Things To Consider While Working.. (1)

i. The fragility of life

As I was working on this book, I laid my hands on a little book written by Mary Ann Lind, PhD and titled ‘does your life have a meaning?’ though the book is small, its contents is bigger than its size. The book speaks my id on some issues of life. Life is more than ‘just some kind of cosmic joke’ where ‘we come to the world, grow up, get a job, have few friends, make some money, maybe raise a few children, leave a small mark in some little niche of the world. Then we pass away and that’s it;

Finished. Even within the context as described, there are happenings that go beyond human comprehension. Let’s look at some of them.

In recent publication in one of Nigeria’s newspaper The Sunday Punch of Nov. 28, 2010, a young, 19-year old girl had her life history changed for the worse when she loses thigh, pelvic and genitalia to accident’. The story had it that the girl is the only surviving child of her parents, just finished her West African School Certificate Examination and preparing to write the equivalent Nigerian Examination Council NECO when the incident happened. She boarded a commercial motorcycle going to her school when a granite-carrying Truck ran into them killing the motorcyclist instantly, while the lady got her right leg and some part of her right body badly crushed.

Let’s look at the comment of the doctor who attended to her and her mother; first the Doctor; the private part, the external organ is gone, she needs plastic surgery that will resemble something that will resemble a female genital organ to give her some psychological boost. We also need to create a way to move her around, probably an artificial limb, and we all know that getting this done is very expensive. We have had to council her all the time and we realist that at her age, she needs to be bubbling. For her to be confined to a spot is a terrible thing’.

The mother described her daughter as a very ‘brilliant and hardworking girl’. According to her, ‘the girl is the only surviving child out of the 3 issues I had through cesarean section’.

Now how do you explain this? If one is to apportion blame for what has happened to this girl, who is to be blamed, how can the destiny of a young girl be changed within moments? We can keep on asking questions whose answers maybe difficult to come by.

The fact of it is that many things happened in this world that has defied human understanding and explanation.
It is important therefore, for you while working to consider the fragility of life. Let this guard you in your work life as well as in your relationship with other people. You may have today at your fingertips, tomorrow belongs to greater Authority-God. Be mindful of your today.

ii. Be focused
It takes a focused driver to get to his destination safe. There are experiences from day one of your work life that you will have to face. You will come across both good and bad experiences from day one of your work life. Some may prove stubborn and tend to derail your plan. A story was told by one man of God that centers on the need to be focused; it is about two kings who went into battle, the older king captured the younger in and was about to be put to death but was giving a difficult task to perform which if he could accomplish, it will save his life. The task was to carry a bucket full of water from one end to another without allowing a drop to from the bucket to fall down. No doubt it was a popular show in which a lot of people gathered to witness how this captured king would pass through this life test. On the appointed date, the younger king braced up for the challenge not minding what the crowd would say and were saying. True to it, in the contest of this nature, some will yell at the king while others would praise the king for having the effrontery to face the other king and the challenge posed to him. The other king who was captured carried the bucket full of water to its brim and was going as instructed. People who gathered, some were yelling while others were praising but the king did not get distracted as he was going. He eventually accomplished the feat successfully without allowing a drop of water to fall off from the bucket he was carrying.

When he was asked how he was able to make it with the crowd surrounding him, some yelling, some praising, the captured king replied that he did not listen to what the people in the crowd were saying because he was having his life in his hands and therefore was to be focused on the task at hand if he must live. This troubled king was released and allowed to go in peace with the advice that he should be focused. If you are focused you can achieve a lot.

Adapted from the book “Planning A Blissful Retirement”, by P.T Adediji,  pg. 17-20

To be continued