Last Monday was a somewhat dust-laden harmattan hazed morning, and yours truly unintentionally overslept. My watch read 7:33 am when I reached the junction. A quick calculation led the mind to settle on a motor cycle (okada) as it provided a faster means of getting to work before 8:00 a.m.

Sharply dressed in a dark grey suit over a white shirt and a maroon-coloured tie with my favourite red and white dotted pocket square to match, I was indeed the toast of my neighbourhood as people stole glances when they passed me. These glance-stealing passers-by made me uncomfortable as I stopped a rider to negotiate the fare. I decided against it and about 10 seconds later asked for the rider’s retro half helmet as he didn’t have any spare one in sight.

The few times I have rode to work on the back of an Okada have been enjoyable as we stop for no red lights nor pay attention to the thick vehicular congestion along the Dansoman-Mataheko-First Light stretch, or the Cocoa Clinic area, or the TV Africa road stretch. That day, I paid particular attention to the other Okada-riding passengers also being transported to their various work places, and realized I was not the only neatly dressed worker onboard a two wheeler. That provided some comfort.

When we got to the ‘Circle-Dubai’ interchange, I asked him to ride up the flyover linking Circle to the Ring Road, so we avoid the traffic beneath. Admiring one of JM’s flagship ‘legacies’ and  noticing how the Odawna market had taken shape, and with the gigantic statue of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah in sight, a light object from nowhere hit me in the face, but fell off before I could even touch it. I wondered from whence it had flown from as the flyover is a very neat stretch of road.

I looked back to see what it was and saw a red object flying away mighty fast. We rode on for about 15 seconds before I looked and realized that that red object had the front pocket of my jacket as its source of exit. I had lost my favourite suit accessory – my pocket square. The painful thing about it was the fact that we could not turn back and go pick it up (if it still was lying there, that is) as many cars were speedily driving behind us, unless we wanted that morning to be our last on earth. I clocked in at work at exactly 7:52 am and I couldn’t help but remain ‘sad’ throughout the rest of the day and the next…and the next.

On Tuesday as I reeled from that painful experience, I realized how easily possible it was to lose things one hold dear including cherished beneficial relationships in the pursuit of one’s life dreams, if care isn’t taken. If we lose guard, we will achieve our dreams alright, but lose valuable possessions in the process and realize when we eventually get to the finish line, that there is no one to neither applaud us nor celebrate the feat with.

Just as stray bullets shot from the guns of careless police officers snuff innocent lives, an unguarded, reckless statement, also causes damage to an otherwise beautiful relationship. Moments when we should have acted, or when we should have encouraged, or when we should have provided that shoulder for another to lean on in his period of despair, but ‘forgot’ because we were speeding in pursuit of our dreams wreck uplifting symbiotic friendships.

Ever heard of this phrase, ‘win some, lose some’? It sounds true, isn’t it? Well, the hook of rapper Big Sean’s 2015 hit track, “Win Some, Lose Some” reads:

“You win some and lose some,

I heard that my whole life.

I heard that my whole life,

But that doesn’t make it right.

(Okay, you got ahead tonight)

Man, that doesn’t make it right,

Man, that doesn’t make it right,

How do you sleep at night?”

Have you ever lost sleep because you lost the friendship of another whilst pursuing your dreams? I haven’t, and I do not want to experience it. I lost my favourite pocket square in my quest to go earn my salary and I felt terrible. It taught me that lesson. 

Admittedly, some relationships MUST be deliberately broken if one is to realize his/her purpose in life, but those are not the relationships I write [read speak] of today. That will be for another time.

I believe it is possible to enjoy win-win situations in some instances if only we pay a bit more attention to the goings-on in the lives of the people we associate with.

Enjoy the fruitfulness this new week promises.

More Vim…Let’s Go…

The writer is a chartered accountant and a freelance writer, and can be contacted at pkbwilliams@yahoo.co.uk. Click here for other articles he’s authored.