Often times than not, we fail to realize just how lucky we are to have had the opportunities we are/were given. In our quest to be relevant and move with happening trends, we do go out of our ways to desperately participate in life’s unending rat race. The thirst for relevance and the thirst to be revered among friends, foes and even enemies alike overshadows our myopic view and constantly dwarfs the value of the opportunity we are given, however little it may be. We live in the ambience of the present, forgetting that many are willing to die for that opportunity in our web, that which we call ‘little…I could be better’.
I had to reflect recently on my life and give a wild reminiscence about my sojourn so far and how ungrateful I’d been all along. On a typical afternoon at school, when the sun is usually at its hottest and when its scorching effect reminds us of how depleted the ozone layer had become, I had set out to a nearby shop just around my lodge to get some items. The figure standing before me ready to take my orders was a familiar one, having been there for some months now. From her physiognomy, she should be in the age bracket of 13-15 years and from observation, she doubles as the sales and grocery attendant. Never as her life been of interest to me as it did that day as a result of what was soon to follow.
I had made my order in a mix of English and Yoruba and was expecting a prompt execution but discovered to my amazement that she was still rooted to the spot she had been 10 seconds ago. This I didn’t notice until I took a break from the game I was pressing on my phone. To her face I had looked in utter amazement thinking she had deliberately ignored my order because I was absent-minded but then she asked me what I would like to buy again. I asked if she hadn’t heard what I requested for and her response was that I had said some things in English and since she doesn’t understand, she thought it wise to patiently wait until I was alone because some people were around and she didn’t want to feel ridiculed. On hearing this, my heart melt and something in me told me to say sorry to her, having innocently put her in a tight corner.
At this point I asked what her name was, a young girl I had always seen. It hurt my emotion that I had always come to get things at that shop and in spite of the fact that she had always attended to me with a bright face and in a respectful manner, I had never bothered to ask what her name was. We got talking and then I discovered she had been brought to where she now lives after the demise of her parents. She said to me in Yoruba ‘’I wish I can also speak English just like you’’. She can neither write nor read, even asking how old she is happened to be a no-go area. Then she said, even if it’s to learn the alphabets and word formations, she would have been so glad but the opportunity never came and hasn’t still come her way. I wish I could be of help but my schedule just wouldn’t permit and whenever I’m free, she would definitely be busy and in fact she’s always busy. She’s saddled with the task of doing the laundry, washing the dishes, general house cleaning etc.
Then it got me wondering, here is a girl whose offence was that she was given birth to by parents who had lived on meagre income, hardly enough to even get them fed let alone think of putting her in a school. Yes, all fingers aren’t equal but any of us could have been met with the same woe but it’s quite mysterious that we don’t get to select the choice of family we want at conception, suffice to say whatever family we are born into can arguably be said to be a gamble and a luck.
It made me realize how ungrateful I have been with the opportunities I’ve been given and by extension we all are defaulters in this regard. We fail to realize that that food we just ate and called ‘not satisfying’, if some people could get half of it, they would scream ”hallelujah’’. That the shirt we now call ‘worn out’ and not befitting of our class is what some people would want to keep for Christmas.
With the craze to own a Blackberry by any means possible today, we grow a sudden resentment for that Nokia phone forgetting that owning a handset hasn’t even been thought of by some people or how can a person that can hardly afford a meal in a day think of calling anyone, does he even have people to call?, in a world where no one mingles with the ‘never do wells’, your guess is as good as mine.
That hair-do being admired by all, just within a week, you have grown tired of it. Do you know there is a girl among your admirers who wish she could look as beautiful as it just made you but has no means to?
That food you don’t imagine yourself eating without employing the services of either a fish or meat is what some people get to eat only at Christmas and that’s still an uncertainty. For some of them, they would readily trade anything to get what our dogs eats.
While you are snoring away on that cozy bed of yours, all covered with a big blanket, some are still outside in the cold helping their mother with her trade late in the night.
All because you have the opportunity of getting educated, that’s why you can afford to say your lecturer’s class is boring. Some are out there toiling in the sun just to make ends meet, they envy you a great deal, watch it.
You threw that bowl of water at your house help because you feel you have the prerogative to do and undo, watch it. Give her hope that there is an essence of life, don’t add to her already bitter predicament. She has a right to also be happy just like you.
Look around your milieu and count your blessings, be grateful for whatever opportunity you have been given, when you come across a person in need and you know you can’t help, simply drive off without disdain. They wish they could be in that air-conditioned SUV just like you but fate has dealt them a woeful blow, making them tread a grueling path. A path where they would have to survive on the crumbs of others, they can’t be all at fault for what fate has bestowed on them and that’s why you should be grateful for that which you have.
There is nothing bad in wanting the best for yourself or in desiring to upgrade if you can afford it but you shouldn’t misplace your priority while at it. There is more to life than racing to have too much of everything, that which you call ‘little’ is ‘awesome’ to another person. Don’t be too greedy to forget that life isn’t about acquisitions and luxury but a measure of the lives you have given hope of better days to. Be kind to all and don’t be too busy to even fail to ask what the name of that unkempt-looking young grocery girl is, it just might be enough to make her feel that the world notices her.
If you can’t sooth someone’s pains away, be kind enough to encourage them with your words when you cross their path. Never deliberately speak English to that illiterate boy so you can catch your fun, of what satisfaction would that be to you?
And as you continue in your sojourn in life, be appreciative of the little you have and BE GRATEFUL FOR YOURS!!!.
Written By:
OKUSANYA AFOLARIN TEMIDAYO
arc.afolarin@yahoo.com
+2348056870511
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