ON PAYING THE PRICE!!!

Photo taken from a mental strength website

We know that whoever is, exists and that if one is of sound mind and of good physical health then she/ he has to major a particular career in life so as to support his/ her life and even other’s lives.

Doing something is one thing and of course we know that almost everybody has to do something. But doing that thing the way it is supposed to be done correctly and with full conviction, is something else.

Many of us are good at observing things being done, and since we just observe, many of us still do not care whether they are done properly or not. All that we know is that something is being done, but how is it being done? Many of us would say it is none of my business.

Ladies and gentleman everybody who is has to live but we cannot live a “good life” without doing a substantial work in life. And we should bear in mind that we have to be responsible for the fruit that our work will produce. If we want to be happy in life and want to have a “good life” then we need to opt for an honest kind of job. Although such a type of (an endeavour ) work does not necessarily make us prosper, we can be sure of an inner peace. But we should not forget that such type of work will make us have many “enemies.”

I assume many of us want to live a happy and not necessarily a prosperous life; then if that is the case let us make sure that we are ready to pay the price for that or better we forget about it I don’t want to say that I myself know how to do or go about it. But we can learn from many of our elder brothers and sisters who knew both the importance of what they were doing and that they had to pay the price for their choice.

Socrates a Greek philosopher was teaching the youth the truth about life, he new that it was so important, for he was sent by the gods to do that work. He was free to do it or not to. He did it even though he knew it would bring him a lot of misunderstanding and confusion, but still he persevered. We know he was condemned to death for what was called impiety and misleading of the youth.

We know the story of the Archbishop Romero; he decided to speak for the poor and the voiceless; he did so even though he knew it was dangerous and of course as many people had expected he was murdered.

Nelson Mandela as a young man fought against the minority rule of the whites in South Africa, the apartheid regime. He fought for equal rights of all people in his country. He knew what it meant to take such a stand. We know what happened to him; he had to spend a good number of years in prison (paying the price for his choice of work)

There are many examples of such people who consciously decide to undertake such type of “dangerous” work. My aim is not simply to enumerate them for the sake of narrating stories but to let you know that there are many people who have been able to pay the price of their choice of work and that we are not alone or the first ones.

Martin Mandalu

Originally written in LAVIGERIE DRUM 8th Issue May 2002