There are some stories that
never leave your memory. It does not matter how you came to know the story;
whether it unfolded before you, whether you were told or whether it is
something you read in the papers, it just does not go away. I had a lot of
them. One of them was about Agnes. I remember how I learnt of her story. I read
about it and for a long time after, I just kept staring at the
paper.
Young Agnes must have been
about five years old when she took her last walk with her earthly protector-
her father. It was a walk to her school and he made one very fatal mistake. He chooses not
to use the pedestrian bridge. I guess it happened in a flash because survival
instinct made dear father run for life leaving his daughter behind. By the time
he became aware of what he had done, she was lifeless on the road. The tears
that followed after he picked her up did not change the fact that by one single
negligent act, Agnes’ dreams and aspirations were cut off.
Why am I recounting this
story? Why will it not even be swept away with the sands of time?
Perhaps it is because the
mistake has still not been corrected. Even after decades of my learning of the
story, I still see countless persons take a quick dash to the opposite
side of the road rather than use the bridge above. I do not claim to be a saint
in this regard as I shamefully admit to have done this on more than one, two
three, five occasions. I know of a
pedestrian bridge that is hardly ever used. That is where I take my guilty
verdict mostly. It is a little consolatory that motorists are aware of the fact
that the bridge is hardly used by pedestrians so they slow down when
approaching the bus stop. That I must say is no excuse as it is clearly a
misunderstanding of purpose. A lot of users including my humble self
misunderstand the purpose for which the bridge was mounted. Maybe not
misunderstood, but we take for granted the humane and generous attitude of
drivers who slow down at that particular spot to allow pedestrians go past the
road in safety.
While I make give myself all
kinds of excuses concerning not using a bridge as illustrated in the last
paragraph, what happens when someone deliberately refuses to use a bridge that
is across a busy road? Will it be out of place to term this as suicide or an
attempt to commit suicide?
I put up this discussion with
my friends one evening and Onome called my attitude an exaggeration.
‘Come on,’ she said “Nigerians
like life. Calling it outright suicide means you are divorced from the reality
of our love for life”
“Okay o”, I shrugged.
It was far from okay with me.
I am originally from a town which cannot till date boast of a single pedestrian
bridge. This is in spite of the fact that a major road runs across the town.
Accidents on this road are usually major and mostly arise from pedestrians
trying to cross to the other side of the road. God’s grace has been magnanimous
because it has taught residents to be extra careful when making these
crossings. I can imagine how excited if the bridge across, rather than the big
screen street television that had been the contribution of the government of
the day. It would be a total disappointment if that bridge were to be abandoned
after a few years for no other reason other than laziness or the ‘it is not my
portion’ phrase.
Yes, laziness is one of the
reasons I have seen that prevents people from using these bridges across. Why
go through a path that will take twice the amount of time if you jumped in
front of a moving car and make a quick dash? Most people will of course deny
this reason and lace it with the phrase aforementioned. It cannot be their
portion to be involved in any accident of any kind even though they have been out
rightly careless.
I do not have the capacity to
judge, being a culprit myself but I have resolved to work on my used to be
stupid haste. I have started to work on it but I dare not commend myself for
fear that my resolve might break. I also believe that having made my thoughts
and struggles public, I have created a watch dog for me. I hope this watch dog
watches more than just me.
Keep faith.
