Everything and Nothing
Art in all its forms is grounding.
Good music, good movies, and good books are never not good. Ten, twenty, I daresay a thousand years and you would still enjoy a good piece of art.
Science on the other hand is ever changing.
Like once, we thought the earth was round but, “No! New evidence suggests that…”, and you wonder why the sciences have so many conspiracy theories around it. “
It’s a virus!”
“No! It’s just the government”.
and yet, If you marked my name on your skin and declared upon it that you would love me forever, I would consider it an act of terrorism.
When Tobi asked what I found attractive in a man, and I told him that I loved the rule breakers, I didn’t expect to see him the next day sporting a new tattoo and a black eye.
I found out from the letter that he had slipped into my bag that the tattoo which read “ACE” had been an ode to my initials. I often wondered years later what he thought my middle name was.
In his letter, he stated that he still thought getting the tattoo was “worth it in the end”. I hoped he still felt that way when his mother showed up to the school the next day. Her wrapper in disarray and her eyes, the size of watermelons as she stood in front of the class and went on her knees, begging the “boys” who were corrupting her son to leave him alone amidst snickers from our classmates.
Tobi considered himself something of an underdog. The pauper that the princess chooses at the end of the movie. He hoped that one day, the scales would fall off my eyes and that I would see him for who he “really is”.
The problem with Tobi was that he was all heart. He wrote love stories and love songs and thought that life was a Shakespearean novel. Too much art.
Ten years later when Ekene looked into my eyes and told me that although he loved me, if things didn’t work out between us, he wouldn’t mind being at my wedding if I invited him.
I hated him. because I wanted someone who would slay dragons for me. The thought of me with someone else should send you running, retching into the toilet.
It should crush your soul and feel like a near-death experience.
That Ekene would think that showing his stinking face to my wedding was something heroic and not self-serving was enough to let him go. Because as you can see, Ekene was all logic. Too much science, no heart.
“Well, what is it then that women want?”.
“a blend”.
“To what ratio?”
“I don’t know”.
Depends on the woman, I guess.
Music to help with estimating ratio:
