The excerpt “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, …” In the William Shakespeare’s famous “As You Like It” limn our lives here on earth and the roles we play.
“… Life is a stage.” The metaphoric cliché which is often found to be unequivocally true in mankind’s life, resonates in my heart as it reaches my turn to serve my nation.
It is not only my turn to serve my nation but also the myriad of motivated and enthusiastic graduates who walked the same isle with me as we thronged out through the narrow door leading out the “Great Halls,” just to throw the cap and be welcomed in by National Service SCHEME (NSS) into the cooperate world. “Our time has come to serve our great nation,” they echoed.
Like a wild hurricane they will drag us along; even to the hamlets and the countryside. An iffy process which will scatter many like me to the ends of Ghana; where we will be placed remains obscure to us. But the solemn prayer of faith, ” … God, put me in a good company which will retain me…” remain the meditation of many.
“… where am I being deployed to?” This is the “sixty-four dollar question” which each of us will ask ourselves. Certainly, it steals the sweet moments from us like a demon sent to give one a torn in the flesh to bring to end that moment of ecstasy.
Precedence did not serve a good pointer at all as I recalled a senior course mate graduating with first class who was sent to a basic school located at the countryside to teach.
All these seem to gradually trickle the joy with which I walked down the isle of the Great Hall away.
Is it running out?
… Is the question that wakes me up and I make this open confession; ” with Christ in the boat, I smile at the storm.”
Like a dice tossed, my friends and I were scattered to the ends of the country. Our greatest fear has caught up with us. Like seeds hurled out in an explosive dispersal mechanism.
We hoped there could be a way out so we could be redeployed. We exhausted ourselves to the core, just to make a change to it. The month of September speedily approached. The impasse and the futility of our efforts girds us up to move to our duty posts.
Eddie, a good friend who was tragically hurled to a community in the northern Ghana phoned me that he has departed to duty post. He added something alarming, “Brown, I’m gonna miss alot of things.” A satirical comment popped up in mind; “I pray coping with their lifestyle doesn’t change you.” Being courteous, I did not let it out.
In a moment, I imagined the many who will leave their comfortable homes to places you can not describe without the expression “…near-to…” A journey which you will want to make only once in a while. They are going to miss the important events in the lives of their significant-others; birthdays, parties, hookups, weddings, special moments and their choicest of delicacies.
Relationships will suffocate and wilt gradually in cases where one can only make calls at vantage points in their vicinity. It may sound exaggerative, but you have to position yourself at a particular area in some communities before you get reception. This does not sync with the popular slogan “everywhere you go.”
My friend who had to travel to the ends of the earth to serve his nation said to me, I will try and call you once a week. I can not confirm whether he arrived safely unless he calls me. It has been two days at post and I can only imagine he is fairing well.
Asking Sika why she was unusually awake very early this morning, “I am going to serve my country,” she responded.
We are all being geared to serve serve our nation. Let us do it with a patriotic attitude; whether you were placed in the cities of the south or the hamlets in the north, do it with that great joy and enthusiasm with which you walked out the graduation halls.
It is first week of our NSS experience. Before walking out of your room each morning, say to yourself;
“… it is my time to serve my great nation, and I do so patriotically.”