The greatest wonder
Some of the pupils would mention computer as the most wonderful thing in the world because it performs great brain-tasking and dexterous jobs in a blink-of-the-eye moment. Others would mention the internet because it’s a technology that has turned the world in to a global village. Other things to be mentioned by the pupils as […]
Some of the pupils would mention computer as the most wonderful thing in the world because it performs great brain-tasking and dexterous jobs in a blink-of-the-eye moment. Others would mention the internet because it’s a technology that has turned the world in to a global village. Other things to be mentioned by the pupils as the most wonderful include the Global Satellite of Mobile (GSM) communication because not only is it wireless but it also permeates solid matters and all forms of material borders; the aircraft because of the mysteries in the art of flying in addition to the cargo it carries in the air; the space shuttle which takes man at a supersonic speed out of this planet to others where life is non-existent and yet brings him back to destination; electricity which revolutionalized indigenous technology and has today become an indispensable source of comfort and mutual interaction with modern society; the ship sailing in the sea with tones of freight; the train which is never over-loaded; and the ocean which borders are unknown. Unfortunately, none of these wonders is the most wonderful thing in the world.
If the class of thirty-five pupils were Nigerians, there is tendency for some of them to mention ‘Nigeria’ as the most wonderful thing in the world because the pupils might have seen or heard of many incredible things that they may not have heard about or seen in other parts of the world. Some pupils might even decide to be more specific about those things that make Nigeria the most wonderful thing on earth. Some of the things they are likely to mention in this wise include the Zuma rock at the border of Niger State with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) because it has a human face naturally engraved in it. They may even domesticate it further in order to mention social phenomena such as the 2007 general elections about which Nigerian voters and election observers were wrong except Justice Kutigi and three other judges of the Supreme Court.
It is wonderful in Nigeria to find the portrait of a governor or a local government chairman inscribed on a project executed with public funds as if such were accomplished with the personal funds of the public officer. Is it not a great wonder that a minister would take funds appropriated for education and health in the budget and use same to build roads that lead in to and out of Abuja city? Indeed, it is breathtaking that the same minister in another instance would close schools in order to provide accommodation for participants at the just concluded Abuja Carnival. Of course, the man (who migrated from Katsina to Nupe land) to marry 86 wives is one of the recent wonders in Nigeria. The pupils, if they had ample time might mention that nearly everything (including money, certificate, etc) is faked in Nigeria, which goes for a wonder. Only human beings are spared from the peril of forgery in this country. These may be wonders but none is actually the greatest.
Neither the Great pyramid of Giza which is the only wonder of the ancient world that is still in existence nor is any of the six other wonders of antiquity the greatest wonder on earth. Not even the Great Wall of China or any other wonder of the medieval world can be a plausible answer to the question about the most wonderful thing on earth. Correspondingly, none of the seven wonders of the modern world including the Empire State Building in New York (built between 1931 and 1967), and the Golden Gate Bridge (built between 1933 and 1937) qualifies to be described as the greatest wonder. Even when your search takes you to natural wonders, Mount Everest and Victoria Falls both fall short of what makes the greatest wonder. Your mention of amazing things in the industrial world does not put the Brooklyn Bridge or the London Sewerage system close to what can philosophically be termed the greatest wonder.
What, then, is the greatest wonder? It is something nearer to you than all that has been mentioned; something you meet, live with and care for everyday. It is you, yourself! The muscles with which you move, the bones that keep them in place, the blood which brings them in to energy, and the network of communication in the central nervous system makes ‘man’ the greatest wonder on earth. There are many wonderful things but nothing is more wonderful than man, an animal created by Allah (SWT) from clay. May Allah (SWT) keep us on the path of those who do not behold other than man as the greatest wonder on earth, amin.