Red Light, Green Light

By Nzei Joseph

Take a moment. Breath. Think. 

What exactly is life? 

Isn't life a game? I'm not talking about Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, or any other fancy board game. I'm talking about a game with a console whose remote controller is our mind. 

I bet you've heard them say, life is a game of chance or a game of survival. Whichever side of the divide you stand, or let's assume you're not on any side of the divide, maybe, you are on a minus or any other letter of the BODMAS that's not a divide; one thing is certain, it's either you win or you .... Well, I think you know what I mean. 

Maybe you don't fully agree that life is a game. But you'd agree that life is a battle. A constant battle between good and evil. A battle between love and lust. A battle between faith and reason. A battle between loyalty and betrayal. A constant battle between you and your alter ego. 

Sigh. It's a bit deeper. It's not just a personal battle, it's also a societal and cultural battle. 

A battle of culture, colour, race, sexuality, and morality. 

A battle for superiority and class. 

Maybe not importantly, life is also a battle between the haves and the have nots. 

A battle between tricksters and commoners. 

Now, take another moment. Listen. It beckons every day. 

Silent screams of red light, green light. 

Don't you hear it? 

Wait, aren't you hearing it?

Let me paint a picture. 

Youths, the bird, and a firm hand.

Noises, chants, placards, a thousand voices but one hashtag.

All calling for one thing; freedom. 

Then on that day, the tenth month of the Gregorian calendar, the lights went out, a signal of the green light. 

Innocently, not understanding the game, they stayed at a spot, chanting songs of solidarity.

Then tick, tick, tick. Time elapsed.

Then came the signal of the red light. 

Like a DJ spinning and manipulating a turntable, the tricksters switched the sound. 

They switched up the game. 

What we heard and saw next was chaos. 

Sounds from guns and bullets. 

Solidarity songs turned to hues and cries.

Anarchy and lawlessness swept the land.

Brazen men in green served orders and not the fatherland.

And all we on the other side of the divide could do was look and shiver as precious compatriots' blood hit the fatherland. 

 

Do you now get the picture?

Didn't you see the picture of red stains on a green and white flag?

Now, tell me, what does that have in common with this picture below?

That's right. The red, the green, the white and, yes, the silent scream. 

Red light, green light. 

To all fallen compatriots.

We might have lost the game that day at the gate, but we didn't lose the battle.

 It is certain that a battle that stems from the heart never ends in defeat.

P.S. By the way, faith needs no reason. 

Photos: Pinterest