A few days ago, while on a bus, I heard this program over the radio and it caught my attention.
The presenters were like…
“Eeeh, we’re not saying this because you’re guilty of anything. We know you’re innocent, but when you braid your hair as a guy and appear with tattoos, seeing that the country is bad, you might end up paying for a crime you didn’t commit. Therefore, dress properly.“
And every caller had just about the same opinion.
“Endtime children. They don’t know the origin of those things they do. Na them de do themselves. Stubborn people will this and that.“
Not at any point through the course of the program did anyone condemn the profiling and maltreatment of innocent people. They were busy citing examples of how soldiers caught one that looked a certain way and set his bail for a hundred thousand naira without involving the court.
You see eh, these old people that have refused to learn end up constituting most of our problems.
Why do we call them law enforcement agencies? Because they’re there to enforce the law, right?
Is there a law that says citizens should not have tattoos?
He looks like a criminal is not a crime!!!!!!
If there’s no evidence that someone has broken the law, why the hell are law enforcement officers punishing the person?
You weren’t employed to guess who’s a criminal and extort money from them. You were employed to work according to laid-out laws.
The act of extorting innocent people is a crime. In a civilized country, you’d be prosecuted for it. Those are the people we should fight against. Those are the people we should ask to do the right thing and not break the law.
Not the men with dreads. Those are not your problem. They are simply exercising their fundamental rights as humans!
I feel like I’ve shouted enough. We all have our ideas as to what people should look like and how they should act. But unless the person is breaking the law or hurting you, let them be.
LET THEM BE O! You are not God, the creator of the whole universe!
Know Yourself Better Than Anyone Else
See eh, anything that someone else can tell you about yourself that will make you feel bad, that is true, and you haven’t said it to yourself a thousand times over, na you f*ck up.
Never forget what (who) you are; the rest of the world will not. Wear it like an armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.
-Tyrion Lannister, GOT.
Sometimes, it takes everything within me to keep myself from telling people, “Hey, I hope you’re not making the terrible mistake of assuming that I am a nice person?” And not in a funny way. I just end up not telling others, but I tell myself.
You see, fundamentally, I would not describe myself as nice. I was taught morals, yes. And I also try a lot. But my first instinct in many situations is not often to do the right thing.
So when people say to me, “you’re such a nice guy,” I take it as positive feedback on the work I put into it. And when they say I’m not, oh well, I know that. That means I’ve gotta try harder.
Another example is this thing that my aunt said one time. Thing is, I am terrible with roads. Call it directional dyslexia or whatever. It’s not so bad though, but it’s evident. So she was trying to get me to find my way back to someplace that I’ve been before, and I was flunking it. She got frustrated and said, “sometimes, I wonder how you pass your exams.”
The thing be like say en wan pain me, because, is that what you think of me? You think I’m du.m.b? But I laughed instead.
Not at any point from my nursery to secondary and tertiary education did I cheat in an exam. And I think I did it mostly for the bragging rights. I had no problems helping others, but I always did mine by myself.
So, yes, I passed with flying colours. I am not dumb; you just don’t understand what I am.
From these both cases, I draw the summary:
If it’s true, tell yourself first and do something about it if you can. That way, when people say it, it’s not news. And if it’s not true, discard it.
But don’t give other people that much power over you that they control how you feel with just a few words.
