ON GETTING INTO SOME TROUBLE...

The university has been described as a microcosm or miniature society, and so simplicity and relative freedom is characteristic of it. Within the higher institution, the student barely has time thinking about trouble or getting into one, as all they need do is keep to the basic rules and regulations – no fighting, no exam malpractice, no forgery of credentials.

And so the school bids the fresh graduate farewell with the impression that all is well, that the gate to the actualization of their destinies has been thrown open following the restoration of their dignity as evidenced in their excellence and sophistication in character and learning. The kind of attitude birthed by this mentality is one of optimism and high expectation that one’s carving out a formidable niche for oneself on the scheme of things is inevitable.

However, this is only a half truth. My reason is simple: however optimistic, formidable and daring one is or becomes, the future doesn’t compromise its most esteemed characteristic – uncertainty, which equally leaves room for the unexpected. And so, one can begin to imagine frightening troubles that could block one’s way with the slightest intent of losing optimism and balance.

Join me in imagining this mess that could greet one – trouble! For instance, for some reasons, the freshly baked graduate decided to gratify his desire for sex – with the one who has been the object of his erotic admiration. He did not lose his senses while experimenting but followed the conventional advice of procuring the services of the condom to primarily evade the responsibility of getting her in the family way and sidelining the risk of diseases that may cash on the contact. But she brings in the news of missing her period after two weeks and even backs it up with what the test reveals – pregnancy!

That could be trouble of a lifetime as no ensuing option is cheap. Freshly graduated, no job, hanging around home, awaiting youth service, and with the responsibility of a pregnancy – real big trouble! Decide to deny her and you open up a case with the police since her very influential parents would vow to sit on you for rewriting the future of their girl; decide to procure an abortion in a country like Nigeria where abortion is illegal with quacks doing the dirty job affords you the risk of an accomplice in murder with the gates of prison not too far away from you; what if complications get in the way of her fertility for which you should already be working on the possibility of keeping her for life; whichever way, there is trouble as even a successful abortion plunges one into a life of guilt.

And deciding to keep the pregnancy out of moral consciousness or whatever other reason is equally not immune to trouble; that is the real trouble. How do you stand your family labeling you a failure and talking them into supporting you? How do you make the girl’s family understand that it was actually the work of the devil? How do you even begin to fulfill the apostolate of presence which pregnant women cherish than any else – having the man that did it by her side – when your NYSC call up letter just arrived your school and you are required to relocate from the South to the far ends of the North? What if the onus of sponsorship is on you, what can you boast of in your bank account? The questions are indeed many and their answers must be borne out of tough choices.

Other forms of frustrating troubles abound, such as those you can receive from coincidence. Maybe the neighbors you hang out with have been on the wanted list for as long as you are unaware of it. And now their cup is full with the police ready to spill it only to find you in their company on the D-Day; having a date with the police on criminal grounds is the most unfriendly encounter you can ever experience. In your workplace, the bank or some other, trouble could be cooked up for you by your errors or jealous colleagues, and you are not only fired but pay dearly; that is big trouble!

In the face of trouble, be you responsible for the cause of it or not, all you need do is be calm and listen to that inner voice that whispers to you that all is or can be well. Find every reason to be strong at the dawning of each day and watch how time flies and how everything soon constitutes both history and experience, which we can be sure to afford us some uncommon wisdom. Whatever the trouble, all you need is to be hell bent on getting it done with, and more importantly getting on with this one most precious gift you call your life.

It is as simple as deciding upon it, and meaning it!