So you had the awesome opportunity to get a front row seat to a game you have no interest in?

Let me guess, possibly because she looked so good that no excuse could find its way through your lips as you cowered under her overpowering presence when she said “Would you be a darling and go to the game with me?”

Sure, I do understand you were trying to be polite (and be a darling too) but I can predict one or two things about how this date or whatever she tells you will be like. First, you meet at a scheduled place or possibly you were such a gentleman (or totally bent on impressing her) that you picked her up from home with your ride and then when you get there, you walk into the arena, hand-in-hand, smiling and chatting meanwhile somewhere in your head you continue to recall all the reasons why you hate this game and you shouldn’t be here obviously but no bother you’ll just be a man (more like, things we do for love).

Now the players are on the pitch, the ever rising roar of cheers and laughter wouldn’t have been much of a bother if you had any clue as to why this amount of people would actually enjoy this game or if they could at least pipe low enough so you could manage a discussion with this beauty by your side. The announcer does a good job of further increasing the noise whilst observing various sport traditions towards commencing the game and then out of nowhere this guy who is supposedly the referee/umpire blows a whistle.

For the split second its shrill sound pierces through the noise, there is stillness in the crowd just before a resounding uproar to indicate the game has begun with the atmosphere gauged with intense anticipation and excitement. Now, for you my friend, you stare at the event unraveling before you; fruitlessly trying to make sense of it though constantly aware of the female presence by your side whilst drilling your mind for a good comment to kick-start a cool discussion.

In this very interesting mix of events that characterizes every big sport event around the globe, one thing remains true for all and that is the power of the whistle (or buzzer, or any media of control the referee/umpire uses). In every case we watch as this little instrument in the hands of one man could demand the attention of every single person in that arena at any time during the play of this game. They pay attention because for every instance the whistle is blown, there is sure to be a change in the game of play. This change can be positive or negative depending on what side of the field you’re playing from but regardless of that when that whistle is blown the game must begin or stop (either momentarily or permanently).

However, as a player in this game, you are trained in the art of playing it well and certain skills you possess have set you aside, qualifying you to represent your team to whatever degree but this same whistle means much more to you than a switch to stop or begin the game. It is to you, the law of the game. It signifies when your time in the game begins and from then you are awarded a chance to bring victory to your team by doing your very best in your designated area of play whilst maintaining sportsmanship but a single blast of the whistle could change all that. It could be to you a simple caution or the outright punishment for a foul play, it could be justice for a wrong done, it could be the end of your time on the field or it could just be the end of the game.

You see, this scenario painted right in front of your eyes is no different from what we’ve come to know and call living on this world stage. Life is a game we all are players in with the earth as our playing field and whether we accept it or not we do have a whistle locked somewhere in the lips of the referee. We may be oblivious of it but it is to us for caution, reproof, and justice and sometimes it may be the final whistle we hear as it marks the end of the game either individually or for the whole living population of the world.
I know it is easier to live a carefree life, doing what you want when you want but even in our limited understanding as humans, we know that there’s need for order, hence we set up a justice system, a moral system to caution or punish wrong doings or brings justice to the hurt. However, we run our seemingly orderly lives unaware of the most important function of the whistle

IT DETERMINES THE END OF THE GAME

The game could go on forever if that whistle is not blown and no player would leave the field up until that whistle is blown and it finally is blown to that respect it could mean the end of the game for one or all players. It’s quite simpler than you think; if the final whistle is blown you have to get off the field. In this Life, the final whistle varies and for you it may be the sound of a gun, the last beep of the monitor as your heart stops, the thud of your body fall, the sound of screeching tires or the sound of a trump. Whatever way it happens you will have to leave this earth because your time is up.

Now no player wants to leave the field feeling like he would have done more, hence while on the field, he pours in his very best but somehow in the real game we choose to call life playing before our very own eyes, we seem to think we would never have regrets when we have to leave the playing field even when we just wasted our time of game play. We seem to think we have no coach in the cloakroom ready to analyze how well we did our part, no consequences for the way we played this game that we have only one chance at.

The greatest lie our adversary made us believe is that we are the onlookers, the cheerleaders of this game. So because we ain’t the players, when the whistle goes, the game simply ends and that’s it. We can just go ahead and just have a good time, no caution as to how short your time is. He fools you to think that you’re going to last till the last whistle so while waiting you disregard the cautions that come as the blaring of the referee’s whistle just like this very piece you’re reading, ignorant of the fact that the very next whistle could be your last.

THIS IS A WARNING!

It may not sound much like a whistle but nevertheless, it is for you and even though I sincerely pray it is not your last, it may just be.

You can’t afford to worry about the opponents devices, he is just running his game plan so you can’t afford to play against the master’s game plan, you cannot afford to not fulfill the reason why the coach put you in play because sooner than later the end of the game will come upon you even though the game has not yet ended.

So PLAY ON!

No matter how bad you’ve played so far if you turn a new leaf you still have a chance at victory. Unlike every other game, the winner can only defined after the final whistle and though it is a team play the victory is individual and when the final whistle is blown you would forever be bound to what the scoreboard says.

– Ezeonyeka Godswill