The Bow Of Respect:
Now, at this point, perhaps I should point out that in Nigeria, among the Yoruba People, they show their respect for each other, by bowing. It is never a bow of worship, but a bow of respect. This Yoruba people have a very highly defined refined sense of the rules of knowing who bows to whom. The rule is: Whomever is worthy of the greater respect, bow to him or her, and, the more respect deserved, the lower the bow. For example: The woman bows to the man. The younger bows to the older. It just so happens that I, myself, qualify for nearly every category of those in their culture who are worthy of respect. The Yoruba people bow to the greater age. In their country, the older people are respected. This is heightened by the fact that life expectancy is far lower in most African countries, including Nigeria. There may be many reasons for this, such as, lack of health care, proper nutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and other diseases, poor birthing conditions, lack of finances, a higher rate of crime and accidents, poor air and water quality, sanitation problems, etc. Consequently, although there are a few people who are over 60, they are not as many as in some of the more “highly developed” countries. Because much of their diet consists of sugars, carbohydrates and starches, all of which turn to sugar in the blood, there is a very high epidemic of diabetes, which is almost always a death sentence, because of the lack of detection and/or treatment. Thus, there are many millions who have diabetes, who are not aware, and the result is sickness, weakness, disability and death. Thus, at age 69, I frequently find myself to be the oldest person in a meeting, although, as I said, there are some exceptions.
In addition to age, education is respected, position in society is respected, ministers of the Gospel are respected. Visitors, guests, and strangers are respected. Believe it or not, fat and overweight is respected, although this is changing slowly. People still very often have the idea that “Any one this fat, must really be doing something right, to be eating so well!”. In Nigeria, white people are respected, for many reasons. It is widely believed that white people are intelligent, are rich, and, in some cases, are thought to be superior, though we know that this is NOT the case. I know many, many black Africans who are more gracious, gentle, friendly, wise, tender-hearted, sociable, generous, pure, spiritual, committed, loyal, hospitable, and intelligent, than many, many, many white people.
For this reason, I personally qualify for nearly every category of those deserving respect, by their culture. Yet, on my first trip to Nigeria, it seemed that the Lord laid it upon my heart, several points of direction:
* Bow as low to them, or lower, than they do to you!
* Count all others as better than yourself.
* Do not look at a group of people as though they are a group, but as though each individual among them is important, and that they have pain, and ambitions and feelings that are just as important to them, as mine is to me, and that I am to highly value each individual among them. * That I am to show the same respect and consideration for them, as if Jesus Christ were living behind their eyes, between their ears, inside their skin, because He is!
This results in situations where I can get into a ‘bowing contest’ with someone who is trying to show me respect. They become frustrated, at times, when they see me bowing to them, and will sometimes try to instruct me in the bowing etiquette of their culture. When they do, I will explain to them. “You have given me a Yoruba bow. I have given to you a Kingdom bow, because, the Bible says that if we want to be great in the Kingdom of God, that we must be the servant of all! Mk.9:35; 10:44. The Bible also says, that each of us must count all others as better than our selves. Phil.2:3. When I explain, the people seem to understand.