“The saying is true. One man sows, another man reaps. I have sent you to reap that which you did not labor for” — John 4: 37/38

When my parents decided to leave downtown Ilesha for a new development on the outskirts of town, a cousin living with us at the time whom I called ‘Uncle’ because of the huge age difference, decided not to come with us. But he did something so symbolic that it took years before I could grasp the full import of it. He planted a young avocado shoot in the new compound. He knew he was no longer going to live with us. Even if he did, he knew he would not be around to watch the shoot grow into a tree let alone eat of its fruit.

The gesture was probably his way of showing gratitude for the several layers of ‘nourishment’ he received from his uncle, my father, in the years he lived with us. Both my father and his nephew are long dead, but the avocado tree remains, providing shade and fruits to many who could not have known the history behind its existence. That, in the literal sense, is planting for others to reap. One of the early American Presidents made a reference to this altruistic, other-centered gesture in the classic play titled ‘Hamilton’ when he talked about planting a tree so that generations to come might enjoy its shade. Other-centeredness is an attitude we should all cultivate. Unfortunately, it is alien to many in governance in our country.

‘What you sow, you reap’ is the classic law of nature. Nobody seriously expecting yam at harvest time would plant cocoyam during the planting season. This is what nature teaches. It is what the law of Karma teaches. It is indeed what the cycle of life – what goes around, comes around – teaches. Its lesson is about consequences of actions. About hard-work. About character. The mute point however, is in timing. People expect instant recompense. Because in nature, sowing and reaping take place within a season. But in life, there is nothing to say that the benefits, or the punishments, for one’s actions, will be in a life-cycle.

In the law of Karma, which is the law of life, there are ‘carry-overs’ and the deeds of the father are often visited on the son. When people say a teacher’s reward is in heaven, they are invariably saying the reward for the lives a teacher has positively touched might not come in the teacher’s lifetime. But I know there are transferred gratifications because I am a beneficiary. My father was an educationist who spent his life in and around classrooms. At a point, he was in charge of staffing for rural schools which explained his being in Ilesha. He must have helped a lot of people during this time. For years, I met people who benefitted from his help and desired to show gratitude by helping me. It was reaping what my father had sowed long ago.

The main reason however, among other reasons, for this article – because it was the one which brought it all back – was an interview I watched on DSTV recently. It was on Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the first Premier of the Northern Region and perhaps the most influential northerner of his time. According to the interview, whenever this respected man sat in front of his house to receive visitors, people would bring him gifts and money. But those gifts never went inside the house with him.

He would in turn redistribute them to other poorer visitors and to the needy in the neighborhood. This didn’t sit well with his wives. They were unhappy to put it mildly. So they met and resolved to send his youngest wife to him for a change of attitude. Like the statesman he was, he called his all wives and asked for their needs. He met as much of those needs as he could. But his practice of giving gifts out continued. The man being interviewed on TV said he met the young wife 29 years after Alhaji Ahmadu Bello had died and she admitted that people were still bringing food and gifts to the house as gratitude for the generosity and open-handedness of her deceased husband. A case of reaping what her husband had long sowed.

There are many instances of people who had reaped what others, either individually and corporately, had sowed. People who are enjoying the shade of trees planted by others. And the fruits thereon. How many of these beneficiaries think it expedient to plant trees of even thicker foliage as places of refuge for those coming behind them? Or sow seeds that would germinate after they had gone? The answer is very few, unfortunately and the few are mainly in private, personal spaces. Many public officials who benefitted from the actions of their predecessors and are now in the position to plant trees for the comfort of the coming generation cannot see beyond themselves or their immediate families.

It is unthinkable for example, that free basic education can be so poorly executed in the old Western Region by people who would not have been in the high offices they occupy without it. Worse, most entrepreneurs encounter brick walls when they have to deal with these public officials. Yet, every entrepreneur that succeeds in a society like ours is like a tree that is planted as shade because successful entrepreneurs create jobs as well as opportunities for others. Every child that is taken off the street and educated, is a tree that is planted for the future. If we don’t cultivate our land, then we should not be surprised if the land becomes arid and our grandchildren neither find shelter nor nourishment there.

Besides, we should be intentional about sowing good seeds because the rewards are inescapable. If not literally, then figuratively. If not directly, then indirectly through our offspring. There is an African proverb which says that the hand that gives is always on top. Another, more pertinent one, says that the hand that gives always finds another hand open. Saint Francis of Assisi says it is in giving that we receive.

Unfortunately, many of today’s politicians don’t heed these sayings. They are of a different hew from Alhaji Ahmadu Bello whose memory has turned out to be a blessing to those he left behind. Many, by their actions in public offices, have in fact, cursed their names and by extension, the future of their children. They also will reap what they have sowed. Their children – and grandchildren – will join in the reaping. Harvest always comes, revealing what has been openly or even surreptitiously planted. It is in line with the law of nature and it is not time-bound. (Saturday Vanguard)

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