BY ALLISON ABANUM

Life is funny. It could be weird most times. Scientist, Philosophers and Kings have sought to understand how the world runs, all to no avail. It is full of gaffes and contradictions. There is an unseen force, beyond the manipulation and management of mankind. This mysterious force apportions to every man or woman, a share of fortune or misfortune in a life time. Some call this force FATE, Most people call it GOD. This force can be cruel, unfair and even punitive. I don’t think those are the attributes of God.

I will cite some instances that shows how helpless man could be in the hands of this force. How many choices is man able to really make concerning himself or herself? How many of us chose to be men or women at birth? How many chose who should be their parents? How many of us chose where we should be born? Did we really choose our complexion? How many talents did we choose to have? Did we choose the innate skills we use today? Did we choose what our size , frame should be? Just as it affects individuals so it is with nations in the larger perspective.



How many times do we crave for things in life that never come, try all we can? How many couples for instance, have been legally and properly married, and for years have remained childless. They have gone to all the gynaecologists in town and abroad , yet nothing came forth, even when all the tests show that there is nothing wrong with their systems. There is a particular hospital in Lagos and Abuja that specializes in helping couples to make babies. Every car that goes there gets a badge–a small square red sticker stuck on the car without permission. I imagine the agonies those couples go through in search of what ought not to be so elusive. For example, my grandmother gave birth to 14 children comprising 12 boys and two girls while I have so many friends married for years still looking for the fruits of the womb. How many secondary school or teenage girls, who out of waywardness or circumstantial occurrences get pregnant without ever preparing for motherhood? Therefore, how come those who crave it won’t get it and those who don’t want it harvest them so effortlessly? And this is not a function of economic power or lack of it. Right now, there are ‘specialist’ churches with pastors who have special anointing for fruit of the womb. And very large is their congregation.



There are also couples who crave to have male children or just one male child, but all they get each time they try is baby girls. This type of marital challenge has caused more broken marriage in Africa than childlessness. What shall we say on the issue of marriage? There are decent and comely ladies out there searching furtively for husbands, but won’t get. Yet, there are young ladies who are notorious for their Egyptian and Corinthian waywardness, who fetch their husbands with ease. I know of a 28 years old undergraduate lady in the school where I lecture who has 5 children for 5 different men, and still gets so many marriage proposal from men daily.







What is more? There are those with great values, high training and all the attributes that should take them to their career height, but they just don’t get there. A clear illustration is the case of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who struggled almost all his life to become Nigeria’s President, but it remained an eternal dream. Yet, his kinsmam, Olusegun Obasanjo , not only got it without asking for it , but this mysterious force twice threw it on his laps, just like that. What about my life-mentor Chief MKO Abiola who was just a breath away from the coveted presidential seat; yet not only lost it, but also lost his life in the process. But cheaply did late Shehu Musa Yaradua and Goodluck Jonathan get it.



I know of a university professor who gave his three children the very best of moral and educational upbringing in life and in return his three children brought sorrow, disappointment and shame to him with their Romanian lifestyles. While in the same environment, with similar moral and educational values, a non university teaching staff raised his three children and they all turned out to be bundle of joy, blessings and source of happiness at old age. Is it the most hardworking ones among us who can hardly take care of their families, whereas their Boss in the office or place of work with little effort comfortably take care of mere friends.



Considering the issue of life itself, while some live long that they even pray to die, others barely make it to the age of 30. Some with exceptionally good grades out of school will find it difficult to survive, while their counterparts with very poor grades just make it big timely. I know of a particular young man in Port Harcourt with a third class degree from the university practically feeding, clothing and sheltering seven of his own classmates with first class and second class upper degrees.



Life is such a wild world of opposites. And the quest to understand why and how it could be that unfair to mankind will forever remain a mystery. As mortals, the only way we can win both as an individual and as a nation is to be extremely humble in all our doings and undertakings because there is no sure formula, we must keep placing values on goodness while we embrace this mysterious force and accept that there is HE who rules in the affairs of men that never sleeps nor slumber and has declared that HE WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM HE WILL HAVE MERCY. May this MERCY from above befall Nigeria as nation.

Read more at http://politicstoday.com.ng/2017/02/12/the-mysteries-of-life/

Such nice piece of writing ruined by the capitalized sentence in the last paragraph.

Great writing