African Peculiarities: Village gossip.
It has been the largest source of intrigue, the line followed before gossip finally gains flesh.
I believe it starts with the observation of a pattern; observing how baba so and so spits, how a certain chic has a penchant for bodaboda guys, and how mama nani stuffs mandazis into a paper bag after every chama meeting. Without the strength to ask or confront, without the capacity to question, presuppositions are formed. This is done by an ugly mouth with self-esteem issues, that seeks relevance, a means to stand out in the crowd, and there being none, they choose this avenue. It is a special kind of itch, like sitting on a flame, or smelling sweet cooking meat, that you shall not rest until you have had a bite.
It is hard to get to understand these merchants of malice. They shall laugh with you today, and you are so relieved that they have seen a good side of you, but a day later, with no confrontation, they go about slinging mud, destroying your name with their scalding tongues. They are a central part of life, however, the central part that you’d like to meet in the darkness, only the two of you, and you are the one with a stick and the courage.
Though sometimes these people might be correct, most times they are wrong, and even what they get right is almost always skewed. With tongues wagging outside their mouth, like a panting dog, they are the first to know who got pregnant, whose daughter was sent away from their matrimonial; home, and who was beaten the other night, and why.
They are the first to arrive at any funeral, to weep with the bereaved, but when they get home, their talk shifts to how terrible a suit the dead man had on, or how they oversalted the beans, perchance limited the meat to family members only. They are the first at weddings, but theirs is to see how cheap or how expensive the groom’s suit was, and also to start counting months immediately after the wedding, to tell if truly the man was a rooster or a joke.
Village gossip spreads faster that wildfires, and once it has left someone’s mouth, the damage is already done. It forms notions on people, and while you walk around thinking you are a king, you are actually a naked man, and they greet you really well, but as soon as you turn your back, they laugh.
At the end of the day, Akothee was right. It is only the least successful that spend most of their time gossiping. Successful people barely have the time for that.
As some wise mind once said, simple minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas.
But being the nature of the African continent, and simplicity being a key part of us, we should not take the privilege away from minds that can only afford that. As much as we hate to meet these purported merchants, deep inside us, we have some element of gossip too, perhaps a huge affinity for it, especially when it concerns a supposed enemy. Gossip is an inherent feature of our lives, and if we try to avoid it, only then shall we encounter it. And so before you condemn one for speaking about you, think about what you’ve spoken against another, and may he without sin cast the first stone.
It has been the largest source of intrigue, the line followed before gossip finally gains flesh.
I believe it starts with the observation of a pattern; observing how baba so and so spits, how a certain chic has a penchant for bodaboda guys, and how mama nani stuffs mandazis into a paper bag after every chama meeting. Without the strength to ask or confront, without the capacity to question, presuppositions are formed. This is done by an ugly mouth with self-esteem issues, that seeks relevance, a means to stand out in the crowd, and there being none, they choose this avenue. It is a special kind of itch, like sitting on a flame, or smelling sweet cooking meat, that you shall not rest until you have had a bite.
It is hard to get to understand these merchants of malice. They shall laugh with you today, and you are so relieved that they have seen a good side of you, but a day later, with no confrontation, they go about slinging mud, destroying your name with their scalding tongues. They are a central part of life, however, the central part that you’d like to meet in the darkness, only the two of you, and you are the one with a stick and the courage.
Though sometimes these people might be correct, most times they are wrong, and even what they get right is almost always skewed. With tongues wagging outside their mouth, like a panting dog, they are the first to know who got pregnant, whose daughter was sent away from their matrimonial; home, and who was beaten the other night, and why.
They are the first to arrive at any funeral, to weep with the bereaved, but when they get home, their talk shifts to how terrible a suit the dead man had on, or how they oversalted the beans, perchance limited the meat to family members only. They are the first at weddings, but theirs is to see how cheap or how expensive the groom’s suit was, and also to start counting months immediately after the wedding, to tell if truly the man was a rooster or a joke.
Village gossip spreads faster that wildfires, and once it has left someone’s mouth, the damage is already done. It forms notions on people, and while you walk around thinking you are a king, you are actually a naked man, and they greet you really well, but as soon as you turn your back, they laugh.
At the end of the day, Akothee was right. It is only the least successful that spend most of their time gossiping. Successful people barely have the time for that.
As some wise mind once said, simple minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, and great minds discuss ideas.
But being the nature of the African continent, and simplicity being a key part of us, we should not take the privilege away from minds that can only afford that. As much as we hate to meet these purported merchants, deep inside us, we have some element of gossip too, perhaps a huge affinity for it, especially when it concerns a supposed enemy. Gossip is an inherent feature of our lives, and if we try to avoid it, only then shall we encounter it. And so before you condemn one for speaking about you, think about what you’ve spoken against another, and may he without sin cast the first stone.
Comments
Post a Comment