DEAR WATCHER OF TIMES BY TONYE COLE: HOW DEEP IS THE SCARE?
The screams around the hall carried with them the deep anticipation that had awaited the announcement. Bathed breaths finally let out in an unbelievable whelp of pent up emotions cascaded over the audience as the award winner in a highly competitive category jumped with unabashed joy as she made her way down the aisles and up the stage to receive her plaque. Close behind her were those who must have seen her journey from obscurity in Ibadan to the limelights of Lagos complete with red carpets, paparazzi, glamour and all.
As she accepted her award and took up the microphone to address the audience her opening sentence left me completely speechless. “I had given up on life” she said “I didn’t think anyone appreciated me or what I did and just before getting the call that I was one of two nominees sure to win tonight, had contemplated committing suicide”. She then fell on her knees and continued the rest of her address with a mixture of tears and gratitude. All through the night the word SUICIDE stood like a behemoth in my head, leaving me wondering what would lead a seriously highly talented, very intelligent young lady, not yet 30 and just starting life’s journey to want to end it all.
The Lord of All Flesh made man His strongest intellectual and spiritual creation. With an incredible capacity to overcome adversity, man has constantly evolved over time coming up with amazing feats however each new day brings its share of mental stresses and challenges to be overcome and managed. Each human mind instinctively seeks a method to handle the pressure laid upon it by factors within and outside its control. As our minds are assailed by the daily battles we fight to survive, it becomes critical to return to the source of our creation to draw down divine strategies to navigate this life without resorting to ending it in despair by our very own hands.
May God help us navigate the mental stresses of this day. For your comments, contributions, connect with me here: @TonyeCole1 on Twitter.