“Tụma, gwọma onye ara, marakwa: anaghị agwọta onye ara, ntamu.”
Don't waste valuable time, trying to remedy a bad situation, you may try, but you also must retain a feeling for when and where to draw your lines.
You do find that sometimes, persons with mental problems get better and sometimes they have relapses. It's an unfortunate fact of life. The Igbos have humorously observed that among their mentally ill, those who have relapses almost always retain a habit of chronic soliloquy [we all do it, but for the subjects of our proverb, it is] accompanied by a fair deal of agitation and usually - the eternal murmur and the self-grumble.
I tell you, S.Freud would have had fun with our culture.
Anyway, the proverb's import is this; bad situations cannot always be completely remedied. With every effort to correct evil, one must show proper moderation and know to call a truce or a halt, sometimes. Always, use a great deal of measured wisdom. Never self-immolate or deal violently with yourself. (Smile ruefully here. Remember Okonkwo?)
Thus, our proverb counsels an almost grateful acceptance of the 'status-quo' one finds when evil has been battled to a standstill. And whenever one succeeds at completely eradicating 'evil' (as with wishful cures for AIDS and actual cures for Polio or with mental illness), then credence can perhaps be paid to the grace and agency of God's great creative power in Igbo life; Chi ka na-eke n'ala Igbo and Amara~chi is still a namespeak of Igbo people.
Thus, our proverb counsels an almost grateful acceptance of the 'status-quo' one finds when evil has been battled to a standstill. And whenever one succeeds at completely eradicating 'evil' (as with wishful cures for AIDS and actual cures for Polio or with mental illness), then credence can perhaps be paid to the grace and agency of God's great creative power in Igbo life; Chi ka na-eke n'ala Igbo and Amara~chi is still a namespeak of Igbo people.
Contributed By Kelechi Isiodu, Umunjam, Mbieri.
[Angles and Interpretations] By Bob Oji, Kelechi Isiodu.
[Variants Posted x1]
Bob Oji, Onye Umuahia: Onweghi ihe agwọrọ onye ara gwọta ya ntamu.
Chinwe Anyanwu Madukwe, onye :
for iFaT at ifont@groups.facebook.com
[Angles and Interpretations] By Bob Oji, Kelechi Isiodu.
[Variants Posted x1]
Bob Oji, Onye Umuahia: Onweghi ihe agwọrọ onye ara gwọta ya ntamu.
Chinwe Anyanwu Madukwe, onye :
for iFaT at ifont@groups.facebook.com
e-Mail: ifont.groups.facebook@gmail.com
© ifont 2011, as it appears here
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