Bridging the Divide: Make it Count
I always imagined my first published piece would be one of the amazing stories, sick punch lines, and endless humor, as I weaved my way graciously through two A4 PAPERS at least (notice how this is just an A4 paper L; my editor should take note J), but since an abortion of some sorts has been carried out on the paper length of my dreams I have decided to keep this as short and simple as possible.
Coming back to my piece, I decided to shelve the laughs for a more serious issue, not because I am a sad sorrowful bore of a loner (which I am not as my over 300 Facebook friends can attest to), but simply because of the circumstances of the past week. I had the unfortunate experience of receiving the news that someone as young as me, a shining light to a lot of people, a son, a brother and a friend to so many had passed away.
The thing about life is that most of us just live it without sparing a thought that one day it’s all going to end. We fail to understand that each and every one of us is living on borrowed time and because of this inability to fully grasp and comprehend our mortality we fail to express the feelings in our hearts. We take for granted the blessed moments we have with loved ones and fail to say those words that tug at our hearts to those people that matter most. We walk past an opportunity to show love with a toss of the head and a small casual whisper of “next time I will…” never taking time to pause and think “what if there isn’t any next time?” “What if today is all I’ve got?”.
As sad as it may seem, death is an inevitability we all have to deal with eventually. Loved ones will come and go; we also will go one day. But when that moment arrives, I believe that there will be a certain warm feeling of fulfillment in your heart knowing that you called your parents whenever you got the chance and never backed off telling them how much you appreciated them, that you walked across the room to that boy or girl and told them just how you really felt, that you made each one of your friends feel special and that you lived your life without a thought for second chances and took the opportunities as they came.
One of my favorite quotes by William Purkey epitomizes what most of us fail to do in life. We fail to love and show kindness to the people that matter and in the end, we end up being the ones left hurt, bruised and scared. With that aside I can assure you that there is still some joy in the world and it is my prayer and hope that we all live for many long years, till we get absolutely bored of living, but today, if there’s that one person out there that you want to tell how much you feel, maybe that friend you feel something more than friendship for, maybe your parents or your siblings or the person beside you as you read this.
Place your fears to one side and speak those words tugging at your soul so in the end you know you came, you saw, and maybe you didn’t conquer, but at least you did your best and believe me it’s not just victories that matter in life, the courage to fight and do the things of the heart are just as precious and as blessed as the victories themselves.
“…What Ever Happens Tomorrow I’ve had Today”
NOTE: for a CINEMATIC ILLUSTRATION of this article try to watch the movie “ONE DAY” or Read the book of the same title By David Nicholls.
– Tee’s Art
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey
*First published for the Nigerian Economics Students Association (NESA) Press Board – University of Ibadan (U.I) Chapter, 2011.
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