Yanky is Dulling

Yanky is Dulling'

“Life in America is dull” he says, and like a light bulb appearing on the top right corner of my figure head, I wondered why I was unable to express myself using those exact words; simple and straightforward. I see why Americans are the way they are. Hiding behind technology and new gadgets, I finally understand why Mo desperately awaited the arrival of the G1 only months after the sidekick LX was the next best thing to her. Why Meshay felt the urge to put that Chrysler 300 on her bad credit and pay hundreds of dollars a month just to make a statement. Then I remember the priceless joy that filled my heart when uncle Solomon would pick a piece of meat from my clearly “not enough” plate of rice…the joy of sharing, the satisfaction of giving…why were Nigerians rated the third happiest people on earth even with the embarrassingly high rate of corruption and greedy leaders? It’s not us…it’s them. The United States is the most powerful country in the world, they dictate to us what makes us happy, so individualistic in nature that as a people, they stopped enjoying the essence of “being”…turning to machines, gadgets and side attractions as their source of joy, a disease that has eaten up the better part of me. Entrapped in the system, so much that TMZ and Best Week Ever has been my source of livelihood, only because the system has made me so much of a sadist that I look forward to seeing paris Hilton’s underwear or Brittney Spears hitting a paparazzi with her umbrella…so much that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitts break up made me feel so much better about my people skills. Life in America is dull!!! How many people in Nigeria have TV sets in the comfort of their homes? Playing “ten ten” and rolling the displaced tire wheel down the street is one of Ayobami’s most pleasant childhood memories, ask him today what makes him happy, and his answer will revolve around the ability to pay his credit card bills on time. Essence to being is a terrible thing to waste. Songs like “African Queen” and “Gongo Aso” have helped place us on the map, while I still nod my head and blast “whoop that trick” at 500hertz in my “outdated” car with 8 by 10 speakers. “America is dull” he says. Obesity and depression rules their country, I am not pointing fingers, but we are healthy. This is one country where Yoga seems like the ultimate answer to self enhancement…the end results of Yoga? The same thing you get when you have enough time to look into your mother, father, sister, even neighbor’s eyes and feel the love. Children are thrown into the adoption system because they have been abused, a system that indulges even worse abuse and exposes them to drugs and crime. Like I said, I am not pointing fingers, but if I had to be a number, a statistic, a part of the system and the lowest member of the food chain, I think I can boastfully say…at least I did it for my country…America is dull and oh, I almost forgot, he is on hold.