HOW HARD IS YOUR LIFE?

The choice of title may seem weird because almost all of us have had some difficult encounters in life (the war rages on for some anyway). After all, it was the French philosopher JJ Rousseau who opined famously: Man is born free, and everywhere, he is in chains”. It is often common to hear people say in twi ‘Obra Y3 Ko’, loosely translated as ‘Life is war or hard’.

We are told, through biblical accounts that our destiny of struggle is a curse bestowed on our famous progenitor, Adam, by God following his disobedience. ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life…In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground…' (Genesis Chapter 17-19).

In effect man is supposed to eat from the sweat of his brow. Nothing strange about that, really. It nonetheless appears that some peoples’ life is way too hard; so tough that a fellow struggler’s heart will bleed for that struggling individual.

I happened to sit at a favourite hangout a couple of weeks ago. The place had an open air space with a couple of patrons having a good time. Out of nowhere appeared this young man, disabled (a cripple) riding on a skateboard. He looked scruffy. Clearly a beggar.

He drew closer to the nearest table where moments ago some few guys sat and began asking for help-money to ‘eat’. Unsurprisingly, the rest of us didn’t oblige to his request. When he realized it wasn’t going to be his day after a couple of minutes of pleadings he continued his journey.

But that wasn’t after he had grabbed the rest of the drink left behind by occupants of the now empty table nearer him. Hurriedly, he consumed it without caring to at least pull the straw from the disposable cup the guy had used (a hungry man has no time for codes on hygiene)

The voraciousness with which he consumed it was baffling like someone who hasn’t eaten for days (that won’t be surprising). I could only watch in awe. I also saw on his laps another container with a liquid in it, obviously something he got from another place.

After satisfying his hunger he left the cup on the table. He turned to go when our eyes met. That scene set me thinking about my life and how hard it is. I, like many others complain about how tough it is to get by nowadays. No one person has it all, of course. Even the ‘buck kings’ do have issues.

Truth is, sometimes you never realize how hard life is until you meet someone whose situation is so dire that you can’t help but feel their hardship. And you wish there’s something you could do to help make life a bit comfortable.

Am I the only one who thinks there is a surge in the number of beggars in the city? The number of beggars I’ve met this couple of weeks is quite high. Do you see same or it’s my own imagination?