, and still is (praise master Jesus).

In MR NIGER D, one of the “R”s is for reproduction, abi? For me, it was just about having offsprings, without necessarily having sexual intercourse. Offsprings just came naturally, by default. How I ended up with that thought, till this day, I cannot tell. Even when small He-goats in my area of residence (forget the goats, my area was tush o) ran after big She-goats, all they wanted was breast milk.  Nothing more. When Roosters ran after Hens and eventually climbed on them, they were simply fighting – the Rooster was angry and had to teach the wife a lesson. Later, I saw kids (young ones of goats) with smooth fur, I saw Chickens breakout of eggs, and all I saw was just another round of reproduction. ROTFL!!!

“Hopefully, you enjoyed this excerpt. Hilarious! My thoughts from when I was a kid, written some 3 years ago. However when I read it now, two pairs of words come to mind: Naive & Innocent; Aware & Pure. The former suggests a scenario where one’s position can’t be determined, because our actions or inactions are not necessarily a consequence of the CHOICE of good over evil or vice versa, but the lack of knowledge thereof. Whereas, the latter suggests that though one possesses the knowledge of good and evil (right & wrong) and of the flaws of a law or rule, one’s action or inaction is based on CHOICE.

So here’s the punchline (what we should be able to say of ourselves):
“I used to be young, and naïve, and innocent. But now I’m older, and aware, yet – still – pure”

Temidayo is a Geophysicist by training. He has a flair for politics and writing. He is a proud Barcelona fan. He tweets @dr_tdee