Vanity, defined as “too much pride in yourself, so that you are always thinking about yourself and your appearance”, is a camouflage, a defence mechanism. Often it is intended to provide some solace and fortress to those who have found life too hard to understand. Thus vanity is a narcotic which fosters some palliative and possible solace as a camouflage to hide away something else.
We may not know or admit it, but it is true that we all have some degrees and forms of deficiencies which we try very hard to cover up, cope with or clothe in different guises. Narcotic is a substance which produces insensitivity and euphoria, as a temporary means of coping with perplexities and challenges. Life demands that we face perplexities and challenges boldly so that we can learn what lessons they are meant to convey. But we move backwards when we evade or suppress such opportunities.
Without resting on our laurels or cover up our deficiencies, life demands that we strive continuously to move forward in spite of all odds. But vanity becomes an obstruction in the battle of life whereby rising impetus in man gets diverted into ill channels which can include exhibitionism, vaulting ambition, meretriciousness, narrow-mindedness, etc. when we find people who throw their weight about, dress in glittering and flamboyant manner and talk endlessly about themselves, it is vanity standing on two legs.
This vanity plague is noticeable among people in various walks of life, of both sexes, but more predominant among the cream of society. Among the intellectuals, vanity manifests in long-winding and bombastic platitude and jargon, large enough to fill a lecture hall. To be brief and simple, is to be little, thus, knowledge and ability become synonymous with scholastic credentials and the knack to show off.
Visit places where the elite and cream of Nigerian society meet, and listen to the nature and quality of what such class of people discuss most of the time. If they are not talking about politics, the economy and business or private agonies, much of the issues which predominate conversations can be quite frivolous, if not ribald. Among the women folk the situation is not different, thus the impression anyone can get is that Nigerians are not striving to rise above mundane issues and mindset.
Even among those who claim to be religious, it is rare to find the kind of humility and open-mindedness which can recognize the possibility that we can learn from other people too. Rather, the more we talk, the better; without realizing that listening can be more dignifying and educative. Salvation appears to be an exclusive monopoly which some people already have, without anything else to learn.
With the kind of obtrusiveness and obtuseness which prevail everywhere today, a nation can rarely move forward where people’s thoughts centre on themselves. What we cultivate is a situation where there are more opportunists than men and women who work quietly and diligently for the good of the nation. Vanity and responsibility rarely go together, and we learn from Winston Churchill that responsibility is the key to greatness. Therefore, vanity can be a great obstruction to personal advancement, in many ways. Vanity goes with sanctimony.
Ranging from showing off wealth and affluence, vanity also manifests in looking down upon and running down the reputation of other people. In that case, a vain-glorious fellow often closes the door of opportunities to get help from other people when in need. When vanity is coupled with meanness, the situation becomes intolerable, because, envy, jealousy and other vices arise from such unwholesome mindset.
The narcotizing aspect of vanity is that it creates an illusion of being and knowing better than everybody else. Thus it becomes a camouflage under which an individual can hide their personal deficiencies and fears. It is a known fact of life that those who consistently utilize what little knowledge they possess, render greater services to the society, than braggarts who claim to know everything better than everyone else.
In the political arena of years gone by, we used to hear of “men of timbre and caliber” some of who turned out to be men of straw with nothing to offer except pot-belly and fat foreign bank accounts. Decline begins where indolence, vanity and opulent comfort take the place of constant and constructive exertions to build up a nation.
Vain-glorious political leaders are usually great talkers, often wearing the cloak of piety and sanctimony. Like modern-day Pharisees, glib talkers predominate in most public establishments, making statements and promises that rarely address the plight of the masses. A common companion of vanity is the love of flattery, a phenomenon which has led to the worst exploitation of African nations by foreigners, through their leaders.
Dr. Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.

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