One of the
many unwritten duties of being an aunt is keeping your nephews and nieces
entertained/distracted; it doesn’t matter which form it takes as long as it
keeps them out of their mum’s hair. On
one of such “aunty duties” I decided to tell my nieces, *Sika and *Fafa a story
explaining how the tortoise had a cracked shell.
This popular
folklore tells the tale of how the tortoise was doing well in his habitat until
he started starving as a result of a famine that plagued his habitat. His friends,
the birds on the other hand were able to have their fill by flying off to
greener pastures in search for food and back. Subsequently Mr. Tortoise managed
to convince them to take him with them on their next trip however there was a
little setback - Mr. Tortoise could not fly. The birds therefore hatched a
plan; Mr. Tortoise would hang from a stick by the mouth by which each bird
would carry one end of the stick with Mr. Tortoise hanging in the middle.
The
following day Mr. Tortoise was airborne.
Half way through the journey he looked down and saw a human staring in
amazement at the sky upon seeing a flying-tortoise. Mr. Tortoise forgetting
himself decided to ‘brag’ by which he fell out of the sky and landed on his
shell thereby shattering it to many pieces. “And that is how the tortoise got
its cracked shell” I finished my story with a flourish.
Fafa clapped
excitedly whilst Sika just gave me a quiet puzzled look. I then followed up by
asking whether Sika enjoyed the story or not by which she responded it was nice
but did not understand why the birds decided to carry Mr Tortoise. She added it
was impossible as the tortoise was very heavy.
Now it was
my turn to look stunned. I recovered quickly enough to respond “well of course
they could”, I insisted, “they were big birds”. She then followed with “but
Auntie Yvonne the birds can’t carry the tortoise for such a long time without
getting tired. Besides it was only one tortoise that got its shell cracked; what
about all the other tortoises that existed? How did their shell crack and how
did future tortoises get their cracked shells?”. Whilst I was pondering how a simple folklore
had suddenly turned into a turn-the-heat-up-on-your-aunt,
her mum quickly came to my rescue by telling her she was over analyzing a
simple story hence ruining it.
At the time
Sika was only 8 years old. Her query got me thinking; this was just a story why
did she have to ask all those questions? Why couldn’t she just accept it just as it was
and move on?
I was also
told this story as a child but do not remember questioning it; I accepted it as
it was. It was only after a couple of biology lessons on Darwin’s theory,
genetics and evolution that got me thinking otherwise. Apparently not even my
age or being an aunt to Fafa was going to “intimidate” her to give me a pass to
spin a tale and get away with it.
This isn’t to say those who believed such folklores didn’t know better; heck I
believed it once. But it got me thinking about how society and our culture of accepting
things at face value because a so-called “expert” said so could be to our
detriment. We live in a society that does not encourage people especially our
young ones to think, analyze situations and seek clarification.
This is even
worse when it comes to our religious practices. We like to adopt the don’t-try-to-understand-just-believe
approach hence we have supposed men of God/pastors preaching very ridiculous messages
and doctrines, perpetuating the biggest kind of fraud on people, wreaking havoc
on homes but who are you to question? Do you want to challenge “God’s”
messenger? But well, Matthew 7:7 says “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you
will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you”. Maybe this might be
coming from a different God.
On daily basis
we have people go on radio and on television to spew the most ridiculous things/theories
on pertinent issues and yet most people accept such things without questioning because
the speaker is a supposed “expert” in the field therefore his/her words must be
taken hook, line, sinker. People are being ripped off by Ponzi schemes;
business deals that promise 300% returns with many jumping on board without questioning
“what’s the catch?”
Children are
naturally inquisitive yet somehow along the line a good number in our society
have been denied the opportunity to question unsettling dogmas hence we are
increasingly witnessing individuals who on paper are educated yet cannot think
for themselves.
In
conclusion I had to eat humble pie and tell Sika it was just a story and that all
the questions she raised were valid; one cracked shell from a failed supposedly
flying experience didn’t explain how all other tortoises had cracked shells but
instead genetics and evolution could explain it. While mentally shelving all
the other “wonderful” stories I had about how the tiger had its strips, why the
giraffe had a long neck and why the rabbit had a short tail because obviously
she had outgrown the fairytale/folklore stage.
If it does
not make sense by all means seek clarification, what’s the worst that could
happen?
NB: *Names
have been changed to protect the identity of minors.
