By Ayuba Yilgak'ha
I am a local breed. I was born and bred in the village. Those of us who came from such background are often considered inferior by those who grew up in the cities. This, for whatever reasons, only they know why.
We were not so famous or respected as our contemporaries whose parents just retired and returned home from barracks. In our wildest imagination, we thought all barracks were located in big cities where life was perceived more comfortable.
In those days, if you have a childhood girl friend, pray that barrack returnees popularly called 'Barracks Boys' do not show any interest or you risk being jilted. Our female counterparts were not left out of the infamous fate accompli. Once any 'Barrack Girl' indicated she loves one of us (a very rare occurrence though), the village bred girl friend of the one so loved shares grace because she was sure to be dumped without any signal.
Barrack Boys and girls were like their fathers who do not need to bother themselves courting any lady, especially those bred in the village before they marry them. While in the active service, they command so much respect and village women artificially like them. At beck and call, a lady could be picked and sent to meet them in the barracks as wife even when she has not seen the potential husband from Adams. And curiously the lady so picked in that most crude manner will gladly do!
Barrack Boys were also like textile workers based in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano whose job alone was enough a clearance to have any woman of their choice with no possibility of rejection. Sometimes too, the distance of the city one resides from the village determines the worth of the person irrespective of what he does!
The Barrack Boys and Girls were like 'Okada Riders' in today's villages and Yahoo Boys' in the cities. Friendship with them was like an act of heroism. Women who liked being trendy fall for these ones without giving a second thought. They were that popular.
When we go to field to tend flock, Barracks Boys were given preferential treatment by our bosses. We the village breeds were the ones to always go and return any goat or goats that strayed away. Same was the fate of our females when they go to fetch water in the streams or fire wood in the nearby bushes.
In school, the Barrack Boys and Girls were celebrities. They were neater and could speak 'Pigin' which for us was Queen's English. When we default on anything together in the school, village bred school seniors and/or prefects like us often carefully spared the Barrack Boys and girls. Part of the reasons for this was that should the senior punished us together and the matter is reported to the school authority by these 'city boys and girls', the case will be handled in English which was our nightmare. No vanacular will be tolerated in the circumstance. Therefore, the village seniors/perfects feared being ridicule before the school authority. For us, therefore, keeping mute was the wisest thing to do even at the peak of provocation. That was the fate of local breeds!
By virtue of their township upbringing, Barrack Boys and Girls were privileged but they eventually squandered their opportunities. The advantages they had were wasted on the alter of orgy and pride. Most of them went into drugs and the pursuit of wild passion like prostitution, etc., and quite a sizeable number were either consumed in the process or badly burnt. Their stories gave life to the popular adage that he who chose the fast length of life is likely to perish thereby. Out of every 5 Barrack boys and girls I knew, hardly could you find two measuring up in life especially those parents retired and returned to the villages before the year 2000, the millennium base year.
The Economics and Politics of fame has the tendency to motivate or compel a famous person to engage in elicit activities aimed at sustaining or maintain fake sense of public relevance. That is why being famous could be a trigger for vices which ranges from petty stealing to extreme tendencies like advanced fee fraud (419), armed robber, human trafficking, Kidnapping, etc. In other words, fame could be a gate way to crime and criminality.
This narrative has at least one fundamental lesson to learn. The lesson is that popularity is an accident which requires clinical management as obtains in hospitals. In other words, he that thinks he stand should take heed less he fall (1Cor 10:12 KJV). A successful and famous man who does not take this caution seriously, is at risk of failing successfully!
A man's initial success and the accolades that comes with it could ballooned his pride to such a level that if not properly tamed could throw up unpalatable life implications.
A man could make steady headway if he or she sees his initial success as stepping stone. There are so many fallow grounds, unconquered territories to be harnessed or conquered.
The rhythmic progression is that when you have a leg, there is a bicycle you could acquire; when you have bicycle, there is a motorcycle you have not bought; if you have a motorcycle, there is a car you have not gotten yet; if you have car; there is an aeroplane you are yet to own.
When you go to school, primary school education is not the zenith; there is a secondary school to attain. When you are done with secondary school, try colleges and universities. In fact being a professor is not even enough. I have come to realise that the more I learn, the more I come to know that I know nothing!
Always thank God for what you already but do not loose sight or give up on even greater things you could achieve with more effort.
There are no impossibilities in life. What has become a big challenge today could be the easiest to deliver with time. Seneca (65 A.D) painted the picture of this reality more vividly: "A time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie hidden. A single lifetime, even though entirely devoted to the sky, would not be enough for the investigation of so vast a subject... And so this knowledge will be unfolded only through long successive ages. There will be time when our descendants will be amazed that we did not know things that are so plain to them... Many discoveries are reserved for ages still to come..."
A revolution is taking place in the world today with breathtaking innovations happening everyday. Arthur (1975) puts it succinctly: A believe of my own is that civilisation in this decade is changing more meaningfully and quickly than at any other time since the industrial revolution. Four decades after the assertion, phenomenal changes have taken place through breakthrough in science and technology especially Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).
In this world of great possibilities, what you know is but a fraction of what is left unknown. A man of little knowledge who have encountered the accident of fame might not really take note of that fact.
The name barrack Boys and girls was like a coveted chieftaincy title but most of the bearers betrayed it on the alter of arrogance and pride. In other words, fame is a virus and if not tamed could breed cancerous pride and arrogance!
Arrogance and Pride are are legacies in shallow thinking and cannot take one any far up the ladder of life. Should the barrack boys and girls knew this, they could have adjusted thereby escaping their woes and safe those village breeds who copied them. Now that you knew the downsides of pride fed by fame, how do you manage it when it comes your way with its corrosive tendencies? Think about it!
*(Modest Thoughts with Ayuba Yilgak'ha, August 3, 2021; SMS: 08118161263; Email: loisayuba420@gmail.com)*
*References*
Arthur, H. (1975). The money changers (A novel). London: Book Club Association.
Seneca, (65 A.D). National questions (Book 7). https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674998035.
