KUDOS TO SOLITUDE- VITAL INGREDIENT FOR DEEP THOUGHT!

"Watson...Watson...My Dear Watson....think my friend...think!" All attributes to Sherlock Holmes, the legendary detective invented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.....in exasperation for the inability of Dr Watson to see the clues he saw and match his thinking speed! A genius. The Best! A Master Thinker!

Incredible solutions practically fell on his laps because of his addiction to detail....his aversion for impulsiveness....and his rare power of thought!

FLASHBACK TO SOMETIME IN 2010.
ACT 1 SCENE 1

Location: A certain private hospital on the outskirts of Badagry.

A certain Dr Akindele had just applied to join that zone of AGPMPN. He was indigent....groping for money to meet his immediate needs....as the colleague that employed him was "playing games"

with his salary.
He arrived the venue of the meeting rather early...so eager to contribute his quota to the group....a whole hour still to kill... The nearby eatery came to his immediate rescue...a luxury he could ill-afford!

Enter the meeting:...And the following dialogue ensued:

Mr Chairman: I wonder what Dr Akindele is really doing in this gathering! May I ask you Dr Akindele...what exactly are you doing in our midst? You refuse to formalize your membership!

Dr Akindele: I am really sorry not to be able to come up with my application fee and dues yet....thus the delay in formalizing my membership, Mr Chairman.

Dr Ogundipe: But you cannot maintain an observer status for ever!

Dr Akindele: I would make extra effort to come up with the money, Mr Chairman. I am very sorry for this delay.

Dr Oladapo: Ademola, make sure you collect that money from him. Squeeze if from his hands if necessary!

Dr Okoro: By the way, the person that employs you...does he not pay you a salary?!

END OF DRAMA...
So in subdued reaction to this public ridicule and embarassment, Dr Akindele stopped accepting meals and drinks offered at susequent meetings...the overwhelming shame of that drama fresh in his minds. He reasoned...."how can I continue consuming their food if I have not paid them"!

Dr Okoro was a mere member at the time quoted above....aside from his being very young in age and in the profession. This was not the only instance he had address Dr Akindele so crudely...and with such disrespect...to pacify his professional juniors...while ignoring the facts of the matter...laid bare for him to see!

He strikes me as an impulsive youngster...
Crass impulsiveness gives vent to the irrational....impairing adequate depth of thought and reflection on matters at hand before rendering appropriate responses!

The art of thinking was well embraced in the last two centuries....especially in the Americas. Whenever a knotty problem needed to be solved, corporations summoned a reknowned thinker of the day....and provided him his simple "apparatuses"....a chair....a dark room....noiselessness....solitude for hours!....at the end of which he received a handsome pay!

Of course Dr Aina could have quietly called Dr Akindele aside to aprise him of the need to fill the forms and pay his dues before taking his seat....but he chose the path of ridicule!

If I were to succumb to impulse on receiving Dr Okoro's mail, I should have said the words which immediately came to my mind, which ran thus: "How dare this medical reject who sought soft- landing in a Russian comfort zone address me in this crude manner?"

But those words are less than suitable for a doctors' discuss. So, I restrained myself, kept a cool head....while taking deep breaths....until I was able to come up with some more civil words!

His eagerness to be rude to his seniors leads one to doubt if professional ethics are ever taught in Russian medical schools!

I soon raised the money, filled the forms and submitted them.

And thus was my baptism of fire in my introductory days in ABI ZONE! I ensured that I never attended meetings thereafter....especially after starting a practice here.

The hostility that heralded my entrance into that zone strangely persisted even thereafter....till this day! So did the lack of concern even after my practice challenges....a fact which the Chairman and Secretary are not unaware! The propensity of the heads of this zone not to be their brothers' keepers appears to be legendary!

What appears strange however is their eagerness to seek help while being averse to rendering same. For instance, I knew Dr Aina had just been served a Demolition Notice on his multi-storey hospital complex in Ijanikin...equally beset with unappreciative patients.

And thus, his plans to buy land in the Pota-Aradagun axis for hospital purposes was more of an act of desperation...borne out of a need to survive....not mere greed!

A man struggling with the yoke of governance...to feed his family!

POST SCRIPT
I have not bothered to encript the characters mentioned above. There is ample audio and video material in my achives to butress my claims. Besides, concealing the true identities of the dramatis personnae under such needless veil tends to water down the flavour of the article.

Doesn't it?
Dr Tosin Akindele is a Lagos-based Medical Practitioner and public affairs analyst.

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Articles by Tosin Akindele