As you probably know, It's a Child's World, the prodigious television format, has taken the world by storm. Since it took off in North America, broadcasters across the globe have been clamoring for it, owing to its immense popularity and mass appeal. It has been revered by industry experts as the next best thing since the advent of reality TV. Tellingly, at the recent Global Television Awards' ceremony, it scooped up some of the most prestigious accolades, International Award, Viewers Award, Expert's Award and, last but not least, the Thoughtful Award. The latter is the most important to my dad's legacy because it is the thoughtfulness of the format that distinguishes it from other formats or reality shows.
However, no one in the media or the public knew the name or the face of the creator behind it. That's my dad. He did not care too much about his story being told, but if it had to, I gathered that he would have preferred it to be told by his little gem when she was old enough. He wanted the truth to be told first. You see, not many people would believe that the format was the brainchild of a man they were accustomed seeing on television earlier in his life for all the wrong reasons.
One of the first television corporations that approached my dad's representative about launching the format made it mandatory for all background information about the creator to be made available. The intention was that the creator would front the format as was the norm back then. However, the representative, fully aware of dad's disdain for creators who fronted their format, declined. Well, he was not that mild, to be honest. He told the corporation to get lost.
Even dad himself would have been so surprised to hear that my story about him would revolve around the format that he had dreamt up. Most importantly, the same format which had endeared him to the hearts of literally millions of people from all walks of life across all the continents.
I grew up hearing grown-ups arguing about whose world it is. In popular cultures and literature, it is asserted and seemed to be accepted that it's a man's world. But I hear others, chiefly educated and otherwise liberated women, contending that this is far from the truth.
It may be a man's world but history is replete with tales of how some of the so-called globe's most powerful men have been weakened or downfalled by ordinary women.
Personally, I do not wish to join the lifelong debate. However, I do feel that both genders are guilty of disregarding our significance and place in this world when they contemplate the matter. They must be kidding.
For their information, there are countless untold stories where we proved to be the dominant, if not the solitary force behind the changing and inspiring of men’s' hardened hearts.
From a personal perspective, I must let them know that it was the love of me and my brothers and sisters that motivated our dad to aim astoundingly high and exert undeniably extraordinary efforts to get there. Because of us, the impossible became possible. To better our lives, he turned his back against his bitterness, rebelliousness and wild ways and opted for ambition, drive and life.
Hadn’t it been for us he would not have been convinced that he had the capacity to love, endlessly and unchangingly. If we did not become a significant part of his life, he would not have gotten the awareness that he could appreciate, embrace and reciprocate any feeling or act of love directed towards him.
It's his love for us that warmed his heart and gave him a zest for life. It was only that love that could bring out his innate goodness. Even the UK's ASBOs, to which he was no stranger, were powerless in controlling his behavior. If it was for them alone he would not have even attempt to fight against his destiny to be a social scourge.
I am not kidding. It's A Child's World.
The quintessential human, his beliefs, emotions and motivations reflected his life experiences and the people that he encountered. He was astonished when he found himself questioning what he was brought up to believe in while starting to embrace other things that others were skeptical about or had renounced.
Some of the people he met were so good to him that he wanted to achieve great things so that he could make them proud and reciprocate their kind gestures. He promised not to ever forget or forsake them. He would find them in time.
Others let him down, gave him up, disappointed and watched him fall when they could help. They may have remembered him from time but he was bent on giving them the ultimate reminder, in time.
But since his own mother and father were not there for him, he believed no one else owed him anything. Besides, each closed door was closely followed by windows of opportunities. In spite of himself and the stupendous odds that were fiercely stacked against him, he had had numerous second chances and had things both ways and his ways.
The absence of his own parents in his upbringing taught him independence and self-reliance. So although hardly any came his way, he resented the notions of hand outs, luck or good things on a platter. He wanted to chart his own course and earned his own.
Unfortunately, some made fatal mistakes by committing what he considered the most heinous sins against him. He swore down pay back was on the table.
He had no intention of hunting them down, he had his priorities, but if they were unlucky enough to come face to face with him again, world war three would erupt. And he would win.
Every day he prayed that they were praying that he would have a change of heart before a second encounter occur. His unashamed unsaintliness should have forewarned them that he would be unrelentlessly and unrepentantly unforgiving.
All acts of betrayal, double-crossings, loss and hurt meted out to him and those close and dear to him would have to be dealt with, disproportionately. He was bent on that.
Unlike his wayward chums, he yearned for the quiet life; settling down with a special girl and raise his kids, but he was convinced that he was ill-equipped and his makeup was too tightly wound up to be loosened. He fought assiduously to make it a reality, but despite the signs, he refuse to accept that he was fighting a loosing battle.
He finally realized that he was not cut out for the public affection, the romantic stuffs, pushing baby trolleys, changing diapers etc. It broke his heart, because he wanted to do those things so badly. No amount of re-invention could help him. Only reincarnation offered some prospects, but that was unrealistic. However, he refused to give up.
Up to age thirteen, Nan, who he adored and loved dearly, was the only parent that dad knew. With no help from his dad, he dropped out of school a year later. He became the boy Cinderella. At one point he tried to run away because he could not take the suffering anymore.
The first time he saw his mom was when he was 16 years old. To his bitter horror, he discovered that he was one of two love children that she had for his real dad who she told him about when he was 21. Dad met him seven years later. His older brother, who shared name with one his dad’s matrimonial sons, was far from keen about it.
His mom was either unlucky or foolish in love because none of the men who fathered her kids was any good.
Dad moved around from family members to family members and strangers so many times and so rapidly that a pen pal he had then called him a "real traveler." It hurt him deeply because it painfully reminded him of his lack of belonginess.
Despite occasional homelessness, he shone at the evening school for teenagers who sought a second chance at education. Unable to pay his tuition, he was kicked out. Nard, his 'cousin' who he grew up with like brothers, was murdered and it devastated him. Later, he also lost his mate, brother and father figure. The trend continued. At the tender age of 16, even he had a brush with death while fending for himself.
He had hardly gotten better when he was pounced upon by an a grown man who tried to seduced him with eloquent letters and twenty pound notes. Couple years later, as he became more involved in arm wrestling, a well-known male arm wrestler who knew of dad's adverse situation, tried to take advantage of him by offering him things.
Anguish and bitterness seemed to have made him ignore his promise to be there for their kids. Even though he knew that he was the only one who they could rely on, nothing could make him consider turning over a new leaf. But my birth did.
