Carpe diem

There is a term that I recently came across unbeknown to me before a month ago. The word is "cultural lag" and it got me thinking about a lot of things specifically in the Zambian sense. Cultural lag refers to a situation where culture takes time to catch up with the latest advancements in technology and innovations and this has been a source of a social problems across different cultures. We often hear older generations complain about how "the youths of today have lost their culture" so my question is have we really lost our culture or we have evolved and the older generations are failing to embrace this evolution?  I believe culture comes as a consequence of norms established over time and while cultural preservation is important for identity, some elements of our culture aren't so progressive and can be subjected to secular intellectual debate and thus improved on. When I read Chinua Achebe's Things for apart, I was bemused to learn that it was once their...

Well, most blogs have background stories, however this one doesn't. It is just an expression of my thoughts from personal experience and what I have seen in my surroundings.  It doesn't take a long scroll through twitter to realise the extent to which alcohol is glorified by Zambian youth. At first glance, it is harmless banter, for likes and retweets maybe. It makes the handler look cool and classy, for others it is evidence of their strong financial position when they post themselves drinking the finest whiskeys or spending their time at the best places that Lusaka has to offer. However, amidst all the glamour and glitz, what I have come to learn is that there is a thin line between taking alcohol for recreational purposes and alcohol addiction. Alcoholism is a social ill that often times goes unnoticed because in part of how much the larger section of society has normalised it. Drinking  is the most common theme amongst most social groups, whenever and wherever th...