Living Your Life
With
Dr Abdulfattah Adeyemi
Making Life User-friendly
Life appears very beautiful, and this beauty lies in its unpredictability. Perhaps, this opportunity to participate in life’s impulsive and daunting experiences is a priceless gift for which we should be grateful. But, is it even possible to have opportunities without responsibilities? Can we live life without some “terms and conditions”?
If we must benefit from our existence, we need to realize that there are hardly any absolute guarantees in life. There are bad people who prosper and there are good people who suffer. Yet, there are consequences, rewards, and there is justice. None of these can we escape. People we trust may not always be there for us when we need them most. This may not be that they mean evil; it could just be that they have other things to do, and we don’t fit into their priorities at the moment. Expectations will not always be met: let’s get used to it.
Worse still, no matter what we do or don’t, people will speak of us. They would tell our tales without knowing our stories. They would judge us without mercy, such that the kettles would criticize the pot for being black, not appreciating the fire it had to go through. It is of no use to expect everyone to understand or appreciate us. But we must understand ourselves first, and then understand those around us. Only then can we attempt to live peacefully with those that fate has imposed on us. For instance, the wife needs to understand her husband, and the husband should seek to understand his wife; even if all we eventually get to achieve is to understand that our spouses are as unpredictable as life itself.
We should also remember that everyone is dealing with their share of life’s problems. People are looking for ways to manage their imperfections. The beautiful peacock is often held in captivity to entertain and amuse those who robbed it of its freedom. But, would anyone rather be a free, ugly vulture, left to wander without restraint but treated like a bad omen? Therefore, life becomes more “user friendly” when we understand that we are alive already, and that life owes us nothing else. We already have the palm trees; to make palm oil is up to us. We already have the sun; to tap from its energy is up to us. Developments don’t work with laziness, progress doesn’t work with ignorance, and blessings don’t work with indiscipline. Success in life requires a superior knowledge of how things work, and the deep understanding that a perfect life is not real; a real life is not perfect.
