We set the rules

For as long as I’ve known my dad, he always had the  line “i deen iyol aa anza ve” on his lips. This is in our dialect, tiv language. It simply means “let people be the way they were made (their character)”. In other words, he means we shouldn’t judge or comdemn people because of who they are or how they behave or what they do.

He was never a fan of judging people about their lifestyle and ways.

Anyway, several years down the road, I started to convince myself that he repeated that as an endorsement to his lifestyle and an excuse for who and what he was. I may be wrong.

Either way, I feel it has been the reason for how I’ve maintained our relationship. I think I have taken him for who he is and I have let him be the way he is.

I’m only hoping it won’t pose a problem with how I feel now and how there is a need for me to make some contributions to an author who is trying to tell his story…I’m afraid she won’t like or even use the tales that I have to tell.

Maybe I’m making an excuse for myself but I just keep telling myself that he set the rules in the first place.

No one is exempted.