On Thursday March 10, 2022, I boarded an early morning flight to Owerri for our church anniversary. There was a 20-minute delay which the flight attendant thought was necessary to address. He began by apologizing for the slight delay, blaming it on the “fuel crisis in your country”. The flight attendant was Caucasian; and his supposed apology became a graver offense than what he set out to atone for. Passengers felt he was racist, and they did not hide their feelings. They thought that Nigerians in the diaspora are already having enough of racism; but for a foreigner making his living here and still sounded racist was unacceptable. There was such a heavy protest in the cabin. One man even left his seat, walked the isle towards the announcer to register his displeasure.

While all that was going on, I kept muttering under the mask that I was wearing the words of James in out text – “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth”. James said that in the context of his teaching on discretionary use of the tongue. He argued that though the tongue is little compared to other parts of the body, it is capable of causing great ruins. I saw that play out in the aircraft that day. Now, was there fuel crisis? Yes, but he did not have to rub it on people’s face. His comment had within it a sub-text that the nation was not working. Even if that were true, he had no right to say that. There are many crises that we would avoid when we train the tongue to speak appropriately. The Biblical saying that he that keeps his tongue keeps his life, is absolutely correct.