He thought about heaven. There was no doubt that he, like everybody else, wanted to get there. At that moment, he could only think about it. For some people, heaven is the place where only those who live according to the wishes of the Creator end up. This kind of people tries to live from day to day, deriving hope from the assurances they receive from their Creator through their faith. The level of their digression notwithstanding, they – as such need may arise - fall at the feet of their Creator and plead for the restoration of the cherished relationship between Him and them.
To them, whatever is conceived out of the controversies that result from the ageless conflict between science and religion matters little. Where the scientist seeks concrete evidence about the existence of heaven, the believer seeks from the Creator an understanding of the mystery of heaven. As Beni thought about these things, he refused to engage in the speculation of finding out who was right between the believer and the scientist. After all, it was not the politics of religion that was the chief issue which had inspired this meditation about heaven in his mind.
For others yet, heaven is but a heartbeat away. For these, heaven lies in the enchanting laughter of their loved ones. It springs from the invaluable words of gratitude flowing from the mouths of those they help; it is felt in the genuine handshakes of honest people; it lights up in the smiles of little children as they begin the journey of their lives; and most of all, it throbs in their blood and the breathing of fresh air which, indeed, is the appreciation of the qualities of their own personalities. These, Beni thought, are the same people for whom heaven lies in the gentleness of their mothers; the steady presence of their fathers; the concerned awareness of their brothers and the understanding embrace of their sisters. This second kind of heaven was closer to Beni than the first one.
It is the third sort of heaven that had sent his mind rocking on the turbulence of thought and drifting atop the silences of his meditation. It was the sublime world that was created to manifest itself in nature. In this, the hand of the presence of God was most evident. It is there in the flow of crystal-clear water on and around stones so patiently smoothened by the water itself. When you splash this water on yourself, you have always felt revitalized. It is this same water that has whetted the thirst in the young children tending goats and sheep in the grazing fields. This water has melted the heat in the feet of many a long distance travelers who have stopped by in their travels which have been occasioned by varying motivations.
This heaven has been lived by the dwellers of arid and semi-arid areas during the infrequent times they have felt the splatter of rare rain on their skins. At these uncommon times, such residents have not been in a hurry to shelter themselves from the rain. But even as they have savoured such moments, they have not stopped to ask themselves where the rain began beating them. This, Beni thought, was the tragedy resulting from the unfair interaction between human beings and the environment in which they lived. That the mutual sustenance between man and the environment could not be noticed by human beings was a source of a great heaviness in his heart. If anything, it was a fact that while the environment could do without human beings, it was inconceivable that anyone should imagine the existence of human beings without the environment.
As the human being descended on forests and wetlands with fury, Beni only wished people would notice soon enough that in the foreseeable future, only one thing was inevitable: If human beings went on with their abandon destruction, they would in eventual effect destroy themselves alongside the environment. And Beni shuddered to think of the innocence of the environment within this senselessly unnecessary war in which it had been thrust. He could only hope that the heaviness he felt in his heart would take residence within people.
When he had taken in enough of what he wanted to see, he refused to think about certain matters. He did not want to think about the builders and home owners in Maralal, and in Kisima, and in Poro, and in Wamba, and in Baragoi and in Lodokejek, and in Naiborkeju. He could not certainly waste a microsecond of his time to think about why they insisted that their fences be lined by wooden posts adjoined without any rumour of space. He rejected the nagging thought about the overnight loggers he had heard were literally eating up the Kirisia forest. Even the lorries he had met earlier that day fetching timber from Poro to Maralal did not form a fragment of something worthy of consideration in his mind.
Perhaps the only thing that was relevant at the moment was a simple question: how could a people who were facing the real rage of environmental degradation fail to notice how their survival depended on the survival of the environment? He dismissed this question from his mind when he realized the possibility that the sufferers themselves did not care.
He was standing on the edge of the Malasso Viewpoint, twenty kilometres West of Maralal town. He held upon the steel railing on the edge of the cliff, and as he felt the tantalizing coldness of the metal, he breathed in fresh air that buoyed his soul and held him aloft. Taking in this untouched and undefiled natural phenomenon, he thought, may have been the reason why Safaricom had shot one of their most inspiring adverts at this location. Perhaps the communications company had wanted to give people what it means to appreciate the slices of heaven given to us by nature.
He had a feeling; something close to what he had read about regarding the art of Yoga. He had viewed both with his eyes and his spirit. He had beheld a sight that made him have the true feeling of preserving his slice of heaven.
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