PLAN Z

Men are obsessed with plans. In our human minds,  we fantasize,  lay out and visualize the perfect outcome of our ventures. We draw out the best and worst possible scenarios and swear upon our grandfather’s graves that A to Z is the best we can ever have.  The truth is, nothing ever comes out according to the perfect plan, at least not to the letter. After all,  the first men did not know that meat tasted better with salt. I have a feeling that in the beginning,  men thought bananas must ripen before consumption.  Now we just harvest them green,  heat them up and speed up the process.  Dots can only be connected backwards. 

What we don’t realize is that we are scared, extremely terrified that when push comes to shove,  we shall in despair,  blame ourselves for having done nothing or failing to do something about it in the least. In the end however,  we always go along with plan Z.  That, which always inevitably happens, that we had not foreseen.  The first girl that your teacher forced you to seat with who later became the puppy love of your dreams.  That stranger on the bus that ended up being the mother of your son. The time you forgot your cap at the café and met your current boss on the way back.  In the end,  we always sit back and relax,  think to ourselves that after all things have not been ‘that bad’.

The king Odysseus, a proud suitor to the most beautiful Helen. You bet he had everything in plan.  Win fair Helen’s heart,  have a hoard of sons and live out the rest of his loyal life basking in Glory.  Helen of course chose Menelaus.  King Odysseus settled for Penelope and look how they ended up.  Who would have thought? Helen ended up a whoring disgrace,  seduced by a boy playing a harp.  Penelope to this day still represents fidelity,  having held on for decades. If the sands of time were to flow,  any man who would choose Helen over Penelope would be the essence of dimwittedness.

Looking back at my life,  I realize the need for auto pilot. Sometimes we need not worry about the next step,  may be sometimes,  we need to just close our eyes,  rest,  Laugh easy and let nature take its course.

After highschool,  it was evident that I needed a miracle.  I needed astate sponsorship for me to proceed to university ,  short of which I had to ‘sit and dig’ like the phrase goes.  My perfect plan and it’s back up visualized me doing a bachelor of Laws,  the most prestigious of social arts courses. Most of us, having failed to live up to our parents science dream,  always fancied Law as the next best thing.  I failed the preentry exam or at least, the 66% that I scored could not let me onto the state sponsorship.  I settled for a bachelor of International business and the cogs turned.  Look where it got me. To the shores of the Baltic!  I got to live through the ice cold northern European nights and like I always muse, had I excelled in that exam,  I would not be here.

We can only get as far manipulating the future. Something’s are better left to God,  fate or even science,  whatever one chooses to guide them. There is always a plan Z that we can’t foresee and just like I always say,  what happened is always the best that did, after all nothing better did.