Perception

I was living a very rough life then 
I was in 100 level studying a course 
I didn't like in the University of Ibadan 
I had a group of friends that encouraged 
my reckless lifestyle 
Smoking and drinking were the norm 
for me from the age of 15 
I picked up a lot of rubbish in the
boarding school 
I was by myself a criminal mind 
It was the only thing I was quite good at 
Breaking the rules 
But I was cerebral, not crass 
I hated violence and shunned it 
Most of my friends were not half as smart 
as I was 
But they would never resort to robbery
Most criminals are foolish 
The one with a brain leads them
I wasn't like the other young people in 
my neighbourhood! 
Everybody knew I smoke and drank 
I didn't bother to hide it! 
Most of their upright children were 
still writing JAMB 
I was aiming to be the Wole Soyinka of 
my generation 
I wrote poems that made ladies forget 
their home training
A day to Christmas 
My mum returned home from Lagos 
She had gone to do some business and 
she brought home a lot of money 
I didn't know she traveled 
I was in school when she did! 
I got home around 7 pm 
I went to a bar to flex 
My elder sisters living in Lagos 
got home around 8pm
I got back home at 9:50pm 
Our landlord at the time locked the 
gate by 10pm 
When I got to the gate 
I knew something wasn't right 
It was wide open 
I stepped in 
A guy walked up to me 
He had a gun 
Oh my God! 
We were being robbed 
I was led to our flat 
Other people were in the flat too
We were all searched and our 
valuables taken 
My mum's money was taken 
It was a bad day 
The robbery took like two hours 
It was terrible 
The next day, everybody pointed at me 
as the one who led the robbers to the 
house 
It started as a rumor 
Eventually the landlord called a meeting
He said it categorically 
He said "I wasn't robbed! 
Your mother and other passersby 
were robbed! 
You are the only one with such friends 
and your lifestyle fits into this sort of 
thing 
If I was robbed! 
I would have arrested you!' 
I was livid! 
I couldn't believe what he said! 
Wow!
My folks said "If you didn't walk 
in the mud, nobody would say 
you are smeared" 
Wow! 
It was crazy! 
I cried like crazy! 
I went off to school to spend the rest 
of my holiday 
University of Ibadan was just an hour 
walk from my house in those days! 
Two weeks later, I was summoned
My mother and sisters felt it wasn't 
right that they didn't stand up for me 
I returned home 
We had a family meeting 
The matter was settled around 4 pm 
When it was 8 pm 
We heard "bangs" on the street 
We argued whether it was crackers or gunshot 
My elder sister said we should lock
the door! We did! It was around 9 pm 
Thirty minutes later, the House girl 
of the landlord knocked on our door 
She said she has a message for my mother 
We opened the door 
She ran inside crying 
Followed by armed robbers! 
Wow! 
They robbed us again
 They beat me until they broke my jaw]
They left around 11pm 
My mother was wounded and so was I! 
My sisters were traumatized 
My younger brother slept through it all!
 The next day, the landlord's house girl 
said she led them to our flat because 
the armed robbers were my kind of 
people! 
Wow! 
It was terrible! 
Terrible!
I smoked and drank and did what senseless 
19-year-olds do 
Yes, l even experimented with marijuana 
at the time but found out it aggravated 
my sinus issues so I stopped! 
But I was not a robber! 
Never ever would I descend that low!
 It was a stigma that took me years 
to get rid of!
Perception matters a lot 
How people see you and what they see 
also matter 
I learnt this the hard way! 
Those days are long gone now! 
Those who knew me then would hardly 
believe who I had become today! 
I remember this ugly incidence 
every Christmas! 
And I say "Thank you Jesus"

PS: If the way you dress or conduct yourself 
can lead people to mistake you for a criminal, 
please help their foolishness by changing that! 
If you are birthing a dream and people 
assume you are wasting your time, shun them!
 Their perception of you is not accurate