The Gift of Life

It’s rather funny how we live life without noticing the little things which we take for granted e.g, the idea of Life itself. Being able to wake up in the morning, hugging the people we love most, picking up the phone and calling them up to make arrangements and hearing the soothing sound of their breadths at the other end of the phone. It’s a shame how we do not acknowledge those little things that makes our lives so much more bearable. We are indeed fortunate.

To bring things into perspective, stretch out your left hand before your eyes and observe all five fingers. Look at the length of your fingers. They all vary in length. I look at my left hand as I type this post and wonder why all five fingers are not equal. Could it be that there is a true purpose behind this?. For instance, the varying length of all five fingers makes it so much easier for me to find the entire keys one my keyboard. I doubt if this simple act of typing could have been achieved with as much ease compared to if all five fingers were equal.

You guys are probably wondering where all this is going right? Well, I am a bit unwell right now and have been told to stay away from work (this illness is story for another day). When you are home with so much time on your hands, its amazing the sorts of thoughts which plays through your mind like a home video.

I know of a family friend who recently died in her prime. She was young, mid twenties, had all of her life to live. She was loved dearly, she loved dearly, and she was cherished by many. She was a star and she was shinning at her brightest. But she had been marked from birth with an allergy. This allergy killed her in her prime. I was not a close friend to her however; I am in the same age group as she is. The only difference between us two is that I do not have an allergy (not that I know of anyway) My point is this, that girl could have still been here, with the ones that loved her. But due to some catastrophic fate, she just had to have an allergy! This really angers me! Why did this have to happen to her? Death does not make sense. I have known a lot of people die young, but for some reason, I look at her picture and I feel all the wrong-ness of the situation. She could have grown well beyond all of her parents aspirations; she could have smiled her beautiful smile once again. Her parents could have been spared the hurt of burying an only daughter.

Another story making the rounds in the news today is regarding the late Cameroonian international footballer, MarcViven Foe. He was an international star, great charisma; he was at the top of his game. He was 100% fit as a horse but, he was also marked with a heart defect he didn’t even know anything of. The whole world watched him slump to his death on a football pitch.. He was only 27/28 yrs old. It kind of makes you wonder doesn’t it? Is there something anatomically wrong with you? Something that could be a potential time bomb?

So as a conclusion to this rather depressing post, there are so many things out there that could kill you, ranging from “natural causes” such as an enlarged heart, an allergy or whatever to the “un-natural causes” which include the deranged psycho-killer, the drunk driver driving in the wrong lane or the crazy okada rider who almost ploughs his motor bike into you on the pedestrian pavement!. We cannot sit by and let these things hold us down.

I hope that people with allergies are more aware of the seriousness of their conditions and do more to avoid making contact with things that could kill them. I hope the public becomes more aware of the seriousness of having an allergy and help sufferers in staying away from their allergies. I feel rather ashamed to confess that I have always brushed off people having allergies as being ridiculous and far fetched. I have never known anyone with an allergy and the case I have written about came as a bit of a shock to me.

I hope that people become more aware that the human body is not an indestructible appliance. A single bolt out of place or misaligned can bring it all down. I hope that we can all learn to live our lives to the fullest when we have the opportunity to do so because this life, though precious and sweet, can come to an all too sudden end much sooner than anticipated