Humans are generously foolish.
When a king is old, when a king lives in the past, how can he be the hope for the future?
What is the significance of youth when a senile being steers the golden ship to the pirates?
When a king or a man has no memory of what he said or did yesterday, he will take everyone including his family and the opposition with him on the road to perdition.
The Kings Are Mad (Part 3)
Adeola Aderounmu
The Kings Are Mad (Part 3)
By Adeola Aderounmu
There was economic and social hardship in the land. This situation was not new. For many years the people have grumbled. The status quo since the colonial thugs left remain the same: the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer.
The foolish king from the south could not stop drowning himself in alcohol. He was incurable.
At his soberly moments, he always came to the realisation of the truth, still he could not indulge himself in it. When you have sold your soul, nothing else matters to you in public service than self-preservation.
After the town hall meeting, everyone was convinced one way or the other that change was the only way forward. The problem was that the people have become so disillusioned that they don’t know that the change can be structured and planned so that the generations unborn would be thankful when they show up on this stage called life.
The foolish king was so hated that a rebellion ensued. Not all rebellions are characterised by blood bath. Nocturnal meetings became rampant and there was confusion across the land. The voices of the discontent became louder.
The kingmakers and the county senate decided that they have had enough. So they plotted, thickly in favour of a change. It was not as if they meant well though. Their own very existence and in fact their survival too, are built on falsehood. They are the unrepentant masters of deceits.
This land remain cursed. It faltered a long time ago. It continues to bleed due to trachery and the wickedness of men and women. This is the land where crimes, hatred for fellow humans and corruption are directly proportional to religious sacrifices performed through prayers and fasting. What is the meaning of mental slavery again?
On the political fields, the unholy alliance that emerged was not new. It was the rearrangement and the realignment of the known criminals in public services. They met secretly but everything was public knowledge.
The king of Abuja, the foolish one of the southern pedigree who had surrounded himself with foreigners for his protection heard about the plots.
But there was not much he could do. No one is coming for him. A deposed king or a king about to be sent on exile need not go to war. This king was not a warrior. He can live and he won’t have to fight another day. He wouldn’t even spend the rest of his life in jail. He lives in a lawless land!
In Ebute-Meta the children were taught about real warriors. They ran so they could live to fight another day. They didn’t fight stupid wars because it’s useless to die for nothing if you live for something.
The people also said that power is like a sweet, strong wine. It is sweet and highly intoxicating. It brings you to life and to limelight.They also told stories of many men and women that lost the plots and died thinking that power was all that matters.
So when the elections came, all that the king from the south hoped for was a miracle. He was not worried about money. He, his wfe and his cronies have all stolen more than what will last them on earth even if they live forever.
All the kings in this land, past and present, are crazy. They have always stolen money and gold for their wives, children and family member and they continue to steal.
Humans are generously foolish.
They forget completely about their mortal existence. They even forget that they could sleep and never wake up on this side of the world again.
The wise men said that sleep is an endless journey until a poke of breath merge the soul with the flesh again. That is what the wise men called grace.
The foolish king was actually smart with one thing. He forgot many things in his life time but he didn’t forget that it would amount to foolishness to draw a knife when his adversary was already pointing a submachine gun at him.
One famous writer said that when your time for glory comes, everything including the universe will conspire in your favour and make it manifest.
What he didn’t add is that when you climb the tree beyond the branches, your whole life comes crashing down to earth especially if you misuderstood the significance of grace in your life.
But we all misunderstood a few things about life and in that sense we remain lesser than the gods and our ancestors. We have all fallen. But what defines us is how and where we stand when we rise again. The lessons we learnt modify us. Sadly, some never rise again.
In this land, the people never learnt and those who learn have become voiceless.
Both conventional wisdom and contemporary knowledge tell us for example that a people gets the leader or ruler they deserved.
The absence of good people and the conspiracy of the elites brought back to power a king of low mentality. He had always been one of them. He will always be one of the rulers who destroyed this land. No amount of lies can change historical facts.
It also amounts to foolishness to say one evil was less than the other.
The wicked rulers abandoned history in the school curriculum because they want to hide their madness from the future generation. It was a hard decision to bring back the king with low mentality. By himself, he failed a dozen times trying to force his mentality on the people.
What can the kingmakers do when the people are enslaved and the north held the land to ransome with several terrorist cells as weapons. What a truce? But we know that Bawa and his co-travellers have become one of the several monsters in the north. So, what a truce?
Sadly, there are no good people left in this land and the wise ones are allowed to languish away at various corners of the educational institutions.
When they are brought to politics, two possible fate await them. One, they are turned to criminals. Two, they are converted to political zombies.
The madness of the kings (and their subjects) means that there are great limitations to the use of knowledge.
The people have been deceived for the umpteenth time. In this land where the people ought to fight for their freedom, they succumbed once again to the deceit of the stupid cabal and brought a soldier to power.
One of the greatest musicians to walk the face of the earth, a late legend from the western part of the land phophesied many years ago in his songs. The people didn’t listen to him because he was ahead of his time. The people never believed in all the signs, even the obvious ones.
He said that the people will be suffering and smiling for as long as they allow themselves to be subjected to the manipulations of the wicked.
He prophesied about this time we live in now. He said a dictator of low intelligence would bring suffering to the land. The first time was against the will of the people. The second time was a manipulation of the people’s mind.
The gods are up to something and the wise men are quiet (justifiably) because they can’t stop the rewards of the wicked. They cannot cloth their shame.
The people of this land have short memories. They and the conquerors of the land patch the surface to hide the rot at the middle and the decay at the bottom.
When a king is old, when a king lives in the past, how can he be the hope for the future? What is the significance of youth when a senile being steers the golden ship to the pirates?
When a man has no memory of what he said or did yesterday, he will take everyone including his family and the opposition with him on the road to perdition.
(to be continued)
ref: Paulo Coelho (famous writer)
