LIFE IS A GIFT …How Do I Account For My Life @ 69

“The Lord God formed the man from the dust of
the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Genesis 2:7 NIA

The word of the LORD came to me saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
Before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed
you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1: 4 – 5 NIA

“I shall pass through this world but once.
Any good therefore that I can do or any
kindness that I can show to any human being,
let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it,
for I shall not pass this way again.”

Etienne de Grellet / Stephen Grellet (1773-1855) - Quaker missionary

MAN, NEVER ASKED TO BE CREATED…

A 'GIFT' has been defined as a thing given willingly to someone without a request or a payment, a present; or a natural ability or talent; the power to give; the act or an instance of giving; and bestow as a gift – the whole process of the creation of man becoming a living soul or being was for a purpose, which is interpreted by Stephen Grellet in his famous quote of passing through this world but once.

I have consistently over the years, sixty-nine years now, asked myself severally and at each turn of my life here on earth: 'WHY DID THE LORD MOLD AND CREATE ME AS A HUMAN BEING, AS A MAN, AS A GHANAIAN AND AS AN AFRICAN?'

Since I did not have a choice (or did I have a choice?) as to who my parents were to be; and much more why I came as a Ghanaian and an African, I have in my sober moments desired to understand, recognize and or appreciate more the answers to these questions so I could ensure I fulfill my destiny, if there is anything like that.

Destiny has been defined severally to include: “God's purpose for our lives. It is our God ordained future; what God destined us to become in His divine will and wisdom; and that each one of us is also destined to play specific roles in the ordering of this world, including plans and purposes conceived long before we were each born.

You see, destiny like fate is a future that someone or something will have and as if planned. Destiny and fate both suggest a future decided, sketched, drawn or planned by God or by some godlike power; suggesting a future that includes something great and important. It is technically, predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible course of events; however, lived by a human, who isn't mindful of this plan and therefore invests it with mistakes and decisions, influenced by selfishness, insecurities, greed, covetousness, avariciousness, self-indulgence, self-centeredness, self-interest and dishonesty.

It could also be considered within a romantic expression to mean a person; one is supposed to be with: “someone who you have been destined to meet and fall in love with and live your lives together”.

There is always a caveat with such definitions, a warning or proviso: remember, Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you; and before you were born, I separated you” for a specific assignment within Ghana and Africa, where you have been situated.

You see, when you see any injustices being perpetuated in your community, in your assembly, in your township and with regards to your appointment as a civil or public servant; when you get elected as an Assemblyman or woman, a Member of Parliament, a Minister of State, a President or Vice President; and you think you got the position to perpetuate a 'family and friends' syndicate to loot and share, just pause for a moment and think about Jeremiah 1:5.

If you think, you were placed there to enable you loot public resources, play 'god' and share the loot amongst your family and friends, then you would have missed the whole essence of 'PUBLIC SERVICE', which is defined as 'a service rendered in the public interest or government employment, especially civil service. They exist for reason of policy; as they provide services to the public; they are redistributive; and they act as a trust – reliability, dependability, credibility, trustworthiness, and responsibility.

If you are a politician and you deny the populace of the services and provisions planned and programmed within any dispensation, it isn't smartness, you are a plain 'thief' in capital letters – 'THIEF'; and your children and your relatives should not be proud of you that you have been smart enough to steal without being caught. Your smartness is only foolishness in the sight of the people, who elected you with such great hope.

The worst of these thieves are those, who thinking they are super smart and hide their loot in the most obscure of places, only to die later without the family members, knowing where such loot was hidden or worse – recent stories of huge sums of money in USA Dollars and Ghana Cedis stolen by housemaids and their boyfriends from politicians' houses are just the tip of the iceberg. When the western countries decided to question such huge deposits of USA dollars in foreign accounts, the New Haven for stolen loot from our shores now find themselves in the Caribbean countries, where the laws are laxed to allow for such deposits, including where shares in such banks are bought with the stolen loots.

Why do we do these things, such wickedness to ourselves?

Schooling at Mfantsipim School in the sixties, where Saturday entertainment included the formation of political parties with such parties as the APC (African People's Congress or otherwise, 'Attopa' People's Congress) and the R²P² (Renaissance Reformation People's Party) with the hosting of our Mock Parliament, I witnessed and learnt quite early how acrimonious our politics could, especially when it turned classmates, dormitory mates and court mates against each other on the basis of politics, when it even supposed to be entertainment for us the students.

But then it was purely on the grounds of philosophy and principles than tribal lineages; and therefore, I saw it not as an opportunity to loot, for after all, what was there to steal at Mfantsipim as an 'awam' student-politician, then the lessons learnt from the exercise.

If people now go into politics, just for the opportunity to steal, then you don't need the degrees most politicians use the opportunities of office to acquire to be a common 'THIEF', even as you play 'god' with your constituents?

At 69, with all my infirmities, I have too many regrets, especially during my youthful years but then that's why I am only human; as I can now look forward to new dimensions of making the world a better place for the next generations of Ghanaians and Africans.

I shall take solace in Etienne de Grellet's statement that – “I shall pass this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

The Lord our God created each and every one of us for specific assignments to expand the frontiers of civilization, his creations, boundaries of knowledge and experiences, reaches and opportunities for the next generations of Ghanaians and Africans, knowing that we will all pass this world but once.

What is worse, the judgements that lie ahead of us after death are two dimensional: what we should have done but could not do for one reason or another; and what we did wrong, hurting many others, through our wickednesses, callousness, insensitivities, indifferences, apathies, thick-skinned, and unfeeling because now, you are part of the new-class of 'family and friends' politicians?

If I have the opportunity to live the sixty-nine (69) years again differently now than what I have done with my life in sportbusiness; newspaper publishing and editorship; events management, planning and organization; TV sport programme host; author and simply, a 'Ghanaian' in the next dispensation: I will still choose same with all the many mistakes because that's the whole essence of living and paving the way for others after you to learn from the mistakes and become better versions of 'themselves'; and not of 'you'.

Just pause for a second, in my conclusion, to ask yourself, why you were born for a time and period such as this: a 'Ghanaian' – if you cannot answer yourself, permit me to prompt you that - “Any good therefore that you can do or any kindness that you can show to any human being, do it now; do not defer or neglect it for you shall not pass this way again”.

And this, I know now, so well.
“Happy 69^th Birthday, Dear Self, Naabe!”

By Magnus Naabe RexDanquah, the 'Ghanaian'

Friday, 9^th February, 2024