There is a story told of three
old men. None of them was far from the grave. Though not all lay on their death
bed, they all knew that the journey would soon end. As is the custom of young
reporters who want to write a good story. This reporter went to see the three.
The first, though strong and full
of years, said naught but lost thought. “If only there was a way I could turn
back those years and live it all again. I would avoid all the vain of youth
that in my latter years has cost me so much pain. It would not be so bad, but for
the fact that others, from me, have nothing to gain is too much to bear and just
multiplies the pain.
The second leaned back and stared
into space. On his face he mused about how it would have been if he had taken
his chances, put in a little more effort and a lot less sloth. He mused that
others really did not know him or what he could do. He listed the grades he
should have got in school, but it really did not matter because there was
nothing he could do about it now. His only regret is that he did not get to
know that person he thought he was. He did not know himself.
The third was sad, but not
unhappy. He had done what he could and wished he could have done more. He took
every chance and failed so many times that his mind was sore at the failings
galore. But when asked what he would have done differently, he said, “I really
don’t know. I think I got out of life all it had for me and if I thought there
was more I would have taken it. I never gave up on my dreams. When I sleep I still dream. I really have no
need to go over that way again.”
The reporter gathered up his
story and made his way back to the paper. On his way he met a fourth old man
with an old dingy camera. The old man said “I am a reporter and I write stories
for the paper”. “But why are you still
doing this” asked the young man. “Well”
said the old man, “ I never really gathered the courage to do what I really
wanted, so I got stuck with a camera”. The young reporter never filed his
story. In fact he never returned to the paper.
The editor found another reporter to cover the story, but the fourth old
man was never found.
Allan Bukusi, December 2016
