In Nigerian Universities, writing your final exam is a big deal. Final year students wear white T-shirts on the day for people to append their signatures and nicknames before heading to the examination hall. After the examination, you’re then treated to series of beatings and decorations with water (sometimes dirty water; some got from stagnant water; from a gutter, disgusting? yeah, I know) and/or combinations of foodstuffs like garri and palm oil. All in a way of celebrating the successful completion of university education. Only God knows where this tradition originated from.

It was finally my turn. Yay!!! I woke up that morning very excited and also a little nervous not just because of my exam, but also, because of what I had decided to do. I had told some friends and they thought I was just joking and wasn’t serious about it. Days before that, I had given out some clothes and those included some white shirts. I had done that unconsciously though. I could have got a new white shirt but decided against doing so.

The day of my final exam came. My neighbor and friend, Michael also had his final exam the same day. It was almost time for exams and I was already dressed. Michael had put on his white tee and other neighbors were signing on the white shirt, congratulating and hailing him loudly. My window was facing the passageway, so I could hear everything. I could still remember how nervous I was and how I began to question my decision to not wear white but black. I went out to test the reaction of my neighbors and the reaction was worse than I had expected. They still thought I was joking and one told me to be serious and get dressed so he could sign where he had promised to sign (on my breasts area). You could imagine my elation that I didn’t allow him that satisfaction. One other looked at me with shock and kept mute. I was just smiling throughout and told them that was my attire.
When I got to the exam hall, I felt a little better when I saw three other people from my department who didn’t wear conventional white.

I’m not saying, wearing white on the last day of exams is bad. Nah! Far from it.

From that day I got to realize that standing out and not following others is hard. We hear different motivational speeches about being trailblazers and being different.
Standing out can be a lonely journey and friends and family will think you’re mad.
Thinking about it and then taking action takes courage. And you know, bravery is not about not being afraid, but doing it afraid.

There’s this song that I love. It’s from the movie, Rags. Standout is the title by Keke Palmer. I’ll be ending this post with some of the lyrics of the song. “On this day, I’ll finally listen to what’s been calling me, all it takes is letting go of whatever people think of me… “

Cheers to us that stand out!壟壟

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