The Dangers of the Crowd

The Dangers of the Crowd
Onuh Justus Izuchukwu
(Izunwaonu)

It was around one o'clock in the afternoon of 24th December, 2005, at Eke-Ozi market place. The sun was hot, but that never failed to empty the upper market place and chase people into the shade. I glanced around the bustle of people filling the market, then held my mother’s hand firmly knowing that if I were to be lost in such crowd, I would not find my way out.

It was a busy market where people had no time for other people and that gave a festive feeling to the proximity of Christmas. There were many different kinds of shops and stalls in the market: tailors, copper smiths, carpet shops, pottery stores, et cetera. As we entered into one of the shops to buy cloths, I looked out and saw where toys were been sold. I proceeded to observe the toys closely without my mother’s prior knowledge.  After observing those fancy toys for some minutes, I could not locate where my mum was. Moving around, it was real awkward, feeling strange, not knowing where I was going. I stood there like a statue for an interminable time, my arms getting heavier and heavier, my legs growing weaker and weaker, not knowing what I was going to do or how to get out of the situation. Like someone learning how to find a note in sight reading, I moved my eyes first, then my head. I started moving my legs without knowing where they were going. I was moving forward with fear not knowing what was ahead of me. I was like a boat being paddled by a sailor to an unknown destination. After taking some distance, I discovered that some people were going towards the direction I was coming from. I started walking down the long busy market street wondering why I was there. Glancing around, I joined other groups walking up without knowing where they were coming from or where they were going to.

Few minutes later, I needed to catch my breath and take a look at where I was actually going. I started to hear muffled voices somewhere in the distance, beeping and familiar voices. I tried to identify the number of voice, but could not. Then there was a voice that came behind me, I turned behind suddenly. I recognized the voice, but could bring up no memories to substantiate it. It was a female voice that came from the crowd, a voice that thundered from the noisy crowd around. I looked and noticed she was my Mum and she was struggling through the crowd to come over to me. “Izu!” She called and hurried to meet me. “Where have you been? She asked and then held my hand again.

On another day, Tuesday, 16th June, 2009, around ten or eleven in the night when I had rounded off my studies, I walked up to my room to sleep. Immediately I closed my eyes, I began to hear my friends calling me from outside the fence. I opened my eyes in the thought that their voice was coming from inside my room. I listened carefully but did not hear anything again. Then, I laid back to sleep. As though it was in my dream, they began blowing the signal whistle and making sure that no one understood the language except those who have known it in the past. I tiptoed toward the gate. “What if the gate was locked?” I asked myself even though I was the one who locked the gate that night. The thought slowed my steps but I was still determined not to give up. I looked back and listened, but it seemed as no one paid attention to me, and I was able to stroll down to the main gate undetected. I stopped at the entrance gate just inside the fence. I tiptoed up to the main gate, turned sideways, and slipped through the black iron bars. I was still searching for where my friends were hiding, with my back to the door-way, when I heard a soft and familiar voice behind me. It was startling and more than frightening. I listened carefully; I recognized my Mum's voice! The unintelligible sound of the woman whispered, “Izu! Izu!! Izu!!! How many times have I called you? Where are all of you going by this time?” I looked serious and I thought about lying and then changed my mind because I never knew where we were going. Her voice could be heard as though the listener were surrounded by men and animals at a market where everything was making noise and people could not hear each other. The noise was actually coming from my head, and there, sharp screams, digging into my brain. I hunched over, pressing my ears to my head, trying to drive the sound away. Then I lifted my head high and opened my mouth to tell my Mum that I was sorry, but she had already gone inside.

These two experiences have shown me that we are always moving in one direction or another. Our life is like a roadmap; a judicious adherence to the directions will definitely launch us to our destination. My mother’s familiar voice became the direction that took me out of the crowd. While finding the direction, I discovered that we walked backwards into the future, with our minds anchored by the imprinted lessons of the past. In this book, the idea is a lamentation and experiences which can help everyone especially the youth in changing the direction of their lives because our evolution depends on our continued movements in positive direction. Even if there are many directions, this book provides the guidelines that could help us in making decision. Decision making is an integral aspect of the existence of human beings in the society. It has helped to make human existence less complicated. Every now and then, human being are faced with diverse conflicting situations requiring them to make one decision or the other. I pray that this book becomes a right tool that will help us make timely and necessary decision as we journey through a complex world, full of turmoil, where only thing which is certain is uncertainty.

Izuchukwu Onuh

03.55am, 29.06.2019

Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul

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