TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

Growing up as a young lad in an average community, an erroneous paradigm was built and ingrained upon my faculty of reasoning about how names and titles were given and called in our community and Nigeria at large. I thought only, politicians, rich and some category of people in the society are called or given the title: “Honourable”, “His Excellency”, “Chief” and all their likes. Over the years, as I kept advancing in age, knowledge, wisdom and exposure, a conflict emerged as I came to realized that those given such prestigious and wonderful names and titles are nowhere close to deserving such names and titles.

Oh! How time flies. It’s been over two years now after graduating from school, I couldn’t help but keep remembering my course mates and friends on a daily basis; even though I try harder not to, I found myself thinking about them again and again. But then, I came to realize that it wasn’t their names alone I kept recalling, but it was their deeds and actions that carved out a special niche for them in my heart.

Name is good, but what compliments and complements a good name is far better; a good name is to be appreciated but a good character is preferable. Indeed we all have names we are called with; diverse, unique and distinct they may be, but beyond that, people have names with which they call us with, this  emanates from who we truly are, what we do and how we relate with them. This also is based from the perceptions they have about us, which is built on our deeds. Names are not meant to only be our nomenclature, but are poised to give us a sense of identity and belonging, to direct us, guide our conducts and to connect us with the purpose of bearing such names. Little wonder, nobody would accept names with negative meanings. Quite unfortunate, many people bear excellent names but live the opposite of what the name means.

Names and deeds are two side of the same coin, they are inseparable and intertwined. Name identifies a person out of many, and his or her deeds/actions register the person in/upon the tablet of people’s heart. Certainly, over the years, men and women that registered their names on the heart and fabric of history did so with their deeds and actions be it good or bad. Hence we can recall names such as Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Gadafi, Awolowo, Abacha, Peter the apostle, and Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

Borrowing from the Holy Writ, “A good name is better than a precious perfume; your death date tells more than your birth date”. I kept wondering why the writer would say a good name is better than a fine perfume when the value and price of some perfumes can be more than someone’s minimum wage. This quickly reminds me of the perfume Mary poured at Jesus’ feet that Judas equated with someone’s wage for a year. However, as costly as some perfume are that someone can easily trade his reputation for the worth, there are mysteries and gravities in names and deeds that are far priceless than that.

Would you rather choose a good name or great deed? The former is commendable yet the latter is preferable. We all need the two to complement and complement each other in the story of our lives. To have a good name void of the complimenting and complementing good deeds is like to make a mockery of who God designed us to be, we are meant to have both. Be reminded therefore that your name might be remembered, but it is your deeds that will stand the test of time. Call me a good name and I will show you an excellent action. Again, head or tell we need both.

Well! Welcome to our generation where people value names without the corresponding deeds. Welcome to this part of the world where people give themselves names without the complimenting deeds. Welcome to Nigeria where people are called names and given titles that negates their actions both in the closest and in the open. Again, welcome to Nigeria, where some highly placed people buy names with money that they have little or no idea about living out the little detail of its meaning and implication

I have always believed that we are the generation this nation is waiting for. I am still a believer in the reality that our generation is the game changer in the chronicles of events in Nigeria.  I will yet believe against all odds that we are the ones to re-write the name and story of Nigeria with good deeds in the heart of the world; we are the ones to reposition the stand of Nigeria in the gathering of international communities and retell the narrative of out dear nation wherever and whenever. Like seriously, we are the suitable candidates chosen by posterity long before now, to do all these and more, and there wouldn’t be any other suitable time than now.

How then can we go about this? We must come to know the connotative and denotative meaning of names, we must come to internalize the complimenting and complementing gravity of deeds and we must come to the awareness of the interplay between this two and the roles they play in defining, identifying and distinguishing us as a people and a nation. What are the yardsticks of given titles and calling names? What are the parameters to measure greatness and success? All these must be given due credence if we must make headway.

You see, we must consciously and deliberately stop calling and celebrating people especially politicians the name “Honourable” when there is nothing honourable about their deeds and their daily affairs. Am I depriving them of their position and respect? Definitely no. but we must be bold enough and wise enough to give honour to whom honour is due. It has to start from the grassroots, because change begins with us. Thus, we must call ourselves good names and go out to live out the life worthy of those names, any other thing less than that is an aberration from our path to the Promised Land.

The “New Normal” was a humble movement launched by some like minds youths on the 27^th December 2017 in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. The crux of the movement is changing and shifting paradigms from what is obtained now into the New Nigeria we all desire. Nigerians, name is not enough. Unless we grow and go beyond calling a spade a spade, to using a spade as a spade, we still have a long way to go. Hence we are to only call men of true honour “honourable”, we are to only call men of excellence with “excellency”, and we are to give men of high moral standard and integrity the title “Chiefs”. What I am saying in essence is, we must accord names and titles that tallies with corresponding deeds and actions.

The hymn writer said we will only be remembered by what we have done, this is because with time we will all fade away like the stars of the morning. Our deeds and actions are the beauty of our absence; they are what I referred to as “the presence of our absence”. Your deeds good or bad resound, resonate and echo in your absence, they represent your absence in the presence of others. Even though a good name is better than a fine perfume, good deeds are far better. Quite unfortunate, many people have left mark on the sand of time with bad/evil deeds. Let it not be said of us that in our time we lived but our actions and deeds speak against us in our absence. Sow the seed of righteousness for yourself through your deeds and the harvest will not only benefit you but your generation at large. 

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