- CAPSULES

I woke up this morning down in the dumps wondering what tomorrow holds.... it is a strange world and it is dead chilly out there.

Once upon a time we glowed in clarity and we took the stars off the skies to light our paths, we had grit thus wrapped our dreams with the firmament, they were crazy dreams for auspicious days...... but alas today reality not only bites, it chews the nearest pilgrim whilst at it and then spits him out.

I look out of my window and I see raw undiluted pain hovering around the rising of the sun as if it has a covenant with the break of dawn and I shrug knowing no matter the readiness to defeat this unwelcome visitor, he will have his way, what can anyone do, it is what it is...... sounds defeatist, but not so when many are being dealt repeated slaps in one sore spot.

I remember a quote from Dalai Lama that used to put a smile on my face which simply put states that the purpose of our lives is to be happy, but alas there are too many unhappy faces, does that then mean we are living purposeless lives...

Mothers today continually beat their chests frustrated wondering what kind of world they brought children into, Fathers grit their teeth because they are unable to provide for their families in a world where poverty is fast becoming a pandemic, inadequacy is now a frenemy to many.

Panic and Confusion have befriended unsuspecting souls and are now their live in lovers. I remember the lyrics of this song from “sound of music ”that said “we should climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow till we find our dreams”, so the pursuit of goals is part of life but why do we then need to keep on running after dreams that do not want to be found and end up as casualties of latent battles birth by fate.

You fight for what you believe in and the world fights you, you walk on by indifferent but alas the world still fights you, you decide to buy a house in lala land and enjoy yourself by drifting in the euphoria of your orchestrated thoughts and the world continues to fight you....

This was not how we were told life was supposed to play out, we were told to go to school, work hard and everything will fall into place, but alas each day mocks our efforts and opportunity ignores our sweat amused at our audacity. A few push on, many fall by the wayside with broken hearts dripping with blood and shattered dreams rolling in glass, but despite this they trudge on because giving up is not an option.

What is this world anyway, it’s like a shadow chasing itself convinced it’s in a race with others, it’s like a fog where everyone believes they can see the way forward but keep on tripping over themselves because of the mist. Who wrote this script and is asking us to act it out without taking into cognisance the fact that we are not made of stone. Na who we offend reach so wey no wan forgive us and give us a breather.

There is no part of the world you go that the heart does not boast of emptiness whilst crashing down, in a few people physical poverty finds a home, in others it’s poverty of the soul or poverty of the spirit...... poverty just seems intent on befriending unfriendly foes in one form or the other, what kind of wahala is this we ask, the average soul in transit just wants to be allowed to be but the elements seem determined not to care.

Pinch me, am I still here...... why is hope determined to be elusive in a world that needs it so badly, life arrives, life departs but nothing changes, there is nothing new under the sun they say..... We were told about faith, a place of rest and succour to rest when everything falls apart but alas even with that we struggle, how does a loving father allow his children swim in despondency, struggle in toil. Forlorn and dejected many try over and over and over carrying their pain in a reckless box. Should it be this complicated really? The greatest philosophers from Plato to Socrates to Aristotle, Descartes, Nietzsche, Confucius, Karl Marx, Locke et al have tried to unknot and answer the tough questions but alas, existentialism still confounds, I agree with the words of Socrates which said “the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”, what do we know really, as there are more questions than answers.

Mother Teresa once said that we should spread love everywhere we go, and that no one should ever come to us without leaving happier, could this then be the antidote to the malaise plaguing humanity, an unselfish life, a life where we live for others, then the words of Robert Louis Stevenson jumped to mind where he enjoined us not to judge each day by the harvest we reap but by the seeds we plant.....

We are fundamentally selfish beings, perchance that is why we are so conflicted. Life is transient and we must learn to make each day count in the deposits we make in the lives of others surely that is the only way back to Eden, the only way back to life.