A Truth About Life: To Give Is To Live.
- Uvelopin
Hello again, and welcome to Uvelopin (which is you developing). As a truth about life, today's topic is "to give is to live". And this topic will be delivered with life's experiences.
1) We'll start with "Imoh" (African word for Wealth). Some years ago, Imoh worked in an accounts office and made a modest monthly income. Imoh had this cousin, Ayaka (African word for Sibling), who also had a paying job, but insisted on requesting that Imoh buy him recharge cards almost every time he ran out of airtime on his phone. Imoh considered Ayaka a nuisance for his regular requests for airtime, and one day, when Ayaka called for a recharge card, Imoh lashed out at him, telling him that they were both paid workers and he could get his own recharge cards so he should stop bothering him. Imoh felt justified by his reaction to his cousin's request, but maybe a little guilty about the temper he attached to it. But, there was no going back, so Imoh just forgot about the whole thing.
A few days later, Imoh ran out of airtime and bought a recharge card worth 1,500 naira and sat back to scratch the card in order to reveal the pin with which he would load the credit on his phone. While scratching the card, he accidentally scratch off 3 numbers out of the 15 digits pin code. This got Imoh very upset because he could only try to load the pin with three digits in any sequence 5 times before his line would be barred by the network if he loaded an incorrect pin. So... Imoh put the card down and walked away, in an effort to calm down and come up with all three digit sequences he could think of, and plan his method of application daily so as not to arouse suspicion with the network and have his line barred.
As he sat calmly in his office, the thought of his cousin, Ayaka, and how he treated him flash through his mind, and Imoh decided to go out and buy a 500 naira recharge card and send it to him. So he went out and bought the card, scratched it, and sent the pin to his cousin via text. A few minutes later, Ayaka called and expressed his gratitude for the unexpected gift. After the call, Imoh felt quite elated and went back to his office and picked up the recharge card he had botched. "Just wing it", said an inner voice in his heart; so he keyed the 15 digits code into his phone, applying a random 3-digit sequence that popped into his head, and the code went through. He had successfully loaded the 1,500 naira credit on his phone.
To give is to live.
2) Next, we will talk about "Ikang" (an African word for Light). Ikang had been planning to go on a cruise for weeks but lacked sufficient funds to follow through, so she solicited the help of a friend who agreed to pay on her behalf. Now, Ikang was good to go, and when the day came, she took a cab to the harbour where the cruise ship was docked and got in line to board. But, there was a problem; when it got to her turn, her name could not be found on the manifest. Ikang went into panic mode and began calling her friend, but couldn't reach him. The network in the area was very poor. After further tries to reach him, she realised that his phone was off. And the ship was set to leave in 10 minutes.
Ikang felt she was going to cry and sat on a bench a few feet away from the queue wondering what to do. About 3 minutes later, a mild argument erupted in a nearby office. A man was being forced out of the office as he pleaded for help with something. Once he was out of the office, the door was shot with a bang. Looking frustrated, the man walked straight to the bench on which Ikang sat, sat down himself and buried his head in his hands. "Is everything alright?", Ikang asked, hoping she wasn't intruding, and with compassion in her heart. "I just need to make one phone call", the man replied, "just one phone call, and all this will be sorted out". He quickly explained that his phone had died and no one in the office will help him make the call and sort things out. Without bothering to enquire more about the details of the problem, Ikang offered her phone to him. He looked at her and she could see the relief in his eyes. He accepted the help and made the call he needed to make with her phone, and about a minute later, a uniformed man emerge from the office and called him back in. The man handed the phone back to Ikang, gave her a quick "thank you", and disappeared into the office after the uniform man. Ikang was just happy she could help.
3 minutes to go now. Ikang decided to try calling her friend one more time to sort her own problem out. This time, the call went through immediately. She quickly explained the problem to her friend and he was surprised to hear that her name wasn't in the ship's manifest. He asked her to go back to the officer checking the list while he made a call. She hurriedly walked to the queue (which only had two people left), and on arrival, the officer got a call. In about two seconds, the officer gestured for her to board the ship and Ikang hurried on overjoyed.
To give is to live.
3) While my husband and I were still courting (2 years before we got married) we got into a heated argument about religion (he was a christian, and I was an ECKist). The topic of the argument...? "In what religious direction will the children be guided?"
Silly, right?
I really didn't care if he wanted them to be christians, but his major bone of contention was that he didn't want the children we would have to ever hear of my religion, in order not to confuse them. So, his solution... I had to join him in Christianity. I tried to explain to him that religion wasn't a dress that one could just change for another, but rather a way of life, and that I could not shun my way of life just because he refused to understand it. This quarrel brought us to a crossroads and we had to decide if we wanted to continue on or not. We loved each other, don't get me wrong, but it is a known fact that humans are quick to criticize what they cannot understand.
I was thrown into a state of depression for weeks. We both were. I was lost and clueless on what to do to touch his heart on this issue. At a point I got too frustrated and thought it best to switch off from the issue. Then, one day, in contemplation, I recalled something a friend once said, "there is no problem you cannot "serve" your way out of". So, I contemplated on task I could do for the sake of service to anyone, whether I knew them or not. I volunteered at my place of worship and joined the cleanup crew to get our temple ready for an upcoming seminar. But, I didn't stop there. I took out a good amount of money from my savings and donated it to help register anyone who really wanted to attend the seminar but couldn't because of lack of funds. I took it as a service to God and just had fun doing it. It gave me happiness... so much happiness that I forgot all about the hurt and uncertainty in my relationship. In fact, I told God that if it was ITS will for us to be together, then it should be so, and if not, then it was ok; and these acts of service made me so happy and elated that I could surrender the problem to life to sort it out on my behalf.
Then, one day I got a call from my fiance asking to see me. We met up at his place, and to my surprise, we had the same "where-will-the-children-go" discussion, but this time, there was so much love, compassion, and understanding coming from both sides. He said he didn't mind them going with me to service, I said I didn't mind them going with him, and we finally settled on them learning about both religions so they could be compassionate, loving, understanding, and liberal as they grow into society. Problem solved!
To give is to live!
4) One time, I had a falling out with my sister because I needed her help so badly and she refused to be of service. I went into malice-mode and won't talk to her for days. She tried to come closer and apologize, but I won't give her the time of day. I admitted that I was real harsh, and I should have just let it go for the sake of love, but I was determined to hold onto the betrayal and anger for as long as time just to teach her a lesson. But, that won't last long.
I used to love eating tiger nuts a lot, so one day, I was enjoying some tiger nuts, and the thought of my sister cross my mind, then the memory of anger and betrayal flooded in, and I vowed to never need her for anything else in my life. I swear I heard a faint voice in my heart say, "you will need her now!", and I began to choke immediately on the tiger nuts I had in my mouth. I couldn't breathe or scream, and I was so scared and confused and could have sworn I was going to pass out and die, before someone burst into my room, bent me over and gave me hard pats on the back. I couldn't really see who it was. This person run out and got me some water to drink, and soon enough I could see clearly, and... you guessed it... It was my sister; the same sister that I was determined to have a lifelong malice with (🤣! God forgive me!!!). She had just saved my life. So, beef squashed forever. Till date! She said she was in the next room and heard sounds of someone struggling to breathe. And how she heard it through the cement block walls and shut doors, I have no idea, but I'm eternally grateful she did!
To "forgive" is to live. To give is to live...!
So, what do you think? What did you learn? Did you find other hidden messages in the stories? Have you gone on a cruise before? What was it like? Feel free to air your thoughts.
As always, I love you all very much. Till next time.
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