I Am Because You Are(Essay by Ebubechukwu Henry-Dike)

I AM BECAUSE YOU ARE

I have looked at the  topic above severally and could not but wonder: “Who are ‘YOU’?” Does ‘YOU’ refer to any or all of the very important persons in my life parents, siblings, teachers at school, neighbours, friends at school and church? It amazes me that it is difficult coming to a conclusion that deep within, my conscience does not query me about.

Following this reflection, it is dawning on me that I am incomplete without everyone of the persons mentioned above. But it is still not enough, for my heart tells me that there is more to this ‘YOU’. What about that driver that is always very careful when driving me to school? What about the ‘Baba’ that mans the gate, who always listens so keenly for my dad’s car horn? Then I think about the gardeners, cleaners, the kitchen staff and others who are not even my friends at school. Will life for me be what it is now, happy, without them? Certainly, they form a part of the ‘YOU’.

Probing further, I discovered that I have a direct or indirect relationship with everyone I come in contact with or set my eyes on. One way or another they contribute to the person in me. Not left out are the farmers, without whom I am dead; the medical practitioners, without whom there is no hope when sick; the scientists, without whom there would not be the kind of life other children and I are enjoying today; the philosophers and writers, without whom knowledge would still be narrow and at the level of mediocrity. I have come to the realisation that indeed, everyone in their own unique ways, matters.

Now, I imagine that the soil matters to the farmer just as the luscious grasses matter to the cattle; the forest matters to wildlife, just as it matters to the industries, there is need for good water supply just as the air matters for humanity’s continuous existence.

I therefore speak to you Mother Earth and all that nature has put within you which was ‘good’: the waters, the great lights, vegetation, sea and land creatures, the air and mankind in its variant races and colours, I AM Because YOU ARE.

I certify that this essay is solely written by me, Ebubechukwu Henry-Dike, and no one else has any claim to the copyright.