There is something happening in the life beyond here; it is something no man can beat his chest that he is sure of. We are left at a cross-road with the imagination of how our final destination will be, but it is just a guess game. There is more to the place where we will "never grow old" and we need make enquiries if there is no more to the tormenting fire. We have questions, but the right people to ask would not answer. For them to be qualified to answer the questions that matter most, they must lie lifeless and bid the transient things of this world goodbye. But once they do that, they are no longer qualified to answer us, though they know what we do not know. The dead sure knows.

In life, one can only live in either of two ways: to live by the moment or with a long term ambition. It takes wisdom to live by the moment; the wisdom that the next second may not be ours, that just in a speed of light our end may come. It takes faith to live with long term ambition and plan. As a matter of fact, a man does not start losing it when he hurts the next man or steals from another, he starts losing it when he sees breathing as his entitlement. At that point, that feeling of entitlement transmogrifies into becoming an ingrate. We think we have the abundance of it, but somewhere, our lives fade slowly like the tobacco in a pipe. To have a long term dream is laudable in the face of man, but deep inside, something tells that such plan is built on folly if we take a moment to think about the life after this.

Success is bias in nature; even hard work does not guarantee it. Death is impartial, through different modes; it will one day take all of us to the life beyond. Death deserves a better preparation than any ceremony or interview we may think of, its amazing nature lies in the unwillingness to give a second chance. Life will never place us even; even the man who has all believes he is not where he wants to be but death has the answer, it does not care where or what we want to be. Without our consent, one day it will place us all where we ought to be. It is the mysterious vehicle that conveys to the life beyond here.

Originally, a distinctive nature of our religious institutions is that they remind of the life beyond. To me, the idea of “10 ways to succeed in life” making a sermon in a Church or Mosque seems ignorant of what will become of the success the application of such sermon may achieve. We have spent six days chasing the world; we want wealth, we want the best spouse, we want fame, we want laurels, we want power, we want children, we want everything that would not last. On that Sunday or Friday, we should be made to go through a sober reflection of what will become of us in the life beyond. This culture is slowly fading away. In fact, it is a common mistake to believe a regular visit to the places of worship on these special days alone is an automatic ticket to a comfortable trip and welcome to the life after this. No, the knowledge of the teachings without application expands the scope of our guilt and eligibility for the lashes reserved for the culpable.

I am puzzled that we are not equipped with the most important of knowledge, if we are; we are not applying it as we ought to. We appear unbothered by the fact that we only live today to leave tomorrow. This is a message we should see in every engagement and dealing. In our homes; moral orientation takes priority, in our school; we are equipped with things we need to compete with our contemporaries while the street teaches us to wise up. Everything sums up to technically make us the educated persons we are. It is however ironic that we still lack in the knowledge of the most essential and negligent of the beseeching questions like: what will be our stand in the life after this? Does our concept of right and wrong tally with the one obtainable there? Of what use will our excessive race for a share of the crescent avenue be in the world beyond? Are we going to sleep eternally here to wake to a shocking revelation like some late ancestors probably did? These questions are entreating. The answer cannot come from the schools of life and the struggles of this world. It is not about the payment of tithe, it demands more than the holy pilgrimage, it is not about our membership in the choir and is not about our trousers not extending beyond the ankle. The answer mocks our status and the prizes we won in our worldly race. The dead sure knows but we don’t…

Hidentity is an African.