Things Fell Apart

I honestly do not know where things went wrong. It seemed everything was fine, up until Okonkwo killed his son. That will haunt me for as long as I live. And that event is what lead to Okonkwo’s death. After that day Isaac, formerly Okonkwo’s son, began to hate his father. That festering wound of the soul lead Isaac to join the missionaries.  Okonkwo hated the missionaries even more after that. The poison that is the white man’s religion affects everyone differently. For some, it is an immediate takeover, this was the case with the untouchables and Isaac, at least in spirit. For others it was a slow spread that overwhelmed without alerting the afflicted. And the last group rejected it completely and ran anyway possible. Okonkwo killed himself when he realized he was losing power. He killed himself, and left us to deal with this encroaching doom. But of course, it was not his fault. The lack of unity amongst the groups is what failed us. In order for our society to work, it depended on everyone doing their part. Each person had someplace in ruling of the tribe. Some greater than others it is true. But once people began leaving in flocks, we could do nothing. And we watched silently as our society, our culture, our faith, and our language came down around our ears. And this all thanks to words on the tongue’s of serpents, and phrases from an old book.