After my Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) - I still haven't figured out the use of the certificate, I had the longest holiday I can remember, it lasted for about three months or thereabout.
During that holiday, something happened. On a faithful day, me and Grace decided to find the English word for ‘mess’ or ‘pollute’ (if you're reading this and you're not a Nigerian, the words do not carry their literal meaning in this text).
It will be expected that I should had known or better still, that my partner knows - she was older so yes.
What did we do in our quest for knowledge? In contrast with kids of this dispensation around my locality, we had limited sources of information then so we relied more on those who were older. What we then did was the expected, we consulted an oracle - our older brother Joseph. We had so much confidence and trust in him that I took what he said to be factual. He beared the street name ‘Linguist Sanctum’ - how he got the name I do not know, but I think the name was as a result of his use of strange vocabularies. He studied English language at a college I later attended. Now you get why we trusted him.
Linguist Sanctum told us that the English word for ‘mess’ or ‘pollute’ was ‘goof’. Goof! Ladies and gentlemen he lied to us.
For crying out loud, why goof as against the correct word which is ‘fart’ . Why he decided to misinform us is still unknown to me till this day.
But what have I learnt;
Trust
Information or misinformation is built of the solid foundation of 'Trust'.
It is on trust that we believe what our parents tell us. It is on trust that we accept what our siblings, our teachers (or instructors), our religious leaders or people we believe to be an authority tell us. It is on trust that you're agreeing to read this to the end and it is also on trust that we sometimes get misinformed.
We trusted him as an authority, we trusted him not just on the account that he was older than us. We gave all our trust because he was proficient in the use of English - he studied it and he made sure to always prove that he did in his usage.
You see, the thing about trust is it gives room for either information or misinformation - as it was in our case. Either way, you've got to trust at some point.
Earning your trust is what I am out for.
This single act of our ignorance taught me another lesson, regardless of trust, I should always;
Investigate
After that incident, it took a while before I realized what the word 'goof' actually meant.
During my senior secondary school days, I with some of my classmates, developed great interest in the dictionary. We searched for words and wrote them out.
We were on the hunt strictly for what you might term ‘big big grammers’. The goal was simple, we hoped to use new words found to insult ourselves with it, it was in that quest I discovered goof and realized that what was supposed to be a piece of information was in reality, a piece of insult from my older brother.
Ever since, I always sought my own truth. It is one thing to propose a truth to me, like I do with this publication here. It's another thing for me to receive it, trust me, I'll go and seek it out myself.
Just like Galileo Galilee said,
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered. The point is to discover them. That takes investigation.”
Discover your truth(s) like I always do.
After I discovered my truth, another lesson I learnt was to always;
Add Meat To My Skeleton(s)
It was John C. Maxwell who said,
“Most good ideas are like skeletons. They provide good structure, but they need meat on their bones. They lack substance, and until they have it, they aren't that useful.”
Since that revelation, I made it a duty to collect valuable, factual and truthful information to add to my skeletons.
You see, what I share is a truth of mine - an idea I hold, a philosophy I practice or an experience that has shaped me. One way or another, I've re-evaluated, incubated my thoughts and gotten an illumination from it.
The world has never been more connected than it is now. Every piece of information that we need is at our finger tips. Everything is one click of a keyboard away from us, utilize this single option and always add meats to your skeletons.
Once I've gotten enough meat on my skeletons, I practice my next lesson learnt which is to;
Share
A wise man once said, “your book might be the missing link to someone's puzzle.”
This is no book but it serves just the same purpose.
I share this with you with the hope and believe that there'll be a 'cross propagation and cross pollination' of ideas. That you're able to leave HERE and get THERE.
Unlike Linguist Sanctum with whom I've still got a bone to bury with, I write these things hoping that you find a new course of action or that I am able to help strengthen a resolve of yours, either way, I share so we become better - both of us.
What I might share here will not necessarily be a truth to you, be kind to share with me what your thoughts, opinions and ideas are. It is said that it takes two to tango, I am only but a piece - together we make a whole.
I still haven't settled the score with Linguist Sanctum, maybe one day we will.
Mr Joseph is a father of two now, a plot twist, I was a teacher to his first born child - maybe I should had returned the kind favour he did us, right?
I didn't cause I'm a torch bearer to changing narratives.
Image source: Photo by Linus Sandvide on Unsplash