Virtuously Bizarre, I Think

At the risk of coming across as one who’s gone off his rockers, I’d like us to consider for just a moment the notable virtues of the man I saw visiting the bank in stripy boxer shorts. True, say “bizarre and strange” and I would totally agree with you, but let’s not rush too quickly into conclusions and think this man is nothing else but a wacky fellow. In my own opinion, I think he’s a very rational man and I dare say, wise, too.

It all happened last Thursday, at lunchtime, when I went to the bank to use the cash machine. It was while I was waiting my turn that I had the pleasure of seeing this spectacle of a man: black as coal, tall as an iroko and wide as ehh...I can’t really say – anyway, he was a big, big, full-grown man. He was a man in a gray long sleeve shirt and of course, a red and white striped boxers. Undoubtedly, he was the most interesting sight I had seen that dreary Thursday.

Naturally, to all that saw him that day, he may have appeared a mad man.  For to walk into a banking place situated in a bona fide urban area like Alagomeji, wearing what seems to be his favourite boxers (just guessing), is nothing short of lunacy. But what does it matter, especially when there’s a great chance of a good reason behind his action? By merely looking at his form and gait, you could tell there was something driving him. Something we might never know except he told us himself.

However, on this occasion, there was no way under heaven I would have asked him why a seemingly sane man as he would go outdoors in that fashion. No way I’d risk an insult. Nevertheless, with keen observant eyes anyone could tell he was at least driven by a touch of purpose, thus, the reason I admire him.

With stern dark eyes, he was a man fixed on a goal, looking straight ahead, looking neither left nor right. He wasn’t bothered by the eyes all around him. There consternation was none of his business. All that mattered to him was the task of withdrawing some money. That was his only concern.

And by the manner in which he ignored the world around him, he showed nothing but sheer mettle. He showed the way we ought all to carry ourselves in whatever we did that mattered to us. He demonstrated focus by paying needless attention to what the world might think about his dressing - a thing of lesser importance. To him, all that counted was the achieving of his goal. For that, he couldn't have had any reason whatsoever for embarrassments.

Now, why the man went out scantily clad might be a question for debate. But why should anyone even bother. Like the proverbial frog, I don’t think the man hopped in broad daylight for no justifiable reason. At the time I watched him, I wasn’t so much concerned about his dressing (though I was well taken aback by it) as I was about the way he carried himself. He carried himself without concern for anything but his business - the business of getting that cash. Don’t get me wrong, his actions were indeed out of the ordinary. But who says there’s nothing to learn from even the most outlandish of things.  Who says?






*Cartoon by Osazee Igbinosun