Living In Paradise Hasn't Been This Simple

“There is a place I long to be, where the air is wide and free, it’s a little haven just for me…” so begins GTBank’s theme song, sung by Asa, the Nigerian sensation who has carved a niche for herself in the world of music.

The day has just been there, the set target wasn't met and that brought about mood change. I had expected some big happenings, but that was not the case. I wore a long face for some hours, and needs be that I call myself to order so as not to spoil tomorrow’s good with today’s ills. So in the quest to hold back that which is about to be lost, I took an earpiece, and for the first time in recent months, connected it to my phone, so as to “Play some music and take away the sorrows”. This idea has been working for me ever since I discovered it, so my belief was: it won’t fail now. As I searched through the playlist for a good song to start with, Asa’s “A Place To Be” surfaced; and as if it was ‘heaven’ sent, I started with it. And for the next one hour it played repeatedly. I listened to the lyrics carefully with rapt attention; it was as if the songstress was in front of me, relating her thoughts for which the song is about. She described this place to me so much so that I began to fall in love with her place. She talked about the people, the environment etc; a wonderful place it is, if the truth must be told. After listening to her, a question was asked inside of me, what kind of place do you want to be?

Like Asa, I long to be in a place where it takes only but a spark to bring out the fire in me (not necessarily a tanker of petrol and a matchbox filled with matchsticks). A place where you see me fall into muddy water and you won’t refuse to help pull me out, despite your all white dressing which costs a whopping $2,000; where I say the truth and it is accepted by all; where religion, tribe, language spoken, area of resident, country of nationality, wealth, behavior etc, are not the bases/factors for associating with people; where my car breaks down in a deserted place, late at night, and you, just driving by, sees me, alight from your car, try to see if it can be fixed and if not, ties a rope to my car from yours and pull it to my destination; where I am without food, you, having just a handful for your stomach, decides to share it with me; where I might not be that perfect guy you've always seen in your dreams, but you still take me the way I am;  where I won’t read in the dailies that some people just bombed some other people because of differences in thoughts and beliefs; where one nation won’t bend another to do their bidding because of some sort of advantage they have;  where I can decide to sleep with my two eyes closed, but my door and gate open with no fear of some bandits attacking me; where I won’t be intimidated by people around me because I’m not on the same level –in terms of everything—with them yet; where peer pressure won’t have a space in the dictionary of youths; where rivalry won’t have a place among brothers; where there won’t be a reason to produce weapons of wars because the word “war” won’t be known in the first place; where the amount of money I make won’t become a determinant of the ‘quantity’ and ‘worth’ of respect I earn; and a whole lot more.

A careful read of the above paragraph would bring to our knowledge that there’s just one single denominator to all, and it is LOVE. Love, over the centuries, has had so many definitions. It has been defined by the high and mighty; the low and the poor have not been left out. Among the many definitions are:

”Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-13

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”  Anaïs Nin

“The only thing we never get enough of is love; and the only thing we never give enough of is love.” Henry Miller

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” Elie Wiesel

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”Robert A. Heinlein

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  Martin Luther King Jr.

These quotes are very powerful, though-provoking and mind-blowing. I want us to ‘open our eyes’ to a new one, all these powerful quotes known all over the world has their roots in this:

 “Love is your ability to do to other what you want done unto you.”  

If there’s one saving grace to all the happenings of today, I tell us it’s love. If only we will exhibit love, there would be no need for paradise; this is because this world would compete favourably with be the best of places to live in.