The heart of man

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Jeremiah 17:9

My cousins begged me to subscribe to the Startimes so they could watch movies since they last subscribed in December. One of my Aunts who is a lecturer in the University of Benin has been the one doing the subscription every month for them to have something to keep them busy with and not feel bored. Grandma often watches movies too whenever she sits in the parlor. I only subscribed once last year when I came home before December.

So when I arrived, they had been begging me to allow them to watch movies but I declined because I didn't want my Aunt to blame me. She has her reasons for not subscribing since December and I don't want to regret doing that for them. Even if I want to subscribe, I must talk to my big sis so she would cover up for me for doing that. Besides, my younger sister will be writing her Jamb next month and I don't want to be the cause of her not focusing because this girl can forget herself while watching movies, so I think it was one of the reasons Aunt did not subscribe. 

I was always watching movies on Netflix and I wasn't bothered. After two weeks of my arrival, I heard Mama made mention of her not watching her favorite channel since they didn't subscribe. At that moment, I wanted to satisfy her since she said so, but I didn't want her to know I did the subscription. I chatted my sister up and she told me to do the subscription while she would pay me back later. Now, I am saved. I called one of my cousins to call her boss so we could tell him to subscribe and he did instantly and I paid the money. 

One thing I am always pissed off about Startimes, Gotv and Dstv is that they keep repeating the same movies they have always shown and it makes it look as if we wasted money to subscribe for a month. I prefer downloading new movies from Netflix or any other site rather than wasting my money subscribing to something that will keep bringing old movies. 

Mama sat while watching her favorite channel while I focused on my work online. I would have gone inside my room because I am always distracted by noise. I wasn't interested in watching the old movies, but because of grandma, I sat down with her. Also, I didn't allow my siblings to change the channel since they know mama will not say anything but sitting down with her didn't allow them to do what they wished but what grandma wanted. 

The noise from the TV was playing on me as I kept reading a line of an article many times and that made me sad but I sat there defending mama against my troublesome siblings in the house. They even invited their friends and they begged me to change the channel as they wanted to watch football. I reminded them that we did not subscribe because of them but for mama. If she goes to her room, they may decide which channel to watch as I am not even interested in what they are watching. 

Mama was already sleeping while watching and I decided to change the channel and they tuned in to a channel about animals. It was an animal documentary and hearing the sound of the animals, mama woke up and was interested in watching different kinds of animals. 

You know I told you grandma has presbycusis? A hearing disorder that affects old age. It was another work translating everything they say in the movie to her since she couldn't hear clearly. Looking at the pictures alone isn't fun to her and she was being carried along through interpretation of what was going on. 

I left what I was doing when I saw a big python swallowing up a big rabbit. Mama was shocked and asked what kind of snake was that. I told her it´s python. The python's body was smooth and shiny but it is a poisonous crawling animal. 

While watching that, I got an idea of how human beings are. They may look alluring and attractive outwardly just like the snake, but their mind is full of deceit and are wicked and dangerous. These are people who pretend to be good outside but are full of dangerous acts and devices which they used to destroy others lives. 

Just like we avoid the python even though its body is attractive and tempting, we should be careful with people who come to us acting good but they are planning every method to get at us. We should know who we should trust and never think every human being is the same. As we have the good ones, we have the bad ones. Their beauties may deceive us, but they are ugly within. They are sent to destroy us and if we allow them, they will eat us alive like the big python. Do not be deceived by their looks but be careful because even the Bible says “the heart of man is wicked”.

Thanks for reading

Image by David on unsplash

[April 26, 2022] (No 116 article for the year)