Tuesday, May 13, 2014

LESSONS FROM MY FATHER: LESSON ONE



THE CHICKEN FASCINATION
It’s a cool evening, a smooth breeze and the twilight of the dusk all make a complex scenario of nature.  Father and son, seated in a small makuti contemplating on life. Life? Sure, life. Life seems to be in hurry, especially during this time of the day. Birds flying hither and thither, into their nests. Cows walloping into their sheds, and everyone seeming to be in a traditional gait of hurrying up. Life seems to be in motion at this time of day.
“Life has always been so, son.” He says with a small chuckle as if hiding something in the phrase. It always fascinates me. It has always fascinated me. When life starts, the tempo is high. You’re quick to talk, walk and learn. It’s the morning rush, adrenaline rushes through in everything you do. Everything you touch, it’s with passion and energy. As we all kick off the hustle, it’s hands-on as much as you can. It’s the morning rush.
As the day moves on, exhaustion starts coming in. The once jubilant and hardworking mule, begins to slow down. Obstacles are encountered, laziness sneaks around and procrastination is the norm. Deadlines are pushed ahead, tasks saved for another time and challenges pushed to the bottom of the stack. Productivity is low, and everything moves ordinarily and in a boring fashion.
But: as the day comes to an end, things pick up again. We begin to do things in a hurry, ready to clear everything in a bid to ‘call it a day’.  The hustle kicks in like never before, but this time round: its business unusual. That’s the normalcy of human life.” He lets out a loud laugh as if laughing at the predictability of the human folklore. He really enjoys this!
“Have seen the chickens in the evening rush?” The answer to this question is no. with that he looks at me, runs his hand through his beards and like a philosopher takes off. Leaving me with food for thought. But the chicken doesn’t tire, so long as its day light. It scratches the earth tirelessly in search of that elusive gold, and transcends far and wide. When its sunset it rests like a baby having tired all day. No tasks carried along, it’s a life well lived. It’s a hustle well hustled.
“Be the chicken son. So that in your twilight days you will sit back, relax and sleep soundly for it’s going to be a life well lived. A hustle well made. A course well taken.” I hear echoes of his voice whisper in my mind. The chicken fascination it was!

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