Once Upon a Time
There have been stories of greatness in history. We've heard of Samouri Ibn Lafiya Toure who resisted the French with his popular scorched earth policy. About a 29 year old Mohammad Ghadaffi who rose to the helms of power in Libya. Of a 27 years old Napoleon Bonaparte who took over a French Empire. There are stories even of a man who became the ever first Black President of the United States of America. They call him Barack Obama. Even of an Um Nyobe who fought for the reunification of the Cameroons. So many stories to inspire you. So many energy sources to drink from as you continue on your journey to become something, someone better and happier. In our homes we had this way of telling stories. The stories of John and Mary, The Tortoise or the Leopard... We always started with: "Once upon a time"
A wise person once said: "A story is only as truthful as the person who narrates it." and I felt that. It meant a lot because it's so easy for people to distort the truth these days. It's always been easy to modify a story to fit our narratives and we've grown to live with that or to take advantage of the fact. In history, the stronger side has always dictated what tales were to be told to posterity. The truth as we know it is flawed. And someone said we need to unlearn everything we've learnt from birth to be able to learn anew, and this time, the real truth.
As an African who has grown up reading stories about our history mostly written by Whites, it it normal for me to have doubts concerning a lot of things. But there's one thing that stands between us Africans and the truth. It is the fact that they're not even ready to accept or embrace it. The African man has gradually alienated himself and has been prey to acculturation. We miss those days we sat by the fireplace and listened to folklore of old that could only be passed down from mouth to ear to mouth to ear. We wish that in the future, we'll be able to tell truer stories of our kingdoms and of our heroes. We want to believe that in the future we'll be proud to recount these stories of "Once upon a time"
