If I didn’t know the inestimable, invaluable worth of a woman, my experience a couple of days ago was enough a great lesson to behold indellibly. I concluded on the spot that it’s only an insane man that would maltreat or raise his hand at his wife.
On the way home from a hectic assignment, getting a commercial vehicle wasn’t easy to come by. It was apparently a rush hour due to the approach of the Iléyá festival. In the end, I had my way into an 18-passenger bus wherein we were packed like Iléyá rams. We sat in discomfort, as the vehicle was overloaded. But we had no option than to endure through the 45-minute journey. Compounding the hurdle was the traffic we encountered in episodes.
Hmm! Beside me was a young woman with a sleeping baby on her back. In no time, the baby bagan expressing her discomfort – crying profusely. The mother tried petting her but she never heeded the pacification. I was gripped by sympathy; I expected the woman to relieve the baby the hurdle by taking her off her back but she kept on dancing with no song sung. I had nearly unleashed my mouth to beg the woman to do as thought when I saw her loosening her rapper with which the crying baby was backed. She gently asked me to help bring out the baby and I eagerly obliged her. But guess what? My hand almost touched nothing, as I found that the baby was extremely small, just like a premature (so to say). I scarily and meticulously carried the baby. Guess what again? As I was about handing the baby to her, she brought out another very small one whom she had wrapped on her laps. I was shocked and wondered how come I never noticed there was another one. She handed the other one to me to help put on her back. As the woman was struggling to back the other one, she was striving to breastfeed the crying one. I needed no one to tell me that those babies were twins. I was highly touched.
That day was another lesson for me that our wives deserve to be angelically angelized come what may. They deserve the best of care in the world. They should be handled and treated the way an egg should be handled. They should be loved as we do love ourselves. Men should always renew their love for their wives. Their shortcomings should be overlooked, at least, for the sake of the hard-times in the labour room. As long as men love their children, mothers of such children (our wives) should be loved as well. Nothing should push a man to beating up his wife, for our wives are priceless tresures.
Sanni Kay Yūsuf
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