The Alternative Member

Going to the university in late 2006, I had more than half of a big Ghana-must-go (traveling bag) filled with music CDs. Before you start doing the math, no. CDs weren't completely out of date in Northern Nigeria then. I've had an MP3 player with 123mb space. I had a Sendo phone that could carry two or three tracks, but CDs were still the major mass storage library. Also, a lot of my kind of music wasn't readily online then. I think the only popular CD in my collection was Lloyd Banks' THE HUNGER FOR MORE album. My brother had 50 Cent's GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' so I didn't need to buy it. Anyway, most of my CDs were rare Hip hop like THE VIOLATOR VOL.2, GAME OVER: Part 2, SOUND BOMBING II, and GAME FOR SALE compilation albums; Masta Ace's DISPOSABLE ARTS, a Tupac's special DJ mix, and so on. I also had some rare non-hip hop ones like The Carpenters, Eric Donaldson, Enya, and Lighthouse Family. I had zero pop music. Well, except for that one Avril Lavigne album. You should guess.

In 2006, I hadn't heard Kanye Ye or Lupe fiasco but I've heard Tash of Tha Alkaholiks. This made me stand out among music lovers. Back then I wanted it to be that music is one of the things that defines me. Now I barely listen.

I've never seen JAWS, ALIENS, HUNGER GAMES, or any of the STAR WARS movies until ROGUE ONE. Although, I've seen some unpopular indie movies like SANCTUM, HARDCORE HENRY and POKER NIGHT.

I don't want to get into names calling but I hope you will forgive me for not reading a lot of the classics and popular titles. Name your favorite book, I probably haven't read it. I suppose that's okay though. There are way too many books on the shelves. Although some would argue that it is necessary to read the classics or what's popular in order to know what people are thinking and stay informed.

I like to think that taste could be discovered but not acquired. We'll innately be drawn towards the discovery of our taste. Generally speaking, we could be nudged or encultured by our milieu but the taste buds are our own and they tend to show.

We can like the same thing yet have different favorite aspects of it. There's always something "alternative" about how I become a member of a community.

Before now, we were more determined, and more deliberate even, to explore our tastes. Increased availability makes explorations harder and consequently makes recommendations more appealing. This is why there is a lot more uniformity in tastes even though there's more access to choices. I don't have the need to be in the music community anymore. I don't know how I would have coped with music today if I was still an avid listener. And this is true for other things. The world is moving fast and I seem only to be slowing down. It may be a gift to know a lot of things even though your experiences are small. This means you construct experiences inside, different versions of them, and you empathize with things quickly. However, this also consumes a lot of mental energy and makes it harder to move fast from one thing to another.

"In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." – Eric Hoffer

I asked my nephew what sport he's interested in and he said football. I asked which position he plays, he said “defence”. Then I found out he didn't even know the eleven football positions. Excitedly, I felt this was a lesson I must teach. “Number 1 is the goalkeeper, number 2 is the right-back defender, number 3 is the left-back defender….”

He wasn't impressed or interested.

This is what the world right now requires of his hobbies and most things. Through Influencers and enabling technology, there's that uniformity of choices which ensures shifts and evolutions happen fast because the same information gets to a lot of people at the same time. My nephew is growing up in a world that quickly shifts, the said things that are worthy of his attention appear and disappear quickly and he's expected to keep up.

I have found my calm. I have found purpose: to be good, to be with good, and to propagate good. I also want to thrive in this world, this means I have to keep up with it while I enmesh into it the kindness I try to promulgate.

It's true. All that I used to know is becoming irrelevant. Ideas and causes, like people, are mostly taking turns having their fifteen minutes of fame before fading into the background. Meanwhile, your smile is unique and every kind act is another new kindness into the world.

You share your birthday with a million others. You can't have a day alone to die in. You'd have to share even the second to die in with a few others. Your name is also answered by your namesake. Perhaps your children would come to have a better claim to your name. They'll live their lives not for you. So what do you have in this world? What do you truly own? Whatever else you might have, you have your consciousness and with it, the ability to watch cruelty excel or help the world become kinder. I pray I keep choosing the latter.

Thankfully, kindness doesn't go out of style. And now this is the community I strive to keep up with.