Yesterday, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and the algorithm brought a video of a popular Chief’s coronation to my timeline. Prior to that time, I had heard of this event, but didn’t really take an interest in it. For some reasons, I also did not think it was going to be a very big event, so I didn’t bother following it up.
But when that video popped up, I was certain I had little to zero expectations of what the event would’ve been like, but of course, I knew what not to expect. Unfortunately for me, I was in for a rude shock.
The first thing that caught my attention was the carriage in which the king was being transported to the event center. It was the exact one used for transporting an important family member and a deceased body to a burial ground. Though it was decorated with many beautiful flowers and other ornaments, it still did not appeal to me. None of that automatically made it a pleasant sight, and I scored that attempt a big fat zero. However, my eyes were still set on the prize: other parts of the event. Unknown to me, I was in for another huge disappointment.
The next thing I set my eyes on was a shabby tent where the king was being coronated under. This irritated me badly because not only did that scream a lack of excellence in planning an event as important as that, it proved that money does not buy class. The said Chief is a business mogul, with wealthy associates who travelled from various parts of the country to honor his invitation. I thought, if I could feel this bad about the organization, how would the others who sacrificed their time to be there as witnesses feel?
The fact that the coronation was done publicly also made matters worse, as that act had always been revered as a private moment, after which the rest of the public would now behold their leader. If anything, this was a disrespect to culture as well.
What broke the camel’s back for me was getting to the point where the crown was successfully on his head. The crown looked nothing original. It was a typical English accessory with zero cultural elements to interpret cultural significance. This rubbed me off the wrong way because yet again, I was reminded that though we are now an independent country, we are still acting the exact way our colonizers wish: to remain under their shackles and have no true identity for ourselves.
Everything about this coronation was classless and tasteless, especially for a Chief of that caliber. The only comforting thing was going on X and figuring out that I wasn’t the only one who felt dissatisfied with the event. In fact, people from the region were more enraged than I was, and I’m sure that sent a clear message to both the organizers of the event and the indigenous people who are close to the royal family.
Excellence is the only thing that sets you apart in a crowd, and you can never pay to buy it. You either have it or you don’t. I hope that poorly planned event reminds us to always maintain our originality, give our best in expressing our culture to the world, and be more connected with our roots more than anything because, at the end of the day, these are the things that define us.
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