All our life we have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind that they would produce beautiful fruits whose flavor will persist for generations to come. It is this feeling that pushes ordinary men and women to get out of their comfort zones, try the little things they can to make an impact in the face of humanity!
In the recent past we have been driven by the sheer belief that any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing dysfunctional systems, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate themselves and re-write their destiny. This has been the force behind our unwavering conviction to do the little things we can.
However, we must admit that a reform cause anywhere in the world has never been without challenges, both from within and without. Even those who claimed to lead them sometimes stopped for a moment, asked themselves about the real possibility of success and if it really is worth the sacrifices they make. As if not enough, the people they preached to often end up calling them hope-mongers or false believers or even idealists. That’s why we must always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing we can ever imagine of. The real mind boggler thus remains the most realistic approach. Should we make a pure political approach or religious one or a try out a politico-religious blend. Whatever decision we make, whichever path we take we must be true to our Christian principles and above all ensure we remain one God’s people. A people who believe that we can always succeed in the things we put our hands to, a people not afraid of trying out new things knowing too well that a woman is the only thing we should be afraid of that I know will not hurt us.
This is what came to my mind one Saturday as I watched my little nephew, Newton, make a shuttle diplomacy between the house and the neighbouring bushes. He was cupping both hands in front of him as he walked, being very careful not to spill the water he held in them...maybe two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large deer loomed in front of him. Newton walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did not threaten him...he didn't even move as Newton knelt down. And I saw a tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped in our beautiful boy's hand.
When the water was gone, Newton jumped up to run back to the house and I hid behind a tree. I followed him back to the house, to a spigot that we had shut off the water to. Newton opened it all the way up and a small trickle began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him.
It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said.
As he began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job.
I stood on the edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was weeping with pride.
Some will probably say that this was all just a huge coincidence, that miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like the actions of one little boy saved another.
This is why we must keep going even when people call us idealists, hope-mongers or any well thought words of discouragements. In these moments, we must be true to the teachings of Christ in the value we put on humanity and the pursuit of happiness. But before we keep going, we must get going buoyed by the simple belief that Christians should be grave and serious, though cheerful and pleasant. They should feel that they have great interests at stake, and that the world has too. They are redeemed—not to make sport; purchased with precious blood—for other purposes than to make men laugh. They are soon to be in heaven—and a man who has any impressive sense of that will habitually feel he has much else to do than to make men laugh. The true course of life is midway between moroseness and levity; sourness and lightness; harshness and jesting. Be benevolent, kind, cheerful, bland, courteous—but serious. Be solemn, thoughtful, deeply impressed with the presence of God and with eternal things—but pleasant, affable and benignant. Think not a smile sinful; but think not levity and jesting harmless.
This is our journey in the pursuit of happiness in the School of Pharmacy, UoN. To keep our eyes fixed on the prize and never allow politics of anything goes to use religion or otherwise to divide us. To always be kind to a brother, always smiling at a sister and to live each day as though you were walking with Jesus. Our future will be better for it and you WILL make a difference.
"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13,14
Kenneth Odida, BPharm.
