By
Obododimma Oha
One terrible tendency that one finds here and there these days is called "imetarị ihe" (doing just anything that one likes). There are some trajectories:
(1) doing just anything that one feels like doing.
(2) doing just anything anyhow.
(3) objecting to or resisting corrections.
(4) not making distinctions in looking at people and things.
Life is not anything that one likes. There are acceptable and unacceptable things. Having life skills requires mastering the acceptable and the unacceptable. "Imetarị ihe" makes one despicable and evil. It has punishments, too, both in this life and the life to come, as explained in Igbo life and culture. It leads to "imelu ihe" (committing a serious offence) that even offends the spiritworld.
"Imetari ihe" means thoughtlessness or that one does not think.
"Imetarị ihe" means doing things without asking questions. But the Igbo in their wisdom say: "Ajụghị ajụ eri na-eweta arịaghị arịa a nwụa" (Eating without asking questions leads to dying without falling sick). Eating without asking questions is more than a show of confidence. Nigerians commonly refer to that attitude as "I-don't-care." It is just more than arrogance. It is silly life.
"Imetarị ihe" may be cultural. What is tolerated in one culture may be very strange in another. I know a culture where a person would see people eating and just wash his or her hands and join without waiting to be invited! In some others, the new arrival may not even wash hands. Joining is viewed as an innocent demonstration of goodwill and commendation of those eating.
But joining amounts to "imetarị ihe." Assuming it's a ritual meal, an initiation, an irreversible, ceremonial bonding after which all participants would die? Then, one has included oneself in error but cannot pull out! The person joining just has to think!
Now, let us examine more closely the tendency to do just anything that one feels like doing. That means that the doer is the one to determine what should be done. Dangerous. Very. It means being the only one to make choices. That also means being the only person who is correct. Others are wrong.
Just anything that one feels like doing? That means just anything is right or could be right. Very dangerous, too. Anything and everything cannot be right in every situation. It means wrong choices are right. It means anything goes!
Anything goes? "Fair is foul and foul is fair." Isn't that the sermon of the witches in William Shakespeare's *Macbeth*? If anything goes, then we should expect anything! There's a problem.
We cannot have a rational life that involves doing just anything one likes. It amounts to irrationality, ironically.
"Imetarị ihe" supports the idea that society exercises too much control over the human being and that we must free ourselves from societal control. That is not so. The human being desires to be a rebel, to live outside Garden of Eden. The human deserves to be put on check.
If people just do what they like, there would" be increased and uncontrollable conflict here and there. So, that check is necessary.
Sometimes, society may be wrong in its control and would make rebellion inevitable. Society may be doing something bad and would want us to follow. In that case, it is society that is doing just anything it likes and must be resisted.
But "imetarị ihe" is a sign of the reign of chaos. Is that where we are and is it desirable?
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