The Emrys Ijaola Commentaries

You probably know the story of the rat trap in the farmer’s barnyard:

The farmer put a rat trap in his barnyard to eliminate the rodents spoiling his store. The rat saw it and raised an alarm to all other animals: “There’s a rat trap in the barnyard!”. He ran to the hen, but she was not interested. “So what? Do I look like a rat to you?”.

The rat went to the pig in the sty, but the pig was indifferent. “Go away, fool. My feet are too big to get caught in a rat trap”. Off went the rat to the cow, who was bigger than the other animals, and commanded more respect: “There’s a rat trap in the barnyard!!!”

The cow mooed noncommittally: “So what? That’s your problem. You’re the rat, I’m not. Get other rats to deal with it”.

The rat went on its way, avoiding the barnyard, but with great regret, as it found easy meals there. Shortly, the rat trap caught a snake. The farmer’s wife went into the barnyard to see to the trap, and got bitten by the snake. The doctor came visiting, and recommended chicken broth to soothe the poison and pain, so the farmer had to kill the hen.

Neighbours came to visit the sick farmer’s wife, and the house was filled with guests, so the famer killed the pig to make food for the guests. After a while, the farmer’s wife passed away, and her funeral was imminent. The farmer slaughtered the cow to feed the guests at the funeral.

We are always affected, one way or another. It is our collective responsibility to look after our environment. When you look away or ignore wrong-doing just because you are not the affected party, you give room for the same treatment to be visited on you or your relative in future. Worse still, you have allowed an action that will always lead to more actions, the impact of which will be severe and drastic for you.

Corruption and vices abide and thrive because we are all guilty of sinful silence. We shout “foul!” when evil is done, but quickly forget about seeking justice to the end. Soon, wrong-doers are let off the hook, while everyone looks away, minding his own business. We will rather not rock the boat, and not be made an object of attack/ridicule by evil-doers, thus doing nothing to help others. We are all collectively responsible for individual actions or inactions. The innocent will always suffer for the wrongs of the guilty ones because nobody wants to be seen to step out of line.

We must learn to question convention, in order to seek positive change. The only incentive for evil to thrive is for good people to say and do nothing. We are not helpless; we are not blameless; we are not defenseless. We will always be held accountable for our role in every situation. The errors you refuse to put right today will be visited on your loved ones tomorrow.