Dead goat, living goat

Asking questions may make one look foolish at first, but wise, once you get the right answers, so says my grandpa. It’s a world where we all think we know the answers so we don’t ask questions!

So, he told me this story. 

Seated outside with his grandson, an old man told the boy “do you know that a dead goat can devour more wraps of pap than a living one?”

No! The young lad interrupted rebelliously.  “Grandpa, you might have been right many times, but this time you are wrong, and I can go to any length to prove you wrong”

“You go get a dead goat, I’ll get a living and healthy goat and let’s see which of them can devour more pap”

Although not surprised at the boy’s enthusiasm the old man was taken aback by the boy’s resolve to challenge him. “So, what happens if you lose”? The geriatric asked.

“I’ll grant your wish to study in the village, I’ll quit the city” the boy promised.

“If you win, you’ll inherit everything I have both here and in the city” the old man staked.

In a while, the old man ordered that two goats be brought and four baskets of wrapped pap, each containing 40 pieces. 

The boy took one of the goats and place a basket filled with pap at its front. The hungry goat pounced on the basket, eating the pap frantically. As is usual of goats, it was attracted by all the pap in the basket that it didn’t finish on a wrap before moving to the other. In all, the goat ate 9 wraps of pap.

Although the boy was disappointed with the goat’s appetite, he consoled himself that a dead goat couldn’t do any better.

The old man ordered that the second goat be slaughtered and cooked. From the minute the goat was killed, people started gathering to know what the old man was celebrating. They all waited to have a taste of the goat. The old man ordered that the people be served with wraps of pap as they have a piece of the goat. With one piece, some people ate as much as three wraps of pap.

When those that have been to the farm came back, the goat meat had finished but they ate half basket of pap with the broth left. In all the people ate 5 baskets of pap with the goat meat.

The boy felt cheated and disappointed. “But it was not the goat that ate the pap but the people” he submitted in defence of himself.

“Would the people have gathered if they hadn’t seen the dead goat and would they have eaten the pap without the meat or its broth?” the old man questioned in reply.

“Just a simple question could have saved us all the pains and stress we’ve been through. Much more it would have kept you in the city” the old man winked. The boy sobs everyday on his way to the village school.

Have you ever wondered why we all seem to know the problems bedeviling Nigeria but have no real solutions to them? We are too ignorant and every time someone comes to us in the form of a politician, professor, activist or colleague with a purported solution to our problems, we don’t ask questions, rather we argue or simply keep quiet.

Have you ever been privilege to be where two Nigerians are arguing? They argue with all the strength in them, trying to create a superior argument. “Don’t tell me that” “See I don’t need anybody to tell me anything” “If you like kill yourself, you will not agree and I won’t too” “They are all the same thing” “This Nigeria can never get better”. I tend to hear this every time there is a discussion about Nigeria.

David Orr in his 1991 evergreen speech submitted that in most respect, the Germans were the best educated people on earth, but their education did not serve as a barrier to barbarity because their education emphasized answers instead of questions.

Ignorance is not a curable disease; education cannot cure it, only constant questioning can push forward the frontiers of knowledge. Little wonder Jesus said “ask and it shall be given unto you”.