An Endless Circle Of Wahala! | WOTW S5 W2

This insightful quote by Debasish Mridha stared at me when I came online this morning, providing the inspiration I needed to write my entry to the POB Word Of The Week S5 W2. Feel free to participate by clicking on the link.

One thing that is common to every human being on earth is solving problems and challenges that surround us. But, where do these problems, or wahala as we refer to them in Nigeria, come from in the first place? Is there an end to them?

We don't have to search far to answer these questions. Rather let's look inwards. We are the ones who create wahala for ourselves and at the same time work hard to solve them!

An incident happened about some weeks ago in my neighbourhood and it reared its mean head again recently. Our electricity supply comes from the national grid and every apartment is entitled to an electric power meter. Also, we have the option of not applying for a power meter, in which case the power company distributes bills to such houses at the end of each month. If they don't pay the bill on time, their lights would be disconnected.

The apartment I occupy supposedly uses an electric power meter and we regularly buy light units into the meter. When the staff of the power company came calling to carry out a routine check of the meter, it was revealed (after much argument) that the electricity line seemingly connected to the meter was direct. This means the meter was a front and my apartment should have been getting bills. This illegal activity had been going on for the past two years before I moved into the neighbourhood.

When I got the gist of the whole matter, I was not only appalled (in a funny way because nothing surprises me) but also unhappy about it. The power company came up with a bill to cover the past two years of free light and a steep amount was printed on it. I wondered why we like to create problems for ourselves.

This brings up the issue of a good foundation. A building with a poor foundation will definitely fall one day, no matter how long it takes. There's no patching around it that can make it stand forever.

If only the landlord had done the right thing by having the light properly and legally connected, he would not be faced with the problem of such a huge bill to pay and harassment by the staff of the power company. I believe at the time he made the connection, he was confident that it would not be discovered.

He must have been feeling good, watching as the years passed by, enjoying 'free' light and commending himself on how smart he was to have 'cheated' the government that offered nothing tangible to its citizens. Is anything free in this world though?

A solid foundation means a sturdy, durable building and consequently peace. If the landlord had laid the correct foundation, that is, legal connection, he would be at peace now. No one would harass him. Again: why do we like to create problems for ourselves?

I surmise it's the bane of mankind to create problems so we can solve them again and again. It's an endless circle. If there were no problems to solve, we would be bored. I understand problems make us stronger and challenge us to do better.

Truly some problems bring out our strength while some problems are wahala and drain a person of life! Should we not create productive problems such that the solutions would lead to our world's positive advancement rather than trouble our peace and hurt each other.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

^{_{Image 1 by: Hans-Peter Hauser from Unsplash, edited with Canva App
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Image 2 by: Alana De La Cruz from Unsplash
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Image 4 by: Sebastian Hermann from Unsplash}}