Life Is An Ocean Not A Pond…

By Dr jarlat Uche opara

Life comes in many diverse forms. It can equally be described using so many tools, images, acronyms and events that happened previously. It can equally be expressed through names viz: Uwadiegwu( The world is a mystery) Onyemauchechukwu( The Mind of God is Unfathomable) Ozoemena( Let there be no repeat of it)

One can go on and on, using names to describe what and how life happens or happened to one .

Recently we lost an old boy to the cold hand of death. So sad and very pathetic a loss.

To mourn him, a day was set aside to have us share our memories of him. In all the memories shared, one stuck with a deep impression, defining what life truely is.

What was the memory one of us shared? In one of our extraordinary free days in school he went to swim with this deceased class mate of ours with others.

Not good at swimming and having been warned by his dad previously not to go near that river he settled at the bank of the river to do his amateur swimming.

But such wasn’t the case with others including our deceased classmate, who probably were good at swimming and never had such warning from their parents.

By some twist of events, our deceased brother swam to the dangerous part of the river and would have drowned If help did not come right on time.

In that river there were fishermen and other people that were excavating sand. Surprisingly they remained unconcerned over the call to help a drowning little boy.

They were laughing Instead, lifting no finger to help. It took the bravery of one of our class boys to jump into the river to save him.

When the fishermen were asked why they wouldn’t help a drowning person, their response shocked me to the marrows. “We don’t save a drowning person. It would be like removing food from the mouth of the River goddess and she wouldn’t be happy with us”. So weird, so devilish and inhuman an answer.

The worse and most insane side of this was their demand of either an egg or fowl to appease the goddess from the person that saved the drowning boy.

That for me is the reality of life. Not everyone standing and watching you swim through life is wishing you well. Some are there wishing you get into trouble and get consumed in it and would stop any help coming your way. Sadists!

Some may mean well but wouldn’t be empowered enough to help. Pray you would at any point of your swimming in the river of life have someone who means well, empowered and courageous to help you.

Life isn’t a pond, it is a river, an ocean and sometimes a sea. Know your strength. Know your no- go -areas in the ocean and sea of life . Know too that not all standing and watching wish you a successful swimming.
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In all these, pray to have people who would go the whole hug to give you a shoulder to lean on and a hand to lift you up and shift you to a safe haven.

Such persons are always few, 5% of the mammoth and crowd of persons one encounters in life. The noise of the crowd, the chants of the praise singers, the deceptive smiles and seemingly friendly looks of the rattle snakes may be too loud to overwhelm the sincere affection, care and love of ones life jackets. Surely they would always show up at ones turbulence, right inside the ocean of life, at the verge of ones drowning.

Not all around you mean well. Not all that mean well have the capacity to help. Not all that mean well with the capacity to help will actually help when push comes to shove. Be decerning and circumspect, the way to go!!

Happy New Month!!

Jarlathuche@gmail.com