You have received information that your brother, who is schooling in another part of the country, is playing truant and keeping bad company. Write a letter ...

Answer Details

15, Unity Estate,
Ibadan,
Oyo State.
15 June, 2024.

Dear Chuka,

How are you, my dear brother? I trust that you are keeping well, though the news that has reached me lately has robbed me of my peace and moved me to write to you at once.

I have been reliably informed that you have taken to playing truant and to keeping the company of bad friends. Chuka, I refused to believe it at first, but the reports are too consistent to be ignored. As your elder brother, I cannot keep silent while I watch you drift towards ruin.

Let me remind you, in all love, of the dangers that lie on this path. A boy who abandons his classes falls hopelessly behind and soon fails his examinations, throwing away the golden opportunity that our parents are struggling so hard to give him. Worse still, bad company is a snare. It was Cicero who said that we become like those we walk with, and the friends who lure you from school today will draw you tomorrow into stealing, drugs, cultism and crimes that end in disgrace, prison or an early grave. Remember how our own townsman, Uche, once so promising, wasted his life through such companions.

Think, too, of the pain you are causing our beloved parents, who count on you to make them proud. Would you repay their sacrifice with shame? Would you trade a bright future for the fleeting pleasures of idle company?

I beg you, dear brother, to turn over a new leaf without delay. Cut off these harmful friends, return faithfully to your books, and give your teachers no cause for complaint. It is not too late to become the fine young man we all know you can be. Choose your friends from among the diligent and the disciplined, and set your eyes firmly on your goal.

I have great confidence in you, Chuka, and I shall be watching your progress with hope. Please write back to tell me that you have heeded my counsel. Give my regards to your housemaster.

Your loving brother,
Ikenna.