A colleague of mine where I work recounted a story to me a while ago from a time when he was 16 years old and living in Ghana his birth place, 'L' (my colleague who shall remain anonymous in respect of his privacy) used to go and watch 'when ever there was one' the local football match in the village where he lived. There was a league system in place similar to that found here in Britain and the teams would also adopt the names of the top British clubs…namely Manchester Utd, Chelsea etc. He told me that he could not recall the names of the two teams playing that day, but what he would remember was an analogy an old man (village elder) used to describe what he thought of the two teams performance.
'L' was sitting amongst the crowd who were enjoying the spectacle before them and sitting next to him was the village elder, his name was 'Kwasi Oppong' (Kwasi meaning Sunday born, Oppong being his surname)…apparently, in Ghanaian villages christian names were given over to week day names…anyway, as the match progressed 'Oppong' watched in silence at the less than remarkable performance displayed by the two teams, and after a while and totally out of the blue he said…"they are trees not Crocodiles", now 'L', having heard this wondered what he had meant and asked…"Oppong what do you mean?"…, Oppong paused a moment, then went on to explain…"when a tree becomes old, or broken, or damaged by storms, the pieces fall down into the river below, they are old timber and stay on the surface for many many years, no one would remove them…and all the dirt and algae would stick to the wood and you would not recognize them as trees anymore…when you look at these pieces of tree from a distance they look like Crocodiles?, it is only when you watch them for a time then go close up to them that you realise they are not Crocodiles but trees!", now 'L', still perplexed by what Oppong had just said, asked…"but what has this got to do with the football match?"….Oppong answered…"these teams have great names but their performance is not good, they do not live up to the names they have, so therefore, they are trees pretending to be Crocodiles!"
To this day 'L' (now 46) has never forgotten these words spoken by the wise 'Kwasi Oppong' on that hot, early evening many years ago in Ghana, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank 'L' for passing this wonderful analogy on to me.
'L' became one of the lucky few who recieved a good education and has found his way in the world, he is now a technician where I work, in fact higher than me! I guess that makes him a Crocodile, and me a tree.
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