LIFE IS A BIG NOTHING

Enyim (my dear friend, fellow Nigerian), you’re nothing. Are you nothing or are you nothing  for nothing? You  are both nothing  and nothing for nothing  if you ‘re waiting for your house to fall apart, go to the wrack and ruin,  collapse, break up, disintegrate, go to inferno because you haven’t stolen your millions as many Nigerian politicians have done before you, 

The purpose of this essay is to talk about nothing. Nothing.  Nothing.  And nothing. That’s what life is all about.  Nothing. What is the purpose of our life?  What is the value? Why are my fellow travelers and I doing these cruel things on earth? Isn’t it true that  we live briefly on earth, acquire  a few possessions, marry someone we think we love, produce some children, die at a certain age, and be buried somewhere in the earth?

 If you have lived long enough on this earth, you would find ample pieces of evidence to convince yourself and others that uwa nkaa (Igbo for this earthly life) is nothing. Cruelty implies that our earth  is  brutal, merciless, pitiless, vindictive, nasty, malicious, spiteful, or simply mean?

Do you need downright ugly pieces of baloney to convince you that life (lie) is nothing?  Here they are. Some men creep into the Catholic church in Ozubulu, Anambra, and mowed down 50 lives because there’s  a festering  feud between two families. Buhari  spends nights in cozy beds  in a lighted London hospital while Emeka, Adedeji, and Haruna are being eaten alive by mosquitoes in a tenement near city open gutters. Let’s sing at the top of our lungs this writer ‘s song about nothing:

Life is empty and meaningless.   And it’s empty and meaningless. 

 That it’s empty and meaningless is nothing new

 Hoping that it will mean something someday is illusory nothing  

You can multiple anything with zero and you get  the same zero  

 Nothing is nothing is nothing; and  there’s nothing.

 You’re nothing; I’m nothing and we’re nothing  

 You may take it to your bank and cash it, and you get Nothing

The purpose of the instant essay  is to dwell  on that which  has  always been there but is unknown to millions of people.  This life is nothing and means nothing. Life is nothing,  meaning  life does not amount to anything. It is zero, zilch, naught, nonentity. You and I are nobody.

 In Macbeth , Scene V, line 19, William Shakespeare  laments:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

George Bernard Shaw’s quote on True Joy of Life, says:

“This is the true joy in life — being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

You, dear fellow Nigerians, are you nothing or are you nothing  for nothing? You  are both nothing  and nothing for nothing  if you ‘re waiting for your house to fall apart, go to the wrack and ruin,  collapse, break up, disintegrate, go to inferno because you haven’t stolen your millions as many Nigerian politicians have done before you,  

By Dr. James C. Agazie, jamesagazie@gmail.com; jamesagazies.blogspot.com