April 28, 2014

Hope was what I was searching for in the city, and the journey took me all the way to the village as if it could be found in the farms.

I know it may not be found there, but the atmosphere in the village offers some kind of relief. It reduced the level of my tension drastically, giving me the right frame of mind to think.

“The sky may be big, it may be blue and limitless and full of promise, but it’s also really far away. Really, it’s just an illusion. …Who wants to live in a world where suffering is the only thing that lasts, a place where every single thing that ever meant the world can be stripped away in an instant?”

The passage continues…” and it will be stripped away, so don’t fool yourself. If you’re lucky, your life will erode slowly with the ruinous effects of time or recede like the glaciers that carved this land, and you will be left alone to sift through the detritus. If you are unlucky, your world will be snatched out from beneath you like a rug, and you’ll be left with nowhere to stand and nothing to stand on. Either way, you’re screwed.”

The above piece is from Jonathan Evison’s book titled “The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving” and reading the passage has struck me so well.

In reality, we are living today in Nigeria, it is evident to notice that people are losing their hopes on so many things.

I mean why suffer when you know that your sufferings won’t count and as  Jonathan says, why grunt and sweat and weep your way through myriad obstacles, why love, dream and care, when you’re only inviting disaster?

I believe many people in Nigeria today are thinking along this line.

Why achieve what you are hoping for when every single thing that ever meant the world can be stripped away in an instant?

I have come across many who thought this way, and those who are still feeling this way. They see a daily life’s struggles as futile and have given up or about to give up, and like the above piece, they feel like the sky is too big and too high for them to reach, so they see their efforts as meaningless, so they lost hope.

I mean why not think that way when Nigeria is now a two-sided country; a place where you either belong or you don’t and no one sits on the fence.

The rich people stay luxurious and never extends a hand to the poor, and the poor remains more destitute no matter how hard they struggle.

I mean, why not lose hope when corruption is the only business of the day? Corruption has eaten deep into the roots of everywhere in Nigeria, and it’s so endemic that it has crippled everything good that is meant for the masses.

I mean why not think this way when people are living day in day out in fear of what might happen, with or without warning.

From tales of humans killing humans to tales of humans kidnapping humans and all the other atrocities that humans commit to fellow humans.

What is really happening?

This question has no answer, but it has consequences, and this is really worrisome, and to everyone my age and beyond, it’s enough reason to be disturbed.

The future of Nigeria lies in our hands, and we really have to ensure that it’s bright enough to shine on the faces of our younger ones, it’s our responsibility – but it seems we are powerless.

All hope is lost, or is it?

But what is essential at this point in time is to try and revive it, because according to Travis Beacham, hope is that inspiration in you that cannot be dimmed or destroyed by hardship. It is a strength that keeps you fighting the wrong cause.

We all have what it takes to awaken this hope that we think is dead within us because as Barbara Kingsolver also said, “the very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for, and the most you can do is to live inside that hope, not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof”.

So why not take the challenge?

Why not face obstacles?

Why not join our awaken hopes together to save Nigeria?

I mean, why not act towards a better Nigeria? Believe me, it will be better, and together we can make it better.

Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an exciting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, this is what Lemony Snicket said.

We have hope!

We are going to awaken that hope!

And yes, we are going to join all our hopes together, so that we can make Nigeria better!