Something Standing Beside Something

By

Obododimma Oha

The Igbo use the proverb, Ihe kwuru, ihe akwuso ya (literally, “Something stands beside something"). That something that stands beside it is its complement, as well as its alternative. There are always other alternatives, other routes. If there are no alternatives, there is a problem. We are left with no option and must accept or deal with what is available. That zero-option is an example of absolute tyranny, and when it is introduced in discourse, you can be sure that silence would result. Since people are not allowed to look at the issue from other angles, the only thing for them is to follow what they object to, what they cannot in their right senses accept, or to keep quiet and continue to gnash their teeth! In that case, you can see that silence is not always golden, not always an assurance that the silent person does not want to talk.

Is it not interesting that that thing standing beside something is not just an antagonist? As an option, an alternative, it is its replacement. But it is not quite reasonable to think of a replacement as an erasure, complete removal, obliteration, of the other. That thing standing beside that thing is that thing in a fuller sense; it is its complementation. That thing is always incomplete without that thing standing beside it. That thing standing beside it is necessary to its existence, even for the clarity of what it really is or stands for. Semanticists tell us that contrast of pairs enables the realization of the meaning of words. If there is no death, I doubt that you would more clearly understand what life is. A contrast is tied up with the ontology of things, even ideas. A contrast is needed to complete the sense.

Ihe kwuru, ihe akwuso ya! If one thing does not want us to understand it and to scrutinize it, it should not come forward at all. It should not stand. Even when something sits, another thing is sitting beside it. That thing standing or sitting beside something helps us to think beyond the thing just standing or sitting. The besideness is sought by a people that wish to think deeply, not a people for whom others do the thinking.

Man standing beside woman;

Life standing beside death;

Approach standing beside retreat;

Night standing beside day;

Speaking standing beside Listening;

And so on.

Even when one type of speaking stands, another stands beside it. Same for one type of listening and one type of writing! Ihe kwuru, o si ihe ozo ka o kwuso ya (When one thing stands, it implores another to stand beside it). You see; we are giving other permutations to the proverb. What stands implicitly invites a besideness. Besideness clarifies it; activates it!

That is to say that things do not just stand; they ask for otherness, for besideness. Things standing are terribly alone and desire companionship.

This issue of things standing beside things is in agreement with the Igbo thinking that a naghi ano otu nga elele mmanwu (One does not watch a masked performance from only one angle). In the first place, it is even impossible to watch a performance that involves chasing and running about, witnessing this or that fantastic display or skill, this or that narrative of narratives happening once in a while, just from one spot! One rooted at a spot in such a performance is either under an influence of charms, or does not understand the performance.

The Igbo, I believe, think of other possibilities. Life opens many different doors for us to peep in. If one is a flutist like Unoka, Okonkwo’s father in Things Fall Apart, one can also be a farmer, a hunter, physician, etc, so that if one engagement fails, one falls back on the other. Also, there could be an interesting way that knowledge in one fertilizes knowledge in another, helps it to flourish in a significant way, It is in fact in the arena of knowledge that when one stands, another stands beside it. Knowledges have ways of interacting and invigorating one another.

Can you see that when Ezeulu in Achebe’s Arrow of God sends Oduche to be his eyes and ears in the coming Whiteman’s dispensation, he is not mistaken? He is acting in line with this ancient wisdom that one does not watch a masked dance only from a spot, as well as the philosophy of besideness. Igbo (African) ways have to stand beside the Western. Traditional Igbo religion has to think of standing beside Christianity and with confidence, Ihe kwuru, ihe akwuso ya!

Now, as descendants of Oduche, how do we play our roles of being Ezeulu’s "eyes" and "ears"? Are we busy thinking that only one thing should stand? Then, we are terribly prodigal and need to be recalled, if possible. Is it an African idea and Western counterpart? Leave them; they need to interact. When one says that it does not need the other or cannot learn from the other, it is mistaken.