In the days of old and in ages past, they called the human race, a struggle for survival. Intellects of the Industrial revolution periods called it the rat race, a name that has persisted till now. But now, I think it is much faster and more intense than a rat race. It is more like a MotoGP or formula one car race – THE HUMAN RACE. Everybody is moving, pursuing one endeavour or the other, striving, struggling, and hustling. It’s a good thing mostly responsible for how developed the world is today.
But, aren’t we moving too fast and forgetting too much too soon? In this age of technology and internet, things happen so fast you can hardly process them. And then, we forget and hardly remember to recall.
In case I’m starting to sound like an 18th century poet, let’s take a few practical examples.
MH370: Sounds familiar? Not anymore, we hardly remember that number, but three months ago, that was the identity of the airplane that disappeared, not yet found. We have forgotten because other news items have come along, but that doesn’t change the fact that 239 people are still missing without a trace.
The Chibok girls: That will most probably still be familiar to you because of the First-Lady’s television interview. But in actual fact, we no longer prioritise that issue, all of us. Even when we talk about it, it is just in passing or to laugh at the first lady. That doesn’t change the fact that about 200 schoolgirls are still in the hands of terrorists and we can’t seem to figure out what to do about it.
Soka (Ibadan): You should still remember that, since it has already become a common slang word around town. After all the initial hype about the “house of horror”, nobody cares what happened to the survivors, how the case is being investigated or whether it is even being investigated at all. We have better things to think about.
Take it or leave it that is the world we are in today. We move too fast, so fast we can hardly keep up with incidents in our own personal life.
But please, every now and then, try to pause and flashback and try to reminisce a little. Even if my examples sound too far-fetched, think of that classmate of yours who fell sick last week. You heard, and you intended to check up on him/her. It’s a good intention, but because of all your running around, you forgot to do so. And now you have to apologise the next time you see him/her. That still doesn’t change the fact that he now takes you for a jerk that doesn’t care about others. In actual fact, that’s who we are; selfish, self-centered, uncaring. We only care about people and things when they are right in front of us. Incidents, events, occurrences, we don’t really care. We only seem to care until another interesting news item comes up. Let’s watch it.
Again, every now and then, PAUSE AND REWIND. You can’t really slow the world’s pace, but you can adjust yours before you become more of a robot than a human being.
Lastly: Remember,
“When you move too fast and hardly look back, you never know when what you left behind will catch up with you”.
– Okemakinde Samson
