Wear your ID card, As long as you can..
A blatantly obvious piece of advice I’ve written here haven’t I? What else would I ask you to do, to make sure you brush your teeth and dress corporately? Well as literal as the title is, it is also symbolic in its meaning and means that you should follow all Covenant University rules. I have also however given a Caveat….. “As long as you can.” This statement serves as a way out to the previous rule and makes a seemingly difficult task easy. What does “As long as you can” even mean? Does it mean you should wear your ID card to sleep or you should bathe with it? Yes you can do both if you want, however that statement is also symbolic and means you should follow the rules you can and discard the rest. Before you go off and throw all caution to the wind, you first have to know what “wearing your ID card” means and this is our discussion for today. We would talk about the phrase “As long as you can” on another day, but first it’s very important you understand the first part of the title; you can’t have “As long as you can” without “Wear your ID card.”
“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.” ~ Dalai Lama
Why are the Rules of Covenant University so Difficult to Follow? (You’re being childish and spoilt.)
Let’s take a look at the concept of morality and how it applies to Covenant and our society at large. In the world, the principles of morality and law are largely based upon what makes sense to the common man. That’s why without conscious effort most people don’t break laws. You don’t have to know Law to understand what is right or wrong. Laws are made so people act the way they’re meant to; laws are made for the general safety of everyone in a particular location. These also extend to rights individuals have such as: Freedom of Speech, Right to Privacy and so on.
When you look at the rules of Covenant University, some of the rules are for the general safety of everyone of course and others are intended to instill discipline in the students. Then you have rules that are blatantly unreasonable, as you can quickly guess I am of course talking about the phone ban. We also have rules dictating how we should dress and such rules are pushed to extremes: Like how a particular shoe is banned or you can’t wear black on black and so on. On top of that there are the noble enforcers of these rules who relish the small power that has been handed to them and have no hesitation ruining other people’s day for momentary pleasure. It has once been said we signed off our rights at matriculation, and that’s true.
Another difficulty, which is also divergent from societal laws, is how the expression with the opposite sex is limited. Of course to a huge extent I am not against this law but its one I know even I can’t follow. Even the best people I knew fell short of this law. I remember having a thing with a beautiful girl from the choir who was also in the Student Council. She was actually a person who took spirituality seriously and it was a perfect reminder of how we all have our faults and fall short of His glory. In the same vein, the passions that have made me such an amazing guy are the same that make me fall short as well. The ones that make me love and desire to protect a family I don’t yet have, also make me want to prematurely share intimate connections.
I have digressed, I will touch more on the above in a future article soooo……. Apart from rules made because of Ego, one has to admire how these rules shape us. All across Nigeria we are seen as the most employable kind of people. We follow rules naturally because the rules we had to follow were borderline unreasonable, we dress astonishingly and we command respect. The things we learn in boring classes such as: TMC, EDS and DLD(I truly had the best mid-day naps in these classes.) if nothing else bring us to an awareness of concepts such as being a Total-Man; that is being a man complete in all aspects of life. EDS calls us on to be people that create in this world and not just consume and DLD teaches us the principle of shaping the world through other men.
The point I am drawing out is that Covenant with its faults and failings has its positives and you should adopt the mindset that you’ll get the best out of this school. It would make you a happier person.
“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.” ~ Mary Lou Retton
How Do you Wear your ID Card?
Let’s look at an overview of the kind of school we are in.. Kindly email me if I have written anything false or write me to give me a more accurate overview; I am a bit outdated with this as you can imagine.
Now we have the foundational rules those are the rules that align with the laws of the land. So no drugs, don’t physically hurt anyone. In summary just be a normal human being. Next we have attendance rules, attend Tuesday/Thursday Chapel, attend your Covenant Hour of Prayer(CHOP) and attend your Sunday Service and Role call. Also attend special events such as Youth Alive(Oh do I have a story about this! But another time.) and others. Next we have dress code: don’t wear things too tight, shave your facial hair, don’t overgrow your hair, wear your ID Card, Wear your tie(I hated this one :) ) and so on. Then we have no overly familiar contact with the opposite sex. Then we have miscellaneous rules such as: No phones and others. You most likely know the rules better than me but it was important we repeated them so I can address each one with my personal thoughts.
Now its scolding time :)
Attendance Rules
There’s nothing special here to say except from you just have to attend everything. There are two types of students in this category. Category A listens to this advice and attends everything as they should. Category B half-asses attendance and proceeds to be begging up and down later. Really I promise you the heart ache and worry you feel from not being sure if you are going to write exams or not is not worth the laziness of stabbing(missing) Services. I have seen people experience True regret from missing Services; True regret. In the casual laziness of “resting” from the stress of school you find yourself with an extra year of all this. Back in my day there existed human beings that didn’t know the name of the Chaplain of that semester or the color of the chapel chairs, they literally forewent Chapel service. This is no more! I don’t think you can miss even 3 without being afraid for your school attendance. I know it’s not fair that they link school with chapel I know. They have no business with each other that’s clear. Nonetheless you just have to make yourself go, there’s honestly no way around this.
Dress Code
I hated wearing my tie back in school, I could comfortably dress semi-corporate even on weekends if need be. Facial-hair was also another very annoying thing to deal with. Having to walk sometimes an extra kilometer on my way to my building just because I’m dodging MSS. My advice would be to dress and look as compliantly as you can. I promise you even if you actually do look better with a beard or with tighter clothes, you still won’t be able to talk to your crush. Jokes apart the difference on whether you look cooler with or without a tie doesn’t really matter. The best thing you can do for yourself is to look sexy AND compliant. MSS would look at you looking so good and would want to stop you but they simply can’t.(I know they can stop you for no reason for just bants(conversation without direction)). Buy clothes that you know are compliant and also look good on you. Make the effort during your holidays to accomplish this. You will feel confident and also totally free from this compliancy nonsense. For guys specifically I recommend buying white shirts, firstly because no matter how strict they want to be they can’t ban white shirts and secondly they fit everything. Buy long sleeves, short sleeves, pin-down different variants and you wouldn’t have to worry about matching ties. With white shirts and a few trousers you are covered for the whole semester. For hair, I promise you it’s a temporary thing. I have people in my set that have long dreads and enjoy them, we also have grown beards till we resemble Arabs. All that having to cut your hair is something very temporary and it will pass. I remember a time when a barber mistakenly cut someone’s beard next to me and the guy started crying my god it was hilarious, we were all laughing after.
Babes…. Well from what I remember babes could wear many things and get away with it, I wonder if that has changed.
No Phones
Honestly I understand why people bring their Sim Cards, but I have no idea why people also use their phones. Last I remember the WIFI in our halls were bad and I have no right to tell you not to bring SIMs. I will say that if you have nothing explicitly important to do online then don’t risk it.
Familiar Contact with the Opposite Sex
Like I previously stated, I love women a lot. Their company gives me life. Just hearing their voices alone calls on my manly instincts. You can’t imagine how depressing it was to study Engineering. Amongst all the other rules this was my “As far as I can.” I will simply advice here not to take unnecessary risks. I will talk about things like this and more in the “As far as you can article.” There’s something important I will add. Some of you will want to take your spiritual life very seriously and as a result condemn yourself for falling into temptation. Remember feeling tempted is not the same as falling into sin. And in any case you do fall, beating yourself up is not the answer; Jesus took the condemnation already. Apart from not feeling guilty of sinning there are great benefits and reasons of not getting overly familiar with the opposite sex which many people who preach about it don’t understand. I will talk about this another time. I will just say the benefits of doing this are greatly seen further down the road and are not immediately appreciated.
All in all Covenant has unreasonable rules and that’s clear to everyone, but it’s not all bad and you have to learn to see it this way. Complaining about the school gives a temporal sense of satisfaction. I remembered enjoying complaining about how “this is wrong” or “this doesn’t make sense.”
“Misery loves company.” ~ John Ray
Remember you aren’t alone; you have your fellow students that endure this you have all the alumni of the school that has been through this, and funnily you have lecturers as well that are forced to attend chapel service. Some of them actually swipe(sign attendance) and ex(exit) so cool. Sometimes you’d get overwhelmed or tired but really and truly hang in there as all those before you did and also pray. Take a stroll, talk to God, he honestly listens he understands what it means to be human. Surround yourself with good people that keep your spirits high. Take the good from the school and capitalize on it, ignore and discard the bad things and you’ll be happier.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. ~ 1st Peter 5:7 NLT
Take care of yourself my dear sisters and brothers.
From your older brother
~ Older Eagle
