As a young man, I have made one choice, and it is one of the toughest one’s ever. For to choose to become a writer, is choosing life and death altogether. You don’t know how many doors you have opened and possibly how many you have opened with your writing.
Writing is not for those who want to become rich, it is a service, and you can make friends and enemies in equal measure. You can be hanged by a single sentence, and you can change a life with one line. That is the bitter part, but nothing is ever sweet in writing.
The world has a different view about you; honestly writing is making yourself your own enemy. You don’t get a peace of mind. If you are a writer, you become a slave for eternity to people who don’t care if you live or not. But wait, it is not for the lazy ones, if you are lazy, you will never make a good writer. We don’t rest here and the mind is the only victim. When you want to rest it, it will all come down upon your neck with a soft “Get up read and write or read.”
You will have no choice but to heed that voice and it never calls twice, it is once and that is the final one. As a budding writer, I have always wanted to make meaning in every piece of art because as I sit down with my pen, I know one or two people would hungrily peruse through my work, and what will they learn after? Are they going to go home stress-free or what exactly will come into their minds? Am I making sense really?
Those were very big questions. And behold, in this country, and with the bitter taste of my own experience, things are not right, and will they be right if I constantly write? I think not and the possibility is very anemic if it truly exists because as a youth, I have known of many people some of whom inspired me greatly who tried the pen revolution and they were thwarted and sent to their early graves. And ironically, nothing changed and hopelessness even flared.
“Would it be right if I follow their footsteps?” I asked! “Unless you are tired of living,” a solemn voice answered it for me and it was from there that I started to write inspirational articles to encourage young people and all the downtrodden to believe that even at the point where life seemed to have lost its meaning, there is still a brighter light at the end of a very long tunnel.
I realize that as a young man born in a war-torn country and at the cusp of despair, it would be rewarding if I use my energy for the wellbeing of others. I have known and nobody can ever tell me what it takes to be in this country. I fully understand what an average South Sudanese goes through on a daily basis. It could be hunger, death of a loved one, and killing and abject poverty. These things like no other challenge greet us every morning and as a writer, I realize that one or two people will find succor when they come across these write-ups.
Ever since I started writing I made a resolution that if I don’t get one or two calls or text messages in one month, I will stop scratching the paper with the pen because this means that I’m just wasting a lot of time but the phone calls I have received just days I put my number were least expected.
I didn’t do this to be appreciated or recognized, I don’t do things for praise. I am not the kind of person who is thirsty for praise. I added my number for my readers to comment on my work as a writer and to know the impact of my work because I cannot continue writing when what I am writing is not making sense or changing the lives of others. But the phone calls I got were just a sign that there was a need to write even more like never before.
I can come out and say openly that even in times as bad as this, especially when I was battling with an inferiority complex and when I was going through a lot of challenges, these phone calls and text messages invigorated my desire to write as much as I can and that is why I always make sure at least every week I must have two or three of my articles published because I would be sure that somebody would be in position to read my writing.
I find writing as a way of reaching people that I would never have reached in real life, people who share the same burdens as I do and who may be in need of peace as I do. No.1 Citizen Daily English Newspaper has given me this privilege and I feel proud to be a part of this great family.
I don’t just write because I want to write, I have my targets, in my list are young people, most of the articles I write here are specifically meant for young South Sudanese and women who are traumatized by the brunt of the long civil war in the country.
Most of these people (women and young people) have lost their husbands and fathers and moving on has always never been easy. As a result, most of these young people have resorted to drinking so as to find solace because they don’t see any light ahead. There are also young people who are trying almost everything on their own and the force that comes with this kind of life only leaves them with no choice but to give up in life.
I have seen this in real life, and I have always been one of these people. There are times we completely feel lost that we can’t even feel that we truly exist but hope has always been with me and what is still pricking me out right now is whether this toothpick size hope will still find its shrinking strength to move with me. I have always stood strong even in times when giving in was the only last thing to do and so are many young. We need courage and something to challenge us once every morning so that we stand strong in every circumstance because I realize that for us to be able to overcome problems, we need to accept that challenges are part of life and they will always be there even for generations.
This is to remind us that even when you face numerous challenges, you have to be proud because this basically means that you have something that you are going after in this life. And when they come with such a force that you can’t control, there is still a need to rejoice because this is for your advantage. I know that there are young people, men and women out there who are facing one problem after the other and they are almost giving up. I tell you if you are one of these people, you are lucky because you still have life and still ahead are many years of significant achievements.
It is true that this life will cause you to hate yourself and treat you as if you came from another creature not God but that is never true. You are still one of the people whose life still matters to God and listen, it is not you alone that is being mistreated by life, there are several people all over the world who have gone through a lot more than we do and they because they are still alive have chosen to appreciate every challenge as a stepping stone, so why don’t we do the same? Why don’t we use what we face on daily basis as a blueprint for major turnaround in this life?
Whatever we may face is similarly going down to the same lane, and therefore as human beings, we must be aware that things are and must not always be right. Something must make us cry and certain things must strip us of our hope and that is life and we must receive and appreciate it no matter what happens.