How Big is Your Head?
Someone said I’m bad 😀😃. I agree!
A student in one of our hostel facilities came to complain to me that other students in the hostel are always teasing him and making fun of his big head. I asked him to sit down and offered him a drink.
I asked him, “between you and me, in all honesty, is your head big or not?”
“Sir I don’t understand.”
“Do you want me to give you a mirror?” I asked.
“But sir, I didn’t create myself and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Exactly my point. The reason it shouldn’t bother you is because you can’t do nothing about it. And you have to accept it and embrace it as one of the many ways you’re unique and special.
Now, these guys that make fun of you, is this all they do all day in the hostel when you’re with them?”
“No sir, sometimes we just play and laugh, cook or make music together. I don’t know what usually comes over them sometimes, they just start to make fun of me.”
I asked him, “so when they make fun of you, what do they do and how do you respond?”
“They just keep laughing and it gets me really angry and sad.”
I responded, “why don’t you find it funny that your friends say your head is big? I need you to understand that the best joke in the world is the joke that is on you. See, in my primary and secondary schools, my school mates and teachers bullied me and made fun of me cos I was very slim (I’m still) and have a big head. They called me names like mosquito, broomstick, scopido, hammer head, etc. I felt very bad and cried every time.
But as I grew older, I discovered more about myself – that there’s more to me than my size or shape. I discovered my amazing talents, potentials and dreams, and I fell in love with the boy that I was and the man that I was becoming. Everything changed. I stopped to react to every taunt by people, and when they noticed I didn’t react anymore, they had no more motivation to bully me.
As I grew older, the scenario has changed a little bit more hilariously. When I call some of those my friends now and they can’t easily remember who’s talking, I simply say it’s me Emmanuel Akapo, the mosquito guy with a long head. Everybody bursts into laugh. The best jokes I enjoy sharing is the one I make of myself. There’s nothing better than laughing at yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously. I laugh at my imperfections and enjoy getting many others to laugh about same things with me. My friends know me to be a very humorous person. I can tell you 70% of my jokes are about the stupid and dumb things I’ve done in the past and still do daily, the remaining 30% is about yabbing me and my friends. I find gists like that so funny. I am very uncomfortable around those who take me too seriously. I cringe when people try to flatter or sweet-talk me. Life begins when you accept yourself completely for who you are – the good, the bad and the ugly. Improve on the ones you can improve on, and the ones you can’t change, laugh out loud about them. Do not pray to be around friends who will tell you your head is very cute when it’s actually very big. Embrace your reality. Love it. Never take offence in what is your reality. This is the greatest secret of silencing the bully.”
By now, my big-headed student is full of smiles and feeling inspired.
I asked him if we can take a picture of our big heads together (his head is actually quite bigger than mine), he agreed with so much excitement. We looked at the picture in my phone and both laughed profusely!
