THE CHANGE STORY

It started several years back when Chidinma was still small and playful. She was born to a man with quite a gentle mien and an equally gentle mother. They were good parents. Chidinma took advantage of their gentleness to become spoilt. 

As she entered secondary school, her spoilt character was becoming more evident. Other students began to notice and started calling her names. She got hardened and hit them back with her own verbal insults. She got into a few fights that other classmates promptly stopped. Some teachers noticed her character and decided to thoroughly discipline her. They used cane on her to drive discipline into her head. She adjusted in a few ways but began to devise strategies to escape constant flogging. Living and schooling in a rural place, some call it countryside, it was easy to come up with excuses to escape discipline. She often hide in the school farm until the teachers wanting to flog her cool down and face other issues and then sneak back into the class. Once she does anything bad and knows discipline is imminent the next day, she will decide to dodge school and go hide somewhere until school closes. She will later lie to her teachers that she followed her mother to the farm thus she missing school. She will proceed to feign back pain as a result of helping her mother on the farm. This will impress her teachers and they will let her be. Thus she escaped few flogging incidents, though she still couldn't escape some. The caning curbed her of a few vices until a new teacher, Mr Toks, arrived school as a new teacher. 

Mr Toks was a very disciplined man with high morals who has taught in several schools. He had experience with students. He was a very nice person and a man full of love for all. A good man. He noticed Chidinma, took time to study her, discovered all her escape flogging tricks and her naughty attitude. He never flogged her, but first took his time to get to understand her. He decided to help reform her. His strategy was love, care and tender reformation. He started relating with her like a father. He will always encourage her to come run errands for him and then spend time discussing with her in the office. He often share meals and soft drinks with her. Mr Toks never raised his voice at her nor cane her. Chidinma warned up to him and began to speak freely with him. 

He listened. She asked many questions about several issues, all he took his time to answer. He helped her with assignments and began to correct some of her naughty character with wise counsel. Chidinma listened. Though she was stubborn, even making faces at teachers who flog her anytime she sees them on the street after school, yet she respected Mr Toks and couldn't bring herself to offend him. She accepted his advice. He taught her to stop using insults on fellow students, stop being rude to teachers, always do her home work, stop telling lies and several other morals. She began to adjust. He told her to first consult him before reacting anytime any fellow student offend her. This she did. Mr Toks will simply proceed to call her and the students to a peace meeting and settle the issue. All meetings always ended in peace, handshakes, hugs and a promise not to quarrel again. Within two years, Chidinma had become a refined and reformed student; thanks to Mr Toks efforts. 

Chidinma passed her school leaving exams with flying colours and went to the University to study public relations and mass communication. Years passed and she moved on in life. Her changed character brought her a good man to marry. She laboured with her husband and they became successful in business. Though not too wealthy, but had enough with simple abundance. Her husband had a younger sister who recently got married. The younger sister's husband was having a birthday party and they went to attend. Chidinma was a media professional, a good MC and good organiser of events. She was the MC at the birthday party, being very close to her sister-in-law. The party proceeded and then came the appreciation of the celebrant's family members. The MC was to call out a few names for mention. As she read the names given to her and people clapped, she saw on her list Mr Toks name as an uncle to the celebrant, he trained and tutored him in school till graduation. 

Chidinma stopped and broke down in tears as she called his name. There was silence in the hall, everybody stood up wondering what was going on. Mr Toks quietly stood up to a resounding loud ovation and stepped forward to the MC. Chidinma, in tears, recounted how Mr Toks was the best teacher she ever knew and told everyone how his care and help changed her life. It was a 20 minutes emotional story. She never knew she will one day become a second in-law to this man. If not for his efforts to help reform her, she would not have developed the good character that attracted her husband to her. The first thing her husband told her when he proposed to her was " never throw away your good character, whoever trained you did a good job" Sobbing, she pointed to Mr Toks standing beside her in front of the audience and said "he trained me, the best teacher I ever had". The hall exploded in a deafening applause. All cameras focused Mr Toks, who never caned her, but still brought a good change in her life. Chidinma's husband, his younger sister and her husband, other friends and family members erupted in joy as they swarm the podium dancing and carrying Mr Toks shoulder high. The hall went agog, musicians played on....joy filled everywhere, a celebration that could not be stopped. 

Everybody kept shouting, "Mr Toks, Mr Toks, Mr Toks, Mr Toks....."

(C) Tosin Oke 

Global Motivation 

COMING: The confession of Madam Joy.

Peace and be settled. Cheers !