THE POT OF SOUP WAHALA --by Slick

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Sometimes as a writer, you decide to go spiritual in your articles; but then there are folks out there that think they know you or have seen things that you have done in your past and believe that you should not be an authority on any particular subject. Well, that’s a discussion for August.

First off, I would like to apologize for my sudden break in transmission; economy just get as e be. No electricity in addition to the heat that everyone is complaining about. Today, I would love to share an article on “LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOUR”. Hope you enjoy and learn from my experience.

When the word “Neighbour” comes to mind, we readily conclude that the word refers to people that live around us; in the same compound or vicinity and most of the times throw our relationship with these set into the bush (Not literally though!)

I woke up this morning suffering a headache, probably the after-math of a wild night, to hear the voices of two women screaming on the top of their voices. They lived in a building adjacent to my house, but I could hear their voices clearer than when one had headphones plugged in. Their noise aggravated my headache and then I thought I would just listen into their conversation to understand what the hullabaloo was about. Voila! It was about a pot of soup! Can you believe it? A POT OF SOUP. Now read carefully and let your imaginations come alive.

These women lived in a building that hosted one-room apartments where some of the occupants shared the same kitchen and bathroom. That one we colloquially call “Face Me, I Slap you”. One of the women had apparently woken up early to warm some left over soup for breakfast. She left the soup on the stove to warm and headed off to carry out her other morning chores. The other woman walked into the kitchen and was doing her duties and could smell the soup on the stove burning away but she decided to play blind to what was going on. The owner of the pot of soup returned to a completely burnt pot of soup and thus resulted in the noise I was hearing. It was a good source of inspiration for writing this piece because as a typical Nigerian, I could draw various questions and inferences from the scene I had eavesdropped on.

1    1.      Did they have a prior score to settle?

2    2.     What was the behavioural pattern of the owner of the pot of soup?

3    3.    Was the other woman just avoiding trouble?

4    4.    Why did the woman abandon her pot for something else?

5    5.     Who had greater fault?

You know a lot of stuff goes on when you live in a place like that. I don live for there before so I can give you the low down on how it goes down there. Jesus taught us to love our neighbours as ourselves, or as we hear it; “Do it unto to others as you want it done to you”.

“Madam, why you go do like say you no smell as the pot of soup dey burn? The owner of the soup repeatedly asked. I could hear the pain in her voice; probably it was for breakfast. And the only response she got was, “Wetin concern my life for inside”

Does the world have to go on with us not paying less attention to events around us except for those that concern us directly? And then we lift our dirty hands in worship to a God that showed us so much love even to the point of sending His son to die for us. We read about heroes that died for the love they had for our nation and people around them. Remember, that you have not started living if you do not break your selfish routine and live for others sometimes. Ehen! Be quick to say that I do not know what I am talking about, well it’s either the hangover playing mind tricks with my head or I am actually passing a message to your conscience. The world can get better with a simple act of love and care. Do not wait till it’s Christmas... As for the noisy women, I don’t know jor. That would be all for now.