I have seen it over and over again, that sometimes I begin to ask if it were just human nature or the way our environment has nurtured us. I see siblings fighting and quarreling everyday, but when they grow up and are all scattered all over the world, they begin to yearn for one another and for the opportunity to spend some time together. I have seen people regret not picking that call or not calling back when they had the time. This happens when they later hear that the caller just passed away. A certain friend told me how he felt bad for not communicating more with a distant friend that recently died in an auto accident. The friend had sent him a Facebook request, eager to reconnect with him after many years. He had delayed before reluctantly accepting it. He rarely replied her chats, and when he does, remained cold even when there was no reason to be so. Now, she is dead cold, and all he could do were to roll down tears and murmur his regrets. He wants to call her now. He wants to send her texts. The phone might ring but the voice is no longer there. The texts might go through, but there will be no replies from the other side.

Flowers, popular in the West is a sign of love. I am fascinated about the flowers, especially when they come in a mixed bouquet: the bright colours, the smooth texture, the happy smile that come from the scented ones. They make you close your eyes, activate your nasal power, and cause you to breath-in beautifully. I can meditate well in a garden. And what is more, I am thrilled by how the petals hang together! If flowers express love, togetherness and appreciation of one another, then it doesn’t matter whether you are in the East or West, North or South, just give love, appreciate one another and find ways of keeping in touch. In a place like Nigeria, lavish parties are thrown when people are dead. But I ask, why not show them love more when they are still alive? Even if you think such lavish parties are signs of love, then I think it would be better that we invite friends and throw lavish parties for loved ones when they are still alive and save the drums when they can no longer hear the sounds nor be able to dance to the rhythms.

Show gratitude for the gift of one another. There should be little or zero room for regrets if we truly appreciate and love one another.

And you know what? Once flowers dry up, they look ugly. They become brittle, the petals fall off, the scents fade. It can hardly be saved. And no one wants a dead flower.