Yesterday, as I walked gingerly towards home after a long day at work, a regular sight I've never really bothered about started having a different interpretation to me. Out of nowhere, a flurry of thoughts rushed through my mind. As I came to terms with my thoughts, I was engulfed in sadness. The scenario I witnessed was one I wouldn't wish to see again. Funny enough, I have seen it a couple of times. In fact, I was once involved. But this time, it was different; it hit differently.
On the fateful day I saw a man who was probably in his late 60s beckoning onto customers. He was a commercial motorcyclist. For one, in this part of the world, people who work in the commercial transportation sector are one of the most ridiculed sets of people out there. They are so badly treated that a glaringly poor passenger will even pour scorn on a commercial transporter just for no reason - even when the transporter looks more well fed than the passenger. The wrong belief is that working in the transport sector is for lowlifes with no future whatsoever.
But on this particular day I'm talking about, my mind took a different turn. I saw a weary looking man in his 60s literally begging a young lady in his 20s to come aboard so he could transport him and get paid. The old man looked tired and defeated. As I looked at him I felt pity for him. I couldn't stop asking myself what could've gone wrong that led such an old man to that kind of labour.
And then I saw another commercial motorcyclist - a much younger one - ride by and was flagged down by a willing passenger, a lady. The passenger had been earlier patronized by the old man but she told the man he wasn't waiting for a transporter. It was a surprise when she hopped on another motorcycle. As the old man expressed his disappointment towards the lady, she responded sharply, saying, "Baba, you are too old for this job. I am not ready to die now."
As I watched this scenario unfold, I thought to myself that at some point the old man was probably in his 20s. By then he will be confident that before he clocked 30 he will be a millionaire. In his 30s he'd be cocksure he'd be a rich man by 40. None of those dreams came to pass for him and that's why he's struggling to make a living in his 60s.
Given the opportunity to pass down wisdom to the coming generation, I'll tell them that though life's for the living, they should make hay while the sun shines. We always get suckered into the deception that we still have time when in reality we don't have it in our control . Time is fickle; it slips away without notice. No one lives forever. And as one advances in age without tangible breakthrough, some doors of opportunity will close never to open again. No one remains here forever. No one is forever young. Be wise with your time.
