A river runs through it




On my drive to work today, I paid particular attention to the faces around me: the people, I didn’t segregate in any way, I looked at those in public buses and those in own cars: luxury cars and those in beat up ones, I noticed something was uniformly there in their faces, some sort of worry, a concern for something, it was expressed in the lines on their forehead, the reflex movement of their lips, something made them busy, even in traffic.

My mind went back to another morning years’ back, I had my worries too just like my fellow road users, it was a Monday and I had a lot of pending activities, deadlines I could not meet due to reasons beyond me. What am I to do really? I braced up for the boardroom bashing, I shifted nervously, if someone was looking, It would have been there in my face, that sort of worry, a concern for something, expressed in the lines on my forehead, the reflex movement of my lips, I was busy, even in traffic.

Then to my left I heard this sonorous good morning said by a woman with CLEAR TRACES OF BEAUTY, she seems well liked, she greeted everyone: cabmen at a small garage, gatekeepers, street boys, everyone either said hello or she initiated the greeting.  In her face it was missing: that sort of worry, the concern for something, the lines on the forehead, she did not move with reflex, her mind wasn’t busy, she was also in traffic, yet she moved faster than all of us, she was pushing a cart, she was a food vendor but unlike us, she was happy.

What then is happiness?

My mind cast back to an interview I saw sometime back, a Wall Street Journal interview with 50cents (a popular American rap artiste), he said, ‘You want that 18bedroom apartment, ambition drives you, only when you have it that you realise that you never needed it, you will always sleep in a bed’

It made so much sense, after all, if you try to sleep in every bed each night, such night will be tagged a bad one, a very restless period.

We all chase the dream, more money and other things, check the global TV stations, luxury goods adverts are at least 70% of the total Television Commercials, you just have to run the race, wake up in the morning, go to work with that sort of worry, a concern for something, expressed in the lines on your forehead, the reflex movement of your lips, that busy mind, even in traffic.

But that woman stayed with me in thoughts over the years, happiness is beyond the things you have, it is actually there in the soul, you have to reach for it, only you can truly make you happy.

Maybe someday, I will see her again, my food cart woman, I will love to check her face and see if the lines are now there, but I have a fear, she will walk pass me and I won’t have a clue because it will always be there, that sort of worry, that concern for something, it comes with ambition, it is the price of success.

What then is happiness, can’t explain it, a river runs through it…………………………..

Comments

  1. Unknown11 June 2013 at 10:32

    My mind cast back to an interview I saw sometime back, a Wall Street Journal interview with 50cents (a popular American rap artiste), he said, ‘You want that 18bedroom apartment, ambition drives you, only when you have it that you realise that you never needed it, you will always sleep in a bed’

    Tope do not forget that it's much better to sleep on a comfy bed, there's always a difference!

    ReplyDelete
  2. TopeAdenle11 June 2013 at 15:30

    Christiana, never downplayed the new for ambition, neither have I ignored those things that come with success, am only saying happiness is beyond comfort, its in the soul, we all have to reach for it even as we pay the price for success..................

    ReplyDelete

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