Along the way in life [14/07/2024]

Warm greetings to all my steemit friends. Happy to take the opportunity given by @chant to talk about life and the lessons it teaches.

I came about this contest 2 days ago. The theme of the contest has been running in my mind over and over again. All my efforts to summarize what life is all about have failed. Now I understand that there is no true or single definition of what life is. If a million people are asked to define life, then we should be ready for a million definitions. We all define it based on personal experience.

Nevertheless, after many hours of meditating and trying to sum up what life is in a few words, I was able to come up with 2 things that life can be compared to. There are,

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1. Life is like a battleground: as we all know, a battleground is not rosy. It is full of struggles, challenges, sorrows, and tribulations. Today you are faced with a storm, tomorrow you have a mountain before you. Funny enough, on the battlefield, you have other soldiers who are there to help you. These soldiers include parents, siblings, friends, and other relatives. But it's funny how some of our soldiers turn against us and start to shoot us from behind. On this battlefield, there are 3 ways to escape the war front.

• fight hard to escape
• stranger come to your rescue
• Your fellow soldier ( parents or relatives) helps you out.

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The second thing I can associate life with is the market. In the market, there are different people from different backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs. Nevertheless, everyone is there for 1 of the 2 reasons. It's either you are there to sell or you are there to buy. Funny enough, some sellers will end up going back home without selling or making a profit, while some get back home with a lot of profit from the market.

The same thing applies to the buyers. Some will room round and round the market without seeing or getting to buy what brought them to the market. As for some, they get back home with many goods brought from the market. Nevertheless, one thing is certain. Everyone will have to go back home at the end of the day. Either with profit from the market or not.

The question now is, from the things I have associated life with, which of them is more associated with my personal experience? Well, that's another story you have to read through.

I was born to parents who are facing the storms and challenges of life all by themselves. Parents, relatives, and siblings could not rescue them from the war front. Thank God they are both strong and courageous enough to stand firm and continue fighting. Knowing all the tricks and what it takes to win the battle of life, they decided to send me to school so I could win the battle with ease and later help them out.

_{myself and my course mates during sign out}

To God be the glory, I went to school, conquered, and got the weapon. Sadly for me, I needed a shoulder to stand on for the weapon to be more effective. My parents could not serve as that shoulder because I live in a country where you need to know somebody before you can become somebody. My parents are not people that know anybody.

But don't forget, with God there is hope for the hopeless. As such, I humbled myself, prayed, and continued working hard. One day, a stranger came up to me and asked me, "Chris, what class of degree did you graduate with? The moment I answered him, he said to me" You have done your part, and I will take it over from here". Hmmm, the best statement I have heard.

After that conversation, I knew that the stranger who knew nothing about my background and my culture was about to take me off the war front. Today, I'm working for the federal government under the federal polytechnic. My salary is good enough to provide my basic needs and that of my family. With the shoulder I have gotten, I do go higher and higher. You can say amen to the prayer.

I now call on @patjewell, @simonnwigwe, and @josepha to participate.