Night before i had something weird for dinner, I am the typical 9 – 5 Lagos “slave” worker, hoping to get at the other end of capitalism soon though.
So yes i was talking of the night before today, got home extra tired after a long day at work, found my way to the kitchen, my sister cooking yam, my kid bro making noodles. take a moment to imagine both as a meal. . . you done? Oh yes exactly, that’s what i had for dinner.
As soon as dinner was hurriedly eaten, i took my daily dose of moduretic and immediately i was fast asleep. Unfortunately, i was too tired to plug my phone to the charger, so it was dead before morning, which meant there was no alarm to wake me up. My normal wake up time is 5am, i woke up at about 10 minutes past 5am.
It was after i woke up i remembered: Oh, no staff bus today, then i told myself, ok i’ll pick a car at home but no money for fuel. I finally decided to go by public transport.
Not to bore you further with my stories, I’m sure some of you are already wondering what exactly this has to do with anger, but to me it’s like a connection, like if i do not start the way i started, I . . . . . never mind.
I got to Obalende, and was about to board a bus to lekki, a bus came around and there were just four spaces left. as a sharp Lagos boy, i immediately rushed in and sat in one of the spaces. There three more spaces left, and they were all at the back. Three guys (brothers i guess), not dressed like they were on that 9 – 5 hustle wanted to board the bus, so also a dude all suited up with a bag, hurrying to work.
The most senior of the three boys stood at the entrance for his brothers to go in. “brother A” went in, as “Brother B” was about going in, the working class dude felt cheated and was about to tussle with him. The most senior of the brothers then told “Brother B” and i quote “fi bobo yi le ki o wole jare, mo sha ti duro senu ona fun e” meaning “leave this guy alone and enter, I have already blocked the entrance for you”. Brother B looking like he wanted trouble had to obey his Senior brother and went in. The senior brother later joined in the bus also after his two brothers. “Brother B” who was inside then shouted at the working class dude when the bus was about to move, saying “Iwo ko ni da fun iyalaya e” raining abuses on him.
The working class dude, who already felt cheated, got more angered but unfortunately couldn’t control his anger. He immediately gave the senior brother who was sitting close to the window (easy for him to reach than Brother B who insulted him) a big blow and the eye became big instantly. At this point, Brother A also got angered and decided to make his way down to meet the working class dude, off course Brother B followed. The senior brother who was hit in the face surprisingly tried to stop them, but the two brothers refused.
They got down, and immediately the working class dude knew there was trouble, so he began to beg. It was too late, as within 10 seconds, he was covered with blood. At that point, the senior brother had to go down yelling at the brothers. Unfortunately for the three brothers (The senior one especially), a police van passing by stopped to rescue the working class dude, and off course the three brothers got the beating of their lives. The more they tried to explain what happened, the more they got beaten and had some stuff sprayed in their eyes.
In the end, the working class dude got beaten, clothes ripped, all dripping blood, the three brothers got beaten and taken off by the police, all because of what? Anger and the lack of control for it. They all let their anger do the thinking instead of their brain and landed in situations they didn’t plan for.
Moral of the story, like my mum will always tell me “Tosin the moment you get angry by a situation, just walk away“. At the moment it might feel like you’ve lost and allowed yourself get cheated, but life examples have shown that actions carried out when angry are always regretted.
