AbdulAzeez, AbdulMaleek
The power of adaptation could be very indiscernible.
By an unsolicited but mandatory sojourn, necessitated as a result the troubled state of the road, – not so long ago, I routed by a community. At first, I had wholly thought and doubted people could live to survive in such locality.
We path miles and kilometers on a very narrow way, – forest, sounds of flying birds, a convocation of eagles, flock of goats, very few other domestic animals I could gazed from afar, and the sky that spread like canopy above, were our only companions. It was difficult to comprehend how liveable people find it at such environment.
After minutes of miraculous gaze, worries and wonder, we suddenly ran into a small community of people. From a physical judgement, they seem to have their own ‘unusual’ life, the one they are pleased with, in abundance. Kids were playing around in small groups, I could sight a clowder of cats catching soft fun, – normal day activities was going on. We must have intruded their ‘privacy’ and lifestyle, I thought, – as they all stared at us traverse within the minute.
Apparently, I still have some doubt and sceptism about everything.
I disagree with a different conviction of my mind. Later then, I got my consciousness. Of course my mind ran back through the reality of man’s natural tendency to adapt before any situation, eventuality or sort of life.
Yes. I was taught the basics of adaptation in Integrated Science as a characteristic of man during my Junior Secondary School earliest days. I was not, and still not a fan of Sciences, but it has not erode my mind that man was defined with such attribute. This fact has been tested and proven over the time. My recent experience did not left me more unconvinced.
Man have been adapting, conforming, and surviving.
My perceptive faculty drove me down to the historic realities of human beings, substantiated by proven scientific reviews and convictions. Even the archaic chronicles tested the accuracy and correctness about it. I have read about historical accounts of various kinds of people that lived decades and centuries back, the life they lived, and how they survived. Many seem unbelievable, but it’s true they survive.
Man is an entitled survivor. I am. You are. The style of living we are put through, that cut its edges, hammer in its broken pieces, frame its sculpture and design our own preferred system in it. Man have that prerogative, at will.
In most circumstances, we are just strong enough, never to lose, – and just weak enough, never to win. Man sustains his ordeals, and coils it.
In the past, some built a gallant face of absolute supremacy. Enough to wreck down the tallest walls that ever exist. They wanted to maintain their authority. They were brutal, oppressed a lot. They deployed their powers to torment; unleash storm, imprisoned the innocents, damaged businesses and dehumanised lives. They were so fierce, and unrepentant.
On a different equivalent, but with the same intensity and powerful potency, – some instituted a gallery of humanity, promoted a cause of love, friendliness and welcoming humility. They were placid. – At the two ends, a fraction of people survived. Lived afterwards. However, there were victims, but upheld generational continuity and survival.
In our journey of survival, it’s important to be organised, and ruthless. There are some piles. The stuffs we will like to keep. The one we might need later, and have it in storage. The stuffs we have to destroy, and the ones we don’t know what to do with it. Above all, to survive, we desire to be brilliantly decisive.
The events of life may be cloudy, unseen. Yet, we trust our instincts that we’re pathing the way to the survival end, that our struggles are worth it and justifiable on cause, that we are doing our best, – and that we will live and continue to live. Moment like that demand action, an effect to do the needed and necessary thing.
Often, we accommodate more people at our home, although we don’t have enough room. If relatives or non-residents show up (uninformed), we try to adapt. We might borrow mattresses from our neighbours to ensure their comfort. We don’t ask them to leave because we don’t have mattresses. We portray to conform and face the threat against the means. We adapt. We adjust. We survive.
Harmony. That’s a word that stuck in my mind. Harmony. It is not about what’s lasting or permanent. It’s about individual voices coming together, for a moment. And that moment lasts the length of a breath, – to survive all of us.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the gone will be back and raised, – and we shall survive.
I’ve learned a great deal through my personal struggles. I’ve learned how to harness the opportunities before me, my strength and my resolve, make them work for me to survive the challenging hours of life. It will not be smooth, but it’s surviving.
I won’t lose sight on a scale of larger mission. I won’t lose my train of thoughts. I understand staying focused requires strength, and there is a morality clause in the contract, I’ll maintain it. I will survive. You will, too.
A worthy two decades, with quadrangle, – in a lone world, at the same time, with loving companionship. The entitled survivor.
Sunday, 7th of June, 2020.
