TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Taiwo Emmanuel Olusola - My Blog
Taiwo Emmanuel Olusola - My Blog


THE ANIMAL IN YOU- part one
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Imagine someone walking up to you, scrutinizing you from head to toe. And the next thing that comes out of his mouth is: You are an animal! What would you do?

Having pictured the scenario myself, I figured out these possible reactions:

· A slap
· A word battle
· A hiss and eyeing
· A fight
· A look of surprise
· A smile/ laughter (rare)
· Ignore
· A thank you
Depending on your mood and your relationship with the person. But one thing is certain, a larger percentage of people would not take it lightly with the initiator. This is because most people consider it to be an insult. I had not really taken time to ponder on the statement even though I had always heard it until... One day I decided to voraciously devour my plate of rice with my hands not waiting for my mouth to swallow its content before I scooped more into it. I was so famished and using the spoon was like a limitation to what my throat could allow. A friend of mine walked into my room and saw me in that abnormal state. He shook his head and said, “Taiwo, you are an animal”. I paused for a second and looked at him. I was thinking of what to say to him but he didn't wait to get his reply before he vanished.
When I finished eating and my hunger had retreated, I got back to my senses. Then I asked myself a question: Why would Lekan call me an animal? Lekan who would always want to have a taste of everything he sees. He didn't ask to join in; instead he called me an animal. It was then it occurred to me that at that moment I was exhibiting one of the characteristics of an animal and he was not ready to be part of it.

The above instance would of course give us an impression that to be called an animal, it must be negative. Is it? For someone to have called you an animal, there must have been something he saw in you- WHAT?

A snake slithered into my landlord's sitting room a certain afternoon and everybody stampeded out of the house. I strutted into the room with a stick and rendered the snake feeble by hitting it slightly. I picked it up and slipped it into a transparent bottle. One of the guys around looked at me and called me an animal. This revealed another aspect, that to be called an animal would not necessarily mean negative.

So, the question is : Who really is an animal?
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines animal as:
1. A creature that is not a bird, a fish, a reptile, an insect or a human being.
With this definition, even those things we call animals like lizard, crocodile, vulture, cockroach, shark etc are not qualified.
2. Any living being that is not a plant or a human.
Here, man is disqualified from this definition as it was in the first definition.
3. Any living creature including human beings.
Finally, man becomes qualified.
4. According to Wikipedia, the word animal is gotten from the Latin word animale, neuter of animalis and derived from anima meaning vital breath or soul. In everyday colloquial useage, the word usually refers to non human animals. The biological definition of the word refers to all members of the Animalia kingdom, so when it is used in the biological context, human beings are included. Man has been proven to be an animal because he shares some characteristics closely with the non human animals than plants which are also living things i.e. growth, excretion, irritability, reproduction, nutrition, respiration, movement and death. However, these characteristics are voluntary to animals rather than to plants. Let us pick a dog as an example:
· Dogs grow
· Dogs excrete
· Dogs are irritated
· Dogs reproduce
· Dogs breathe
· Dogs move
· Dogs die
But man has been described as a higher animals because even though he shares some characteristics with them, he does not exemplify them in the same manner. Man is made up of the spirit, the soul and the body.
· The spirit is made in the image of God and those that would worship him would do so in spirit.
· The soul is the mind which is the seat of knowledge. It serves as a link between the spirit and the body.
· The body is now the container that harbours the spirit and the soul.
The difference therefore between man and other lower animals is that man is made up of the spirit, soul and body while lower animals are made up of body, life and brain needed for their existence. That is why as tiny as the mosquito is, it knows the difference between the window leading to a room and the window leading to the kitchen.

So, even though both man and the other animals grow, man could control who he grows into.
Though both excrete, man knows where to defaecate and urinate.
Though both are irritated, man knows how to control his anger.
Though both reproduce, man does it in more civilized manner.
Though both feed, man watches what he eats and how he eats.
Though both breathe, man does it in more steady way.
Though both move, man walks on his two legs (not limbs)
Though both die, man grows older and he is buried honourably.
But you would agree with me that these things that differentiate man from lower animals are things that some higher animals exhibit (negative this time around). That is why they cannot but be called animals for the negative reasons

I was going to the island one day, then I saw some men squatting at the brick edge of the sea. I wondered what they were doing there; because I felt it was dangerous. I asked the person sitting next to me and he told me they were doing the major i.e. defaecating. If such people are called animal, they should take no offence. They might want to blame their action on the government or on the poor structure of Lagos Island, but the fact remains that the sea is not a lavatory.

Some shameless men have also formed the habit of bringing out their rods of reproduction anywhere to urinate. It is even more dis-reputing for the women folk. The question to ask yourself is: If you were the President of the country, would you spread your legs or remove your rod by the fence to urinate? Like I wrote in one of my poems “The Hunter's Whistle”

Encompass not a man
that runs through the city naked
with his manhood dangling
like a suspended serpent on a spiky tree
Was he not warned?
Yet he disregards
Treats with disparagement
The earth with his acidic urine
Now the snake summoned by my whistle
Has not only kissed his heel
But has also pecked his “penisic” helmet”
No offence if you are called an animal. Some lower animals have therefore been honoured with human comparison in the negative. Some of them are:
· Pig - Dirtiness
· Goat- Promiscuity and Body Odour
He-goat) / Stubbornness
· Snail- Sluggishness
· Peacock- Pride
· Gorilla- Hot-temperedness
· Monkey- Mischief
· Bat- Blood thirsty person
· Scorpion- Unfriendly friend
· Mouse- Body odour
· Fowls- Unruliness
· Cat- Laziness, Pretence
· Parrot- Talkativeness
· Dog- Gluttony
Bitch Promiscuity
and many more.
However, there are some characteristics in the lower animals which should be coveted and exhibited. To have an inevitable success in whatever we do, we need to showcase these qualities. What determines whether being called an animal is an insult is what you were doing as at the moment the person called you an animal.

Moreover, if for instance someone called you a pig because you are dirty, I still don't see it as an insult. It is a fact! What you need to do is, sit down and think. God recognizes that there are lots of things we can learn from animals. In that way he also refers to us as animals. We see in the book of the beginning, it is the same commandment he gave to the animals that he gave to us. He said we should both be fruitful and multiply. The difference is that because we are made in his image and likeness (spirit); and we have a soul and body, we should have dominion over the lower animals.

In the book of wisdom, Solomon also recognizes this fact. He said:
The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.
The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make their homes in the rock.
Invariably, Solomon is saying that those that exhibit that quality of ants are animals.
Ants are people; people are ants
Conies are folk; folk are conies.

All through the book of instructions, we keep seeing statements like:
…like sheep in his pasture
…like a lion
…like an adder
…like a dove
…like a wolf etc

So, in this chapter we have been able to establish that we are animals. Also, we have been able to conclude that the statement: You are an animal, is relative. The determinant factor whether it is an insult or a compliment is the inherent characteristics, attitudes, habits or qualities which are exhibited at the moment you were called an animal.

February 10, 2009 | 1:57 AM Comments  0 comments



THE LAND IS GREEN (NIGERIA)
Related to country: Nigeria

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Oh the land is green
Its bounteousness thus dissolves my spleen
When upon my chagrin
Nature offers his shoulders for me to lean

Oh the land is green
Each morning of greenness offers me a gleam
And the sun never ceases to radiate my dream
Oh my land is a Crème de la crème

Oh the land is green
When my neighbours cry of famine
Because harvest has been infested by Vermin
I still smile at the produce of my farming
Indeed there is no cause for crying


Oh the land is green
The sun shines in summer
The harmattan doesn’t rebel against winter
And the rain not at loggerhead with the farmer
I will seek no asylum because my land is safer
And I don’t live in constant fear of disaster
Oh the land is green!
The land is green!
The land is green!

January 22, 2009 | 4:43 AM Comments  1 comments





Taiwo Emmanuel Olusola's Profile


Latest Posts
THE ANIMAL IN YOU-...
THE LAND IS GREEN...

Monthly Archive
January 2009
February 2009

Change Language


Tags Archive
beingproudofyourcountry learningfromanimals

Filter By Type
Travel
Topics


2619 views
Important Disclaimer