What's Your Story

 

Do you ever look at a stranger and wonder ‘what’s your story?’ Or you like minding your business? If you do you’re in perfect company. Many a times I’ll look at a person and wonder what their life looks like. ‘What have you been through to get here, what hurdles have you had to jump? Or did you have it easy?’ It’s really not that easy to just come up with an answer  for these but we can’t help but wonder 🤔

The other day I was in the train next to this lady who seemed to have carried the office with her. She had on her laptop a million tabs open. She must be one of those important people with air conditioned offices, chauffeurs, body guards, personal secretaries and the likes. She was going through hundreds of C.Vs of applicants for various positions in their firm while also making demands for various payments from whoever among a thousand other things she was doing. Interestingly, she was also trying to keep tabs of her diminished social life with an occasional laughing emoji in the group chat. Sadly, apart from the group chat, no one else had dm’d her that day 😔

Her hair was neatly combed but that’s all to it. Seems like she had not gotten time to visit the salon. Her nails too looked unattended save for the middle fingers which were short and I smiled coz I guess I knew what she has been up to with them 😂😂😂 But it’s her body she can do whatever she pleases and if her two soldiers are what keep her sane then who am I to object 🤷🏾‍♂️

I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s all there was to her life. Work, work work like the chorus in Riri’s song? Well, for a person whose productive time if squeezed was at most 2 hours, it was a new phenomenon (my salary is squeezed too so guess my boss and I are even)

Anyway, what was her life like? Did she choose this path or did she have to accept it since the rate of unemployment is so high and she hates poverty? Is she a workaholic coz if so then she’s perfectly okay? Does she have friends or a social life, besides her two generals, for that matter? What makes her the way she is? What drives her? What’s her story?

She caught me staring. But it was not her I was staring at (y’all understand right? 😂) I was thinking about her (not like that now 😩) she was in my mind (jeez am lacking the right words 😵😵😵 but I hope you get what I mean, right?) she must have thought I was a nosy perv and probably went to rant to her two admirals during her ‘me-time’ 🤭

In a world with over 5 billion people, you can just imagine that’s over 5 billion untold stories! Stories you’ve never heard and probably never will. Growing up African they told us tales of judgement day to scare us to repentance and one thing they said was how we’d be given a cinematic view of our lives. How I wish that were true. Maybe then even God Himself would have a view of life from our perspective. Maybe then He’d stop being so harsh and understand why we did what we did. Maybe then He’d truly feel our pain and understand our tears coz sometimes it feels like He’s not there. Sometimes it feels like He doesn’t care or understand. Sometimes it feels so alone we end up wondering whether we really are His people.  I get it man but must I always learn through pain?😭😭😭

So, what’s your story? Yes, you. You reading this. What’s your story?