WHO IS MAD?

   

  This morning as I was going to work, I saw this “mad” woman. She was so hungry that she walked up to a tea man (Mai Shayi) and gave him ten naira (#10) for a piece of bread. He looked at her at a glance and tried to shu! her away forever. She stood her ground with the money in her hand unshaken. When he could not bear the embarrassment any more, he gave her a piece of bread then. She received the bread and presented him the money, but he refused to take it. She got frustrated I guess and dropped the money on a concrete slab beside his service hut. Then his reasoning came alive to prompt his empathy…I couldn’t picture the rest of the drama because I advanced in my strides.

              As I walked on, I pondered deeply about the whole event that transpired. Then I asked myself: “Who is actually a mad man or woman?” Look at it; this “mad” woman knew that money is to be spent in the acquisition of needs and wants, if you should add, and instead of exhibiting the characteristics of a certified mad fella by going to the tea man and grab a loaf of bread from the table, she used some money she recognized as ten naira to get her need lawfully.

              I have come across ‘mad’ people in my life that truthfully did not sound mad at all. I conversed with them, and would swear they were not mad at all. I was giving one money some years back when I served in the east, at least once a month. One day I brought her the money like I was used to and she stopped and asked me, “Why do you give me money?” She said. I was like: Wow! This woman is not mad after all. So I said: “because I want you to buy things”. And she said: “Thank you” and I answered, “You are welcome”. I was moved to start helping them when one day still in the east, I went to the market to buy stuffs, and I saw this “mad” fella at the market buying stuffs too! I tell you, the trader took the cash without hesitation. Then I figured out how much right they have like we the “not mads”.  Countless experiences have I had with “mad” people that convinced me that it must have another definition of what they exhibit than be called madness. Thus, I have come to learn that as you see people in your eyes, so did you place them in your heart. Our actions stems from our hearts.

               Who is truly a mad fella then, is it not that fella that has lost his/her conscience? I am so sure that a mad fella is a thief; a robber, that one that divert funds put under his care to care for the masses; he that do no justice; he that has no truth upon his lips; he that curses; he that trouble others; he that does countless evil; he that’s got love for no one, and it is  also that man that does not fear and respect God – Yes, that is a mad fella.