TOUCH

10.30am Somewhere in Ibadan

 “Good Morning mum, how was your night shift?” Fareedah (Pseudo name) said smiling and genuflecting welcoming her mother. She peeped into the white nylon bag containing the loaf of bread her mother never forgot to buy on her way back from work. “Pele omo mi.[Nearest Meaning:How are you my child?] Oh! Thank goodness we have light”, I really need to take a cool shower and sleep, I am tired”, her mother sighed.

11.13 am Downstairs

“Arrrgh, arrrgh, arrrgh No, no, no… daddy, daddy, mummy!”

11.13a.m in the shower

 “These children are at it again, they won’t let one just have peace, kini gbogbo eleyi bayi gaan?” she hissed [Nearest meaning: What is all this about, now?]

11.13a.m Downstairs

“La illah illah Allah, la illah illah Allah”

She grabbed a towel and rushed down

11.14am Downstairs

“What is it? Egbami ooo, Egbami… La illah illah Allah, la illah illah Allah, Fareedah, Fareedah Allah please, Allah saanu mi o! Nooo!”, Her mother hyperventilated.

Her father had begun to do CPR on his almost stiff daughter; his big hands kneaded his 13- year old daughter’s heart, opening her airways by tilting her beautiful head that was crowned with her freshly woven hair simultaneously. Her young budding breasts moved very faintly as he tried to resuscitate her as he was taught in medical school. Her body fought hard to release the spasm the electricity had vomited into her body. Her skin’s electricity resistance was no match for the bowel contents of this angry surge. Eyes twitched, cardiac muscles went haywire but she fought and fought but she did not win. All she had tried to finish the laundry with the washing machine, but electrocution did not let her complete it.

3.13pm At the morgue

“Subhan’Allah... subhan’Allah... subhan’Allah…”

 This is a true story, which happened yesterday morning, not too far from my neighborhood not unusual but very unfortunate but it got me thinking- Why on earth are we here? I have seen people grieve, heard them weep, listened their hysterical laughter, watched them withdraw, read their poems, even seen some reach out more and I, I have seen myself switch off, and cling to humor when I can’t take it anymore because there is a very thin line between everything. That is my mechanism.

A man cannot say the heat is too much and decide to imitate a naked mad man (except you are a nudist).

People have come up with different definitions of life as it appeals to them, some maybe happy, others sorrowful and the rest somewhat carefree. One day, I imagined life like this- thousands of people walking in a narrow path in a void, some holding each other’s hands, a few kissing, chatting and suddenly, like smoke, each person begins to disappear, some fall off the path into the abyss, but the remaining thousands just keep moving on either aware or unaware!

If you think money and fame brings happiness and fulfillment, don’t think again, just ask Rick Warren.

It’s like a cyclone drawing you in and hard as you may try to grasp things you thought mattered to stabilize you, you realize they aren’t really that tangible. Sex, wealth, fashion technology, they fall short of what we are really here for. 

The woman with the issue of blood in the Bible had a challenge, and she discovered the solution. “If I could just touch His garment, if I cou….ld touch His gar…ment, I will be hea...led". This is just me imagining her yearning to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, and then some happy-go-lucky guy jumps in her line of view and with his sandal clouds the woman’s eyes with dust and almost in turn, some other over-eager celebrity fanatic or ‘Famzer’ would collide with her still out-stretched arm with his swaying hips and probably fart in her face. A very frustrating scene indeed. One hem, one touch, one dried fountain. The hem – the source, the dried fountain-the result, her touch- her purpose.

Like an electron moving continuously in an orbit loses energy, some still continue to stay in the orbit especially those close the nucleus- the source, because there is a pull on it, hence it is harder to remove than those far away from it. There is a purpose for that electron close to the nucleus and that which is far away from it. When your time is near, and your impact made you move far from the nucleus and is easily removed. You don’t have to be in a suit and tie on a fancy platform, with several cameras around you to make an impact, your boxer’s and bathroom works just fine.

 Fareedah, a girl that never scored anything below 80% in any subject she offered, has passed and has since been buried. That, sad as it may seem doesn’t mean she didn’t fulfill her purpose one way or the other. Brilliant hardworking and respectful but she had completed her touch, now she rests, while the rest of us, still move in the orbit, near or far from the nucleus. There is a purpose for your touch, appreciate the life He gave you, fufill your touch.