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There’s a story about all the animals being summoned to a meeting. As they converged at the public square early in the morning, one of them, the fowl, was spotted by his neighbours going in the opposite direction.
They said to him, “How is it that you are going away from the public square? Did you not hear the town crier’s summons last night?” “I did hear it,” said the fowl, “and I should certainly have gone to the meeting if a certain personal matter had not cropped up which I must attend to. I am truly sorry, but I hope you will make my sincere apologies to the meeting. Tell them that though absent in body I will be there with you in spirit in all your deliberations. Needless to say that whatever you decide will receive my whole-hearted support.”
The question before the assembled animals was what to do in the face of a new threat posed by man’s frequent slaughtering of animals to placate his gods. After a stormy but surprisingly brief debate, it was decided to present to man one of their number as his regular sacrificial animal if he would leave the rest in peace. And it was unanimously agreed that the fowl should be offered to man to mediate between him and his gods. And it has been so ever since.
I read this story in Achebe’s Hopes and Impediments. You see, the danger of the self-imposed absence is twofold. Not only do you get to deprive the world of your voice, you also get to suffer at the hands of those who lent theirs.
This disarmingly simple parable has vast implications. The fowl’s absence is emblematic of the human tendency to abdicate participation by retreating into private preoccupations while public life unfolds elsewhere.
And when the council of the living gathers, the silent are always represented, but rarely in ways that favour them.
Confidence ❤️🔥@ConfidenceTwt
The desire to become disengaged from political issues.
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