A Human Being

Last year, I had the honourable and most memorable experience of accompanying Master Naba on The Earth Center's annual pilgrimage to Merita. Despite the health challenges he was facing, Master Naba served to be the best educator, guide and so much more throughout the duration of our journey. With him, we could experience the culture which we had studied in the M'TAM education; with him, we were given a chance to recognise its power and persistence even in places where the colonial onslaught had tried hard to remove its influence on the life of the people we met. With him, all of us were challenged to cation in the most proper context: our ancestral home. I was grateful to experience this with Master Naba and the power of the position he played as guide and master often made me overlook his illness. 

Though Master Naba was struggling with his health, it was initially difficult to identify. His spirit, energy and attitude were all so vibrant and positive, it was less obvious that he was sick and more obvious that he was strong. He kept us all aware of and focused on our environment which in turn always inspired deep contemplation. In addition to being our spiritual guide and master, he often joked and spent casual, leisurely time with us. His company alone was invaluable. 

During our journey, we stayed in Sokode, one of the cities we visited in Togo. While in Togo, we sat outside, under the tree, soaking up the atmosphere, meditating on much of the philosophy Maakheru often imparted. As I took a sincere glance at Master Naba, I focused on him and could, for the first time, clearly see the severity of the challenges he was facing with his health. For the first time, I observed him to be fragile; weak even. I finally saw him as the human being he also was. The characteristics of being a human being we all share: fragility, vulnerability and weakness. I saw the same human side of him that he never hid from anyone, and the same human being some could always see. 

However, from the moment I met Master Naba I placed him so much higher than any other person I had encountered because of the level of quality he displayed. His genuine concern for the general welfare of humanity impacted those of us who were fortunate to know him, very deeply. I saw his strengths all the time and held that observation high in my overall perspective of him. Aside from his vast, authentic wisdom, inspirational and enlightening history and highly disciplined spiritual position, Master Naba never hesitated to expose himself, his life, his weaknesses. his human side. The side that is so easy to overlook or even disregard because of how great he was. All the magnificent things I knew and saw him to be had been such a major component of his identity in my eyes. I had never known someone who knew exactly who they were. In addition to his wealth of knowledge, his agenda, purpose and intellectual/spiritual capabilities, Master Naba functioned with such a high level of humility. I separated him from what I thought to be "just a human" who dealt with everyday problems, emotions, stress, etc. I saw a prophet, a master, a legitimate leader, my spiritual adviser. Yet I initially neglected to just as consistently observe the human he was, just like the rest of us. It hit me all at once and I could connect all of the challenges I saw in his life to the challenges we all face. 

The balance he had maintained while facing his challenges was always impressive. It was impressive because, as people functioning under the politically influenced ideologies of this American structure, we vaguely fathom the notion of balance, let alone take it seriously. I learnt from Maakheru, among many things, that the time we spend working hard is just as important and as necessary as the time we spend resting; that falling is just as human as getting back up to face another moment. Because he worked hard to maintain a balanced life, he made it appear much less difficult than it actually is. This is because he worked hard to maintain the balance within himself first. He was a father, a husband, a brother, a teacher, and a friend to many. He took care of so many people, all while struggling with many of the same issues of being human that we all face. I suddenly remembered seeing him happy, sad, angry, satisfied, strong, weak, etc. I saw the difficulties he faced just being the individual he was in a society that sought to slander anyone upholding their own traditional culture and his strength, fortitude and perseverance were very inspiring. 

I am inspired by Maakheru, not because of the "super human", or "god-like" person I initially perceived, but because he's human just like the rest of us. Just like me. Just like you. He didn't become a great person because he was an expert at avoiding challenges, he was great because he was an expert at facing them and in doing so proved to us that humans can truly be good. He inspires me to live, to learn and to grow, to be a better person today than I was yesterday because he was living proof that we can achieve quality, that we can be good and that we can hold on to that quality. Not as if he inspired us to be him, but because, from him, we have learned to be ourselves. We are all human and we all have this capability.