THE "JANUS" FACE OF LIFE by Ocheh Emmanuel

Life in entirety to some people has remained a puzzle that needs to be cracked, a challenge to be met, a conquest to be won, a seemingly battle field to be fought, a gift to be accepted, an opportunity to be tapped, a journey to be completed.
The most interesting thing about life is that life in general can be portrayed as a “Janus”, contextually can be viewed as having a dual (two) face which in most times its very hard for an individual to escape passing through one of the face or the both faces, while some people have gotten themselves usurped in the absurdities of one face, others have ensured a sit tight in another face.
Now, in thought and action one can separate life into these two faces which are: the discouraging (dark), or unpleasant and the encouraging, pleasant or good faces; and certainly there are two classes of people on these two faces of life, there is a class trailing on the unpleasant side of life with the expectation that it will be well someday. Others in the same class see life as an unfortunate phenomena characterized with horrific events, and in most cases gives up on themselves, gives up on the possibility of a bright future, possibility to attain a good and comfortable life, while on the other hand we have the class of people on the good side of life, who see and enjoy the bright side of life
It is good to note that the people who have contributed more to societal growth and development are the very people who appreciated the both faces of life.
Taking a close look at life most especially the unpleasant face of life, one would tend to wonder if “passing through the unpleasant or difficult part of life is actually a blessing or a curse”? In an attempt to proffer solution to this great mystic and at the same time a problem, an empirical analysis of the phenomenon will do, through a look at the antecedence and aftermath.
Life in the dark side is always characterized with one or more of these: difficulties, anxiety, sorrow, weeping, depression, challenges, frustration, disappointment , misfortunate, uncertainty, insecurity, fear of the unknown, hardships, lack etc. all these are sometimes occasioned by natural disasters, inevitable phenomenon, unseen forces or powers, laziness, ignorance, neglects, complacency, lack of prudence, lack of planning or goals, shallow mind etc.
Life indeed is a journey, there are times one face might be rough (i.e unpleasant) and equally at other times the other face might be smooth.
The attainment of a favourable outcome in each face boils down to how one was or is able to harness, explore and use a particular face as it is a determined and certain phenomenon in the life of any individual.
It is often said that there is no glory without a story, no testimony without a test, the scholars often say that those who are rich were at one point of their life poor or tasted poverty, lack and difficulty. Great men who are on the good face of life have also passed through the unpleasant side of life.
Winston Churchill opines that “ without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty the drama of life will be destroyed” also Plato supports with the saying “ that life must be lived as play”  and Socrates purports “ that an unexamined life is not worth living”.
The aforementioned suggests that life can be viewed as a “ Janus” having two faces. Often at times one face prepares an individual for another face. A popular preacher once said if you have not tasted poverty you might not really know how to manage wealth, if you have not been hated before you might not know how to appreciate love or give love, if you have never been in lack you might not know how to manage abundance.
In our contemporary society, most people find it difficult to successfully transcend the unpleasant face of life because they gives too much credence to the past and the present with little or no optimism for the future. Rick Warren in his work “ Purpose driven life” opines that ‘though we are product of our past we should not be prisoners to our past’ we have got to let go of the past so we won`t hamper the joy of the future and the good side of life.
Challenges often comes to make us stronger and prepare us for the other face of life, so that we might enjoy the other face of life, giving up in the unpleasant face of life is the giving up God`s purpose for life thereby missing the joy, the happiness, the testimony, the glory, the fulfillment, accomplishment, reality, upliftment that lies on the other face etc.
A man starting small in life does not mean he will end up small, you struggled with attaining success in academic, business, relationship, family life, parenting, career pursuit does not mean you will end a failure; you lost your source of livelihood, your parent or parents, your guardian, mentor, benefactor and you are struggling in life, it does not mean you will end up in hardship; you suffering as a single parent to bring up your children does not mean it`s the end of the tunnel; you struggling for years looking for job does not mean you will end up unemployed; you are struggling to get a desired grade, success, to be a better student does not mean you will not make it in the society; that you faced neglect, dejection, rejection does not mean you will end up in the gutter.
Life, they say are in stages and phases. A dullard and drop out yesterday is a multi-billionaire today, a man rejected yesterday is celebrated today, the unemployed yesterday is the biggest employer of labour today, a pitiful tenant yesterday is a big landlord today , a man who lacked finance to finish or get the best in educational pursuit yesterday is the owner of an academic institution today, the man who lacked sandals to go to school yesterday, buys countless shoes in tenths of thousands today, a woman who couldn’t treat her parent of cancer yesterday has  various NGOs that gives free cancer treatment to people today, the man who drove a motor cycle with a community alerting sound yesterday is counting his cars (rides) today, the woman who had no child of her own drawing attention yesterday is counting her children today, the minister who started with a congregation of 10-15 members in a thatch roof  yesterday, ministers to hundreds of people in a cathedral today and so many in exhaustive list. Life is in cycle.
Conclusively is good to learn how to appreciate each face of life and be thankful to God. Let me end this piece with the ideas of some great men.
The expectations of life depends upon diligence; the whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one`s destiny to do and then do it; the happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts; dwell on the beauty of life, watch the stars and see yourself running with them; who is not courageous enough to take risk will accomplish nothing in life; I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter; as a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death; the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Thanks for making out time to read this piece as it is helpful to both you and that person beside you already contemplating giving up. Join me as we change the society for the better and make it worth living. Special acknowledgement to Ocheh Joy and Ocheh Michael for editing this piece. Thank you all.
Contacts: emmanuelocheh@gmail.com, 08064168207, 07059295047, www.newageintiative.blogspot.com, http://community.elders.org/ocheh-emmanuel.