Hope

I know everything happens for a reason, but sometimes I really want to know what the reason is.
I'm not one to start doubting my faith or blaming God for misfortunes or problems with my family, but many times I just can't put my finger on the "lesson" I'm supposed to learn from these experiences.

Yesterday, while walking home with my lovely cousin, Cleo, who came to spend a few days with us, I enthusiastically said hello to a fair, chubby lady who was fetching water from one of those "outside-a-rich-man's-compound" taps into her yellow 25-litre gallon.
Cleo got wide-eyed at the zeal of my greeting (she has big eyes, so you can just imagine what that would look like), shot me a double-take and asked, "why'd you greet her like that?"

Now, my friends from college would probably say, "Naah, it's nothing out of the ordinary. He does that", because they know I like to greet people.
But this was different.

Since I moved into this neighborhood, that lady has always caught my eye.
At first, I thought she had an attitude.
But then I realised that wasn't what it was. She always had this wistful look in her eyes, like someone who missed out on something that was actually within their reach. Like someone who knows that the life they're living isn't how they were supposed to live. Like a person who seemed to be on the right track, but then fate just decided to be cruel to them.

So, every time I see her in her shop, passing drinks and fried meat to customers, I make it a point of duty to slow down till I catch her eyes and send her an encouraging smile.

One cool evening in December last year, I had just completed my dissertation for my B.Sc. degree project when I received news that my father had suffered a second stroke the day before. I was shattered. "Hell no. Not this shit again."

But then, these things happen.
Businesses fail. People get sick. People die. Life gets hard. Loved ones walk away. Depression threatens to suck the very air out of your lungs.
It's at these moments when it's so difficult to stand strong and continue the hustle, that we need pillars to hold on to.
And the most reliable pillar is that of faith.
Attitude is important, but faith comes first.
Because faith is the foundation upon which the structure of attitude is built.

I really hope my little efforts actually help to brighten that lady's days, because it's through these things, little tokens of beauty that spring from interaction(no matter how limited), that people can catch a glimmer of hope.
Because like me, not many people know the reason why things happen in their lives. Things that darken their days and cause them to faint.
But if hope is alive, and faith is on solid ground, even if redemption from the storms seems unlikely, we can be strong enough to ride the waves.