My Point Exactly
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I don’t know how I got to this point but for me, only the tiny little things matter this days.
I’m no longer excited about the Christmas, Easter or New year frenzy thingy, I’m gradually becoming so numb to the norms and somehow finding my foot in the little things that count. I eat at that woman selling at the street corner not because I love her food… I do because I love her and would be happier simply by buying a little from her and giving her something to take home to those she loves and strife to make happy. It feels good when I eat my rice with one meat and one ponmo, and I can still pay for the meal of that labourer who is working with me on site and is eating four fufu for strength and a single meat on it to serve as a status symbol and not the true desire to balance the diet with protein. It even feels better knowing that my N500 can feed three people as against me eating that fine meal for N1500 and still want some more. Although I steal get to eat the N1500+ per plate meal, sharing the N500 with others feels like Christmas and I try to do it each time I remember to eat at all.
I’ve been away from my family for so long, especially in 2016 and somehow…I miss them but I’m no longer excited about going home. I have come to the point where the world around me has become as important as the one the world that made me. I love and respect my family beyond words, I miss my Godson and daughter everyday I’ve learnt that even the son of that woman selling pure water on that road side deserves the kinda love I have for Ayokunumi eventhough I’m not his/her father. It is my duty to love even my enemies, how much more those I live and work with and that innocent son of that hardworking woman down the road. I love them unconditionally too so when I miss home, I don’t miss the absence of my family, but rather, I long for to have more… a little more of those who made and a whole lot more of those who daily mold me even more to form a better me for the world around me.
In some countries it is new year already, in some, it will take another 12 hours or more to get to it, and here we are just 2hours 58mins away from that chime of the clock into 2017. The reality is bare, every hour of everyday is special and must be celebrated, beyond the definition of life against the Lunar, Solar or Gregorian Calendar. Everyday is filled with newness, a child is born by the second and another life transits to the great beyond by the minute, making every minute as important as the chime into 2016. The smile on the face of my Oga at work when the job is well done or the smile and pride in the heart of that security guard when I add “sir” to my “good morning” when I’m greeting him puts that special feeling, that sugar that taste better than the new year in my mouth. I have learnt from experience that it is better to make every minute special for the people around you than to to wait all year for a special day to make them feel special and I have had it wiser, better and even special practicing it. I believe every minute is a new day, a new year and a new season somewhere and because I love every man, woman and child alive, I have decided to celebrate every minute of the rest of my days making every minute special for that one special person standing next to me.
I believe in a God that I’m sure exists beyond the confines of time, all seeing and all present in all things and at all times. I have the free will and the capacity to be the special ingredient and as for me, today is not the only day, neither is it tomorrow…it is every moment that counts and with this knowledge deep within, I join the rest of the world in wishing you and everybody a happy 2016 and a happier 2017+
I’m Abidemi Babaolowo Oderinlo
#IWriteWhatILike
#HappyNewYear
