Features
Life is like a quiz competition
I watched a quiz show on TV last Sunday, between two schools, Okuapeman and I think University Practice. After the first round, University Practice was leading with about 30 points and Okuapeman had nothing.
Then comes the second round of the intended four rounds of competition and at the end of the round, surprise, surprise, Okuapeman had 60 points and University Practice had either zero or 10.
In the final analysis, Okuapeman won the competition with 95 points to University Practice’s 90 or 93 points. Such is life and the mysteries of life, are difficult to fathom.
There are classmates that we thought could not amount to much in life and yet we become pleasantly surprised as time passed, about the vast improvement in their lives.
There were other mates who were obviously destined for the top, based on their academic prowess but became complete failures later on in life.
When I was in the primary school, there was a classmate who most of the time came first in the end of term exams. He was very brilliant and so he going further up the academic ladder through Secondary school, Sixth form and ending up at the University was a forgone conclusion.
However, life’s mystery set in and he ended up as a teacher in a technical school owned by his brother-in-law. He did not amount to much, became an alcoholic and eventually passed away.
The day I heard that he had passed away and his general circumstances, I felt so sad. Such is life and sometimes it is like the quiz competition I witnessed, full of uncertainties.
There was another senior in Middle School, who also was very brilliant. In fact he got a score of 254 out of 300 in the Common Entrance Examination. Many years later, in my early years at the University, I met this guy at the Tarkwa Train Station and got the shock of my life. This guy was wearing a dirty, loosely fitting singlet and his state was pitiful.
Naturally after expressing pleasantries, I asked him what he was doing in Tarkwa after telling him that I was a student at the university. He then narrated how he was dismissed from the most prestigious Secondary School in the Kwahu area after some smoking and going out without exeat issue.
He further indicated that as a result, he was then hustling and doing Galamsey to make ends meet. I would have had a hard time believing that he was doing Galamsey and not working in a reputable organisation or institution if it was told me by someone. Indeed life can sometimes be like a quiz competition, if God is not involved.
Since we are not God and therefore do not have knowledge of what the future holds, we need to treat people who come across our paths well because you never know.
When I went for the funeral of one of my aunties, on my father side, with my SUV many years ago, a lot of my relatives were surprised because they never imagined that.
When it comes to say wealth, it has nothing to do with one’s academic qualifications. We have some of the wealthiest people who were school dropouts and so we need to be careful how we treat people, because life is like a quiz competition and you never know until the competition comes to an end.
I have seen someone who was not that nice looking, the nose being flat and all, and then 12 years later, such a huge natural transformation; so never write anybody off, because life is like a quiz competition. God bless.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
By Laud Kissi-Mensah