Let me first start by saying that there is no saint on earth. In one way or the other, we have all wronged someone. It could be through abuse, envy, covetousness, selfishness or many other things we have done knowingly or unknowingly. At times, we favour people because they are good to us and decide not to do the same for those who have offended us. That is just how complicated life can be.
Sometimes, I wonder how anyone can confidently say that everything they have done in life qualifies them to make heaven, if heaven truly exists. Unless you don’t live in this world, I don’t think anyone can say with 100 percent certainty that they have never wronged anybody or that heaven is sure for them. Personally, I cannot say that I qualify. I only believe that I need to keep working towards perfection, and I believe that perfection is something only God can truly achieve in us.
But why do we need to be good if there is no heaven or hell?
For me, the answer is simple. If we are evil, it is not only going to affect us directly. It will also affect the people who love us and those around us. Imagine someone selling hard drugs and thinking, “I don’t take them, so it doesn’t concern me.” How sure are you that one day, your family member, friend or someone close to you will not become a victim of what you are selling?
There is an adage in my locality that says you should not throw a stone into the market because you never can tell who will be hit by it. It may eventually hit someone close to you.
That is just how life is.
In everything we do, we should remember that there are people who will be affected by our actions, whether directly or indirectly. The things we do today may go beyond us. If we live well and give our 100 percent to humanity, our family members, children, friends and even people we may never meet can benefit from it.
It is like our forefathers who planted cocoa and other trees many years ago. Some of them are no longer alive today, yet generations after them are still benefiting from what they planted. They may not have known exactly who would eventually eat the fruits of those trees, but they left something behind.
The same thing applies to evil.
Whatever we do today, whether good or evil, will somehow find a way of coming back to us, even when we are no longer here. Our actions can become part of the lives of people after us. We can leave behind something that makes life better for others, or we can leave behind something that makes life harder for them.
The truth is that it is difficult to live a completely holy life on this earth, no matter how careful we are. Sometimes, even when we think we are doing justice, wickedness may not be far away from what we are doing. Sometimes, we hurt people without even knowing it. Sometimes, we think we are right because of the way we see things, only to realise later that we were wrong.
That is why I don’t think the best way to live is to go around believing that we are better than everyone else or that we have done enough to earn heaven.
Rather, we should keep examining ourselves.
We should keep trying to do better.
We should keep asking ourselves if our actions are making life better or worse for the people around us.
And whether heaven exists or not, I believe there is still a good reason to be good. If nothing else, let us be remembered for the good we did. Let us leave something behind that someone else can benefit from.
Because at the end of the day, none of us is perfect. We are all still learning, making mistakes, correcting ourselves and trying to become better human beings.
