Prior to watching the celebrity version of the Gulder Ultimate show some time ago, I don't remember if it was this year or sometime last year (funnily, though I'm usually not likely to forget other people's birthdays and anniversaries, I'm really quite lousy at keeping dates or remembering other important things in my own life and other dates I should probably remember!), I had developed opinions about what type of person each of the participants was. These people were celebrities whose singing and or acting careers most of us had followed over time thus entitling us to our opinions on each of these people's personalities.
Though I'm not such a great fan of Nollywood movies, there is no way I can claim that I've been able to completely avoid watching its films/home videos, and so somehow or other, I thought I developed a liking for Chioma Chukwuka who came across as a cool and quite level-headed young lady. I also thought I liked Emeka Ike for reasons I couldn't place a finger on. As for Funke Akindele, the kind of person I had always thought she was, was the kind of person I saw on the show. I had absolutely no thought on Bob Manuel though.
However, while people like Dare Art Alade, Weird MC and Funke Akindele did not disappoint in terms of my earlier formed opinion of them, people like Chioma Chukwuka and Emeka Ike forever lost a fan in me after the show (not that it'll make a difference to them since unless it is Mainframe Pictures, I'm not likely to spend my money on especially, english home videos).
Princess the comedian (?!) was not someone whose fan I was (I still am not because I'm yet to hear her tell a joke! Unless of course you count her attempt to ridicule her parents as a joke), but after the show, I thought far more kindly of her as a person. But perhaps the most serious upset was Abass Akande Obesere whose music I utterly disliked while recognising that he is a highly talented musician if only he could channel his talent towards lyrics that actually make sense!
How many times have we mentally dismissed others based on our first glimpse of them or our sightings of them from afar without actually trying to find out what lies inside the shell? How many of us have dismissed some really great person just because he/she is not rich or attractive or fair or dark enough? How many times have we rushed to make friends with that seemingly charming guy/lady only to find out that he/she is actually the opposite of what he/she tries to make us believe? I have been guilty of jumping to conclusions based only on a shell myself but having found out over time that some of the greatest people I know today were people I at first did not give too much of a chance, I have had to admonish myself to try to look beyond the shell when dealing with people before reaching a conclusion.
Let's all just try and see how much better we would get along with the people all around us if we do not dismiss them based on their looks or religion or tribe or sex or wealth or even profession (here i'm assuming terrorism, kidnapping, robbery are not professions!).Perhaps marriages will not run into such quick troubles if only we take the time to concentrate more on the content rather than worry so much about the shell which in the end is not more than just icing. No doubt I like a well-decorated cake, but in the end, it is the cake itself, and not the icing used to decorate it that is important. I believe this holds true for a lot of people out there a well.
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