LIKE PILGRIMS AND STRANGERS

Who knows where we come from or where we go? As a clot of blood we are formed knowing not whence we came from and beneath the earth we are buried knowing not where we go to. So is there any need craving for all that last but for a time? What makes you think that what you believe is even right? What do we gain by being faithful in a house full of whores? Everything that is done under the sun is meaningless as the Preacher rightly said. Under the sun, we are governed by theories, conspiracies, beliefs, conventions, and laws that we know not the origin neither the originator. Everyone believes in or not in something and they cannot be blamed for who they are because no two are the same even if they are, periodic chemistry teaches us that they have opposite spins. As such it will be very wrong to judge someone with what you believe in or not. We work so hard to achieve a better tomorrow which we are never assured of seeing. Seeing tomorrow is not by deeds neither by any qualities we possess. It is simply chance or luck as some say. Others attribute it to the benevolence of some divine entity.

Even with the concept of the divine, everyone has his or her own to whom honor is due. So even with divine, who is supreme over then other? Who orders and who follows? We love and we are others beloved but somewhere along the line, there is hatred and envy and malice and whatever vice you can think of. Can love and hatred coexist? If NO, then why do we love some and hate others? If YES, then what do we stand for and to which one do we make obeisance because to my best of knowledge, no one man can serve two masters. There is no part of man that is content with what it has. The eye is never content with seeing neither the ears hearing. The mouth together with the tongue never ceases to talk likewise the belly is never filled. Human needs are insatiable and forever so shall it be. All these somehow attest to the fact that everything under the sun is meaningless because something meaningful needs no further elaboration. Belief is like the skin of a leopard; it is if not impossible, very hard to change.

We are born tabula rasa and like a machine we are programmed by what surrounds us. We are made Christians, Muslims, Atheist, educated, whatever by where we find ourselves or by whom we find ourselves with. We do not determine our race, ethnicity, ego, sex or whatever that makes us so why racism, ethnocentrism, egocentrism? If we had the chance to choose even if at random, there is a probability that you wouldn’t have chosen what and where you are now. As such there is no need to consider oneself better than others because all that we have is by chance. No one wished to be born into a poor family neither into a race that is despised. Just be content with whom and what you are and never look down on your neighbor. Humans are all one and just as phones are made with different colors, so are we. Black, white, red or yellow doesn’t change the fact that humans are same and just as the stars fade when the sun appears, we shall also fade from earth to the grave.

If we are born to die then we can compare ourselves to a stranger. A stranger arrives to leave no matter how long he or she may stay. One of the few people on earth who plan their life well is strangers. A stranger knows he has but a short time to stay so he doesn’t bother himself with the things of settlers. He is always prepared to be on the move and is forever ready for any eventuality. He doesn’t consider his race because he can find himself in any country and will need help. His ethnic group is the last thing he talks of because ethnicity is not empathy. His ego, he steps on it because it will take him nowhere. His belief, he shares and doesn’t enforce, hoping to get a soul to join him. That is a stranger and so is everyone who lives. Strangely we find the otherwise in many that live under the sun. Many go to the extent of getting what they want even if it needs be that the person kills. This is vanity and such is everything under the sun.

We are like pilgrims and strangers passing through this land unknown. We all came through one channel which no one ever dare despise. One day or another we all, one by one will leave one way or another. We may be aware of what goes on here on this earth but on the other side we do not know. If therefore there be anything necessary, let us live like there is no tomorrow, let us esteem every little creature and let us be upright before God and man. I may not be able to convince you that there is life after death or judgment or even hell or heaven and I don’t intend to. One thing that is expedient is that let us live right that if there is such thing like judgment after death, we wouldn’t find ourselves wanting. Life is not how you live it; life is living in full exoneration. Live it in such a way that few would love you for who you are and that when all said and done, and you have gone the last mile of the way, you will find rest at the close of the day and also know that there are joys that awaits you. We cannot be light to people’s darkness all the time but we should endeavor not to be darkness to their light.

There is no greater sorrow than regret, no greater power than love, and no greater gift than forgiveness. May the Lord forgive us and may the gods be witness.