Fathers of Nations book review
Vengeance for Men
Fred has been my close friend for the past three years. The other afternoon he opened up to me that he would not make efforts to woo me into being his girlfriend. ‘Why?’ I asked with feigned concern.
‘Because you would obviously give me a no, Jenny’. And you expect…a yes?
“I detest hearing a no from any girl leave alone you. Rejection kills a man’s will to live and love. Rejection robs men off their dignity, make them doubt their art of winning girls’ attention, while some go as far as questioning their physical appearance.
It’s better to have a horde of horses crush me than giving you the chance to rip me off my heart and wrinkle it before my eyes by telling me a no. Telling a man no crushes his ego and makes you his biggest enemy”. Fred went on…
Fred’s fear of rejection reminds me of Engineer Tahir of “Fathers of Nations” by Paul Vitta. The author has creatively described individuals meant to facilitate the adoption of a manifesto “Path Alpha” instead of the most awaited “Way Omega”. Incidentally, all the African presidents had met in Gambia to adopt “Way Omega’, a document evaluating possible solutions for the numerous African problems since the independence of each country. However, knowing Africa, another document would secretly find its way in the summit to compete with Way Omega. Eventually, they would choose Path Alpha after the guidance of one of the presidents who had confessed not having read any sentence in the two documents. How ironic.
One incident, however, caught my attention. The ‘accident’ as described by Engineer Tahir is the most appropriate replica of Fred’s fear of rejection. Tahir had identified a girl whom he loved, Rahma Mahmood, from the company he was working for. According to Tahir, men should take charge of the responses a woman is about to give, and specifically the direction of the relationship if any. “Let’s have a bowl of tomato soup one evening.” One Wednesday Tahir dictated expecting a noble yes just like my Fred. ‘This weekend, perhaps on Saturday.’ Tahir said. Then the worst happened, Rahma said no.
There’s a saying that a female’s no is a yes in disguise and Rahma’s was no exception. She had intentionally and successfully concealed her eagerness to accept Engineer Tahir’s offer not only by covering her facial expressions with her black veil, but also by saying no. Tahir was emotionally down caste and he hated her with venom. He planned his vengeance.
To start with, Tahir slapped Rahma when he found her removing her head veil in preparation for laboratory work. It would have impended her. Fortunately for him, the Islamic religion was in support of his patriarchal decision. Apparently, this was the ‘Heritage Week’ and men were allowed to punish females to instill a ‘reasonable’ behavior. Little did he know that Rahma would strike back.
In the heat of her anger, Ms Mahmood slit open Tahir’s left eye using a letter open. Tahir became bitter and would file a court case against Rahma, a month later. Despite Rahma pleading innocent, the court decided ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. She lost her eye through a surgery.
I cannot narrate this story to Fred, lest he decides that men have a right not to be rejected. You see just like the femicide cause-effect narrations; Fred will insist that men are jealous, you should never tell a man no to avoid popping their emotional boil. And I feel a strong urge to respond ‘instead, massage their ego by telling them yes even when they have substandard lifestyles and beliefs.’
