Never outshine the masters

There is an adage that says “Every day is for the thief” but I have bent it today to say “Every day is for the powerful”. Every day I see people who are in positions, even as casual as being a team leader for a course in school.

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I cannot forget that day in school when I had to exchange words with the leader of my group because of her bad attitude.

There were 10 people in the group and we were required to go to primary schools or any other institution where Theatre in Education would be effective so we chose an orphanage just close to where our school was located for easy access.

The first problem I had with the group leader was getting her to add me to the group chat. Since I didn't attend the class where we were distributed into groups, I could not attend the first meeting she held with them but after the class when the groups' lists were posted on the general group platform, I checked my name and sent her a message that evening, asking her for updates.

She didn't respond to that message till 3 days later.

When she finally responded, she said that the group had held two meetings already and since I was not present, she was going to add it to the final report she would give to the lecturer.

I was surprised that she would take such a decision especially since she knew she had not added me to the group and there was no way I could get information about meetings or any other activity.

I made sure to reach out to her the following day at school insisting that she add me to the group that very moment. It was then discovered that one of her friends was in the same group and she too had never attended any of the two meetings because other members of the group were calling her out and asking the group leader to ensure her name appeared in the report as one of the defaulters.

On the first day of the consultation with the orphanage, we all agreed to meet by 10 am, many of us were at the designated spot by 9:30 which was the call time but by 10:15 am, our leader and her friend were not still available.

We all had to move by ourselves to the venue, speak with the appropriate authorities, and apologize to them for coming 30 minutes after the appointed time they gave us.

When my leader finally arrived close to when the meeting was to be over, she got upset that we bypassed her to go ahead with the meeting and threatened to add it to the report as well. I wondered what was going to happen if the lecturer did not ask for a written report. She seemed to be very keen on writing a report when we had not even been asked to write one.

Consequently, she kept coming late to meetings and that friend of hers never showed up for any other meeting or rehearsal until the main day of the practical.

That day of the practical, it rained heavily, and seeing that we could not take the children out into the rain, I suggested that we use one of their rooms, clear out the place, and rearrange it after the production. The question this lady turned to ask me was, “Do you know more than me? If you do please come and become the group leader”.

I exchanged glances with the other members of my group who were equally surprised. We then traced back and realized that this was the first time since our first year that she was being a group leader so we decided to pardon her. That discovery alone made me understand a lot of things.

She finally asked us to make use of the balcony for the main production so when the rain subsided, we invited our lecturer to come over and take a look at what we were doing.

The lecturer was really upset that we had to bring those children out into the cold simply because we wanted to make sure our production was carried out that very day. She was even ready to move the date until the reverend sister who had been so kind to us was able to convince her that it wasn't a bother since the children loved to play in the rain themselves.

After the production, the group leader called us to give a speech about how grateful she was that we cooperated to do that project. The clouds were getting dark and we had not eaten anything solid since morning so I suggested once again that we could talk on the group chat.

This lady asked me to shut up when she was talking. That was when the argument and exchange of words ensued.

At the end of the semester, I saw a C in my result and when I went to the lecturer, she said she was disappointed in me because of the report my group leader gave her concerning my conduct.

Till today I hold a grudge against that particular lady and I hope I don't get to be her group leader, ever. But I did learn never to try to outshine the master, ever.