Mind Boggling - Chapter 5

Mind Boggling

By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta

Mine has been a humbling life for as long as I can remember. The first time I visited a slum when I was young, I could not believe that there were people who lived in such conditions and from then on, I always asked myself how come I was not born there.

I had no say on my being born. What started me off on this journey was a search for the reason I was born. But I do know that I was born and born to parents who were able to provide me with some of life’s comforts that others only dream of. Why is that? When I consider the events that had to occur for me to be born, I cannot help but accept that there is a higher power out there somewhere controlling these things since they are completely out of my control. Some might say that I am the one in control but don’t know it. Not as long as I have no idea what tomorrow will bring and I know am going to die one day and have no idea when or how! Life throws all manner of tests and tribulations and celebrations and my role is to choose how to deal with them.

For me to be born, my parents had to be born first to their parents, they had to stay alive and healthy too and be able to bear children. They did not know each other in childhood having been born is places considerably far apart. In fact, my father migrated from his birth place with his mother when his father chased them away. My parents also had to stay together long enough for me to be born. They separated soon after. If all these things had not happened, neither would I.

I choose not to believe in coincidences. I think that there is a formula somewhere out there for why things are the way they are and that is why I am on this quest to know why I was born. To some extent, I think that I am responsible for how my life has turned out in certain ways, but the funny thing is that until now, I was not fully aware of that responsibility. I have wondered how many of us are actually aware of it. I used to be a floater, going with the flow every now and then and sometimes just doing what I felt to be right but not knowing why I did the things I did. Now, I want to know why I do the things I do.