“Life is hard enough”. At least that’s one thing I like about Easy fm. They ‘make life easy for you because it’s already hard enough’. Unless you are born to a Royal family, you can’t dispute that fact. Each of us goes through some tough trying times. The only difference is how we handle it. Some are good at absorbing life’s pressures while some are not. Doesn’t matter the age, every age-bracket has its own set of challenges. We just have to embrace them and live with it. Life is that cruel, isn’t it really?
I was once with a close relative chasing some signatures from Government Offices. My relative had travelled from far and had planned to arrive in the city in the morning, go about business and travel back in the evening. Shock on her! People around the offices, typical of any government office, handled her with no sense of urgency and kept pushing her from office to office, where she was required to meet expenses that were unbudgeted for. At some point, she nearly broke down in my presence. I am not very good in handling people at their weakest moments. It bites me within and is a sight I always try to avoid, seeing a female in a situation that brings the weakest out of her. I am saying this because I have not met guys in that situation because, well, guys act brave even in the toughest of situations (that is debatable since that is just an opinion of mine.)I was in a fix. It was a situation in which I could barely do a thing to make the situation any better. Very tough moment in life.
Another situation in way back in 2010, when my KCSE results were due. At that moment I was seated with a friend of mine listening to Prof Ongeri repeatedly say ‘Echucation’ instead of education. My friend and I were listening for various intentions. I wanted to hear how many familiar names I could make out; he wanted to hear his name. I could see the seriousness with which he listened and shook his head as every name went down to the last name. His wasn’t mentioned. He is a sharp guy. Hours later, as individual results started trickling in, my friend suddenly became depressed. Disappointed. Life had suddenly taken a different path on his side. The results shape the future of individuals and unfortunately, all his aspirations just seemed to have drained into a big hole. All he was left with is an unimaginable grade to deal with. He hadn’t failed. He just did not get what he expected. What could take him to the next step in life, as he imagined. It took close to two months for him to accept the disappointment and move on, try something else. I am glad he is making great strides in his skill and making great bucks out of it as some of us(read me) toil with grades in school. But every time a sum gets hard in a Mathematics class especially calculus, all I can imagine is a system that locked out a great guy because of an exam. The guy is smart I repeat.
In all aspects, we go through situations that make or break our lives. Someone was telling me that she wouldn’t wish to get back home after graduation and would rather get married. That is four years from now. At home things are quite thick on her side and it’s depressing quite. It’s hard to deal with life especially in the source of the hardship is one place you would be seeking help from.
I look around and I see people struggling to make something out of their lives. I see people in campus and still being the sole bread winners back in their homes. I see people who have overcome great obstacles to be where they are. The saddest part is when all that is thrown away when it becomes too much to handle just like the chap who was making brilliant quotations late at night around campus. He was quoting book after book along the pavements just past ‘Mututho hour’.
It never gets easy I hear. Challenges are overcome only for new ones to emerge. But from whichever angle, there is always a ray of hope. In the religious perspective, ‘This world is not our home. We are just but passers-by’. From an optimist’s perspective, there is light at the end of the long tunnel.
I look round and count myself lucky, enjoy my moments, pray and thank God because it is by grace that I am alive. There are people with greater obstacles in life yet they are alive. They can afford to smile and live positively. We all have disappointments and problems here and there. It is how we deal with them that make the people in us.