Okay, its way past 10 p.m. right now, and today is Monday, 26th June, 2017, an Islamic public holiday here in Nigeria, and here I am, sitting down on my bed thinking and writing about how lucky I was today; about how I narrowly escaped certain death just a few hours earlier.
I would have been crushed, literally. I would have been history. I would have been stone dead and lying down on a slab in a mortuary, but here I am.
This experience today has made me see a whole lot of things in a perspective that I haven’t seen them in a long while.
WTF HAPPENED?
So, the day began quite nicely. Yesterday being a Sunday, I started listening to an Audio book on Self-discipline by Brian Tracy. A very nice preparation. I’ve already started taking a whole lot of actions based on his recommendations in the book. I wanted some things to change for the better in my life, so, I was enthusiastic about doing the things he recommended.
Well, for starters, I resolved to start my day by listening to educational audio books for an hour. So, I finished listening to him that morning. I then went to lift some weights in the backyard.
Bam! My younger sister called. Her phone isn’t switching on anymore. Her friend’s laptop charger got burnt; she wants to buy a new battery for her laptop. Three different things. Great. Meet me on town by 9 a.m. I told her. Superb. Appointment fixed.
I finished with the weights, had a cold water bath, had my breakfast and drove away on my mum’s ‘ladies’ motorcycle.
I first went to a hotel close to our home in the village where I live. Well, one resolution I made, thanks to Brian’s audio book, was to meet one firm a day to look for a better paying job. I wanted to introduce myself to the management of the hotel as a computer technician, in case they needed any computer-related services, and I did just that.
FAST FORWARD
I went to the phone-repair shop where I worked, dropped off my laptop and other stuff, and headed to Tetlow road. I was still with mum’s bike. I intended to drop it off with a friend at World Bank junction, then enter a tricycle to Wetheral Road, to drop at Tetlow junction by Bank road, and then trek into Tetlow road proper.
I did that then called my sis. She wasn’t there yet. It was past 10 a.m. now. I was impatient. I didn’t want any waste of my time. I had some other things to do in town before going back home, but she spent like 40 minutes more before finally coming.
I found her a new battery for her phone, and for her PC. I found her three laptop chargers; one for her and two for her friends. This took me 30 to 40 minutes. OK. Deal’s done. I’m sparing you a lot of details here. I trekked to Douglas market, bought Monica Cheesbrough Part 1, a pack for my phone; flashed a client’s Nokia phone (which didn’t solve his problem anyway), and started back home. These took like 40 minutes too. It was way past 12 noon now.
THE JOURNEY BACK HOME
So, I entered a tricycle to World Bank; reached World Bank junction. Yeah, I went to the place where I parked mum’s bike, thanked the guy, stepped on it and drove off heading to Udo’s phone repair shop. I’ve already spent like N3, 500; N1, 400 on Monica Cheesbrough, N1, 500 on Chii’s charger (year, I bought her a new one from my own pocket, N250 on my phone’s pack and N100 on transport).
I almost stopped at ideal suites roundabout to go see my elder sister and her kids like I promised her, but I decided to go see them tomorrow since it’s still going to be a holiday.
NOW, HERE’S THE ACCIDENT PART
So, I headed for the shop on mum’s bike, cruising on gear 3 on the newly built road. I was going fast enough. I then reached a bend. The road was still under construction, so the right hand side of the road was still shut down’ that’s if you’re coming from Umuguma and going to World bank. I was on top speed before reaching the bend. A very big truck was coming from the other side. Not a regular truck, this one was way bigger. It’s one of those trucks that construction workers use to transport huge amounts of stones and stuff for construction.
Okay. So this monster truck was approaching from the other side of the very sharp bend. I didn’t see it, and it was still on top speed (Jeez, this is beginning to sound like one of those scary accident stories).
Anyway, to make matters worse, this particular bend was where the road engineers parked their big vehicles, so you couldn’t really see what was coming from the other side of the road. The giant truck was coming from Umuguma and I was going to Umuguma.
Here’s what made matters even worse. At that point was where any vehicle coming from Umuguma had to enter the left lane, because the right lane was cut off at that very point. It was still under construction.
These were the two condition s that multiplied the odds of something bad happening at that very bend.
AND THEN IT HAPPENED
Sitting down here writing this, I’m still getting to wrap my head around all that happened. It happened so fast. I was accelerating before I reached the bend. I was still accelerating as I was about entering the bend. I wanted to stop accelerating as soon as I reached the bend proper, so I could then brake a bit and then turn left and make a successful bend.
I DIDN’T SEE THE TRUCK
No, I didn’t. The truck was on high speed too. Its driver blasted his horn very loudly a few times immediately he saw me riding in, since he needed to enter the very same lane that I was coming out from and the road was too narrow to accommodate the truck and me.
He blasted his horn immediately he saw me, then I was shaken. That was when in that split second, I saw him speeding towards me. We were both on full speed. I thought about moving to the right, but there was no more road. It was a bend, remember?
I dodged him quite alright and I moved along the right, but then, since I couldn’t bend back into the road quickly enough, I stepped on the brake with all my strength. It was instinctive. I was going to crash into the gutter and into people’s shops on full speed, so, I had to brake. I had to stop the bike.
That was when the motorcycle started sliding across the newly tarred road. I lost balance and fell. I fell as I rolled and slid across the road with my body and the bike rolling on the floor several times.
Seriously, I can’t really recall the exact detail of what happened at this point. If you’ve been involved in an accident, you’ll agree with me that the whole thing will appear to be like a dream, or a hallucination, or something that isn’t even real. You won’t even know what the heck is happening. Your brain won’t even be coordinated.
I remember hearing screams as I crashed hard on the newly tarred road. I rolled over on the floor and I brushed my knuckles and my arm. I was bleeding, but not much. I was full of dust. I sat down on the floor for a few seconds, then I got up and started picking some of my stuff that had scattered all over the floor- my phone, the carriage basket of the bike (which was dislodged from the bike itself), a small kerosene gallon I was carrying, and some other stuff.
I looked back. The truck was long gone. It didn’t even stop to see what happened. Two passersby started saying sorry to me. They then moved along and I was left alone in the middle of the road still trying to figure out what the hell was happening. I picked up the bike and placed it on standing. The front was somehow bent and the headlamp was off. I was still bleeding on my arm.
AN NO ONE FUCKING CAME TO HELP
You know, sitting here writing this, I laughed when I started to think about it. This dude right here would have been crushed by a giant truck. This guy fell hard on the tarred road and rolled several times halting with him and his bike lying helplessly on the floor, and there were shops and people around me, all of them staring at an accident movie, and none of them moved a freaking muscle to help me in any way. What a nice and warm set of people. I was overwhelmed by their hospitality. Anyway, let’s leave that story for another day.
I DUSTED MY PANTS
I dusted my pants with my handkerchief and a little rag used to clean the bike. I looked at my bleeding wounds. Just a few bruises on my right arm. I was more interested in not wrecking mum’s bike. Thank goodness it wasn’t wrecked. I started the bike and it responded. Wheewww. What a relief. I noticed that the handle was bent in a way. I was about leaving when a little boy right in front of me pointed towards my kerosene can and motioned on me to pick it up lest I forget it. I did that, mounted the bike, started it again (and I was elated once again that it did start) and drove away very carefully down to the shop.
I was still bleeding on my arm which took all the impact of sliding across the tarred road.
EVERYTHING WAS STILL VAGUE
I reached the shop, which wasn’t far away, and stopped. I parked the bike and started looking at it. I tried fixing the bent handle. I checked for any other problems. Gladly there wasn’t any, except for the basket and the headlamp which were out. I could easily fix those. I went into the bathroom, washed my bruises and then, my brain started figuring out all that had happened so far.
I COULD’VE DIED
I could have died today, you know. If I hadn’t dodged that truck, I would’ve been history. It isn’t funny, but I chuckle as I think about it. Dying accidentally is so easy. You wouldn’t even know what hit you and when it did. If you or anyone you know is afraid of dying accidentally, just realize that that fear is baseless. For starters, I didn’t remember feeling any pain at the very point when the accident was happening and I was crashing with the bike on the freshly tarred road.
It was after I realized myself that I started feeling the bruises. It all happened so fast and it didn’t even look real as it happened. It all looked like a dream or a hallucination. Fear of accidental death is really baseless, but I think what people really fear is the pain associated with death, or probably the fact that we don’t know really what’s on the other side, or even if there’s an ‘other side’.
What about the fear of going to a fabled place of horror when you die? Well, that’s story for another day.
WHAT WAS I THINKING AFTERWARDS?
A lot of things. Seriously, I was thinking about a whole lot of things when I realized that today, 26th June, 2017 could’ve been my last. Some of them sound funny, but they all are serious issues.
Here they are:
• I WAS AN UNFULFILLED YOUNG MAN: Here I am, a second class upper medical laboratory scientist by profession, and after graduation 4 years ago, I’ve been to 10 states and 17 different hospitals in Nigeria looking for internship placement without success. We health professionals undergo one year of internship training before our permanent working license is issued to us. This internship was a paid job and it was a necessary part of the training process as a full-fledged medical laboratory scientist. Since 2013 however, it has been a big challenge for me in securing a placement.
This issue has been eating me up as the days roll by. So, I would’ve died unfulfilled- a failure to my profession. All the resources spent in training me would’ve gone down the drain. I wouldn’t have even had a day’s chance to practice my profession in any way. I wouldn’t have been fulfilled as a graduate.
• I HAD A CRAPPY JOB: Udo, the young man I was staying in his shop fixing software issues for clients is a good guy. I was paying him N2, 000 every month for rent, but friends, that N2k is about how much I make in a week, and sometimes in 2 weeks.
Now, this is a second class upper graduate of a professional course. What a shame. For lack of a better job, I had to hold on to this one, but then, I would’ve died without the fulfillment of having a good job, ever.
• I HADN’T PUBLISHED ANY OF MY CREATIVE WRITINGS: Right there in my laptop, there lay tons of stuff that I’ve written, all original. One of my life’s dreams is to be a published author but I was still procrastinating. No money to publish, my work isn’t perfect yet, blah blah blah. So, if I had died today, everything I’d ever written would’ve died with me. I would be forgotten. No legacy, no publications.
• I HADN’T HAD MUCH FUN IN LIFE: Life is meant to be fun, but I’d always been a serious and studious dude. I’d always taken everything so serious. I’ve always been tight-faced and inflexible. That’s probably the reason why I don’t have many friends. Although I’ve loosened up a bit as compared with before, I hadn’t still had much fun in life. I hadn’t gone to fun places. I hadn’t spent money just to visit places and enjoy myself. These things don’t cost so much, but I had been so broke in life that every penny I now make, I save in the bank. I so dread being broke, hungry and frail that I’m so afraid of spending even the slightest kobo, so I would never go broke again.
In fact, till last month, I just had 2 pairs of trousers that I can wear casually, and both of them have changed color so much that they’re now almost white. I was that ‘careful’ in spending money. I was afraid to spend money. I wasn’t really a miser, but due to years of being stark broke and the terrible experiences that went along with it, I didn’t want anything to do with spending any unnecessary money, and I had a very simple definition of the word ‘necessary’.
In the prime of a man’s life, I wasn’t living. I was just there… just there, existing.
• I HAD ACHIEVED VERY LITTLE OF MY GOALS IN LIFE: I take self-development very seriously and over the years, I’ve read and listened to tons of stuff on self-development and the like. I remember listening to a talk by the legendary Jim Rohn where he advised us to make a list of 50 goals we would like to achieve before we died. I made my list, and guess how much I’ve achieved in that list, less than 5.
I had more than 45 more goals to achieve with more still to come, and here I was goofing around. I’ve put off living to someday. Someday, I’ll do all these things. I’ll achieve all these goals. I failed to realize that this right here is life. There is no tomorrow; there is no ‘someday’.
If I had to live, I had to live today. I had to live now.
I’M LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
I’m glad; I’m grateful. I’m lucky to be alive. I still feel the pains of the wounds. They are still fresh, but it sure enough is less than the pain of dying, the pain of losing a young, energetic and enterprising man with a bright future ahead of him.
Yes, I’m lucky to be alive. I’m not an expert motorcycle rider. I just learned how to ride like 2 months ago, so, it was luck and a little ability to react fast to stimulus, but more of luck, that saved my ass.
ANY LESSONS LEARNED?
Yeah, I guess. I must have mentioned them in the passing so far. Anyway, here’s a few in black and white.
1. Don’t take life too seriously!
2. Live your life NOW. Don’t procrastinate, don’t postpone, don’t live in the fantasy of ‘someday’. This life is now, live it.
3. Have some fun please
4. Begin the process of achieving your goals. Never let money be an impediment to you. Take a bold step and see how the universe will put things together to support your boldness.
5. Seek out a better standard of life. Seek out a new and better job. Look for ways right where you are to create value and make money. It’s not difficult. Just look at your surroundings, there must be something you can provide that people around you need. Most importantly, get a job that brings you happiness and fulfilment.
6. Don’t be too concerned about the cost of stuff. You’re in a better financial condition than a whole lot of people, so this issue of always worrying about the cost of stuff is more of a mental thing than a financial one. Step out of that limiting thinking box of yours and figure out a cost-efficient way to do the stuff you love to do.
7. Well, be more careful in riding or driving. Learn not to over speed. Slow down very well before negotiating any bend.
To Being Lucky
To being lucky!
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