THE QUEST FOR VANITY

May 3 at 12:07 AM

The quest for vanity (1)

By Chukwudi Sopuruchi
Growing up as child till date as a full grown adult, I have garnered wealth of experiences and so convinced now that human wants are insatiable. The more you think you have got all you needed, the more the reality of the fact that your needs keep expanding and you have no enough to take care of them.
Life is full of changes which affect us positively or negatively. How we live our lives, the choices we make, and our moves determine if life will affect us positively or negatively. A reflection on the live of great men and women who had lived before now and that of people who lived and never achieved anything in this life, one thing is common about them, death finally in the end. To some, it is a thing of joy a continuation of joy over there and to some a starting point to an unbearable pains that know no end. The Rich dies and so do the poor and none of them leave the earth with anything they acquire here.
The events of life changes rapidly and usually overtaken by new events and as I may put it, nothing new ever remains that way forever. Life gives us the opportunity to learn, not to die for things that do not last forever. But few learn these lessons.
Every cloth turned rag that is used to clean dirts in the house today was once expensive in the shop of the seller and was once looking good on someone. To every cloth you call old fashion now; there was a reigning time for it. Cars come and go. There was a time when Peugeot 504, Volkswagen, Santana, Mercedes 230, and so on were the latest cars that reigned. People killed and did all sorts of things to own them. Owners of those cars intimidated others who had none or had the ones that were considered to be of lower class to that vehicle as at that time. These cars today might be rare to be found and even if they could be found; they cannot be regarded as pleasure cars anymore to be compared to the reigning ones now. History will not be complete without people who ended their various live before the demand of the God their maker, maimed others lives too in the quest to have those cars. Some, if given the opportunity to come back to life or see what is happening in the present world now, the latest cars; will realize that they actually died for nothing in pursuit of a mere car which is no longer in vogue.
People do all sorts of things these days just to acquire power, luxuries which in time fade and get overtaken by change.
I was travelling one day, on my way close to a place where caskets were sold; I saw some flashy cars, among them were jeeps. Cars I dreamt of buying someday, being used as an ambulance that is meant to convey corpses. That gave me deep thought which I pondered on until I got to my destination.
It is high time we realized the fact that the invention of new things has no end but the period of man’s life on earth has been programmed by God but can be cut short if care is not taking with the way we live our individual lives and how we pursue what we want.
A politician solicits for the support of the masses, making them all kinds of promises that shake the mind of people. They humble themselves while campaigning, hide the brutality and animosity in them, and finally the mandate is given to him or her and the next thing, the person turns into a monster, tormenting every one. He or she amasses wealth, acquires cars, mansions (home and abroad) with the money that is meant for the masses. He steps on every toe without remorse.
When you see such, you are not meant to lament forever. Be patient and endure the torment because it will never be forever. One big question for anyone who seeks wealth to the detriment of their lives and those of others, still remains, how many of these acquisitions can your leave the planet Earth with when death calls? The answer of course is not far fetched; nothing! We were born naked. Our creator, God is a powerful God and there is nothing impossible for Him to do. If a child could be born with grown hairs on the head and the hairs that are meant to appear on the other parts of the body start growing as the child advances in age, then it is absolutely possible for God to create the human with cloths on the body or some other kind of covering just like the hairs on the head at birth.
Birth day and dying day have one thing in common which is the state of helplessness. We came helpless into the Earth, the doctors and nurses struggled to help us with the things they thought we needed and thereafter, hands the responsibility to our parents. At tender stage, we don’t know we needed to bathe, but our mothers do and bath us. We messed up out cloths and she cleanses us up and changes our cloth, it goes on like that until when we are mature to do all that and more for ourselves.

At death, the human returns into the state of helplessness but worse and totality different from that of the state of birth. Once the breath is gone, The individual would no long walk but would be carried away to a morgue where other dead bodies are kept, No more feeding, No more choice of cars, clubbing, bathing at will, sleeping on good bed, having sex. Every activity ends. You are kept in an unkempt place. The mortuary attendant can fling your body however he dims fit and you can never complain. When someone dies, he or she becomes helpless. All beauty and handsomeness vanishes, all attractions gone and the body begins to decompose if not properly preserved. Everything most people die for is nothing but vanity. No matter how you see it, you can never take a pin out from here. Even the casket you are buried with, the cloth and every other makeup, in time will be eaten up by the insects that live beyond. The skin you polish on daily basis will be eating up by the worms with recklessness.
When Blackberry phone was lunched some years back, everyone reading this article, may not forget in a hurry the good and bad occurrences then, as a result of a mere phone. One of the functions of that particular mobile phone which endeared people to it was the one called pinging.
Today, other phones have emerged with same function. But unfortunately, few people do the pinging thing anymore with the Blackberry phone or any other phone that has that function.
It is not surprising to note that some young men allegedly were lynched while attempting to rob people of this mobile phone or stealing money to buy this phone for their girlfriends or for their own personal use. Some girls lost their virginity to men who were willing to drop some money on their table which may enable them to buy this phone. Some got different kinds of diseases and died in the process.
If people who bought the SIM card of a particular network at about N30, 000 knew that same will be sold at just N100 today, believe it or not, some would have waited for the price to drop.
Everything you love now has its better kind on the way. Desperation has led many to their untimely demise. You are not meant to do horrible things or even lose your live in the quest to acquire those things which will become old in your hands in no distant time. A car, money, mansion, certificate, food, drink and generally all that give pleasure to human life is very important but their producers and manufactures will continue to upgrade in their products and services. Decrementing one’s life or others to acquire them is totally wrong and the individual in question must be answerable to whatever evil act perpetrated.
The yuletide is on the way, you wonder why mostly the youths involve themselves in all kinds of crimes during this period. Some of these reasons are, to measure up with others, some who have been working hard to be where they are now. To buy expensive cloths, deodorants, shoes, watches, cars etc. How someone could point a gun at a fellow human being, pull the trigger to kill just to acquire the above mentioned material things. You grabbed a little boy, girl, man or woman by the neck, drew a knife and slash the throat against the person’s plea and cry to you to be freed. He or she cried and bled to death. You further slice the person’s body parts into pieces taking the vital parts you needed for rituals and finally the blood money arrives and you buy cars and mansions and start living big. How do you feel in this quest? Do you think of burials you have ever attended? How many cars were thrown into the grave with the victim? How much money was thrown into the grave with the dead? How many friends, family members joined in the grave and were buried with the victim no matter how much they all claimed to have loved the victim. Did the tears that rolled down during the burial and people rolling on the ground while crying stop them or the invited guests from eating shortly after the grave was forever covered with the sands?
We need these vain things so long as we live here on Earth but for much as we need them, we should always have in our various minds that all is vanity. Therefore we should concentrate more on where our souls go after here. No matter what you go through in life, be patient and wait for your time to come; with hard work and focus, you will get there. If you fail to be patient and die in crime while pursuing these things, better ones are on their way. But inevitably, you must account for your crime when you get there.

Chukwudi Sopuruchi is graphic designer, 08032703003.