Has Life made you the Best or the Beast?

What we go through in life does play a big part in shaping us into who we are or will be. Every so often, we might become awful or cheerful people due to the pain and dejection that we could have gone through in the past. The beauty of it all is that the chance to reap good or bad from our lives’ stories lies in our hands. You can choose to live a sad life even after having a miserable past or choose to let go of the past and live your life to the full. Diana grew up with her paternal relatives after she lost both her parents at the age of seven. Her parents were filthy rich so after their death, every relative was fighting to have her under their care so they could take up the riches as well. In the beginning, they loved and adored her but after a while, things turned round for Diana. Her relatives’ love and care for her vanished as soon as her parents’ riches did. They began to mistreat her and refused all the other kids to associate with her. They chased her from the bedroom and she began sleeping in the kitchen that was outside yet there was another kitchen in the house. Her uncles began to sexually abuse her and threatened to hurt her if she ever disclosed it to anyone. She spent nights hungry yet she cooked the food. Her aunt would hurl insults at her and abuse her deceased parents as well. She would beat her up and falsely accuse her of theft, prostitution and other ugly habits. Like Diana, most of us have had it rough and tough in life. For some, it might have even been tougher than Diana’s experience. In life, every one has their different untold story that has left deep scars and wounds bleeding in their hearts. Even those that have a cheery look and smile all the time have gone through the tunnel but they choose to look at the ray of light and forget about the dark horrid tunnel. Smiling and choosing to live happily doesn’t mean that life has been all roses. They’ve been moments where thorns have pricked deep in everyone’s flesh. Diana didn’t let the pain of the past rule and ruin her future. She chose to learn from it and decided to live and enjoy her life. She counseled those that went through the tough times since she knew how exactly it felt like. She did not contemplate prostitution or getting money in the other wrong ways despite the fact that she didn’t have trendy clothes, and a nice hair style like other girls. She couldn’t even afford a decent meal, but she went hungry even after men offered to give her money in exchange for her body. Diana chose integrity and dignity over money despite her great need for it. She would have chosen to let life turn her into a beast. She would have become a men deetoother, prostitute, thug or any of those ugly things just so she can survive. The perils of life brought out the best of her-but that is only because she choose to be the best and not the beast. Although our life’s story shapes us, we take part in the molding bit of it, we choose the shape. The decision is always entirely ours to let our past mould us for better or worse. Some people will seek solace in alcohol to help them forget the grief of the past. Alcohol might give you the hype and excite you but one can’t live under the influence of alcohol all the time. Others might choose to frantically live their lives, do every reckless thing on the face of the earth, making them feel like they are getting back at their past, only to bring them more distress. Laureen Ingabire says that life will not always go how we want it; there will always be those bad moments that just make one feel like they would be better off dead. “People should seek comfort in the fact that for which ever situation they are going through, there is actually someone going through something much worse,” Ingabire says. She adds that we should instead learn from our experiences and become better people other than letting them (experiences) suck every grain of hope and happiness out of us. Japheth Uwimana says that no one circumstance should over power humans and that is because God says so. “The Bible says that the Lord can’t give us more than we can handle. By the time, we go through something, God knows we are strong enough to sail over it. He however leaves the choice in our hands to handle it the best godly way or the worst beastly way,” adds Uwimana. We will never have another chance to live our lives. Let us make the most of them and be the best and not the beast we can be, despite the past. m.kaitesi@yahoo.com