I have been meaning to do this in response to this thread https://www.nairaland.com/7311932/colleagues-husband-stresses-wife-daily/1#7311932.32, but laziness to write wouldn't allow me to get on it until now.

So, I was on the above thread and from the first page I couldn't help stopping myself from the disgust, disappointment, and shame I felt at comments from my fellow Nigerians.

There's something I have noticed over time about the majority of us Nigerians both offline and online which I have come to attribute to the main factors responsible for what we have become as a people and a country in a very unenviable way.

What I have noticed for the most part is the herd-mentality inherent in us and the fear of either thinking out of the box or daring to think differently from everyone else by way of challenging popular beliefs, notions, and status quo.

It is often viewed as taboo when one refuses to jump on the bandwagon of buzzes/raves of the moments, probably because such one decides to have a mind of his own and yearns for more answers in questions to a certain bandwagon effect.

Sometimes I look out on our Nigerian roads and all I see are a particular brand of vehicle going by in quick succession before yet, another particular brand all because Nigerians have come to believe that these are the particular brands that are either economical or easier to maintain because someone somewhere who didn't manufacture a bolt or nut had said so and it becomes a universal truth, thus making anyone who dares to venture out from this general belief to get a different brand deliberately get faced with the preconceived lies that had been laid down as a result of either incompetence, lack of technical know-how or just the unfounded fear of venturing into trying new things.

This same attitude is also ever-present with us where you see one man thinking out a particular business and starting up on it and the moment he begins to make visible in-roads in that line before you know it, every Tom, Dick, and Harry will jump on to that line even without an attempt to get a hang of what the business truly is about or doing their due diligence all in the name of "na wetin dey reign now be this".

It is therefore not surprising to see most of such business owners ending up worse off than they started because of this herd mentality and follow-follow lifestyle.

How about online here....?

I've come to notice over time that each time a topic is created and mostly when it graces the frontpage, subsequent commenters go all head-in with the first commenters to either disagree, agree or like such posts not because they truly understand or agree with such comments but because they just want to flow with what and how the early commenters did it which I find so irritating.

Why can't we just think for ourselves in support for, or against a comment independently and face the consequences of whatever our submission would be...why?

Now, back to the thread above that forced me into doing this epistle.

I was going through that thread and the moment I read the first comment about " Mind your Business", I was like "wow, here we go again, I'm sure there'd be more " mind your business" to follow as I proceed and true to my word, I wasn't disappointed.

Majority of the comments that followed the first "mind your business" were more of the same "mind your business".

This got me worried and thinking to the extent that I had to ask myself
"what's this business that we Nigerians have built that we have love to minding so very well".

Is it the "business minding" when an innocent brother/sister could be getting mobbed/lynched to death in a jungle justice manner and for the most part on likely trumped-up accusations?

How does it not ever register in our heads that any one of us that know how to mind our business very well could end up as victims to this same "mind your business" evil mantra?

Does any of the holy books we all pretend to live by support us in minding our businesses even when we could help save one of us from an apparent danger or the risk of losing their life when we could have done something to avert the same? I thought the teachings of these holy books were for us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Why then aren't we making our neighbour's business ours to mind particularly when it could help save them from impending danger?

Why are we so self-centred and conceited?...why, why, why? So many "whys".

If we get true to ourselves and take out time to reflect on what I'm trying to point out here, you'd all understand how this is affecting us all on the whole.

Minding your business is the reason why our country is where it is today, and by what time we decide to wake up to realise that we've been ridiculing ourselves all along and decide to want to "mind our collective business", it becomes a little too late because we had been busy selfishly minding our individual businesses while we all suffer as a unit.

It would have been too little too late because we had been busy distrusting, mutually suspecting, hating, cursing, killing one another and burning bridges irreparably.

" Mind your business" is the reason why every form of abominable social vices has come to live with and thrive with us as a people and country.

This silly mindset has done us more harm than any good collectively and is a threat and danger to us individually if not nipped in the bud fort with.

What business do I have to mind when a neighbour, brother, sister, or colleague is in apparent danger or has an accident?

What business am I minding when an innocent soul could be getting murdered when it could be me the next day?

What business am I minding when a simple soft word of honest advice from me to a neighbour or colleague would suffice to help them make better choices or judgement? What business?

It hurts me so very much and scares me to death to think we have become so heartless and lacking in all forms of human empathy.

I do not know it all and have never deliberately attempted to project myself as such. I just find myself to be a very deep thinker who tries as much as he can to question certain status-quos and find myself unable to blindly follow in a herd fashion without posing any questions and whoever hates or dislikes me for this isn't my responsibility by any stretch.

I'd implore you all to go through the above thread to make a sense of my rant and maybe help me understand if I'm truly going insane.

I've got a mind of my own and I enjoy using it even if I'm alone on my stand.

We can do better as humans and as a people.

Let love lead, always...

Peace

nlfpmod

253 views and just one response?

Wow!!!!!

This is amazing.

I'm quite sure a lot started reading this but never finished. I think they were just minding their business ni o. (Yes, pun intended).

You made a lot of sense bro, but you know it is what it is in this country.
A lot are stubborn.

Nice piece you wrote there.
👍

It is the crowd mentality. Very bad. It stiffles thinking outside a box.
Same mentality that gives people courage to join cults and groups for wealth and shortcut generally.

True.

My Monicker isn't just for display. It has deep meaning.

It will take most Africans donkey years to EVOLVE.

dayleke:
253 views and just one response?

Wow!!!!!

This is amazing.

I'm quite sure a lot started reading this but never finished. I think they were just minding their business ni o. (Yes, pun intended).

You made a lot of sense bro, but you know it is what it is in this country.
A lot are stubborn.

Nice piece you wrote there.
👍

Lol...thanks.

Society was better when we were all up in each other's bidness. Now we are minding our bidness while society has gone to the dogs

everyone said Toyota corolla is good because it saves fuel and all, but i rather settled for Peugeot 406 which i think is better than the said corolla and many suddenly began telling me how I've made a wrong choice and all that lol. like say na dem give me money wen i carry buy motor.

Ishilove:
Society was better when we were all up in each other's bidness. Now we are minding our bidness while society has gone to the dogs

So very confusing to say the least.

It's safer to mind your business- this is Nigeria! Not minding your business can get you a rent Free space in prison, police cell, six feet under. Besides, there's too much stress everywhere,nobody wants to add more to it! The only time I don't mind my business is when a situation is life threatening...I can't stand it, I poke my nose. But beyond that, I try to resist getting involved in people's lives.