1% Wiser

The main reason why I stopped being a stubborn kid was because, I didn’t want to miss out on the plantain chips Jesus was going to share for kids in Heaven someday. I had heard enough from Sunday school about the goodies good kids were going to receive from Jesus and I wanted to be part so bad. I was the leader of the stubborn gang in my family and I got that position because I always escaped punishment.

Any stubborn agenda had my fingerprints all over. I was their consultant and in as much that required me to be brave, I wasn’t. I was always very quick to lie about my actions and blame my brothers for any bad thing. When my mom realized she was taking care of three boys,(at a point I was more stubborn than my brothers), she had to be very strategic, which was to favour the snitch amongst us. Even at that young age, I knew snitches got stitches, thanks to video games but I didn’t care.

I just wanted that favour from my mom. Huge chicken, ice cream treats, toy cars? Come on! who loyalty help? Anytime my mom realized something was wrong, she would call me and of course I would always snitch on those demons but at a point, I started lying. Even when I was the one who did that wrong thing, I would always put them on my brothers. And they had no chance to defend themselves because as I said they were stubborn and it was hard for my mom to believe them.

Eventually, it became a thing with me. Anything I did wrong, I would immediately blame my brothers for it. I remember this particular time where my brothers travelled with my dad leaving my mom and I. I broke a mug and instead of me to own up to it, I blamed my brothers for it. As at that time, I had even forgotten they were not around and my mom was also surprised how people who weren’t around “pushed” me for the mug to break. Later that day, I recalled all that my Sunday school teacher had been talking about.

I kept on asking my mom to tell Jesus I’m sorry and if possible, He should fry my own plantain chips too. After that day, I changed. Shockingly, anytime I owned up to my mistakes at home, my mom never beat me. She always told me to do better next time. This truly made me a different person. I came to realize that blaming is just a breeding ground for more irresponsibility. After owning up to my mistakes, I started growing and truly doing better.

The great part of everything is that, I’m an adult now and nobody will beat me if I admit that yes, I spoiled the tv remote. So why put it on someone else? Oh and now, I know I’m definitely getting that plantain chips from Jesus. Who knows? He might even add fresh yoghurt.