The lessons I've learnt so far.

ikedichi (45)in #life • 7 years ago (edited)

I remember vividly in 2007 standing within that corn plantation. We had just converted an acre of land behind our home to a maize farm. The land had been lying fallow for half a decade and nothing had happened there. My mom thought of turning it into a farm to reduce the influx of poisonous insects and reptiles. My mom couldn't handle our primitive hoes and cutlasses owing to age, so I and my immediate brother,Ked took it upon ourselves to clear the land and make it ready for planting.

Sincerely it was hell cut and clearing the shrubs, we hadn't been exposed to farming since we grew up in the city. For me it was fun. I felt so glad swinging the cutlass and raking up the weeds. My brother was caught up in ecstasy that he nearly broke his balls when he fell off a small tree he was trying to cut.
It was really tedious because of the crude implements we used. I had blisters on my palms. There were scratches on my legs and arms owing to the long and thorny creepers around.

Eventually we were able to clear up the field. Next was making the mounds and ridges. Mom gave us a little hint on how to go about it and in two days we were able to make about five hundred mounds. Planting was not a problem. We inserted the seeds into the mounds and closed them up as we were told to do.

I waited for days to see the maize sprouts, I had a little background in agriculture. At last the sprouts came up. I was glad as well as my brother. Starting from that day we began calculating how much more we had to wait before harvest. To my dismay when I woke up the next morning to take a look at the progress the sprouts were making, I was shocked to see nearly half of the planting withered.

I felt so devasted at that occurrence and complained to mom. She told us to repeat the planting again and be more watchful. We planted again and the same thing happened again. Still determined we planted again, Ked and I decided to watch out for any intruders at night. We caught him! He was spraying herbicides on the sprouts. Ked went in to fetch dad while I kept a close watch on the perpetrator. After rounding him up we threatened to call the cops if it ever happened again.

After two months the maize plants were doing fine. We decided to spray fertilizers around their roots to make the cobs bigger. One early morning I was walking within the plantation observing the beautiful colours the plants gave out. I realized beautiful life could be if we followed its rules.

Harvest was bountiful and we gave out the much we could to our neighbours including the "perpetrator"
This taught me vital lessons as the years rolled by. I got to understand that nobody wants you to be better than him. That's the truth. We always want to be better than others in everything. It's okay to be better than others but what's the underlying motive behind that dream? Maybe you want to sneer at him or kick his butt for not being like you. I actually find it more fulfilling helping others. I'm simply obeying the rule of life"treat others the way you wish them to treat you."

Life could get complicated at times but you need to take responsibility for everything that happens to you, why? you may ask, I'll tell you what you can be whatever you want. It's a thing of the mind. Without a strong resolve you can hardly go far.

Another lesson I learnt was patience. Patience taught me to be strong. Patience really a virtue. Its also a vital rule of life. Patience tells you tread carefully where others walked rather carelessly. There is a lot of impatient people around us today. Youths want to make billions by wishful thinking. They take steps which are often counterproductive.

The opposite of original is fake. When you hasten the process it takes to make bread you get less than what you want. Impatience always makes you forget the rules. It gets you into more trouble than you should be in. Boxing is a great sport but failure to learn the ropes is quite detrimental. Have you ever eaten a semi cooked meat? It tastes awful and always hard to chew. That's what impatience does.
Patience is not stupidity, it pays off in the long run.

The last lesson was to love what I do and do what I love. This is both simple and basic. Do what you hate, you'll always keep hating doing that thing.
This is where passion comes in, it keeps you alive and and awake. Doing something because others love it will make you a robot. You could hardly find happiness trying to satisfy others. Look for new ways to tackle your daily activities. It makes you better. Embrace your duties with smile it brings about innovation.

Love conquers all things. It builds trust and confidence. Always love yourself, you ideas and your life. It's the secret to a radiant smile.