“If you feel pain you are alive. If you feel other people’s pains you are human” Leo Tolstoy
The above quote got me! There is no better truth than this. So true, any effort to stifle it to silence wouldn’t work. What makes us Human is not our being alive rather our humanity makes us alive. Alive without humanity is just being, and being without humanity makes one no better than animals, trees and birds of the earth.
We are by day losing our humanity and wearing the cloak of animality, embodying nothing but things that ridicule our humanity.
From the four walls of the church to the circles of family bonds and still to the dynamics structures of our social activities, one could see the strange trend and traits of life and existence without humanity.
We are human to ourselves only but a different thing to others. We feel the pains, pangs and trauma of life but numbed by the pains and discomfort of others.
Scorched by the terrible heat of the sun out of life happenstance, the pain felt, still we push others out there to feel same, even when we could shield them and save them from it.
The road we passed, though rough and slippery, we would want others to pass through it to feel same pains even when there are alternative route, discovered through blazing the trail, in our inhumanity we would subject them to same route of pain and misery slippery spots and chuckle within us that they passed same route we did.
We are readily available to take advantage of people. Readily willing to the suggestion of our selfish self to either climb on the shoulder of others deceitfully to pluck their luck because of their shortcomings or use their claws to get our nuts from the furnace.
The story of Abel and Ivan comes handy here. Abel Mutai was just a few feet from the finish line but became confused with the signage and stopped, thinking he had completed the race. A Spanish runner, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him, realizing what was happening, started shouting at the Kenyan to continue running. Mutai didn’t understand Spanish and didn’t realize what he was talking about. Fernandez had to practically push Mutai to victory.
When Ivan was asked “Why he did what he did” Ivan replied, “My dream was that someday we can have a kind of community life where we push and help each other to win.
“The journalist insisted, “But why did you let the Kenyan win?” Ivan replied, “I didn’t let him win, he was going to win. The race was his.” The journalist insisted again, “But you could have won!” Ivan looked at him and replied, “But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor in that medal? This is humanity not inhumanity. This is value not vanity, Christianity not religion, integrity not overambiousness.
For Ivan, he didn’t need to take advantage of the unplanned misfortune of Mutai to hit stardom. Each of us has our moments and opportunities, needless taking undue advantage of another. Needless, stepping on toes and pressing somebody’s shoulder, pulling the rug off their feet and placing spanners in the wheel of their progress to achieve success. We all have our moments and time, causing pains for others to achieve our goals is not human.
If only Nigerians can be human not inhuman. Considerate not inconsiderate, fair not unfair, just not unjust etc we would be living in peace not in rancour, giving one another their fair share without betrayal, backbiting, cheating etc
We don’t need to cause someone pain for us to smile, remove food from the mouth of someone for us to be filled, remove the ladder of someone’s success for us to succeed, instigate the sack of someone for us to achieve our set goals.
We live in different times and seasons. Our sun shines differently, dusks and sets differently, the cloud is so wide, and our wings can flap conveniently without being obstructive to the functions of other wings. Live and let live, sounds simple but so hard to keep, the albatrose of our current situation as a nation.
Nigerians! We are alive! Painful enough, many of us are not human, more of our leaders in this category! They forget, so easily how ephemeral life can be. If Buhari can be an Ex- President, Lai an ex-minister, Femi an ex-SA, likewise Shehu and Ngelale, this Tinubunization, one day will be in the past. Do what you need to do, at your best, within the short period life offers to put smiles not pain on faces.
Your scorecard, would one day be the only thing that would define you and proterity the only judge that would score you. Think about it!!
Jarlath Uche Opara Jarlathuche@gmail.com
