The play was the talk of town as everyone was hopeful of the great performance considering the actor was a trendsetter and had made a name for himself far and wide.
When we got into the auditorium, it was already filled to capacity. Like many who had come earlier, I was equally expectant.
Who doesn’t want to be entertained considering the calibre of the actor who was soon to appear on stage?
When people have paid their hard-earned cash, they desire the best treat. Indeed we were destined for the performance of a lifetime.
As we drew closer to the moment for the raising of curtains, the audience became ecstatic as all wanted to have a closer look at the actor who had sent shockwaves across the globe and who had come all the way from another continent.
The talk was all about the main man. I felt proud of having managed to attend. After all, I had a lot to learn from other great personalities so that I could have one or two tricks to place in my bag for future purposes.
Right on the dot as we expected the curtains to go up, a loud voice reverberated through the auditorium, “Sorry ladies and gentlemen, the main act will be delayed by about ten minutes.
In the interim, please just listen to the music that we are playing. We just want to promise that you are destined for a great treat. We won’t disappoint you.”
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
I was happy that at least the organisers were communicating. After all, hitches do happen when such big functions are organised. Ten minutes wasn’t long, after all. At least I learnt that it’s always crucial to communicate with your clients.
The ten minutes went by and nothing came up. This time around, no one appeared to explain what was happening.
The music was still playing, but it was no longer as interesting as before. People started murmuring and complaining.
Someone shouted from the back: “These guys are cheats, I knew that there was no way the actor was going to come here.”
“They must give us a refund,” others responded from within the audience. Yet another said: “It will take years before Africa gets organised.”
It was all commotion at the end of the day. Comments came all over, with some shouting whilst others started walking away. Amazingly, it appeared the organisers had vanished from the scene.
I started thinking that this was very unfair to the audience. This actor and the organisers had cheated on us.
How could such a great person cheat people who had paid the kind of large sums of money that we had parted with?
As I sat right there, I started thinking that there were many people who are expected to execute things in certain ways but somehow they are nowhere to be found.
The instant they are supposed to appear in the arena and perform, they just vanish. These are the people who are busy stealing and defrauding the human race of what they are supposed to offload to it. As I reflected, still nothing happened, no one appeared on stage. I thought possibly I was not supposed to be a mere spectator and do something.
It was at this point that I noted that I was never created to just sit and marvel whilst others were acting. There was a great actor inside me.
Right there I resolved never to defraud the human race by failing to execute in the manner that was expected of me.
Somehow, a thought struck my mind that everyone has something of value to offer to the world, but there is a tendency to misuse what we have because of our ability to bring together masses of people to watch us whilst on stage.
Again, I determined and committed myself to do something that was worthwhile before breathing my last. Never was I going to take my audience for granted no matter how young, old, rich, poor, informed or ignorant they were.
The only way the actor was going to leave a legacy of greatness was through doing those things that he had been called upon to do. I tried to imagine what exactly was happening behind the scenes.
Whatever the circumstances were, I concluded that there was no justifiable reason whatsoever that was tolerable considering that it had taken close to a year to organise this event which was to last three hours.
Already we had eaten into two of the hours and I was speculating as to what was going to happen afterwards.
If the time of all the people who were present was computed into dollars, it was going to run into millions.
Someone had indeed cheated on humanity. My mind even took me to a point where I was thinking what our world was going to be like if Thomas Edison hadn’t appeared on the invention stage and come up with the light bulb or if Mother Theresa hadn’t performed her exploits in serving humanity.
What of the contributions of Jairos Jiri, Herbert Chitepo, Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, St Francis of Assisi and many more too numerous to mention. Indeed it was going to be a cost to civilisation.
I woke up with a start; my heart was beating fast only to realise that I had been dreaming. I checked my watch and realised that I had missed a crucial appointment by three hours.
I was supposed to be the main actor at a function that had taken a year to prepare. I was indeed the culprit for cheating on humanity by failing to appear when I was needed most.
Whilst the audience was complaining because of an empty stage, the main actor was busy dreaming of the very same stage and murmuring as part of the audience. What an error!
Are you not busy dreaming while the life stage is empty and everyone is waiting for the main actor who is nowhere to be found?
The unfortunate thing is that you are the main actor who is being waited for.
If I were you, I would rise from my slumber and resolve never to cheat on the human race by failing to offer to it what I was send to earth to offload.
Noah Mangwarara is a motivational speaker and leadership expert
