AN UNUSUAL KIND OF WISDOM

I once knew a man who is given to cigarette, who is a Grand-Master at it. When he is happy, he takes one stick to celebrate; when he is sad, he takes another to lift his spirit. When he needs inspiration to carry him on through life’s challenges, he takes one; when there are no challenges in view he finds solace in the same. When he is nervous he takes a stick to calm him down, and when he feels he is being too soft and that his weakness may be taken advantage of he takes another to help get him on the high side. It is funny how that he takes it both in a particular situation and in another situation that runs directly contrary to the first. It is therefore appropriate to conclude that smoking, for him, is habitual rather than circumstantial; circumstances are just used as a cover up for nurturing our habits. Thus, the smoking continues day in day out - one stick at a time. To be honest, though, I have never seen him put two sticks in his mouth at the same time.

He will certainly out-do a faulty automobile’s exhaust in a smoking competition, this man. And if he is seated beside a chimney doing his ‘business’, one would find it difficult to determine the exact source of the smoke. As a matter of fact, if you are not a careful observer, you could even conclude that he and the chimney are one and the same entity; or simply put, that he is the Chimney himself! He’s got some tendencies and he is capable of doing the unlikely; that is, if all match sticks were taken out of the world, if all lighters and naked fires were eradicated, he could result to the early man’s method of striking two granite stones against one another just to light his cigarette. And if stones and all other sources were altogether taken off from the earth, he could cut his cigarette sticks into smaller bits, get a cup half-filled with water, add the bits of cigarette into the water, add a pint of salt to taste, and drink the mixture as one would drink an oat meal.

But for all that he is a chronic smoker, he is such a nice person; very understanding, peaceful, humorous and absolutely intelligent. Also, he is weary of the habit himself, though it seems he has been enslaved by it (anybody remembers Lucky Dube’s Liquor Slave?) Once, when I was preparing for my church’s annual convention, knowing my affiliations with Christ and His body, he said jokingly but with every sense of sincerity:

‘Ajibola….you people who are more spiritual…..remember to pray for me to stop smoking o’

To which I smiled and responded in the affirmative, that I will surely do. It appeared now, though, that it is either that my prayer was not enough - and really I didn’t pray well enough - or that his own case needs an anointing greater than mine; maybe that of the General Overseer of the Name of Jesus Ministry is what he needs after all. For last time I checked, ‘business’ was still doing very good.

He bought a new car, this man; a very sleek car it was both in appearance and performance. One day, driving the car, his itinerary took him along a section of the city where serious rehabilitation of roads and related infrastructures was going on, a place he had not visited in the recent times. He got to a junction and took a familiar one. Due to the rehabilitation project on-going, the road was a smooth drive, no pot-holes, no wear-offs - just a smooth and perfect road all the way; but something seem to be wrong.

For about five minutes he has been driving, he realized that no vehicle had overtaken him neither has he overtaken any. He realized that no car was either in his front or at his back; he realized too that there was no human being in sight, but that he was all alone on a beautiful but lonely path. Anyone living in Lagos knows that that is abnormal especially on a major road; hence, there is the need to be more cautious and tread softly - Yes, there is. I stay close to a major express road, Lagos-Ibadan Express road to be precise, and I know that vehicles still move even at 2 in the morning! Sometimes when I get up to ease myself in the middle of the night, I still hear vehicles moving – at least one passes in an average of two minutes even at 2 a.m! So, my man has got every reason to be concerned especially when the time is not 10 p.m yet! But he continued going forward anyway, hoping that the road leads to a U-turn or some other way, but there was no such thing. He went on and on and then got to the end of the road at which point there was no way forward. He parked the car and got out. Putting his hand over the pocket on the right side of his trouser feeling for his lighter, and, as usual, was about to find strength in one stick when he saw something that made him had a rethink.

There they are in their own company - Area boys of Lagos, simply known as Agberos. This Pride has deliberately pitched its lair at this point for the purpose of taking advantage of the unsuspecting. There they are with blood-red eyes in Black faces; breathe that smelled of a mixture of concentrated liquor and weed; notable scars all over; burnt teeth made so by constant fire and nicotine; and a distinguishing attitude.

Seeing this, he comported himself and, for the first time, rejected the idea of smoking; he decided to execute the idea that came to his mind. He went towards the Pride of Area Boys, raised a finger in a manner requesting that one of the boys give him a taste of the wrap of weed in his hand, the boy obliged. He collected the wrap, took two or more sips at it, and shook his head to allow it settle down. He handed back the item to the owner, thanked him for his generosity and tipped him a little amount. The boys, thinking he might have been one of them in the past were very cool with him. They asked him if he wanted some more wraps so they could help him get, but he told them that he was okay with the one he took. Then, they showed him the way to maneuver his car out of the place; he thanked them and left. Note that before that experience he has never tasted weed before, he only acted that by instinct, and that act was his saving grace.

Now, wisdom can be divided into four classes: Innate, Intellectual, demonic and Divine. Innate is inborn, inbred, natural endowments; Intellectual is acquired wisdom, that is, from studies in institutions, professional bodies, self-developmental engagements etc; demonic wisdom proceeds from the devil; and Divine wisdom is from God. I will leave you (readers) to categorize the wisdom in the above scenario as you deem fit. As for me, if not that I do not wish to be too hasty so as not to be guilty of blasphemy, I would have concluded that the wisdom displayed could have come from no other place except from above!

Faced with the same situation (God forbid!), if similar thought ever crosses my mind, I would have done likewise, and even a little more. I would have requested for the wrap like he did, take a long deep single sip at it, shake my head as if to allow the substance simmer down. Then, I will squat down for a moment - say 10 seconds, stand upright again, hand over the loaned wrap to the generous one and request for my own take-away pack. I will pay for the service and salute them in their customary way with two hands in the air, and take my leave. Leaving, I will walk straight to the car, instead of entering through the driver’s side, I will enter through the passenger’s side climbing over the Gear compartment to the driver’s seat, stretch my hand from this position to pull the door on the passenger’s side to a close. Then, I will start the ignition, put the car in reverse gear and slowly drive off in that state till they are out of sight; after then will I start looking for a way to turn the vehicle around to a normal position. By this act, they will be fully convinced that their therapy has had the desired effect on the beneficiary, and they will be glad about that. After all, as at that time, they, having had enough wraps earlier, are wont to see every upside-down thing as right-standing, and all of my acts especially one of driving in reverse mode would have been lauded by them all.

Wisdom, certainly, is a principal thing.