This is a very important week for this writer. No, that is not exactly correct. The week is actually a very important eve. This week is the night before the morning that is expected to usher in the long awaited joy.
This is the week of mental finishing touches. This week, being the eve of decision, being the eve of freedom, being the eve of political bravura, is the opportune moment to walk about, to and fro, mentally speaking; looking not for whom to devour but for i’s to dot and t’s to cross. Final or last minute review is a fundamental precursor in planning. It is the last chance to scan through the entire landscape of ad hoc history as well as the schema of what the future holds.
This is where one is, at this time. You take it all in: the moments, the promises, all that should have been. Suddenly, all that bloom is replaced by a gloom you can do absolutely nothing about. Missed moments, broken promises garnished with satanic godliness equals to hopelessness.
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Nobody should be so self-hating as to stay put or stew on in sickening ingratitude, or in hopelessness that keeps getting worse. Learn to walk away, even when it seems there are no better alternatives. The truth is that you may not see them but there are always, always, always the low-hanging fruits of far better alternatives. Fear can limit anyone’s sight or vision, fear can do you dirty, fear can place virtual chains on your hands, on your legs, and on your mind.
Thankfully, one is not given a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Which leaves one wondering just how and why most of God’s children prefer to believe that their evil earthly parents can outgift the Maker of Heaven and earth. Of course, that school of thought had long shut down. We cannot come and kill ourselves over shenanigans.
As we were saying, the eve of decision grants you unlimited access to self reflection, unlimited access to retrospection. It is a golden opportunity to come clean, to make peace with self, to make peace with others and above all, to retrace, to restrategise and to re-go. At this point, your mind is held hostage by thoughts of how you would be remembered. So, because your own time is almost here, let me ask you: how shall those who know you remember you?
This entry seeks to help you. This entry seeks to fix you. The thinking is that once you understand the entire curriculum of the remember concept, you instantly become better guided, better prepared. Nobody, no matter the matter, should allow themselves to not be remembered positively or sweetheartedly!
Shall you be remembered as an atrocious nincompoop or as the authentic achiever who not only gave people fish when they needed it but also taught them beautiful and competitive fishing styles? Shall you be remembered as the brilliant leader or as the bitter version who spent all that time on inanities such as trying to prove you were the best thing since ice cream? Shall you be remembered as the courteous usherette or as that childish girl? ABC done, please score yourself over 10.
Next is DEF: shall you be remembered as a dependable ally or as a despicable scoundrel? (forgive the doubleheader). Shall you be remembered as an effective team player or as an erratic Achilles heel? Shall you be remembered as a faithful servant or as a facetious mole? Sssh, stop explaining: simply score yourself over 10.
Enter GHI: shall you be remembered as a gracious officer of the law or as someone who used the uniform to grind the very same people you were paid to groom in safety? Shall you be remembered as the celebrity who taught his fandom high-minded humility or as the harebrained singer whose lyrics left only memories or traces of hate, sex and such other nonsensical excellence? Shall you be remembered as the captain of industry who indulged with and therefore left his community a generation of ignorant, ill-mannered, ill-tempered rich fools? Dear security person, dear superstar, dear employer of labour: score yourself over 10; we want to check something.
Moving on now to the first pair of what remain: JKL and MNO. Attention, elected public office holders: shall you be remembered as a just judge or as some judgemental joker who happened during an election that was and still is possible only in Nigeria? Attention, dear teachers and all others in the knowledge distribution sector: shall you be remembered for having been a pedagogical killjoy or for all the kindness and knowledgeability you for decades helped other people’s children with? Attention, political lieutenant and sundry aides: shall you be remembered as just a loose cannon who pounced on critics of your boss or as a service luminary who built bridges and made life better for your boss and their constituents?
Attention, merchant and other business magnates: shall you be remembered for your malevolent, manipulative and mean-spirited Shylockness or for your meritorious, meticulous and mindful magnanimity? Attention, friend and such other beneficiaries of relationships: shall you be remembered as naive, narrow-minded and nihilistic or as nice, noble and numinous? Attention, medic and other health workers: shall you be remembered as overbearing, overcritical and overemotional or as observant, open-hearted and open-minded? Again, as we have done with all others, score yourself over 10 and publicise it.
PQR and STU are next on line: those concerned should do as all others have done here. How shall the salary earner be remembered? For having been pigheaded, querulous and reprehensible or for having been peaceable, quick-witted and resourceful? And, parents and family: shall they be remembered for their sanctimoniousness, timidity and ungainliness or for having been so savvy, so tactful and so understanding?
VWX and YZ bring up the rear. Dear professionals not covered elsewhere, shall you be remembered for having been so vain, wasteful and for how you maliciously x-rayed the lives of others or for having been so valorous, wealthy and xenial? As for all others thinking they have been left out: shall you be remembered for your yappy or youthful personality or for your zealousness or zest? Everyone, please tell us how good or bad you stand -over 10.
In case you get carried away by what you score yourself, please be warned; be guided. You shall only be remembered exactly the way you lived or treated people. Yes, there shall be some cynics, some naysayers, some sadists here and there but posterity never relies on them. Simply live or do right, henceforth.
Finally, and going back to one matter arising from our serving of last week, it is in order to report that Rt Hon. Unyime Idem, Ph.D. of Ukanafun/Oruk Anam federal constituency called to register his reaction. He clarified that the N1 billion he plans to distribute to families in his constituency comes from the federal government. He also made an allegation or two which we shall find time, at the appropriate juncture, to field right here. Until then, do well, lead well, live well, relate well and speak well with others: these are the only ways to ensure you shall be remembered positively ever after.
God bless Nigeria!
The post The A to Z of remember appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
