We all need somebody

A young man once lived in a town where everyone knew him. He’s handsome, rich, educated and intelligent. He had everything he wanted, no matter the situation. Everyone adored him; men envied his success, wealth and the authority it gave him, and ladies were attracted to his “drop-dead” gorgeous body, his properties and style. He could get any woman at just a beckon yet he chose to remain single. His decision was not because there was no beautiful, educated or well-mannered young lady in the town but because he believed he was self-sufficient, an island that needed no one.

This young man saw a wife as an extra burden, a luggage that would definitely slow him down and a venture with no significant importance. He was of the opinion that a wife would only come into his life to make demands and share his properties with him. He wanted to live in his own world, where only his ideas would be considered and the only people welcomed are those that would serve him. He had no friends, no one he confided in, he welcomed no family and he listened to no one. People around him were either people working for him or people serving him. “An Island needs no one!”, he kept telling himself and truly he was doing fine, with little or nothing to worry about.

Life was good to him, he made so much money and kept all for himself. He kept expanding his coast and everything went according to his plans until one day he fell sick. This sickness was like none he had experienced before, the pains were excruciating and weakening. He visited the best doctors in the town, most had no answer while few that had ideas gave him prescriptions but the medications did not work. His condition worsened and he became very worried. His businesses began to suffer, he couldn’t trust anyone to manage them, he became sad and confused but there was no one he could share his problems with.

Orthodox medicine had failed him, he needed something different and very fast, then he remembered a friend of his late father who cured sicknesses with herbs. He visited him and explained everything to him. The old man listened carefully as he talked. In the end, the old man told him that his sickness had a cure. If the sickness is attended to promptly, he would be well in three days otherwise he would die in the same number of days. He heaved a sigh of relief, he had money enough to buy a whole field of herbs and enough assets to pay off the old man. He told himself, “what money cannot do, can never be done”.

The old man listed the things he would need to prepare the concoction and amongst them was a particular leaf that could only be found by the riverbank. However, this leaf only works when it is plucked by someone that the ailing person loves most. At this point, the young man knew he was going to die; he knew the leaf, it’s location, the usefulness of it in his present condition but there was no one he truly cared about. He loved no one but himself. He finally realised “no man is an island, everyone needs someone” but then it was a lesson that came too late for him. With no other remedy, the young man died three days after in the house of the old man, away from his own home and all the wealth he had gathered.

Islands were created to exist in nature alone, not for humans to become. No matter how good, intelligent, educated, rich, handsome or beautiful a man or woman is, it does not replace one’s relationship with others. There is an extent to which money or any other asset can go but human connection is limitless. Either with people of one’s status or below, there is always benefits from interacting with others; sharing ideas, time, problems, success, failures, knowledge and advice. We can’t put price tag on companionship, it might be easy to take for granted but life is never complete without someone to share it with. Happiness might be from within but we need people around to make it worthwhile.

By Ayodeji Oluwatosin