Dear steemians and my fellow members of @Proof-of-Brain I want to share a serious yet funny primary school experience that has helped me throughout life.
Once upon my primary school days, our teacher had instructed the pupils to exchange their exercise books so we would mark each other's assignment. So after each correction on the board, we were instructed to either tick or cancel each other's answers based on the answer on the board. So the pupil marking mine - I would prefer to call him Iniobong - was very hostile towards me then and till today, I still don't know why. He always looked forward to seeing me fail so he would make jest of me amidst his friends. In fact, he grabbed my exercise book immediately the teacher had said, "exchange your notebooks", so he would mark my assignment himself!
So on this particular question, he canceled my answer and smiled mockingly at me. But I knew I deserved a tick even though I didn't use the same word as the teacher. I wore a pity face and signalled him to ask the teacher if he could tick my answer. Some pupils were doing same when they felt an answer was correct but wasn't same as what the teacher had written on the board. Our teacher would either have to approve or decline. I kept signalling but Iniobong kept shaking his head, flashing me a mischievous smile, insisting I was wrong. Our teacher was almost going to the next question when I boldly raised my hand. He gave me the opportunity to ask my question. I asked him what if a person had written what I had written in my book. He approved it! "Tempest, even the dumbest person should know its correct. Stop dragging us back ifu (lazy)". Said the teacher. I smiled and sat down. Then turning to Iniobong, I placed my two first fingers on the skin below my two eyes, dragged the skin down, slid out my tongue and shut my eyes in split seconds in mockery. "Uncle, Tempest is telling me "ntoooor", Iniobong protested in defeat. He got no response. Another massive win! I may have gotten just one question out of eight, but that incident made me feel I answered the whole question correctly! As he displayed my score to his friends, his mischievous smile still on his face, I said defiantly, "at least you could not guess what the dumbest person could have easily". He also failed all his questions. We both were blind, but since I had an eye at least, I was his king! And I made sure he treated me as such.
Moral lesson
Sometimes, we all are right. We just have different life experiences. You don't have to let anyone make you feel your experience isn't worth sharing because its not a common experience. Speak your truth when you intend to, don't let anyone cancel it from your lips, especially those who can't even relate to what you intend to express.
