EPILOGUE
…THOUGHT
ARISTOTLE WAS AN ARISTO
I was not dazed when at a time in my life time I heard
someone call some few ladies, ‘Aristos’. I believed it was a term used for
learned ladies or female genius (‘geniuses or genii’ if you will call them
that.)
It is not that I was not contemporarily inclined, or
conventional. At least, to an extent, I am presumably versatile, as I believe.
However, my notion of ‘Aristo’ was that, it is a term coined from the name of a
Greek philosopher called Aristotle, and used in describing individuals that are
brilliant and smart. I therefore as a result assumed the name ‘Aristo’ is just
an antonomasia, much like the quintessence of Aristotle. Literature students
will very much agree with me that Aristotle is a genius of a kind. This is what
actually influenced my inference.
The fault however is mine. I had to learn my lesson the hard
way. As a result of this, I realized that you should not reach a summary or
inference on premises from the surface without properly weighing the two sides
of logic. Thinking it was a coined word, I registered the word in my conscious
mind, and I thought it pleasing to use it for one of my female friends. No
strings were attached, except that I wanted to extend a little bit of courtesy
to her… I choose Rachael Taiwo Oluwatayo. She was one of my dearest friends,
and being who she is, I concluded she deserved that much… since she was the
brilliant type and my ‘kinda-woo-man’. I am sure you would scorn me as a
tertiary student (then), who did not know what the word ‘Aristo’ meant, since
young students in secondary schools know what the word means.
I actually didn’t want to use the word verbally. So I picked
my pen, and wrote her a short note. The intention? There was no other motive
save that I wanted her to be the first of all the ladies I know to feel my dexterity.
I started with a charming phrase…
‘Charming Aristo’
That was it! I had presumed that she would see me on campus,
and lavish me with some smiles, hugs and maybe some kisses, or something like that…
Sighting her, I chose a charming smile to welcome her. I was
so full of myself that I assumed she was coming to hug her priest of words… her
prince charming, but all she did was come over with a frown and say,
“Victor, laye laye e, ma ko iru oro yen si mi mo…” (Victor,
do not in your life ever write that kind of thing to me again!).
She spoke in Yoruba, being an Ibadan girl. Still
trying to play wits with her, I said another thing wrong, I asked her, ‘aren’t
you an Aristo?’ And that was it! I had done it! It was a slap that ended it,
and she locked me up angrily, saving me few breaths.
Brother? Ignorance is a dreadful disease. I couldn’t
explain to her that I just wrote it from a pure intention, that I was only
trying to flatter her and write my name on her heart… I mean, in her heart…
That’s by the way. Aristo is a coined word for ladies who engage
in relationships with adults that are far above their ages, with the intention
of getting ‘goodies’ or money from them. Some do it to create a social reputation
for themselves on campuses. Whichever the reason, it is wrong. The specific is
this; it is common in tertiary institutions to find young ladies who should be
wrapped-up in their academic engaging in this act.
If we truly can sit down to meditate, and find our truest
definition; our real self, we will find in the midst of our definitions that we
have an essence that is beyond such immoral act, and that engaging in it undermines
the reality of our true self. We have a definition that is larger than being an
Aristo; that is larger that life. There are better social activities that we
can engage in that will better our true essence; our true making; the reality
of what we were patterned and intended to be.
A recent research revealed that ‘nearly three out of every
ten ladies on campus are probably involved in the act; two out of ten might
have engaged in it, and there are possibilities that five out of ten ladies
will. This research however is based on various prevalent factors such as peer
groups, societal-make-up and pressures, inferiority complex, financial
challenges and the cravings to be heard.
The society has made it so worse by keeping quiet about it.
Students even applaud it, because in ranking some social ladies in most of
these tertiary institutions, being an Aristo serves as a criterion amongst
other criteria to justify that you are really in vogue. Our society should bow
its head in shame at this. Aren’t there better ways to be in vogue? Are there
no better means of making a show of our ladies? Are there no better reflections
of these daughters of Eve?
The fact is that as a student, you must truly be in vogue;
you must be heard, known, and worshiped, even adored. Our deepest cravings; our
truest nature earnestly yearns for this; it craves recognition and acceptance.
But we don’t become good by being evil in all moral standards, being an Aristo
is a wrong concept; a wrong life; a wrong definition of you, and a false
definition of your true self.
Denying the fact that there are repercussions is another
folly; a grave foolishness from our part. Surely the repercussions are always
grave. Issues like unwanted pregnancies and the likes will ultimately and
inevitably evolve. If you are a “smart lady” so to say, you would opt for
abortion. But, this does not define a true lady. Your not knowing the real you,
the purpose of your making ultimately makes you abuse yourself. This reflects
the law of cause and effect. A lady who aborts a child after her sexual
escapades should realize that if she had not engaged in the ‘Aristo Profession’
(Cause), there would not have been a
reason for abortion (effect). Thus, she
inadvertently causes a ripple effect on the heart of the nation both economically,
intellectually, and of course morally! Yes! This affects every aspect of our
existence.
.
Now, I should leave you to brood on my words, and always bear
in mind that everything that I write is all about you, I love you…
Later now…
Note: the incidence in this epilogue is a
fiction employed by the author as a medium to drive home the author’s thoughts.
