The Question of Belief?

Anyone who was anyone in Ugata knew the man who was responsible and had the final say in whatever that was going to happen in the town, and just like the popular story of David and Goliath or the rich man and the leper they knew Odili.

He was not young, a common misconception neither was he a wealthy tycoon as expected, he was just a man who was wise with his words and was found mostly in the council of the rich.

Any time a rich man had one of his houses on fire, he ran to Odili for help, Odili would scold him and finally let him in on whatever his titanic mind thought appropriate enough to solve the problem. Forgive, I say it as though Odili was made for the rich alone, not necessarily, anyone who could sort him out did, although the rich ones always came first.

These days his visitors increased as each day passed, and he wondered how so much problems could contain in one small town, he was aging and too much talk made him wear out easily, so after every two or three sessions he took a nap.

He had just woken up from one of such naps, when a rare appearance stood right in front of him, he examined and concluded that it was out of mere curiosity of what Odili looked like that lead this charming appearance to his council.

“Good morning Odili, I would like to seek your candid opinion about something that troubles the world?” the young feminine voice came.

“Hmm,’ Odili cleared his throat,” of recent he had not had any new or intriguing questions, just the same old bore told by a different person each time.

“Go on young lady,” he urged.

“What do you think happens to the beliefs of people when they die, do their beliefs die with them as well?”
Odili scratched his head and went into deep thoughts, he once had a daughter who died suddenly, she had believed all her life that she was not meant to be in this world, she woke up each day lamenting, everything had made her on edge, she had called life a box of memories, funny thing was she had no memories left when she died.

“Odili are you still here with me?” the girl’s voice broke into his thoughts.

“Yes...yes just as everything else beliefs die as well.”

Odili watched intently as the young girl stood before him, her figure was divine and her voice had been familiar, and he tried to remember where he had heard that voice before.

“I hope I answered your question, young lady?’

“Yes you did…but am afraid you did not solve my problem.”

“Indulge me some more?” he almost begged.

She sat down and as If still contemplating whether to tell or not she began to say “I used to say I needed to see to believe in anything and even when I saw, I said I had to make sense out of it to be able to put my hope in it. My sister passed away few months ago and she was a believer not just any kind the strong Christian type.”

“I know those kind, go on..,”

“Now that she is gone, all I have that is left of her is what she had believed in, I think of where she might be now, and I hope for the first time that her belief was right and that she was somewhere better waiting on me, it was better to think that way, than think she existed no more.”

Odili raised his brow when she stopped and she continued.

 “She said she believed she would get this particular job and then ended up not getting it, I was rest assured her beliefs were a phony, she would claim that all good that happened to her was due to someone looking out for her, I laughed at these, because both good and bad things happened to everyone. Well, one night she started to cough out blood she hadn’t been sick or anything she told me that she believed she was going to die, she said her prayers amidst the suffering and I could only pity her, I didn’t want her life to end so quickly so I did my best but then she said her life was yet to begin that her journey on earth had been temporary, she said she had always known that her time was close, then she died.”

“I am sorry to hear that…but what do you need my opinion on?”

“I just thought that maybe, that maybe she wasn’t wrong about her belief, how would I know now, I never sincerely heard her out?”

“You said it yourself girl, If her beliefs are right she has nothing to lose wherever she is now, but if they are wrong, she believed in vain all her life, but I believe what you should know, is that life for everyone is temporary, it’s so short that she chose to believe in eternity and lived her years here on earth in preparation for it.”

“Odili are you a Christian?” she asked out of nowhere.

“Sometimes, I think that life is short and every man wants to live long, so we believe in eternity. Our lives on earth is veiled, so no one knows tomorrow, and none of us were here from beginning, sometimes we believe in preparation for the end.”

She smiled and thanked Odili, acknowledged his wisdom and left his presence. But long after she left, a disturbed smile crossed Odili’s face, because he knew that on his dying bed he would recall the same question and the matter of whether he believed or not would become prominent.