This week, I witnessed an accident right after it happened. The 18-wheeler had overturned along the Southern Bypass, just a couple of metres from the Thogoto overpass.
Its huge wheels were still rotating, diesel spewing onto the road, while a cloud of dust hang over the scene of the accident. There were already a few people at the scene trying to gain access to the cabin head to rescue the driver. Fortunately, from what I could see, there wasn’t extensive damage to the cabin head.
I use the Southern Bypass regularly, therefore, the following day, I went past the same spot where the accident had happened. Apart from the deep scratches on the concrete barriers dividing the bypass along that section, there was absolutely no evidence that an accident had taken place here the previous day.
The trailer had long been towed, and the wheels of the hundreds of cars that had driven over the scene of the accident thereafter had ground the broken glass and other parts of the vehicle that had been strewn all over the road into nothingness.
Even the diesel that had been flowing like a river the previous day was no longer visible. As I took in all this, it occurred to me that most accident scenes are like the various seasons of our lives.
For the sake of this column, I will focus on the difficult seasons. I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when, in the throes of whatever turmoil I was going through, I wondered whether I would emerge unscathed, not only this, I also wondered whether that experience would ever come to an end. And then one day it did come to an end, and today, it is as if it never happened.
In fact, there are no scars to show for that desperate period of my life. It is like it never happened because, as I’ve come to realise, the mind, if you allow it, has a way of gradually dulling painful memories until one day they become stories that you tell to encourage others, to assure them that whatever they are going through shall come to pass, and to remind yourself that most bad times, in many cases, do not last, that eventually, that light at the end of the tunnel finally flickers into view, so to speak.
I am sure that come next week, I will have forgotten that there had been an accident at the spot I mentioned. I will no longer drive by and visualise that accident, my mind having moved on to other matters. So is the case with the days of our lives.
There is a saying where I come from that, loosely, says that a child is not held down by a stone. Which essentially means that children eventually grow up and become independent, that they will not depend on you for their survival forever.
It is a saying that can be applied to all other areas of your life you can think of. For instance, for many, the job search finally comes to an end and a job comes along, or the effort inspires a business. For others, that long-awaited baby finally comes along and dreams of motherhood are fulfilled.
For quite a number, that marriage they have always wanted comes to be, while for others, a way out of an acrimonious relationship opens up and they finally embrace peace that had been elusive for years. For those toiling for that degree or masters degree, or even PhD, the long days of burning the midnight oil finally come to an end. For others, a cure or effective management for that disease is eventually found. I could go on and on. In a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen, experience shows, repeatedly, that this too shall pass.
