My Life's Ironies.

Yesterday, while chatting with an old friend, he brought up an issue that has remained a puzzle to me till this day.

During my high school graduation/Prize giving day many years ago, I was privileged to get several prizes/awards. Many of the prizes arose from my academic performances while one was for being the outgoing Social Prefect. They were all earned. But when I was called forward to receive one particular prize, I thought someone must have made a mistake.

Sitting beside me was one of my high school buddies, Gbadebo Oyegbami, who had been cheering me on. But the moment my name was called for “The Ominrinde Award for the Best-behaved Student”, Gbadebo exclaimed. “What…?” he sneered. “Ogbeni” (mister)…this one can’t be for you oh!”

I stared at him in agreement but shrugged my shoulders as I got up to go get the prize anyway. As I walked back toward my seat, I was expecting the announcer to call me back with an explanation that he made a mistake. But none happened. In fact, I was about sitting down when I heard my name again. This time, I was called to receive a prize that designated me as one of the “Best-behaved Students in the local government.”

The first reaction from me was an exclamation of “Ha!”

I felt the school principal (Chief Sayomi) was playing another “joker” on me. A couple of years back, it was the same principal that gave me an award for being an “isansa” (truant student) “first class” in his strange approach to counselling.

Back at my seat, Gbadebo stared at me with concern, “are you sure they did not mistakenly transposed your name over someone else?”   

“Now, why would they make a mistake twice?” I asked my buddy with another nonchalant shrug of shoulders. “Anyway, if they did…that’s their problem.”

“But…”the boy persisted, shaking his head even as he laughed. “Just a few months ago, you were among the prefects that got punished for taking some girls to a party outside the school…”

“Hey, for God’s sake, Gbadebo!” I interrupted him. “What’s your own headache in this matter?”

He stopped talking but still glared at me as if I just committed some heinous crimes.

Back home in Lagos, a very close friend was at our house to visit on that same day. He saw the two “strange” prizes and stared at me as he wondered “Femi…how come?” I quickly stared back and retorted, “How come what?”

We were staring at each other this way when my parents came in. Back in those days, my parents never considered it necessary to visit any child attending out-of-state schools. Not even on graduation/prize-giving days. The two were however impressed with my array of prizes. That was until my mischievous friend grabbed the two “strange” prizes and handed them to my mom.

She read the beautifully-crafted descriptions on the prizes and stared at me curiously. Then, she passed them to my father who, after a few seconds, burst into a loud laughter.

“What kind of a joke is this, Femi?” he asked amidst bouts of laughter. “You…the best-behaved student?”

I could only look on sheepishly while thinking of how I would hurt my friend later.

My mother’s reaction was the worst.

“I can only wonder about the type of students they have in that school…” she shook her head in disappointment. “If Femi could be awarded the prize for being the best-behaved student…”

Up till this moment, I have been wondering how the school authority arrived at their decision.

But as I rationalized with my friend while discussing the thirty-something-year old issue, I have come to accept that those “strange” prizes are just part of the ironies in my life so far. And they are many!