#BlackandWhite Series: Is there really nemesis?
Perhaps from time immemorial, humans have embraced the belief system of right and wrong, black and white, good is the reward for good and evil won’t go unpunished.
Arguably more than any other race, Africans have imbibed this into the very fibre of their society and inherent culture.
The entry of foreign religions and attendant culture into the African space also seemed to amplify this. Hence, practitioners of Christianity will confidently say that whatever a person sows will determine what s/he gets in return.
The Islamic counterparts also believe that whatever goes against the teachings of Muhammed (the prophet not me) is wrong in whatever spectrum.
Ultimately, the overwhelming belief is that this informs the forces of life which push one towards fulfilment or failure.
Let me put my notion in plain terms. Nobody commits several abortion and enjoys a fruitful home; you don’t go to prison and become someone great in life; you don’t break someone’s heart and expect to have a perfect spouse; and so on.
Also, many are baffled at how a person can neither be a Christian nor a Muslim and still succeed greatly.
Kó dà, they probably hate to admit that a politician will embezzle state funds and their generations to come won’t smell poverty. The status quo of cheated and suffering masses will still remain centuries after.
To also add, someone may dupe you and get away with it, even lead an enviable life, at least to the physical eyes.
The list is endless and the scenarios are just too numerous to outline but you get the gist.
The default thinking is that these kinds of people will suffer for it, pay dearly, be miserable till death, battle irreversible consequences and so on.
But when they don’t, we console ourselves by assuming that the coming generation of such person(s) will bear the brunt or they are suffering one ailment not publicly known.
But these are mere consolations. Truly, people pay for misdeeds and nemesis catch up with people but there are many circumstances where nothing of such happens. In fact, they enjoy better lives after.
I was having a conversation with a lady friend who aborted a couple of times during her university days. Despite having a child out of wedlock, she admitted that she was living her best life, “getting blessed, again and again.”
I know of another lady. We served together in Kebbi State in 2015. Her fiancé’s picture was her wallpaper, yet she co-habitated with another of our mate all through the service year. Apparently, the fiancé was abroad and immediately we wrapped up the mandatory scheme, she flew out of the country to meet him and from the Instagram pictures I saw till a fortnight ago, they looked as happy as any couple could, with kids.
Should I mention of guys who misbehaved all through school, womanised, drank to stupor and eventually barely made a third class? Some of them have beautiful careers and are even doing better than the brainards.
I won’t like to bore you with a lady, an orphan, who slept her way through to PhD to sustain herself. She got it and got married.
The politicians you see have been in power for decades and will hand over to their wards. The ‘head’ of the masses may not catch them. If you are not careful, it is your own prospect as a plebeian that may dwindle.
Truly, if you look around, these scenarios abound. And it is not because God is partial, nor one religion is fake or the like. The reality is that – perhaps has always been that – there is no black and white, good and evil, you-can’t-get-away-with-wrongdoings theorem.
You may want an explanation as to why. And I will share some notions I came up with from exhaustive studying and interactions as I intend to make this a series.
But first, let this sink in. Throw away that theology. Life is not a two-way black and white arena.
