The Great Debate
July 12, 2022
by Oheri Otobo
One of the fond memories I have of my dad (though it may not have been fond at first), was one weekend my dad asked myself and a friend (Rediet) to debate. The debate was to be about a cartoon we had just been watching, Batman. We were each to pick a character and debate why we liked the character we picked, and in true child like fashion I fussed and whined; after-all, few kids rarely care to debate about a cartoon the just watched, let alone to their parent.
After reluctantly fleeing to the room to come up with our debate character and pointers, we returned to share our tantalizing 6 year old theories. Rediet was up first, he picked the Joker and gave a sensible argument on why he supported him. It was so compelling in fact, that I remember thinking to change my choice... but no I had spent too much time and effort convincing myself about why Batman is better.
It was my turn to share a compelling 6 year old argument, and convince my dad why the protagonist was more noble than some Joker. This was going to be easy, except for the fact that it wasn't. In fact after sharing my two points of how Batman is good and batman wants peace or something like that. I was fresh out of ideas and started stumbling my words... then, that's when it happened. My dad bursted out in hysteria, laughing at my lack of preparation for such a simple argument. "Yoyo!" he said, "what were you doing all that time? You spent all that time in your room just to tell us Batman is good and wants peace?" he exclaimed while laughing.
My head hung in embarrassment, it was a tough pill to swallow. I wanted to show my dad why he should trust that I picked the right candidate, but I let him down. Then my dad called me over and sat us down, he took his time to break down how although, my friend (Rediet) had the challenge of defending the antagonist of the show, Rediet made clear and convincing points as to why the Joker was a better choice. My dad would then ask if we had any questions and would always make sure we understood what he was trying to teach us.
After reluctantly fleeing to the room to come up with our debate character and pointers, we returned to share our tantalizing 6 year old theories. Rediet was up first, he picked the Joker and gave a sensible argument on why he supported him. It was so compelling in fact, that I remember thinking to change my choice... but no I had spent too much time and effort convincing myself about why Batman is better.
It was my turn to share a compelling 6 year old argument, and convince my dad why the protagonist was more noble than some Joker. This was going to be easy, except for the fact that it wasn't. In fact after sharing my two points of how Batman is good and batman wants peace or something like that. I was fresh out of ideas and started stumbling my words... then, that's when it happened. My dad bursted out in hysteria, laughing at my lack of preparation for such a simple argument. "Yoyo!" he said, "what were you doing all that time? You spent all that time in your room just to tell us Batman is good and wants peace?" he exclaimed while laughing.
My head hung in embarrassment, it was a tough pill to swallow. I wanted to show my dad why he should trust that I picked the right candidate, but I let him down. Then my dad called me over and sat us down, he took his time to break down how although, my friend (Rediet) had the challenge of defending the antagonist of the show, Rediet made clear and convincing points as to why the Joker was a better choice. My dad would then ask if we had any questions and would always make sure we understood what he was trying to teach us.