By
Obododimma Oha
A friend shared this with me on WhatsApp :
*A Teacher wrote on the board,*
*36x + yx, 2/3yx + 3x (66y + 12x).b =0*
*He turned to Agabus and said, "Solve the problem."*
*Agabus picked the duster, cleaned the board and said, "Problem solved!*
*Some of our lives problems require such solutions.*
*Just clean it off and move on.*
*Someone wants to give you a naughty problem, just clean it off your head and move on.*
*Someone comes with a demoralizing and discouraging news to spoil your day, just clean up your mind and move on.*
*Someone just picking up useless quarrel with you because you are doing something constructive, just clean it up and move on.*
*Someone wants to obstruct your move to success just brush them aside and focus on your goal.*
*Take the duster this day and clean up every rubbish from your heart; clean up anger, clean up petty jealousy, clean up bickering, clean up hatred, clean up covetousness, clean up evil thoughts and you will discover that your problems will be solved.*
_*Be Positive Enjoy Life 💖*_
I wish I knew its author. I also wish I knew Agabus. I will invite him to become my friend on Facebook and also shake his hands. He's my man.
One glaring fact was that what the teacher expected was not what he got. He expected to see Agabus wrestle with the Mathematics problem. But Agabus wiped what the teacher wrote! Unusual problems and unusual solutions!
Further, Agabus. Was he asking for strokes of the cane for being untraditional, for the Mathematics class is not a pulpit or where he could give a motivational talk. So, this wiping! Hymn. He was just asking for his buttocks to be "wiped," if he was somewhere in Africa.
Somebody could even argue that Agabus was merely running away from the problem, replacing discourse with discourse. Wiping the board does not mean that the Mathematics problem has been solved. If it is beyond solution, then we should be told.
This takes me to a development that I think that Nigerian academics should seriously think about. If one gets to a department in a higher institution, almost every member of staff is a pastor or an imam. People can be genuinely religious and take their religious vows, and let us see this reflect on the way they do their work, not the practice of shouting at students, doing the work casually, then, vanishing to pray. Not fakery and manipulation. Is somebody trying to run away from something?
I am, therefore, saying that members of staff can be genuine pastors or imams somewhere. The job will benefit from it immensely. Not dabbling into religiosity to force the voice of a human being to be the voice of God. Or, doing the job casually and expecting to be excused on religious grounds. No.
So, Agabus, if he is a Nigerian, he should let us wrestle with that Mathematics problems and then listen later to his motivational talk. His motivational talk about keeping away from problems is still useful. But there is time for everything. There is time for Mathematical nonsense and there is time for motivational sense.
I said earlier that Agabus is my man. I am not against his model of life. In fact, he is theorizing interestingly about avoidance strategy. He is saying that we can pretend that the problems are not there, that herdsmen can shoot several and nobody should be arrested for it and we can borrow trillions to fund railways to our villages. Agabus is really man. Avoidance is better than bloody wrestling.
Agabus does not want us to plunge into what would disturb our brains. He wants us to be spared that mental suffering. We are here to feel good, to listen to amazing rhetoric and hope to be like Cicero and Socrates. Agabus is a tranquilizer.
Agabus has some good points about one not allowing oneself to be slowed down with fights, but overlooks the fact that little fights brushed away can lead to bigger conflicts. It is even better to attend to the little fights properly and in good time before they lead to bigger ones. The Agabus Option, therefore, needs more reflection and maybe another wiping is required.
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