Vanity of Life: an Illustration of the Female’s Pair of Breasts by Kolawole Mathew Ogundipe

 

Vanity of Life: an Illustration of the Female’s Pair of Breasts

One thing human beings do not note, and ponder, is the abortiveness of their keen strives in life. The strives that do not help their spirit beings, as they keep on wanting more and more until they find themselves in the hands of death, the pit of all satisfactions. This is because a human’s inordinate desire for wealth makes them become an impatient, which will later lead them to having unhappiness, regret and destruction. This is why a Yoruba proverb says that, “If the Bàtá Drum is exceedingly producing a harsh sound, it is about to tear or it is ready to tear”.  Also, the book of ‘Ecclesiastes 5:7’ says, “For in a multitude of dreams there is futility and worthlessness….” In short, if one has happiness or glory in one’s effort, or insatiable desire for worldly possessions, it leads to failure; after that, sadness  ̶  sadness on its own leads one to engaging oneself in deep thoughts, and finally, death comes to perfect all other things miserable to man in the course of their strives. 

A good or clear way of describing human’s happiness in their effort, passionate desire for wealth and the failures that resulted from all these, is the use of the females’ breasts. As it is always said that “there is a sense in nonsense”; just a matter of removing the bound morpheme ‘non’ in the word ‘nonsense’ to be pleasant and meaningful to one’s hearing and reasoning. My father, though an absolute illiterate who could not use the bottom of a bottle to draw or write zero on the floor, did say when he was alive that, “Gìláàsì oyàn awo ni”. This Yoruba utterance can be interpreted (based on what he meant by it) to, “the final stage of the females’ pair of breasts is leather/collapse”. He kept reiterating this utterance to express his own view on human’s efforts and struggles to become great in life, and the following fruitless outcomes.

Only a person who has observed the reaction of a young girl to her developed breasts will understand this illustration. This made me remember my primary school days. I did observe the way the young girls treated their breasts ̶  they did rob their breasts with cream, looking at the glitter of the breasts in the mirror. They were always so excited to the appearance of these parts of their body. But what amazed me was that they were not always happy as they were during their youthful days; after they have married and birthed many children, and these things dropped or collapsed. They made their breasts showy to boys and men when they were young. In fact, most of them saw their pair of breasts then as a means of generating money. But after marriage and bearing of many children, they did cover or hide their breasts so that they did not come to the direct sight of men because they were shy at the present state of the breasts. A popular Nigerian theatre practitioner, Olaniyi Afonja (Sanyeri) hilariously identified three stages of the female’s breasts, these are: ‘Mo wà ñbè’ (I am there), ‘óti rè mí’ (I am tired) and ‘ó di ayé àtúnwá’ (until the next world). ‘Mo wà ñbè’ stage is when the breasts are still intact, shinning and stand well, that is, when the owner of the breasts is still young and has not married or born children. ‘Óti rè mí’stage is the stage when the owner has married and given birth to one or two children. Finally, ‘ó di ayé àtúnwá’ stage is the stage when the person that possessed the breasts has birthed many children and almost becomes aged. All the explanations above exemplify the struggle of humans to be great in life and the regret of not achieving this. This illustration could be given a philosophical name called ‘The Breast Theory’, as it is used to explain the human’s struggle to be rich, and vanity of life. 

Furthermore, all the efforts of human beings to be great are vain; it is either they don’t realise their dreams at all, or they realised the dreams of becoming great and death does not allow them to enjoy the wealth. The book of “Ecclesiastes 1:2-9&13-15; 2:1-2; 5:7, 10, 12 &13” portray human’s happiness in their efforts rather than in God, their over-ambitions for things of life and the fruitlessness that follow. In Peter Lenrie’s “The Panic of Growing Older”, ‘stilled by hope of gigantic success, time and exploration’ (in lines 6-8) depict human’s struggle and hope to be successful in life, while ‘a sudden throb of pain. Laboratory tests, having nothing to show’ (in lines 10-12) express human’s failure in their endeavours to be great. This is God’s supremacy over all humans. God knows that if they accomplish all their selfish desires, they would have no reference for Him again. In Geoge Herbert’s “The Pulley” that explains God’s various blessings made for man and His decision to withhold the core blessing, that is, ‘rest’ (of which contains strength, health and peace of mind) so that human beings will always come to Him for it. The poet cites,

“For if I should”, said he,

Bestow this jewel also on my creature,

He would adore my gifts instead

 of me,

And rest in Nature, not the God of

Nature; (Stanza three, lines1-7)”.

So, the above citation conveys God’s reason for not giving the said core blessing to man. The word ‘jewel’ in the citation implies ‘rest’. 

On a final note, there should be modesty in all our endeavours in life. We should have contentment in the little we have, the blessings that God gave to us, and not always act in a precipitancy. All the activities in this world contribute nothing to our life (Ecclesiastes 1:14-15). We can find joy, happiness and all that we want in the Almighty God alone; provided we do things in awe of Him (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26). But if we base our happiness, peace and joy in our efforts only, vanity is the outcome (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2). Surprisingly, all that we strived to achieve in life will be left for someone else: there was nothing we brought into the world and nothing will be taken away from it (Ecclesiastes 2:17-18).

About The Author

Kolawole Mathew Ogundipe, a holder of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) in English (Double Major) from the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria and B.A. (Ed.) in English language from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, was born in Oja-odan, Yewa North, Ogun State; but resides in Owode Egba, Ogun State. He has fervour for probing different aspects of his area of academic discipline. He also cherishes to be observant of common happenings of life, aiming at penning them for reading. He has published articles in journals. Also, some of his poems have been published in an anthology (the Mississippi Books) and Lipi Magazine. Email: kolawolemathew53@gmail.com