A picture of a Lion King with his ribs all showing was a very sad spectacle.

This was a Lion who held sway over all he surveyed in that particular park and his power was unmatched but as the saying goes, everything that has a beginning has an end, now was approaching the end of his life, and there he was walking slowly to rest in the shade of a nearby tree to await his inevitable end.

This true story I read was told by a photographer and according to him as he stood at about five feet away from this once feared King of the jungle, he saw him breathing and with a sudden twitch of its ear, became lifeless.

This set me thinking about life in general and how it be­gins and ends. Life’s journey can be an interesting one full of twists and turns.

Some people in fact most people, seem to think that death is something very far from them. It is not some­thing that people really factor into their plans and that is why the passing of close rela­tions becomes so emotionally unbearable.

Like the Lion King, the re­ality of life will catch up with us one day, whether we are prepared for it or not.

When people are conscious of this fact that we shall one day leave this world and that as we grow, our strength will gradually diminish and we may need some assistance to go through life on a daily basis, our attitude to life will change and negative attitudes like selfishness, greed, back­biting, betrayal etc. will be done away with.

Human beings are one of the most vulnerable species on earth. A few years ago, our world was turned upside down by a pandemic called Covid-19. The devastation it brought in its wake is some­thing every person would like to quickly forget, even for those who were not affected by it.

It disrupted our normal way of life, not to mention the fear it brought on the whole world. Medical practi­tioners were at some point at a loss as to how to deal with it.

Suddenly, people all over the world realised that the most important thing in the world was not money but good health. Suddenly, there was cooperation between nations like US and China with the heated rivalry in military and economic spheres completely relegated to the background.

It ought to have taught us a lesson that caring for one another, unity of purpose, being each other’s keeper was much more important than anything else. However, as soon as we somehow found an antidote to it, our vile human nature took over and the world returned to the status quo.

We all find ourselves in a world of competition and hu­man nature being what it is, has made self- centeredness much more profound. People are now looking out for their own interest instead of the interest of the collective.

Siblings are becoming en­emies of each other and it is shocking the lengths they are willing to go to destroy their own close relations all in the pursuit of success which will be left behind, the moment we give up the ghost.

We have to leave a good name and therefore a good legacy because that is what can benefit our world and our descendants. Vehicles will be replaced by new models, buildings will become out­moded as time passes, and our strength will wane just like that of the Lion King.

The only thing that we can carry out of this world with us is the good legacy and there­fore the good name we es­tablished during our lifetime. May God help us to realise this before it is too late.

By Laud Kissi-Mensah