TIME'S WINGS AND DEBRIS OF HISTORY

With the speed of snails, we seem to sail into the future yet, speedily today comes and becomes yesterday’s future. Time’s wings flap and carry us all through the thick and thins for what prize? For the prize of that which we’d kill to keep if we have to or die to keep if need be_ our bodies.
So fast it seems when we look into our past and how events we’ve anticipated come and have all gone. The word ‘wow! How time flies’ automatically springs out of the vocal cords of our mind’s mouth_ surprised at how with the speed of sun rays and the light it emanates, we crash into the present. It is indeed as swift as one quick swing of a sword in the hands of a great swords’ man. Yet time is too slow when in the present, we crawl into the future’s green, yellow and brown.
It is not hard to discern on the evidences of time and life’s journeys as these are manifest on our skin, bones, eyesight, the color of our hair, the way we begin to stutter and sound incoherent, the rate of decline in our level of assimilation and comprehension, the wrinkles, our grip on things, the constant desire for rest, the need for a handy-third-leg, the quietness that ensues and all other mannerisms that characterize old age.
Time indeed is the vehicle that takes us from birth to being productive and from there and then to unholy hollows wherein we’d decay and become food for hungry roots, worms and their cohorts who are ever willingly ready to relish the sumptuousness of our decay as time turns us from precious gifts to debris of history.
Did I just say “debris?” yeah! and it so occurs to me now that one has to ponder over what kind of debris he’d become when time takes its toll. This question is one that could elicit answers beyond the stretch of comprehension of most people who dare give thought to it. Debris? It sounds too demeaning, abasing and mean to declare one a debris when we like to think or ourselves as nothing short of royal whilst adorning our physique and mind with regal attires. Kings, princes, queens, princesses, generals, jagaban and almighty bae (for the ladies) to mention but a few of the many titles there are, we think ourselves. Calling one a debris could be termed defamation of character in our current modernity as people have become less tolerant yet preaching tolerance with as much heightened publicity they can muster. For this simple but defaming word as we call it, people could go to court, claim damages and sue for valuable legal tender and smile to the bank thereafter_ a profitable endeavor in case someone insults you and you choose to feel deeply hurt and cry foul. It’s all a matter of choice but then, what will time’s pen pen you down as? Well, in case you decide to disagree with whether or not we become time’s debris, of what value is a corpse to the living albeit when it decays and begin to become one with the earth?
Taking a look at some of the monuments, institutions, landmarks and so many infrastructures that have been put in place, it occurs to me that these are manifest handiwork of great minds of walking corpses (as we all are) who once walked on this earth. People whose names now have been engraved on the pages of history as debris that chose to be positively productive for the good of our micro and macro societies.
While we bother about the need to quench the embers of thirst and hunger_ variables whose reoccurrence remain constant, wont it be worthwhile to leave our footprints in the sands of time as indelible debris?
Remember, I’m just a human and you might be well above me in all ramifications as long as life is but what difference do we truly have? This long boring or interesting piece might be recorded in time as the intellectual property of my mind’s pen but how effectively it affects you positively is all that matters most.
The current realities we bask in today may have seemed almost impossible in our recent past but then, here we are. It goes to show that whether or not we like it, we are all sitting on the backs of winged stallions and as they glide us into the future_ whether near or far, what defines how important our debris become to history is how in the few time we have on earth, we choose to live. As the winds of life, history and time hover over us, let it be known that we made our stay worthwhile through constant provision of help to others, our society and regular appraisal of the self so we’d be remembered in the best way we like to remember great people.
__Prince Jeremiah Kadiri