First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
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In the song ‘Suffering and Smiling’, the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti sang “everyday na the same thing”.
This kind of turn of phrase is usually reserved for the geniuses. Superficially it appears insignificant but on deeper reflection one sees that the status quo of any family or nation can only be maintained by daily actions. (As the Warri adage goes – do anyhow, you go see anyhow).
In places where daily actions do not exist, even the desirable things change slowly till they fade away.
This year I have run every day. Every single day and that includes rainy, sunny, windy and cold days. Rather than pat myself on the back as the year approaches the end, I began to see that running daily had less to do with me than it had to do with the society I lived in and the family with which I lived.
If there was a war or civil disturbance on the streets, then running on the streets will not be a hobby but perhaps a life preserving skill in the face of an advancing threat. Beyond peace in society, the health within the immediate family has an impact on working towards personal goals. A loved one critically ill in hospital would alter the daily to do list. The more I look at it, I am full of gratitude for the life I have. My health is also a blessing that enables me do the boring task of running daily.
The daily activities are most important. Doing the same routine however is classed as boring, especially by the young. They wake up in the same bed, brush their teeth with the same boring toothpaste (yet to find any youngster who changes their toothpaste brand daily for the sake of spicing things up), then it’s off to eat the boring cereal (they call it favourite cereal) drinking the same milk and breathing on the same old boring air, and next minute they tell you they are bored.
Of course they are bored. Life is all about doing the monotonous daily. Even the “exciting” film, sport and music stars rehearse so long that none of their fans would be able to spend just one session of practice with them. Monotony is where the money is.
We change the words we use to describe the same thing to suit our purposes at the time. The violinist who practises for eight hours straight is called disciplined and the footballer who spends all day on the soccer pitch practising his free kicks is a perfectionist dedicated to being the best he can be for the team. The ones obsessed with great performance are hailed when they entertain us but as soon as the spot light is turned on us to do the daily actions that will produce in us an improved version of ourselves, the excuses start to flow.
Getting weary of repetition is a strange psychological phenomenon. Chewing gum is the most monotonous things one could do, yet some can do it for hours. They might break the tedious mastication by blowing a bubble but it is a strange kind of nutrition. Eating but getting no nutrients yet people do it. Some are even equipped to chew gum daily. They have hidden supplies in the car, all their bags, in the office and bed side drawers and even in the bathroom cabinet. Hey, they even offer their gum to passers-by. The same applies to cigarette smokers. The routine is set in stone and they just keep on smoking. They acquire a name, ‘smoker’ and must put that status on forms.
A name and a daily habit equal a reputation. And that brings us to the marital vows. The rings are permanent and the vows are to be kept daily. There are no vow free days when you get exempted on the grounds of boredom. Names and titles are permanent. The new title and a daily habit soon make you a professional.
I have been called Doctor since 1987 and the title affects my choice of reading materials and response to various scenarios. If someone is found in a pool of blood with a knife sticking out of their back, while the uninitiated scream their heads off, I will feel for a pulse and act according. The difference is just the daily training in health care provision. Everyday na the same thing.
I have looked all around me and found that all the admirable exploits have been achieved by people with titles who worked daily at their tasks. They might change the intensity of their work from day to day and might vary it from the physical to the theoretical from week to week but everyday action is a prerequisite.
The soldiers train daily and are not civilians and don’t eat like civilians. They also don’t discuss classified information on social media. They keep their mouths in check daily. Think of any worthwhile activity and the same rules apply. Some love to quote rest days.
Night time sleep is where the rest is obtained. It seems odd to sleep all night, get up and rest.
