First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
I was going through some blood results at work the other day (I am a General Practitioner) and had skipped through a few normal results when it occurred to me that I gave no thought to the normal results.
The abnormal tests results got the juices flowing. You wondered why and made plans for what to do next, and rightly so.
Spending long hours looking for the abnormal results, abnormal gaits or physiological indices sharpens the senses. To recognise the abnormal one must be very familiar with the normal. That way the abnormal sticks out like a sore big toe.
The laboratories usually put a red exclamation mark next to abnormal results to aid the health professional going through a lot of test results. Red means danger. There are grave implications in missing an abnormal test result so a lot of concentration is put into reviewing test results.
In everyday life, the abnormal makes the news. Trains could run on time for a hundred years and no one takes notice until one turns up 10 minutes late. Once we get what we want consistently we gradually begin to take things for granted. That is why when you ask certain folk to tell you a few things that are going well for them they say “nothing”.
Ask what is not working and the floodgates crash open.
Of course, so many things need to be working right before you can stand and have a conversation ranging from a perfectly functioning mind to having adequate nutrition. However, many take health for granted till they fall ill.
It’s a bit like living next to a busy train track or airport. In the first month, the sound of a passing train or plane induces spasms in the body due to the startling nature of the sonic onslaught. With time, the body learns to damp out the stimuli and reactions lessen till they varnish completely. Months later, the only reminder of the train track comes when visitors jump in fright when a train passes.
You see this everywhere, even in relationships. The guy besotted with a lady intentionally slows down when walking so that she goes through the door first and he gets an eyeful of her figure. She calls him a perfect gentleman while he marvels at her shape. Goodbyes are long and lingering affairs as the best thing in his life is to watch her walk away while he just stands there waving and admiring. Alas, he soon gets used to the figure and goes through doors ahead of her sometimes forgetting to hold the door open. Goodbyes become brisk affairs without the drama of young hot love. She says, “he has changed” and he says, “she has gained weight”. But what really happened is that the stimuli have lost their power to excite and the “figure” is now taken for granted.
Those who have had nice luxury items like the Range Rover Sports know how it intoxicates for the first few weeks and soon becomes mundane. Next you wish for a private jet and feel like a failure when sat at the table with PJ owners.
You have heard the terms, ordinary, does not stand out, routine, nothing to write home about, run-of-the mill and as we say in Nigeria just there.
Situations and people so mundane they become invisible. The diligent gateman always on time to open the gate and shut it behind you soon blends in with the background as does the cleaner who makes sure the work environment is spotless.
To have just one good day needs thousands of people doing their job right. The gasman, the water engineer, the electricity technicians and the ever-present radio and television staff, the list is endless. We are surrounded by people successfully doing their jobs and making our lives possible but they can all fit into the “nothing to write home about” category if we do not intentionally notice these “invisible people”.
We need to take time out to search out what are the things that hold society together. What sacrifices by family members around us make our life possible? The answers will help bring out the gratitude within.
A life without acknowledgement of the things we are grateful for can produce sadness as the burden of permanent desires for things out of reach at the present time sets in.
Appreciating the normalities in our lives can be enriching. Let’s not take anything for granted even the ground beneath our feet.
