I just finished going through my picture gallery, each one indeed speaking a thousand words. In one of the pictures, I was an innocent-looking 8yr old boy with a boil on my right eyelid (yes, eye lid o), wearing a second-hand corduroy car-wash, with what looks like worn-out, oversized mummy leather slippers, posing on the white-washed wall of our old family house in Osu for an original Kodak moment. In the very next picture, I’m a dashing 23 yr old graduate, in blue denims, a coffee-brown army-like fitting shirt and a (made in Ciano) D&G leather belt. To complement the outfit I was in a blue-black trendy nike sneaker and Ray Barnes stunners acting like I wasn’t even aware a digital picture was being taken of me.
N
ow as I look at me then and me now, for a few melting moments, the me inbetween flashes through my mind; from the times when playing ‘maame ne paapa’ (mummy & daddy) was our facebook and PS3s, when ‘cooking’ sand mixed with sputum in empty tin-tomato cans tasted far better than a Barcelos and Frankies joint venture. When it was sheer delight to bath outside in falling rain and it was okay to wear purposely oversized political suits made out of the same funny fabric used for your sister’s Christmas dress .
To now, when grammar really matters and having some kind of business plan and concrete long-term vision is a must have. Now when almost all (if not all) of us have become evangelists of some sort, quoting scripture and thanking God anytime we feel like updating our facebook statuses. And why the heck not??!!! By now the whole lot of us have had countless accounts of heartbreaks, disappointments, experiences and trying moments that we won’t have made it out of successfully, but for our father in heaven. These are such fleeting moments you know. How long ago was is that you turned 18 and FINAALLLY became legally eligible to vote, drive around and buy a bottle of Guinness? Lol, It’s like just a couple of days back, isn’t it?
That’s why when I got home last week Thursday and heard one line of an audio tape my brother was was listening to in the hall, I just stood still. The guy said “…5 mins into eternity, what would we wish we had done that we didn’t do? 5 mins into eternity, would we have a booklet of ‘should-have-dones’ or just a paper of them? Would you? And mind you, eternity is the second after you try getting up and realize that the guy you’re looking at on the floor/bed is you.
So in these melting moments we have, what’s gonna happen with your time? I read somewhere that procrastination is putting away till tomorrow, something you can do today. What a life it’ll be if we could live every day like it was our last! If we could treat all the people we meet like it was the last time we were seeing them!! What a life!!!!
How often do you put away thinking of the weightier things? Can you attest to the fact that making virtues such as selflessness and love and God-fearing your priority has a way of loading a lifetime of bubbling, sizzling fulfillment into each and every day you’re alive? I wish you can
The same way the 3 mins you’ve spent reading this article have passed so quickly, the same way 90 mins seem like 15 when Ghana is playing in the world cup is the same way the next 365 days will pass by, then the next 10 years. So what’ll you do with your fleeting moments? Imagine how peaceful you’ll be if you knew.
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Neefemi
June 22, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Lol @ dashing young man. Nice picture. But this is very deep though and i try to live like today is my last, cos tomorrow is not guaranteed xcept for the Grace of God. Stay Blessed and thanks for sharing
josephine
June 22, 2010 at 3:04 pm
i can’t stop laughing (maame ne paapaa was our facebook n PS3s)….u nailed it straight! i think wat makes it worth it though is MEMORIES….that dosen’t melt away at all.
Vikki
June 22, 2010 at 9:31 pm
wow this would make anyone think twice about their lives n how they are living it. benji do u know how to sell
Nayel
June 22, 2010 at 9:39 pm
i really like this. makes you think. thanx. God bless you for ur work.
Trudy-Elsie
June 22, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Great reflection! Was talking about this with my bro earlier today. He told me that he read a poem on it on ”The Poetry Foundation” website. And voilaaa… The Goldinwnords man also put it beautifully into words in non-fiction form!
Great message, nicely done! Keep ‘em comin and plz I MISS U BUNCHEZZZZ!
BenJ
June 23, 2010 at 11:33 am
Yup Yup, a dashing young man Neefemi, lol. the masculine replica of thee
. Congrats on the Doctrate dear, i just had to say it here too 
Lol, Josephine. so good to FFIINAALLLYY have you actually comment. & about the memories thing, i totally agree. Sometimes, it’s like that’s all we got going for us, we wish we’d made more of them.
Vikki, would you teach me? lol, cos i’m veryyy teachable- even guitires. lol
Thanx Nayel, i reli like ur comments o, sthng abt them…
Truddddyyyyyyy,(of http://www.panoramablaze.com fame,lol) reli? so does it make this sam exotic kinda de ja vous? lol. & the ‘non-fiction form’ phrase jus does it 4 me,lol.
naa lamiley
June 23, 2010 at 2:00 pm
wow…beautiful piece! n i love both pix (the first one more though! hehe…) keep it up!
)
Priscenyo
June 24, 2010 at 10:37 am
Better late than never,huh? You know what bit I loved most? The bit about how making love,selflessness and God-fearing our priority can fill our day with fulfilment.
BenJ
June 24, 2010 at 11:18 am
Naa, u know i took that pic @ ur graduation, it’s half of Sarah showing in it. & i’m keeping it up sweety. that u read & comment makes it easier.
True dat Priscy, d unfortunate thing’s we dont realize it’s better late than never. we allow the voices in our head to connvince us that if we’ve come this far off, we might as well go farther & nobody’ll miss us. i gues that’s where grace comes in…then fulfillment.
moshi
July 8, 2010 at 10:44 am
gosh, i had to hold my breathe till i was done with this piece. truth man. what would it be.
“…5 mins into eternity, what would we wish we had done that we didn’t do? 5 mins into eternity, would we have a booklet of ‘should-have-dones’ or just a paper of them?
thats what i carry with me into the days ahead of me. sorry seconds.