by
Obododimma Oha
We are still reading the lips of Oliver de Coque. Can one forget that he once sang:
Onye nọrọ ebe ọ nọ
Ebe ọ n'anọghị ana-agụ ya!
(When one is somewhere
One would be dying to be somewhere else!)?
Indeed, it is the statement about the insatiable and chameleonic nature of the human person. Oliver de Coque was right; we are dying to be where we are not. But who knows how that other place is? Are we sure we would be prepared to stay and not run?
Places are also unstable and we may not like it that way. Every rich person also has time for crying. The Maker must have thought it wiser to assign us to manage that "big" problem somewhere and not be somewhere else gnashing the teeth and regretting. Is it not better to feel this pain than to experience that terrible shock?
Let me be here because I do not know how terrible it could be there. Why do I have to long for that terrible life? It is better hidden away and kept far way from me. Why should I die to die? Where I am is where I like it and where it suits me.
That person you think is enjoying while you are suffering has problems, too. Enormous problems. So, stop wanting to be what you are not. Stop creating a fictional character and forcing your current self to be that fictional character. Instead, be yourself and confront your own demons.
Do you see that billionaire up there? That billionaire also has billionaire problems. Can you handle billionaire problems? Is it not better to like it where you can handle it?
What you think you lack is actually your strength. You have it in other ways and may not know. Have you not heard, my friend, that when you start enjoying you "suffering," the Maker becomes your ally? So, you are not really a loser but a potential victor!
We are not saying that you were created to beg for alms or to depend on others. We are not saying that you should be satisfied with poverty. In fact, we are actually saying that you have to fight against alms begging and poverty. Ask yourself daily: Is it true that you were created only to beg and to wallow in poverty? It is not true! So, reject it and seek to be where you truly fit it: the productive and progressive constituency of the rich Almighty!
Preachers call this "possessing your possessions." Does that sound like tautology, an unnecessary repetition? Yes; it is good that it is repeated for you to get angry, for you to do something. Possessing your possessions. I like that. Not only is the music pleasant to my ears, it is also insistent. Rightly so.
You are "dying" to be where you are not, not "living" to be there. It looks unpleasant. A synonym in English may replace that trope and we say you are "longing for" or "desirous." Okay; you are not to die really. It is to show how badly the want is. You want to be somewhere else you think might be better. And in the sad context of alms begging and poverty, it does not seem wise to "die" for what one is pursuing. Good, you want to stop begging and living in poverty. So, you actually want a change of life. For the better.
Oliver de Coque was not encouraging you to enjoy your poverty and forget the good life. He was actually asking you to think critically about being here and being there. He was actually asking you to re-examine your "here" and find out whether it is actually "here" or somewhere fictional and only heard about in folktales.
You are not a fictional character; you are real. Your wars are real and you are the hero. Only think. Think about here and there. Think before thinking of stepping out of "where" you are.
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