Write with a Pencil…
At the end of every year and start of a new one, it is fashionable for individuals to take stock and plan. It’s almost impossible for any adult to end a year and start another without performing this ritual. Some call it resolutions. Others call it goal setting. At the turn of 2020, many set such goals but how many were able to achieve them? Today’s story is about a final year student whose goals bowed to the pressures of 2020 but who rewrote the outcome of his year. Read along…
“Finally, I’ll be a graduate.” “Next year, I’ll start my youth service and complete it by early 2021.” “That means I’ll leave Justina, after all I never planned for our relationship to go beyond the university.” Justin picked up his diary and wrote out the points as the thoughts flowed. Yeeha!! He smiled through his thoughts. He sat on the neat red rug in his room and leaned against the bed. He had been in that spot for over thirty minutes absorbed in his thoughts. His mother’s voice drew him out of it. “Maaa” he responded. His mother had called him from the kitchen three times and when she got no response, she walked to his room. “I’m sorry mom”, he said standing up. “Were you sleeping?” “Kind of”, he lied trying to avoid more questions from his ever inquisitive mother. “What do you mean kind of?” She probed, in spite of his trying to evade more questions. “I must have dozed off”, he lied once more. “Come and pick your food, it’s ready.” Justin was surprised and at the same time elated that she let him off the hook so quick. Normally, she would question him till he became weary and any loopholes in his responses would attract scolding which was usually a long lecture. Maybe she was too busy at the moment to notice his diary sitting right beside him on the rug. “Thank you Ma”, he couldn’t wait to end the conversation, lest she changed her mind and started asking questions like ‘why one spider web was black and the other white’.
Justin settled back in school in January after the new year and highly anticipated his final examination. In earnest preparation, he paid attention to his studies and draw up his personal reading timetable which he followed assiduously. Sometime around February, just two months into the semester, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) threatened to embark on strike. True to it, the strike commenced. While Justin was still counting his loss, blackjacked by the burgeoning effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools were completely closed down. At the time, he was hopeful that sooner than later, schools will reopen and he would still meet up with his goals for the year.
With time, his hope began to wear out. An impending fear of failure to achieve his goals for the year 2020 settled in his bleak thoughts. Days rolled into weeks… Weeks summed into months… When Covid-19 loosened it’s grip, ASUU held on tightly to Justin’s wee hope. It seemed all the odds had conspired to keep him on the spot. Soon, he became so bored of staying at home that his appetite for once cherished recreational activities dwindled to a trickle. Eating, which was usually one of his favourite interests given his large appetite became taxing. The changes in Justin did not escape the notice of his sensitive mother as she reasoned within her heart that her son may be slipping into depression. She would have a talk with him before things degenerated to an irredeemable state.
Ene began talking to her son. She told him a story with the moral to always look at the brighter side of life. She was a wise woman who without being told knew that her son’s change in attitude stemmed from the prolonged closure of school. She had seen how excited he was when he resumed school earlier in the year. He had told her with the brightest smile beaming on his face, “mom, your son will soon be a graduate.” Justin was her only son and her entire world revolved around him. His father had left her to pursue higher education abroad and she never heard from him afterwards. He was all she had and she couldn’t stand seeing him distressed. They had a close mother-and-son relationship despite the fact that Justin felt she could be overbearing. In the actual sense, she was only overprotective of him.
She suggested various ways of killing boredom and getting his groove back and they settled on learning a skill. The next day, they walked hand in hand to a cobbler’s shop and within two months, he could make beautiful shoes on his own accord. To encourage him, Mrs. Justin would order for shoes secretly and pay more than the selling price only gift the shoes to less privileged persons around the neighbourhood. His business began to boom so much that as the year drew to a close, he counted his gains over losses. He felt fulfilled even though he admits that a whole year of his educational pursuit was lost. He says he gained knowledge and exposure in other areas, and more importantly can take care of his needs and support his mom.
When Justin shared his story with A Page Each Day, his mother was all smiles. She says, “I’m so proud of my son for agreeing to my suggestion.” “He can survive with or without me around.”
2020 has been a long year and so many people have slipped into depression like Justin. Plans were disorganised and shattered and some have not recovered from it. Some have moved from one episode of grief to another occasioned by the grim reaper. 2021 is bringing on a clean slate to start over. Are you willing to write on this new slate? While praying and being optimistic about the year, one advice, write with a pencil so that when a need arises to clean and rewrite, it won’t take much effort. See you in 2021.
