Recently, I was having a conversation with someone. Our discussion dovetailed to the olden days and how well we lived.
Out of many stories I shared, one readily comes to mind today.
In those days, when we were sent on errands of any kind, there was always one temptation we refused to overcome. That temptation was seeing your other tiny ‘rascals’ playing football (soccer), and you looked away and went to deliver your errand. There was an unwritten law that you must stop and participate in the game at hand.
Of course, we knew back then that consequences awaited us, but we just cared less about whatever happened afterwards.
On typical days, when there were fewer people on the field (open dusty spaces also qualify as fields then), we agreed to go for “work and eat”.
This is how it worked back then.
When we played, anyone who scored automatically became a temporary goalkeeper until another person scored. Your tenure as a goalkeeper depended on how long it took another person to score.
However, there was also a twist to the show.
When the owner of the ball cannot score but demands to become a goalkeeper, and if we have the audacity to refuse him, he withdraws his ball that day. But that usually ended in some small fight as well.
The ironies here were numerous after the abrupt closing of the game:
– We suddenly remembered that we were sent on an errand
– sometimes we totally forgot what the errand was again
– We had no choice but to tell some little lies here and there to cover our already exposed tracks
– Our dusty legs always betrayed us. When we were busted, we thought those adults were witches and wizards
Unfortunately we refused to learn any lesson. It was like “tomorrow we go again.”
Did I even mention how many times ground pepper, beans and other such things were lost to unexpected shots landing on where we hurriedly kept them to join the ‘moving train’?
And we served punishments on end those days.
Some lessons may still be relevant even today.
– That you owned a ball without scoring will not make you keep the goal. Rules are rules, and they cannot always be broken.
– When you ‘worked’ well with others, you may be the first to be invited to the table (work and chop).
– When you are desirous of ‘participating’, it is not uncommon to suspend reasons and face the front of ‘working to chop’.
– Even when we know our ‘dusty legs’ will always betray us, we care less until we have ‘chopped’, and ‘betrayal’ may no longer even count.
– ‘Accidental’ discharges during our efforts to ‘chop’ may be written off as mere collateral damage for aligning with the greater good.
Am I even making sense at all?
Alright, remember that these were the principles guiding our ‘work and eat’ football expeditions back then, and that principle may still hold.
The legendary Chief Elemure Ogunyemi once sang, “O lúlé á lọ, á kà lejò” (loosely the child of the house will leave for the stranger to take over).
Yes, you brought the ball to the field, you still need to work before you can ‘chop’ o.
©TheVillageBoy.
(The figure man who loves alphabets)
