SHORT STORY: Are we ever going to be better than this?
Adekanmbi Ademola
"Determine your future and work towards it." was boldly written ahead of us. We were over a thousand walking towards an unknown direction which according to the instructor,the route had not been plyed by anyone. We were blessed to be the first set of people. We kept going and going without being tired neither were we thirsty.
We walked through different regions and paths with so much ecstacy and optimism with the untold eagerness of what the destination looked like.
We went on and we started reducing in bits but we did not care after the instructor told us that the ones who left had got to their own places of delivering what they have been told to deliver. We got to the gate where myself and two other people were to deliver and the instructor looked at us and said;
"make sure you discover yourselves and follow your heart.
Yes,people might tell you this is what is right but make sure you discover yourself in the process." I cannot remember what happened afterwards.
Congratulations o! Congratulations!! The Nurse said as a woman of middle age smiled while she looked at the infant that was held in the Nurse's hands. A man in his mid-thirties came and kept shouting "I am grateful, I am grateful" endlessly. He was the woman's husband and the baby's father.
Twelve years later and the infant had grown into a promising young girl who was fond of playing football with the boys in school and in the neighbourhood. Her mother would caution her and warn her against playing football since it is viewed as a 'boys sport'. She refused to listen to her mother and was being punished every now and then. Her mother successfully curbed the football out of her dreams and started replacing it with other corporate jobs and vocations.
She grew up to become a wealthy fashion designer and raised her own kids.
"A very successful life she has lived" is what might be running through your mind but do not forget that she was not given the opportunity to discover herself which meant she was not guided to follow the advice and instruction of the instructor.
I am just two hours away from death and suddenly it is all coming together. I was among the three people who the instructor said should discover ourselves but did I? I was a victim of the division of the society. Society has put a gender division in many Careers,Dreams,Aspirations and Abilities.
I discovered myself as a footballer but it was termed a 'male' thing.
I looked at my children and grandchildren as they sat around my bed looking at me with teary eyes. My children were workers in the corporate world while their children were definitely headed for that direction. I am sure their instructors would have told them different things but society was not built to help them discover it. As I elevated towards a familiar exit which was were the instructor had told us to discover ourselves.
I looked at the continent called Africa and asked it "Are we ever going to be better than this?"
"Determine your future and work towards it." was boldly written ahead of us. We were over a thousand walking towards an unknown direction which according to the instructor,the route had not been plyed by anyone. We were blessed to be the first set of people. We kept going and going without being tired neither were we thirsty.
We walked through different regions and paths with so much ecstacy and optimism with the untold eagerness of what the destination looked like.
We went on and we started reducing in bits but we did not care after the instructor told us that the ones who left had got to their own places of delivering what they have been told to deliver. We got to the gate where myself and two other people were to deliver and the instructor looked at us and said;
"make sure you discover yourselves and follow your heart.
Yes,people might tell you this is what is right but make sure you discover yourself in the process." I cannot remember what happened afterwards.
Congratulations o! Congratulations!! The Nurse said as a woman of middle age smiled while she looked at the infant that was held in the Nurse's hands. A man in his mid-thirties came and kept shouting "I am grateful, I am grateful" endlessly. He was the woman's husband and the baby's father.
Twelve years later and the infant had grown into a promising young girl who was fond of playing football with the boys in school and in the neighbourhood. Her mother would caution her and warn her against playing football since it is viewed as a 'boys sport'. She refused to listen to her mother and was being punished every now and then. Her mother successfully curbed the football out of her dreams and started replacing it with other corporate jobs and vocations.
She grew up to become a wealthy fashion designer and raised her own kids.
"A very successful life she has lived" is what might be running through your mind but do not forget that she was not given the opportunity to discover herself which meant she was not guided to follow the advice and instruction of the instructor.
I am just two hours away from death and suddenly it is all coming together. I was among the three people who the instructor said should discover ourselves but did I? I was a victim of the division of the society. Society has put a gender division in many Careers,Dreams,Aspirations and Abilities.
I discovered myself as a footballer but it was termed a 'male' thing.
I looked at my children and grandchildren as they sat around my bed looking at me with teary eyes. My children were workers in the corporate world while their children were definitely headed for that direction. I am sure their instructors would have told them different things but society was not built to help them discover it. As I elevated towards a familiar exit which was were the instructor had told us to discover ourselves.
I looked at the continent called Africa and asked it "Are we ever going to be better than this?"
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