The shortest recorded poem in the English language used to be “Lines On The Antiquity Of Microbes,” a couplet written by Strickland Gillilan. It simply reads:
“Adam
Had ‘em”
It turns out, Mohammed Ali had a shorter couplet of his own, which he first recited at a rousing commencement speech in front of some 2,000 Harvard seniors in 1975…
“Me
We”
Ali’s poem was not originally part of his speech. His biographer would later explain that the couplet came to Ali spontaneously as he looked across the auditorium that day and saw the “great arrogance” in the eyes of a few smirking black students in the hall who were looking down on him because of his poor pronunciation of words. Those giggling black students had a chance to get a higher education, which most blacks like Ali didn’t have at the time, and he didn’t want them to think that they were suddenly better or different from the average black brother on the street. In those days, black students at Harvard and other universities rarely participated in the civil rights and other important movements aimed at improving the lot of blacks in America. They were always feeling too big and carrying themselves with such an air. They mostly kept to themselves, spoke too much big grammar and generally left the consequential racial equality fights for others. Perhaps, they imagined that their higher education would inoculate them against racism or change their skin colour from black to white, who knows.
The “Me” in Ali’s poem seems to acknowledge the importance of the individual and individual responsibility. But “We” reminds us that there’s greater power in the collective. It expresses a sense of community and togetherness. An individual can only climb so far. It takes the collective to achieve lasting progress and change the world. A man is only as strong as his community. “We” emphasizes the importance of coming together as a community to lift each other up rather than staying divided and tearing each other down.
The poorest and weakest people on earth are usually those who always find a way to stay divided. The south remains the weakest political block in Nigeria, not necessarily because we are outnumbered or unintelligent, but because we are perennially divided. Of course, I’d prefer the next president of Nigeria to come from the south. I don’t really care what part of the south or what party platform he or she rides on. For me, where the next president comes from is immaterial. I’m just biased towards RESTRUCTURING. Unfortunately, no northern candidate for the presidency so far has shown any serious inclination for restructuring. I believe, therefore, that we’d come closer to restructuring this country with a southern president at the helm. But the south needs to stay united for that to happen.
Which is why Tinubu’s current attempt to snatch the APC ticket from vice president Osinbajo, who already has one provisional foot in the door, is a total headscratcher for me. What, in the name of civility, is Tinubu doing? I don’t really gerriitt! Such an arrogant and foolhardy move from the Lagos Landlord, if you ask me. Of course, he is well within his right to pursue his ambition, but this particular pursuit smacks of “Me Me Me” rather than “We We We.” He should be out there whipping up support for a southern candidate of his party with a much broader appeal, not plotting to grab the ticket for himself. The APC already has less than 30% chance of winning a fair election anyways given how they’ve mismanaged the country in just 7 years. If Tinubu, another sick and ‘expired’ old man like Bubu, manages to displace Osinbajo, then that would be the certain death nail on the APC coffin. The move would further divide the south and put paid to our chances of winning the presidency. Restructuring would then be deferred for another 4 or 8 years – a terrible prospect indeed for a rapidly dying country like Nigeria.
