In a recent video I chanced upon, a well-known and an outspoken Ghanaian journalist, popularly known as Captain Smart, who is noted for expressing his personal views without fear and favour, was making an unambiguous statement that l found logically faulty and literally frivolous. He stated vividly that: “A woman without a man is a just manhole; anything can enter”. I think the statement was made out of outbursts of emotions birthed from a personal experience. Thoughtful though he can be when he is in his analytical elements, Captain Smart obviously did not think through those statements.
His statement is absolute and any such statement must always be true. He certainly knows that there are some women out there, whether widowed, divorced, unmarried or single, who are not “manholes” because they will NEVER allow “anything” into their lives.
Again, l find the statement frivolous and ridiculous because it is a serious attack at womanhood. In his elaboration, Captain described women who have no husbands or spouses as a “manhole”. This is where, according to him, all kinds of wastes are deposited. In fact, this is extremely despicable, deprecatory, and disrespectful to womanhood. His assertion further suggests that such women are vulnerable, useless, weak, undecided, purposeless, without rights, and untrustworthy. Of course, I know many unmarried or single mothers who are not “manholes” where any man comes to dump all kinds of “wastes”. Such women definitely know their worth. They know what they want in life. In fact, they are fastidious about their choices. They do not make their life a “manhole” for trashed things. They regard their life as a world of fragrance, of treasure of joy theatre which attract serious and marriage-minded men.
I am afraid, if you are a woman and find yourself within the bracket of Captain Smart’s unfair and disparaging description about women, you had better reset your life. You are not and cannot be a “manhole”. Rather, Captain’s viewpoint about single women is a wake-up call for those women who, for lustful or livelihood purposes, present their life as a “manhole”. In fact, you deserve better coloration.
Further, it is instructive to note that it is not every woman God has programmed for marriage. Such women, more often than not, have no appetite for marriage, and so focused on their vision and mission on earth that they have little or nothing to do with marriage. Their life can be perfectly described as a shut gate of an unknown kingdom – not accessible by men. They are so disciplined that they never scramble for any substitution or improvisation which may be highly immoral. The Holy Bible calls such category of women _Eunuch_.
Mat 19:11-12: “But he said unto them, All [men] cannot receive this saying, save [they] to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from [their] mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it].”
The saying is applicable to both men and women. There is no doubt to the fact that within the the Roman Catholic faith, there are some Nuns or Sisters who, whether virgins or devirgined, have consecrated their lives to the service of God. Though there may be some few bad nuts who may break their Oath by secretly engaging in some promiscuous acts, there are those who are committed to the vows. They have nothing to do with men. Jesus spoke also about those who circumstances such as divorce, separation, or death place them into that state of celibacy. The third group of a eunuch state is congenial – gotten from birth.
The afore-going discourse clearly suggests that to remain single, as a woman, is a matter of choice; to keep a morally disciplined life is also optional; and to make yourself “a manhole”, as asserted by Captain Smart, is also a matter of choice. Therefore, it is not the case that a woman who has not a man in her life, by default, becomes a dumping hole. Sound reasoning will accept it if Captain Smart rephrases the statement thus: “A WOMAN WITHOUT A MAN MAY BECOME JUST A MANHOLE”.
LIFE LESSONS BY VINCENT NII AGO DAVIES
