Saved Ahead
I was in a taxi cab heading towards the centre of Ìlọsiwaju city couple of months ago. We were two in the taxi cab excluding the driver.
As the driver got closer to the round-about, two ladies were waiving down the taxi, the driver slowed down to hear the area his intending passengers will be heading towards, and it happened that they are also going towards the centre of Ilọsiwaju town the exact place the taxi is headed.
After hearing where they were going the driver puts his leg on the brake pedal to have a momentary stop so that his intending passengers will enter the car.
One of the two ladies opened the door, they entered one after the other, the person who entered the car last closed the door. Despite the driver hearing that the door has been closed, he still asked the duo jocularly as he asked from me, “have you entered? Have you closed the door? Can I move now?” He did not wait for an answer to any of those questions asked from them as he removed his leg on the brake pedal, placed it on the acceleration pedal, signaling with the trafficator that he intended to join the road again, as common with the taxi drivers in the land, he put his head out of the window of his door, instead of viewing the back through the inner or side mirror, he started looking back with one of his hands out. Not long after doing these, a taxi driver like him slowed down allowing him to join the main road. He waived his hand in appreciation for what his colleague has done saying, “thank you, my mother’s child”, removed his leg on the clutch pedal and joined the road.
“Hardly will I go drive myself people slow down for a taxi driver to join the road”, he was talking to no one in particular.
The people called “I go drive myself” are private car users. The private car users see commercial drivers as rough drivers and will always try to avoid them while driving because they can apply brake at any time and anywhere when they see passengers. This is part of the reason why they do not want to follow them, apart from that some of them may be in haste, but the commercial drivers would not think along that line all they would say is that they do not want to give them room to be ahead of them on the street.
While negotiating for the road, one of the ladies replied him, “sir, you did not even wait for us to answer you before joining the road, what of if our legs are still outside?” she asked
“Then it must mean that you are octopus with several legs, because I have heard the door closed”, driver responded while driving on, trying to set the inner mirror perhaps to see the face of the lady who talked. I smile where I was.
The two ladies would have stopped talking when they were about to waive down the taxi they ignored the man because they gave no answer to what he said, as they picked up their discussion from where they have left it after the car has joined the main road the lady in pink gown who sat by the door of the car said, "I wish he dies", as she sniffs, trying to hold back her tears.
Earlier, before these two passengers entered, the three of us inside the taxi have been discussing on the state of the nation of Adágún. The state of the nation has called to question the present elected leaders, although the present leaders do not want to believe that what the nation is passing through now has anything to do with them, they believed everything that is happening now is the effect of the previous leaders of the country, but those of us in this taxi on analyzing this crucial situation believes that those people who are at the helms of affairs now are those who have been in the saddle of leadership of the nation called Adagun for the last three decades or more. However, whenever they talk they would paint the picture as if they have not been part of those people who have been at the helms of affairs. But on closer examination it is very clear that they have been there, may be as Commissioners, Comptroller, Ministers, among other positions they have held.
We viewed it that having been there in these capacities, they cannot and should not be absolved of the blame of what is happening to the country now, though they have been heaping the blames on the immediate past leaderships that the electorates of Adagun have voted out in the recently concluded election in the country.
This has been our debate and discussion before the duo entered. We have been waiting for them to enter the cab before we resume our trialogue but the utterance of the lady by the door of this taxi put padlocks and keys on our mouths as we were all ears, with our external pinnae straightened like external antennae ready to receive what the second person would say.
"Don’t say that", the second lady responded. This second lady looks younger to the first lady.
"Why won’t I say that, after all I have done for him? You know how I have sacrificed so many things for this relationship, for our love,” she uses the pink face-towel on her hand to wipe her face and blow her nose into it as she continues, “I ought to be in America for my Post Graduate studies but because of him I decided to stay back so that we would plan our future, so that he will not be alone, so that we get to know each other better, so that we expressed to each other love in the real sense of love, so that he will be focused on me but yet what has happened?” (Sniffing, using her face-towel again to wipe her eyes as she started looking outside the car obviously trying to hold back her tears.)
Her partner did not reply, and after about 10 seconds she continued.
What did I get? All I get was that I am no longer interested in you. He has even turned that to a song. This is the song he has been singing to everyone who knows that we have been going out together. When anyone tries to raise the issue with him, he will not even let them say a thing before singing the song. I think he has been under some spells. I think he is not worthy of being called a man, "I wish him dead", she again said in a shaky voice.
"This thing is terribly affecting you " her friend replied, "but yet, I will want you to know that in everything we have to give thanks to God, the bible says "in everything we should give thanks".
"I do not know how and why I should give thanks in this situation. You too, tell me how, eh! Tell me how and tell me why" she snarled back.
Her friend was at a fix now, perhaps because she was not as old as her, or because of some unknown reasons, she was in agony of mind. Just then the taxi driver wades in.
"Sister, I wouldn’t know what has happened but from the little you have said, I discovered that you have been in love with a man who perhaps have not loved you or maybe he has but the enemies have entered and God allowed it and separation has occurred. Let me share in brief with you a story, I know it would be of assistance to you", he said, as he placed his hand on the center of the steering wheel blaring a loud continuous noise against a teenager who wanted to cross the road without proper look.
Psychological Imbalance
The passenger beside him said “this is how these children will put one in trouble, slow down sir”
Thank you, sir. One cannot be over-careful while driving on the road, even some people who have come of age, those who are not teenagers sometimes behave erratically while crossing the road, may be because of the situation of the country or from what they are passing through in their families only God can tell, they will cross the road without proper look.
“Psychological breakdown. People who are not psychologically sound will always cause problems on the road, whether they are driving or they are walking. It has happened to me like that before. My father was terribly sick, doctors have prescribed drugs to be bought for us, but I do not have money, I had to run to a friend to borrow me money to use to buy the drugs for him at least to do my part. After getting the money and having bought the drugs from one of the leading pharmaceutical store close to our house, I was on my way back to where my sick father was, I have been completely overtaken by my thoughts such that I did not know that vehicle was coming, if not for the fact that the driver was careful, I would have been dead, because despite clangorous and continuous sound of the loud noise from his car I did not hear it for my thoughts and reasoning have been subsumed by the sickness of my old man and the position that I am in, without money to take care of him, I was psychologically down. I did not know when the vehicle got to me, despite the driver trying to avoid me, yet he hit me with the side mirror and was pushed into the gutter with the drugs and the phones in the polythene bag scattered all over the place.
When the man came out of the car, “what is the problem with you?” he inquired from me. “I have been making a loud noise through my horn to you for a while but you did not hear. I tried my best not to hit you but you keep on walking to where the vehicle moves until the side mirror hits you. Are you deaf?” he asked again.
I could not say anything. People started gathering at where we are and on looking down they saw different kind of drugs that have scattered on the road out of the polythene bag in which they were before, they said, this man is psychologically down.
“If he is psychologically down he should have send another person the drugs now,” the man barked back, adding, “please some drivers may not be as careful as I am you need to mind how you walk on the road,” he said walking back to his car, power-up the engine and drove off.
The people started gathering my things for me and asked me if I will be able to walk home myself? I appreciated them and told them that I will be careful and started walking back home with extra-caution removing from my heart those things weighing me down.
Bearing this incident in mind, I have known that there are people who are like me on the road, someone who is being disturbed by his wife’s pregnancy, someone who has no money and has not eaten for three days, someone whose husband has beaten her and was thinking she has married a wrong man, someone whose wife has not given him peace of mind, someone who have problems with his or her academics, and other troubles like these have been covered by cloths by different kinds of people walking on the streets daily. This trouble may suddenly overwhelm anyone in the middle of the day and the person will lose it altogether and started behaving funny on the road. I said.
That is it. That is how life is. Full of ups and downs, sometimes such happen to drivers too behind the wheel and when a driver discovered that a nagging issue has reared up its ugly head while he is driving, such a driver may need to take break off the driving at that time lest he puts himself and the passenger in trouble.
Driver's Story
May the Lord continue to protect us, because the world is full of evil, the driver said. Now to the story I wanted to share with you, which I am sure you will learn from, I once had a friend whom we attended the same University together, both of us got engaged while we were on campus, while God helped me to keep my relationship, this friend of mine could not keep his partner because his fiancee had to leave her after 8 years that they have been dating. The plans to be married were in top gear when she left my friend.
Everyone who knew they have been going out went to the lady pleading with her to have a rethink about her action but she did not. My friend was overwhelmed by the thought of having to start afresh with another lady such that he broke down psychologically just as what we said a while before. It took me and other friend to bring him back to reality. We have to do rotational visitation to his place, everyday we shall visit him, take him out to places of interest so that he will take his mind off what had happened. This we did for about four months before he started brushing the thought of his fiancée off his mind.
During this time, my friend too wished and in-fact prayed that the lady should die, either mysteriously or any kind of death that was befitting because he had shattered his heart and would ask us, “do you think my heart can ever be healed by any lover in this world? I gave her my all, I gave her my attention, my time, my affection. Whatever she says as if she is a deity I would do without asking or thinking, I was like a robot being directed to wherever she wishes but what happened? What happened?? She eventually left me. Ladies are bad, they are inhumane”. He will tell us not to trust our partners because they are the same thing.
He continued to pray for her death, wished her dead, wished terrible things happen to her, but all those prayers were not answered neither her wishes came to pass.
A year after their separation, the lady travelled out and got married to another man in the country she traveled to. We all heard the news of the marriage through other friends who share with us their photos of wedding as being shared on the social media.
During this time, my friend was saying he was seriously doubting the existence of God, for according to him why would God allow her to go scot free without being punished seeing that she was guilty, seeing that she has done something that is not good, but God left her did not discipline her and in the stead everything keeps moving well for her.
We had to call our friends to order on what he would be saying lest he will utter what would make God to turn his anger on him.
This was when he stopped ranting against God and surrendered so that he won’t be the one who will be disciplined after wards.
The Judgment
Our friend has become calm and going about his life, by now he seems to have overcome the shock of the lady being married and started picking up the pieces of his life together.
The lady too was in the advanced country where she has travelled to and was having things smoothly with her spouse to the best of our knowledge but a terrible thing happened two years after this.
The lady was about to put to bed, she must have been pregnant but none of us know that as we said we have brushed her case aside and everyone has faced his life now.
When she was about to put to bed we were told that there was complications during her parturition which eventually led to her death. To make things worse, the child she gave birth to was still birth. We never heard this until about ten years after her death and we felt sorry for her husband and the aged parents she left behind.
As I said, my friend started to pick up the remnant of his life later. It was about five years after the lady has gotten married that he started picking up his life again because after the incident he saw all ladies as beasts, he did not believe any lady could and should be trusted again. Due to this he did not make love advances to any lady. He was simply going to his office, minding his own things alone, he even started a small business to keep him always busy and started blogging all because he does not want to think about any lady. He wants to be occupied always.
He must have been doing this for about 8 months or less when he got connected to a lady on the social media who happened to be living close by. He did not take it serious. According to him, he likes the lady but he remembered the wound in his heart and would not bother to press her. This lady too had loved my friend and she was building her relationship with him. She could gather what his past looked like and was prepared to mend his wounded heart with her love.
Interestingly, the lady lives close and she started visiting him. Her visitation never moved our friend and he keeps saying when she is tired she will leave him alone.
One day when we visited our friend the lady also checked in. our friend greeted him casually and introduced him to us as one of his customers. The lady was not annoyed with that, she was happy that at last she got to know some people who were his friend. We exchanged our phone numbers and we started chating and talking with the lady.
We asked the lady of her interest and she told us that she is interested in our friend but it seems as if “your friend would be a difficult person”, she said.
We invited the lady and talked to her that our friend is not that difficult but he is afraid to love again because of what he had experienced and if she could be patient and persevere she will enjoy him.
She Won by Her Character
She was elated that we could talk with her, thanked us for telling her what the problem was and promised to do her best in seeing that our friend comes off his cocoon of love.
She kept on relating with him in patience. It took her patience, perseverance and dedication before she can win my friend's trust.
Sometimes something like this do happen to some people. Irrespective of how and what a partner may have sacrificed, yet it will happen. But from the story shared, we all believe on hearing what happened to her that it was the Lord's doing, the Lord was the one who allows that to happen to my friend so that he would not be a widower at a tender age. The reasons why what happened to you has happened will not be immediately clear to you now, but as the Lord God spares your life you will understand by and by.
My advice is that as a woman, do not allow this incident to weigh you down, do allow this incident to cause you to shove off some good and Godly guys who may make advances of love to you either the person is aware of what has happened to you or not, do not allow this to weigh you down, because if you do, it will affect you, you are a lady not a guy, ladies have peak periods after which only God can intervene.
The ladies thank the driver as they pay up their transport fare and alight from the taxi....
Comentários