HUMILIATION HOPE HEALING PSYCHOLOGY FAITH
Temporary Humiliation is Better Than Permanent Hopelessness
It often takes one act of momentary shamelessness to emerge a hero (heroine)
Every man has some battle. Every woman has a challenge.
Every child has something to dread. Every soul has something to confront, and or conquer.
This is the reality of life in the sun (under the sun, as some poets could put it). The reality of life on earth could be as familiar and as strange as anything.
Several years ago, a well respected youth leader had shared a story or testimony. It would take a lot of courage to disclose such a personal ‘low’.
The story was that he had been bed wetting from childhood to his early twenties. He had been told to do a lot of stuffs — from the scientific to the psychological and to the superstitious.
Interestingly, he had done all of them — including tying the dead body of a snake around his waist.
This writer could relate to it. In my part of the world, it is believed to have a strong efficacy against bed wetting — or the spirit behind it.
Akin to the biblical woman with the issue of blood, he confirmed he did everything — yet to no avail. It was that bad.
His parents became virtually hopeless. At the age of twenty plus: you are technically an adult. How could an adult be wetting his bed, every other night?
Traditionally, his family belonged to and worshipped in a family church. It would be a semi-taboo for him to belong to another, especially a new-generation type of.
But with this his personal challenge, no one cared. He therefore, technically changed church. At least, from the parents’ perspective: if that could offer him some help and hope, so be it.
In his new church, he joined the choir — being a naturally talented singer. His singing skills made him popular. Soon, he emerged one of the top leaders of the choristers.
Yet, the problem continued. He could not share it with anyone because of its psychological-cum-natural sensitivity. He kept his growing friends at bay.
One fact was significant. During the day, he appeared lovely, exciting, brilliant and handsome. At night, only God and himself knew what he was going through.
Yet, nobody knew apart from the members of his immediate family. Then one day: a particular minister did the usual ministration, probably a guest preacher.
At the end of it, he called for all the sick people to come out for a special prayer. This young man stepped out near the altar.
After the prayers, he went home as usual. He did not wet his bed that night. The second, third, fourth day passed… he could not believe his experience.
For the first time in his life of over twenty (20) years: he had slept on a dry bed for a whole week …
He kept on to observe the exciting development. One month became two, three …and so it continued to a year and several years. The bed wetting habit vanished into thin air forever.
When he shared the story in one of the church youth meetings which he happened to be the incumbent President then, everybody was both dumbfounded and excited.
As a matter of fact, that story encouraged many persons in a whole lot of ways.
No problem is insurmountable. But there should be a determination to overcome it. There should be a belief, a hope and a courage — not to give up.
When the story of the suicide of a Nigerian billionaire, Nick Imudia, broke few days ago, nothing radically different was expected. Most of the respondents had questioned why would a successfully good-looking young man (45) descend to such a lowest point.
Read the story:
Many things could be responsible, no doubt. One significant pointer was depression.
Without bias to the real reason(s) behind the sad occurrence, it could also be unimaginable from a psychological perspective that one could have a stinking whole lot of money and yet have issues that money on its own could not solve.
Two: if one had become so vulnerable to disclose one’s real-life challenges — in order to obtain help, if any — how could have the insensitive public reacted to it? What of the mainstream and social media angles to it — especially with their highly unimaginable twists and turns: exaggerations, innuendos and jokes and entertainment interpretations and dimensions?
Indeed, we could see that everyone needs help and sympathetic understanding at one time or the other.
That is why for me, it is far better to appear vulnerable — damn the consequences than to bottle up everything, and die tragically or shamefully, or both. It is even much more significant with its eternal implications, for those who so believe.
Thanks for reading.
