TOU

The highlight of my day was a frustratingly fun argument.

It started because of the "olodo uprising" statement made by the musician Ycee. I was firmly on his side, but a friend of mine wasn't buying it at all. And just like that, the debate began.

We tried everything to convince madam, but she stood her ground. Her argument was that Peller is not Nigeria's problem, and honestly, I agree. Peller, as a person, isn't the problem.

But that wasn't even the point I was trying to make.

The idea of Peller goes beyond one individual. It represents a culture, an ideology, a worldview, and eventually, a lifestyle. People rarely become concerned because of one isolated action, the concern is what happens when that action is repeated, celebrated, copied, and normalized. That's how cultures are formed.

Sometimes we're so determined to defend a position that we never climb down from our own mountain to look at the other side of the coin. Every action has a ripple effect, what seems harmless today can quietly become tomorrow's norm, and before long, a culture, an ideology, and a worldview have been established.

It reminded me of one of the most interesting stories in the book of Judges.

In Judges 17, a man named Micah made household gods and hired a Levite to serve as his personal priest. At first glance, it looked like one man's private decision, it didn't seem like a national crisis.

But then you get to Judges 18, an entire tribe, the Danites, stole Micah's idols and his priest and adopted that same system of worship as their own.

Did you catch that?

What began as one man's compromise became an entire tribe's culture. That's how influence works, whether good or bad, they never remain with just one person for long.

Dearest reader, my take was simple, the issue isn't Peller as an individual. The issue is the culture that can emerge when certain values are consistently rewarded, copied, and normalized. People shape culture, and culture, in turn, shapes people.

And though she didn't get it, I learned a couple of things from that argument because like it or not, the essence of an argument isn't to win but to learn.

What's your take?

@favvy_Okwans🖤.