With the whole BBM craze in this country of mine, came an inclination amongst the youth of the nation to ping.

BBM pins flew all over the social media soliciting both friend and foe alike to go ahead and ping them. In short, the BBM craze became the new rat race amongst the youth of the African race.

Now, I was from a conservative family that took no interest in current trends, but I was in a circle of friends who were hooked to those very trends.

And for every trend they got hooked unto, my words and actions seemed to be the rehab that cured them… or so I thought… ‘Cos every time I thought I had them unhooked, I gloried in my own assumption that my conservative family had taught me a lot so much so that my thought pattern or process was an exclusive set amongst the universal set of these “trend addicts”.

Little did I know that my thinking was to be my own folly that would act as a pulley to pull me from my “mountain” of glory into this despair which I talk about now… the valley. The valley which I actually created for myself by always assuming that I was in charge not until I was then charged with theft.

A theft I never committed, but being blinded by the high speed lane which my assumptions had taken me in pursuit of personal glory, I never slowed down to look at things on a grand scale. Not until the theft happened and all other things were set on autopilot. You can call it “Grand Theft Auto” only that this time it wasn’t in Miami, rather it was on my “Andy”… Yeah! That’s what we called our android devices.

You see, with all my “rehabilitative” capacities which I always presumably used to get my friends out of any trend. When BBM finally hit the android OS and I got hooked on… there was no looking back for me, ‘cos with several BBM pins out there on the internet (mine inclusive) there was no restriction as to whom could reach me or who I could reach. So, though in reality I had come to be known as one who keeps a very short list of friends, the reverse was the case for this virtual world I was plunging into.

Actually, it was more of a free fall than a plunge. For I had never been exposed to this level of freedom where you could say anything to anyone ‘cos you never expect to meet them and even if the probability to stumble on any of them was there, it was extremely low except the party(ies) involved made a conscious effort to meet. Enough of the exposure on social media already, the point is that I got involved with the wrong set of people who actually set me up to take the fall for their crime.

Seated right now, I see that my unnecessary need for speed has led to my life being totalled on the Asphalt of life’s race. So as I await my judgement now, be it “Guilty or not Guilty”, “Charged or Acquitted” I know that I have already paid the price for my folly. ‘Cos whether I end up in jail or my house, the wheels on this chair that I find myself attached to for mobility sake is a constant reminder that I should never think for once that I’m in charge. Rather, I should always do all things with fear and trembling with respect to the Omniscience of the Almighty.

So, for all of you out there who may always think you’re in charge, never for once think it so. ‘Cos by strength shall no man prevail as the wisest book on Earth put it and also went ahead to say that cursed is the man who relies on human strength and blessed is he who relies solely on the Almighty.

I have decided to rely solely on Him for everything including getting me out of this valley in His own way. I hope you do too.

God bless.