Ashraf Akintola

There once lived a mockingbird on the tree of providence. She is rich with nothing and all other birds mocked her for her house that is filled with air. She wasn’t moved by their mockery, nor do her heart despair for the want of being called the strongest and the best. She was just herself and her whistles of joy and contentment produced the best of melody that men; the topmost animal in the food chain yearn to listen to. They made it a law upon themselves not to harm her but arm her with a company in their abodes and a protection from other beasts of the jungle that might hurt her. Truly the mockingbird has nothing. She is weak and dull coloured, but as they say, to kill a Mockingbird is to prey on someone whose gentle and meek personality meant you no harm. Life is in itself a mockingbird! It wanders around and sometimes scratches on our door. And sometimes we assume the form of the prey that wants to take advantage of its meekness. But God who is at the elms of our affairs has already had it protected.


In our existence here on earth, we would come across some people that have been made a Mockingbird. That means their success in life goes beyond the ordinary explanation of “survival of the fittest.” They appear powerless and “Swaggerless” to occupy the position that God has brought them to be and you are left to wonder; “How on earth do they get to this peak?”. Yes, that feeling is just a natural expression of who we are and who we were taught by the society to be. We feel someone that has what we dream to achieve should also pass through the same stress we faced, or even worse. It’s a pity the world doesn’t work that way! Surely, a Mockingbird would also yearn to be the biggest and the brightest bird in the sky, nay, he would even sweat and labour for it. All through its travails, it wasn’t granted that wish but was giving something bigger, something that even the biggest birds would crave for.


When you reason at the reason why the sky is made so wide, you would come to the conclusion that it was made so, so that we all can fly without clapping on each other’s feathers. And if you would reflect on why the earth is so flat, you would see that it is for us not to trip on another's steps. How about the blue waters of the ocean that has room for anything thrown at it. Its all a sign to the fact that If you have been made the eagle that glides with pomp and grandeur in the sky, remember that another being is the mockingbird that her whistles of joy from contentment in poverty is the currency that later made her rich. If you are the whale that rules the dominion of the deepest oceans, pay homage to the dolphin whose wit and mastery of the language of man earned her a life-long friend. And if you are the king of the jungle, take heed of the Dog that can lead man to your abode.


Gods favour in our lives is not uni-dimensional but it takes a form in which the plantain that I have been given would need the beans to which you have been endowed. And the car of your life wouldn’t drive without the fuel in my tank. We are all blessed in several ways, don’t let the success of others stir any form of destructive envy in you. Rather, wish them well, even though you aren't at par with how they got to where they are and also pray for them. For you never know when you too can be a Mockingbird and you would need someone out there preying on your predators and also praying for you.

Ashraf Akintola is the lead Facilitator at Ashraf’s Scribbles: Using words to save the world