Temiloluwa Oyeniyi
Between YOU and The Mad Man, who is NORMAL?
This is a publication towards Nigeria @60. Has it crossed your mind that “If The Mad Man rules, what difference does it make?” Do we need The Mad Man in Nigeria?
Episode 1
Madness is when you institute your talk and nobody is listening to you. The society considers you mad when your gestures and interactions are churned out in a way far from normal to them. Definitions and words won’t be lost when the topic of madness is inscribed on the chalk board for a six year old to describe because it is more of what you see than what you hear.
If I were that six year old boy, I would have said madness is the act of being mad. Mental disability, mental disease, insanity, mental retardness, are some of the words used to eulogize THE MAD MAN.
On a contrary, what strikes me is that THE MAD MAN can be what the society thinks he is, but he is different. To me, what defines THE MAD MAN is what he does differently; his mode of dressing, his continuous talks that deafens the ear, his unending walks, his consistent gestures that portrays the ‘I don’t care’ way of life, are some visible characteristics that distinguish him from the normal human being.
However, I am inquisitive as to what defines “normal”; while THE MAD MAN wandering on the street thinks a man in suit tossling on the road and running after a bus on a hot afternoon is abnormal, in the same vein, the man in suit perceive a man wandering the street with tattered clothes talking to himself as abnormal.
Then, who is abnormal? The man in tattered clothes or the man in suit?
The above question demands an illustration which is not far fetched. Welcome to Nigeria where everything and everyone is normal except THE MAD MAN. Where the man in suit is at the helm of affairs and he is the saviour of the people. He is normal because he is presentable, of course he has good clothes to wear and nice shoes to go with it. People see him as normal because he is in control and they could demand for what belongs to them; good standard of living, electricity supply, salaries, good road, foods, amongst others.
But the man in tattered clothes on the other hand has no home and he is looked at in dismay, sometimes seen and then people throw up the next minute. He is abnormal because he wears rags and he stinks. No one can carry his heavy loads full of wastes and no one dares to move closer because of his gestures. The man in tattered clothes has nothing to offer as well as has no demands; except for your spoilt foods and your waste bins.
Truly, from the above visible illustrations, the man in tattered clothes is ‘abnormal’ because he has lost his sanity. Sanity is when your mental health is stable and you portray a rational behaviour.
If the man in suit is generally known as the normal one, why then are his actions irrational?
Watch Out for the next Episode
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