Right and Correct
In the cool evening with the sun gradually going down after a hot and day, Tade(aged 9) sat alone in front of their gate in Mushin drawing into the sand and was lost to his imagination as he saw the incoherent figures he drew came to life and fight one another just like the movie he had been watching with his elder brother and cousins earlier in the day. That was one of the few times he was allowed to sit with his friends to watch a movie pf any type as they were always saying he was too young to watch movies with then hence he was always stick inside the room or sent somewhere else.
He had always been called a chatter box as he had the nack of telling his mum everything that happens when his mum got back from work and this pisses his brother off as he tends to snitch on him a lot. It got so serious that even his mother at some point told him flatly that he should learn to keep secrets and also learn to support his elder brother as that is what a “man” does. But today he had seen a movie which was a change from what happens normally.
He was trying to draw a spaceship when he heard noises. He saw people running and then the gunshots too came but he did not run, he sat down and just looked up in the direction of the commotion.
A man in a bid to get away thinking that is was another gang fight accidentally dropped his smart phone just close to where Tade was sitting and he barely noticed. Tade called his attention and the man looked back. He acknowledged that the little kid was telling him he had dropped his phone but the fright within him did not allow him come for the phone.
Seconds later, Tade’s cousin came running out of the house worried about the gunshots and he saw the phone on the floor. He picked it up, threw it into his pocket, the owner of the phone saw him and so did Tade.
After taking the phone, he got Tade up and was about to walk into the house when a police truck drove by with police ment recklessly hanging on the sides of the truck. It became clear that the policemen were the ones shooting and people came out of their hiding places as their fear subsided.
Tade’s cousin ran inside the house immediately he saw it was all good and came back out just as the man came over to ask for his phone and the teenager denied seeing or even taking the phone. The man raised his voice and a crowd gathered. He was told to call the line and the response said it was switched off so they all turned to the only other person the man could mention in the story; Little Tade since the man said he called him to tell him his phone dropped so he must have seen his cousin pick it.
When Tade was asked, he looked at his cousin, looked at the man and denied seeing the phone. He said he was just sitting there and worried about everyone running and he did not notice any phone. He defended his cousin because he felt he owed the cousin more. He could not be a snitch and he knew his cousin will punished severely if he told the truth.
As Tade and the cousin walked back into the house, his cousin tapped him on the back, walked to a corner, produced the phone and said “You did the right Thing”
Tade asked “But was it the correct thing?”
A lot of times we are faced with tough decisions where right and correct becomes two different things. We have to sit down and make a balance between what to do in this situations and this ins majorly because while “Correctness” is more of you conforming to a set standard which might be legal or traditional, the “Rightness” is in conformance with morals.
The right thing is never the same with everyone. While a correct statement is a truth statement which is based and facts and hence always true no matter when the same circumstances are played, a right statement is not. A right statement is based on the individual making the decision. The right thing to do most times is decided by the person taking the action he is not guided by any other rules but the rules he decide to follow which is why sometimes, people can defend adultery as the right thing.
People can defend fornication as the right thing to do if your partner in not faithful or is not around. People can defend taking property that does not belong to them because they feel they do not have, hence can lower their moral stand right there and decide it is the right thing.
The correct things on the other hand cannot be reduced or turned because it is based on standards our mind cannot bend to its satisfaction. The correct things are based on standards and codes that have been there so long we cannot win an argument against them. Right decisions can be affected by sentiments, our mood, anger, love, hatred etc but correct decisions? No way. These are decisions that do not care about how we feel about them.
Funny thing about life though is that we make more of “Right decisions than Correct ones” me included. I will say I am more guilty of this as sometimes I tend to put the interest of others above mine and which we have to agree is the right thing to do. The urge to be selfless or show people that everyone is not a jerk (This I will say is my bane) and it makes me lose sight of the correct things. It puts my needs in the background and makes me do the “Right things” instead of the “Correct” things. But sometimes, the right and correct things intersect though and those times. It is just blissful.
If only life was so simple
