There’s a Beast in Every Man

Over the years, there have been different myths about the existence of werewolves—men and women who have the abilities to switch between the appearance of a wolf and that of a human, some of these myths were created for various reason, but they occupied my mind as a kid growing up.

Watching Harry Potter as a budding teenager occupied my mind with the various events happening in the movie, and as a kid that has a penchant for the mysterious, I was always glued to the TV or listening to "Ikú Alágbára" on radio— a program dedicated to bringing the unbelievable feats of the founding Fathers of some Yoruba tribes. My Favorite was a man that could always turn to a snake, a cobra to be precise.

Some of these stories I can’t recall quite well, but I know this man was said to turn into a large snake that could curl a whole building with some part of its length still available for more curling, he had to enter into an earthen pot of concoctions to turn back into a human being.

I was always on the edge of my seat listening to such stories but they had some semblance with what I’ve watched in the case of Harry Potter’s Professor Lupin who turned to a werewolf every full moon. It gave me a theory that I have come to believe that there’s a beast in every man, and this is not in the literal sense. I believe there’s a part of us, of every human that we consciously tame and keep at bay. First on this list is Anger.

For some anger is the first, the last, and the only beast they tame. This is true for me because like professor Lupin I can control the impulses once I get angry, so I try very much to keep it at bay because that’s the only way I can be productive. There can be other types of beasts according to the individual, greed, selfishness, fear, promiscuity, I can just say anything you can’t control is your beast, but Anger would always be present, it is that ultimate beast everyone tames, and those that couldn’t, had to suffer for it.

Zinedine Zidane headbutting an opponent and then seeing the red card in the final of the 2006 FIFA world cup, A Nigerian musical artist slapping a twitter influencer, these are cases where the beast broke from its prison. When you look deep into your memories you can find at least one episode when the beast came out or almost came out.

There’s a beast in everyone, identify yours, learn how to tame it.

I almost forgot this, Professor Lupin almost killed Harry Potter, a student he love when he changed to a werewolf.

I’m a Harry Potter fan.

Cheers

Olúwabùkúnmi