Some few weeks back, I went with two of my kids to pick up a few things from one of the Neighbour hood stores.

It had rained earlier that day and some parts of the road were quite muddy.

On our way back, I carefully tried navigating the road. I didn’t want to get stuck in the mud. I was almost letting out a sigh of relief when I saw a bike coming towards us. I expected he will stop as I approached, I was almost at the end of the road. He obviously saw me coming, but thought not to wait.

In anger, I shouted in pidgin English “Oga abeg go back”. He was relentless, and motioned to me to drive through the mud. I got more angry and gesticulated with my hand for him to get out of my way. He refused to budge until a few of his fellow bike men pleaded with him to move.

I was still fuming with anger, when from the back seat I heard “mummy, next time can you say Oga please back up. Oga will back up if you say please. It was my second daughter.

I got her point immediately! I actually could have approached the situation differently.I was rude to the bike man. He was wrong, however a little politeness could have worked the magic.

I had goosebumps all over. 

I am supposed to model right to these kids how to treat people regardless. I said to them “ mummy behaved badly, forgive her. Next time, I will act better”. Ok, they both said. 

The drive back home was a quiet one. 

It’s not enough to know these thing, it’s more important to apply them when need be.

I learnt a great lesson.