“It is not over until it is over” is a very popular common saying, the origin of which is probably lost in antiquity. Some people even mouth the expression without knowing or understanding its import. This may be why I have chosen to be philosophical this week having exhausted all thoughts on what to write about and at the same time trying to stay away, for now, from political commentary.
I must say that I have been saddened by the new wave of kangaroo impeachments reminiscent of the inglorious days of President Olusegun Obasanjo when 5 out of a 26-member House of Assembly were considered a majority!
Of course in a country where politicians are not guided by principles or by honour, any simple inducement can make a Nigerian politician vote against his father for a mere pot of porridge.
A lot of things will happen as a warm=up to 2015 elections, and even right now the Federal Government which is controlled by the PDP has started flexing its muscle and is ready to do battle with any one who dares to confront its bulldozer. But that is not my concern this week. I am even beginning to develop a thick skin as far as Nigerian politics is concerned, and get myself amused by the funny tricks being deployed by politicians of all colours.
We have realised that there are really no political parties in Nigeria. What we do have are gangs of individuals who are interested in or fascinated by power. A few of such individuals though may be genuinely interested in serving the people and therefore discover platform in a political association.
Yes. I should not leave the trend of my thought. I am on the saying that it is not over until it is over. And I am going to postulate that it is actually never over until one exhales the last air in his or her lungs. Even at that we have seen so many examples of travails and tribulations that still dot the lines of some departed individuals.
If a wealthy man who is used to the aphorism that it is not over until it is over passes on and his children start battling each other over the sharing of his stupendous wealth can we really say it is over with such wealthy man, even in death? Some may argue that since the man has concluded his mission on planet earth whatever happens thereafter cannot be classified as an extension of his life or his worries. This may be a subject for debate because the work that the departed did while on earth would include the children he left behind; such children’s upbringing and the way the deceased had prepared them to handle his hereafter. For the man, he is not likely to rest in peace if the children left behind are at each other’s throats.
In love and marriage, is it ever going to be over? Can a wife or husband say it is over with his or her marriage? Is it over when love and courtship end up in marriage? Is the marriage not the beginning of a new journey in the lives of two friends whose nurtured love for each other has resulted in marriage? So if it is not over with the marriage, at what point can a member of the couple declare that it is now over? I have nurtured my love to marriage level I can now say it is over with courtship? Aren’t couples advised that even after their wedding day they should still continue as if they are in courtship savouring the fun and excitement that come with courtship?
It is not over until it is over. Our innocent daughters and grand daughters are currently in captivity in the hands of their heartless abductors. When they are eventually released or rescued and they reunite with their families will it be a ripe time to say it is over? Of course it cannot be over: there will be days and months of debriefing, days and months of psychological healing, days and months of painful memories and so on. With this scenario will it ever be over with those innocent girls whose youth and confidence have been rudely and violently violated?
It is not over until it is over may be a sing song for some one battling to write his final degree examinations. But will it be over after writing the examination? Will it be over after getting his result and is awarded a first class degree? Is it over until he lands a lucrative job? Will it be over until he secures a decent accommodation and a car? Is it over until he finds a partner and gets married? Is it ever over? That is the question.
Is life not a life-long struggle where you can never say it is over? Is marriage not a university where you repeat a class almost on yearly basis and you really never graduate? Will it ever be over with a marriage where children are involved even if the marriage breaks up?
Can an entrepreneur ever declare that it is over? Will it ever be over with his business dreams, expansion and all that? Even if and when such business collapses, will that be the end? What of the fall-out of the collapse or bankruptcy?
It is not over until it is over may be a song by some one at the bedside of a dying cancer-patient wife. He agonisingly waits for the day, the moment his darling wife will escape from the excruciating pain that is associated with cancer, but will he say it is over when the wife gives up the ghost? Of course it cannot be over because the death is just the beginning of another issue that the gentleman will hope shall be over some day. He will therefore declare even in mourning that it is not over until it is over.
Can we therefore conclude that the saying it is not over until it is over is a mirage? Is it ever over?
A man goes to jail and he says his suffering in prison will not be over until it is over. But when will it be over? Is it when he is released from prison at the completion of his jail term or when he is reabsorbed into the society and commences his rehabilitation programme? When shall be it over for him? If he was married before he went to jail and before his return the wife had absconded, when will it be over with his new challenges as a once married man whose wife had disappeared with their children?
Questions. Questions. Questions. When I began writing this piece I thought to myself that it would not be over until the article is concluded and the column for today is done with. Yes, I finished writing the piece, but is it over yet? And as you read through this are you not asking yourself if it is over after all?
Like I wrote in my Poem titled Coming and Going some 50 years ago, Going and coming and Coming and going are movements in opposite directions. You keep going and coming, and at every turn, whether you are going or coming, it is all about motion and movement. And I concluded: I shall go and come!
It is not over until it is over.
Over now!
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