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MY REAL GHETTO STORY (3)
... continued from 2
Growing up, I had my fears of adulthood. Many times, I would muse within me, inwardly expressing my wish of being forever young. One of the things I feared was to venture into certain things. Aside the fact that I passionately hated insincerity, one of the things I considered synonymous with it was politics.
Why the phobia? I grew up in an environment where politics was reserved for "the bad people". This mentality emanated from the simple description of the game. Just like the most popular elementary simple sentence "Okon is a boy", politics had its own simple description: "a dirty game". We were also told that participants have got to do despicable stuffs to get atop.
As I joined student unionism in school, I got to know of a near soothing balm for my fears; it was the "no permanent friend, and no permanent enemy" axiom. Even with that, I had vowed never to be a politician because it had already been registered in my subconscious that it wasn't a godly venture. Besides, I had envisioned my prospect by penning down my futuristic plans. I guess one would not always get what they desire... it's the ways of the world. Or maybe I should comfort myself with the religious quote: "man proposes; God disposes". At this point, situation had made me dump some ethics. I am now on the streets, trying to survive, therefore anything goes.
In my quest of joining politics, I was told I could either join through the hard way or the corporate way. By the former, I mean using thuggery as a direct route, and by the later, going through mentorship. They said a rookie had to attach with someone of high standard and experience, who is often described as "the godfather", "mentor", "master", or "boss".
Talking about a political boss, I remember that my friend "Nukak" had one who was virtually thinking for him. He had no say of his own... anyway, he told me he was keeping the first law of power: "don't cross the boss". For me, I saw such relationship as slavery. Well, he had another word for it...he called it LOYALTY. Worse as I thought, Nukak told me that aside its denotative meaning, loyalty has a political definition..."allowing your master to cheat on you without complaining". Yea, that definition was actually telling on him...no voice of his own; no decision; no choice; his boss' WILL supercedes his own interests no matter how detrimental.
After carefully thinking within me, I was sad for one reason. I don't think I will survive this... It's disappointing! I happen to be an eloquent and vocal type. How will I be able to manage my new found quest? This is a big burden. If I am hoping to succeed, it is either I behave like an aboriginal roman while in Rome or I stick to my ablution kettle like it's no man's business.
Time travels...
My first year experience in politics was not so palatable. It wasn't possible for me to start "reaping" immediately, so I became a bad number 4 as in the game of soccer... cleaning all the messes without that heroic acknowledgement with the hope of betterment...
Do you think this is the best bet for me? I hope to go deeper and deeper after all, apart from soccer and other sports, politics in Nigeria is the most lucrative venture. During one of the elections, I witnessed an insignificant fellow being paid a whopping ten million naira plus a brand new car just to cross carpet to another party. Fact is that politics in our clime is like a war situation where everything is fair.
Will my time come?
Wetin dey una mind? Will this new venture be profitable? I'm personally keeping my fingers crossed while hoping for something palatable.
Unlike the teaching and gardener jobs, I feel I will be here for a long time as I patiently sow to reap in joy. Well, let me not be so sure... isn't it said that no one knows tomorrow?
My name is Ntemuse...and my story never ends.
© Joshua Books
Growing up, I had my fears of adulthood. Many times, I would muse within me, inwardly expressing my wish of being forever young. One of the things I feared was to venture into certain things. Aside the fact that I passionately hated insincerity, one of the things I considered synonymous with it was politics.
Why the phobia? I grew up in an environment where politics was reserved for "the bad people". This mentality emanated from the simple description of the game. Just like the most popular elementary simple sentence "Okon is a boy", politics had its own simple description: "a dirty game". We were also told that participants have got to do despicable stuffs to get atop.
As I joined student unionism in school, I got to know of a near soothing balm for my fears; it was the "no permanent friend, and no permanent enemy" axiom. Even with that, I had vowed never to be a politician because it had already been registered in my subconscious that it wasn't a godly venture. Besides, I had envisioned my prospect by penning down my futuristic plans. I guess one would not always get what they desire... it's the ways of the world. Or maybe I should comfort myself with the religious quote: "man proposes; God disposes". At this point, situation had made me dump some ethics. I am now on the streets, trying to survive, therefore anything goes.
In my quest of joining politics, I was told I could either join through the hard way or the corporate way. By the former, I mean using thuggery as a direct route, and by the later, going through mentorship. They said a rookie had to attach with someone of high standard and experience, who is often described as "the godfather", "mentor", "master", or "boss".
Talking about a political boss, I remember that my friend "Nukak" had one who was virtually thinking for him. He had no say of his own... anyway, he told me he was keeping the first law of power: "don't cross the boss". For me, I saw such relationship as slavery. Well, he had another word for it...he called it LOYALTY. Worse as I thought, Nukak told me that aside its denotative meaning, loyalty has a political definition..."allowing your master to cheat on you without complaining". Yea, that definition was actually telling on him...no voice of his own; no decision; no choice; his boss' WILL supercedes his own interests no matter how detrimental.
After carefully thinking within me, I was sad for one reason. I don't think I will survive this... It's disappointing! I happen to be an eloquent and vocal type. How will I be able to manage my new found quest? This is a big burden. If I am hoping to succeed, it is either I behave like an aboriginal roman while in Rome or I stick to my ablution kettle like it's no man's business.
Time travels...
My first year experience in politics was not so palatable. It wasn't possible for me to start "reaping" immediately, so I became a bad number 4 as in the game of soccer... cleaning all the messes without that heroic acknowledgement with the hope of betterment...
Do you think this is the best bet for me? I hope to go deeper and deeper after all, apart from soccer and other sports, politics in Nigeria is the most lucrative venture. During one of the elections, I witnessed an insignificant fellow being paid a whopping ten million naira plus a brand new car just to cross carpet to another party. Fact is that politics in our clime is like a war situation where everything is fair.
Will my time come?
Wetin dey una mind? Will this new venture be profitable? I'm personally keeping my fingers crossed while hoping for something palatable.
Unlike the teaching and gardener jobs, I feel I will be here for a long time as I patiently sow to reap in joy. Well, let me not be so sure... isn't it said that no one knows tomorrow?
My name is Ntemuse...and my story never ends.
© Joshua Books
