IF you give one child four cups of ice cream and they have three siblings, yet they think it all belongs to them alone, that’s not greed. That’s hope.

IF you give an adult four cups of ice cream and they have three siblings, yet they think it belongs to them alone, that’s not hope. That’s gluttony.

I see you’re already thinking either person could be a problem because they should learn to share. But none of these people are the problem, the problem is you. Yes ‘you’. And I would know, because I was once that child and I am not problematic at all.

It happened when I was 6 years old and I made a modest request for my dad to buy me ice cream-vanilla of course. That evening my dad came back in a hurry, already backing out the driveway when he told me “this is for you.” He handed me a white Yakubu Supermarket polythene bag that I needed to support with both my hands.

You can guess what was in the bag. Four cups of ice cream, four spoons as well. You can also guess who else suddenly appeared with their eyes glued to the package. My three dear older siblings, even though they made no prior request for ice cream themselves.

Their wanting a share was expected though, from past experience I know that even if I had only one cup of ice cream, they would have begged to have one spoon at least. However, on that day, the four cups gave them false hope that it was for each of us. Defending my sole ownership, I reiterated my dad’s statement as he gave me the package “this is for you.”

‘You’ again. Imagine how convenient it must have been for my older sister to teach me that the word ‘you’ existed in both singular and plural forms at such a precarious time. Then, my limited understanding of homophones and homonyms had not processed the multiplicity of ‘You.’

Even in the face of rationality, I couldn’t look past hope so my mum collected the bag and made the final judgment call. My mother’s decisions to share the contents to each of us did nothing to convince me that ‘You’ could be a plural word, rather on my dependency for adults to make fair judgements and do what is right.

I eulogise this event for three reasons.

First, the realisation that my limited knowledge affected my decision to do the right thing.

Second, that knowledge robs us adults of the whimsical ability to hope.

Third, that children expect adults to make the right judgement.

I started today thinking I would point on the issues with the English lexicon especially pertaining the word ‘You’.

But 'you' may not be the problem if you use your knowledge to do the right thing, without losing the audacity to hope.