What is life?

Have you ever wondered how the sun appeared in the morning and the stars appear at night? And why it isn’t the other way around? Can science really tell it all? Sometimes I find it hard to believe how people are able to define life and live according to their definition. Life has no understanding. Life is ‘who you are and how you make the who you are’. My quote may even seem incomprehensible but yes! That is how I see life .My grandma once told me, ‘you have to live your own life, I mean you have to live life by yourself’. She’d add, ‘a pregnant woman delivers on her own at her time, the sand on the seashore never know when they’d be washed away’. She never talked much when advising me because she said I had ears and they were meant for listening so they should hear. She always got me confused whenever she laid down her mongrels. I never understood them till years later. It was now I realized that the scenario of the pregnant woman symbolized birth and that of the sand symbolized death. Death crawls on anyone at any time and it does so to end their life. One thing I do know for sure is that there isn’t time to spare in life. A baby born today breathes by itself and no one does it for him. That’s its beginning. Greater, smaller, challenging, and happy times lie ahead. No one knew they had to lie ahead of us till experiences proved it. You have to define your own life and not life because you can never define life.

In Ghana here, I know of people who defined their own life regardless of their situations, be it tough or easy. Mr. Osei Kwame Despite is no exception. Raised from zero to hero was not easy for him. But per the definition of his own life, he made it. Think deeply about this, has there been any birth occurrence where the child is seen with a golden spoon in his mouth? The child may be born into a wealthy home, but the child might end up being poor at an adult age. A girl named Amina lived in our neighbourhood.

She was the only child of her mum. They lived in immense poverty. On one Christmas morning, my mum tried her best to surprise me with a dress and a pair of shoes. That was what she could afford. From her trade, I knew she tried. I went out and saw Amina crying soberly under a tree. She never liked to talk about her issues, but this time she did. As she spoke, tears flowed down my cheeks uncontrollably. She never wished for all the fancy stuff for Christmas. All she needed was food. From morning, she had eaten nothing. It seemed to be the trend. Willingly, I went inside and brought out my dress mum had managed to get me for Christmas. I took some packs of rice with sauce along too and presented them to Amina. She was very glad and appreciative. Mum felt proud of the good deed done. We were all seven by then. I wondered how a girl like me could endure such pain. Surprisingly, she defined her life. She didn’t make poverty strike her down. On one occasion, she took part in a national spelling competition and emerged winner. She was given full scholarship to study abroad. Her mum was given the opportunity to go with her. Now Amina is a medical student at Oxford University.

This proved to me that truly, truly, we can define our life. So you see, life is the definition of who you are.