I admit I’m not mainstream. I’m a maverick but with goodwill. Writing is an art that Allah has blessed me with, and I don’t seek vainglory or inessentials in it. I’m most grateful to Him. Alhamdulillah.
But since He likes truth and defends those who defend it no matter the circumstance, I have to address a happenstance.
Truth, of any shape or manner, degree or nature, is a very lonely boulevard that many people don’t trek. This is due to many factors: position, growth, reputation, privilege and so forth.
Truth is a road that circumcises timidity and cripples those bent on engaging in Faustian bargains. This is why the cost of speaking truth can be dear.
But that’s not a problem to stoics. And timid people don’t bat an eyelid over it because they possibly can’t afford the price, or maybe there’s too much for them at stake to lose, or maybe they think so, and they, by circumstance or choice, must cut corners or at least smile at the behest of their demigods, or not piss them off at the last resolve over matters that even affront their humanity. Usually, all in the subordination frame of “he or she is my boss”.
Is addressing issues of concern with respect and responsibility an insult or challenge to authority, brass or purported demigods?
However, some people on the other hand don’t romance abuse at the tether of their emotions, nor do they suffer fools gladly. This is why they’re not furtive of letting themselves down or betraying their conscience or truth.
Albeit they don’t faff about the Sam Hill demigods can resort to in their bid to massage their egos, they also don’t bedevil their foothold of truth to pacify the pharaohs of our time. They might be powerful and influential, but Allah is more powerful.
“Wa makaroo wa makaral laahu wallaahu khairul maakireen.” Ali ‘Imran – 54.
“They plan and Allah plans, and Allah is the Best Planner.” So what can they threaten you with that Allah hasn’t decreed on you, essentially if you’re truthful? They are people who can’t guarantee themselves their life, so why would they threaten you with your future? However, it’s imperative to know that you’ll be lonely when you take the truth boulevard. There’d be threats and abuses, coercions and denunciations, but that’s the time you need to be ever maverick if you’re indeed truthful to yourself.
At the Ministry of Heist (MoH), the atmospheric bravado over length of service and suchlike is quite laughable. It’s somewhat laughable that it’s sometimes insulting, intruding and even divisive. Those are the kind of oldies that’d tell you “I was this and that when I was here and there” over trivial matters just to cage you or make you give concessions. To them, as long as they’re concerned, no Public Health Binta, Buba or Sibo can say anything that goes against what they think or how they put it, even if that’s the reality. To them, subordination is “obey and complain” as it’s in the military. And they’ve taken this to hell and half of Georgia. But that’s a regality of execution to stoics and those that cut corners to maintain or gain their ways to the echelon.
Certainly, it’s Allah Who provides, and He sustains whatever He provides. No one can make anyone anything or sustain anything for them except by the Will of God. Allah said it in Adh-Dhariyat [51]: 58 – Innal laaha huwar Razzaqqu Zul Quwwatil Mateen. “Indeed, it is Allah Who is the All-Provider, Lord of Power, the Mighty.” So why would anyone be that desperate or timid as if they don’t believe in Allah and His words?
In this contemporary Jollof, many people like speaking in extremes. Apparently, it’s very easy to scorn and castigate people merely due to the fact that you assume a seat at a particular brass, or you have history that’s critical to what they do. At the Ministry of Heist, this is a norm. Obviously, many people respect them for all their sacrifices, breakthroughs and success stories here and there, but since some of them like walking on the fringes of the nerves of their subordinates, they force most of them to withdraw the respect they have for them. Respect is earned, not commanded.
This is not to make things arbitrary or incite mutiny amongst the Public Health Bintas, Bubas and Sibos against the pharaohs and demigods of the Ministry of Heist, but to rather put things “straight” as Ismaila Gibba, would often say it jokingly. Certain open utterances and threats must not be allowed to grow roots as they’d lead to devastating consequences of everyday fear, uncertainty and unrest in the subordination. Those should be issues of the past. So if any institutional pharaoh or demigod is to brag about working at the Ministry of Heist since Jawara wasn’t born, it should be on successes and related matters to inspire the subordination to do more, but not to threaten or divide them in any magnitude. Luminaries don’t do such. Things like that peter out general motivation and attract eventual revolts from the ballsy.
Speaking the truth or defending it is very expensive. As a subordinate, odds are high that you’d be sidelined or labeled. You’d be in their black book and seen as a perceived threat and rebellion to authority. To some extent, they’d even put rudeness tags on you. But why would you bat an eyelid over that if you know that you’re defending the truth? If you read social psychology, you’d understand halo effect, which is a cognitive bias that occurs when we allow one negative trait or characteristic of a person to influence our overall evaluation of that person. Like, if someone is defensive or truthful, and due to that, he’s judged to be also challenging or rude. Halo effect also works in the reverse. So ipso facto, utilising social psychology, I don’t bat an eyelid over such.
In this Jollof, everyone is on his or her fringes, everyone is going through individual battles. So if you cannot add anything to the little that people have, you shouldn’t take away from them. When rain stops, rainfall should also stop. But even bushfire doesn’t burn the whole bush. Au revoir.
Batou Saidy is a public health officer and a writer.
