BEWARE, EMOTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE IS PRICELESS.

There is a time I did not speak to my desk-mate for over a month when I was in form three. The reason was this, she had gone into my locker without my permission, taken my favorite novel and given it to someone who had misplaced it. The River and the Source by Margret Ogola is the last novel I will (even now) ever lend out. I am emotionally attached to that book; everything about it just feels important. What annoyed me even more was the fact that, my deskmate knew these.

 When it was clear that the book wasn't going to be found, I let go but I could not speak to my desk-mate for a while. But nature is nice because the healing eventually did come. I got another copy of the novel and luckily, my friendship with Sharon was restored. But I think the unintended consequence of that experience was that I learnt a lot of lessons: to always beware that emotional significance is priceless-- neither silver nor gold can replace it.

One of the main things I picked from that experience is that we look at things differently, just as we value different things. In your eyes, it could be a mere bangle but in someone else's eyes, it stands for everything there is to life. I have learnt to be particularly careful with other people's properties. In Sharon's eyes, the novel may just have been like any other book. I may have gone on and on telling her how much I loved that book but she couldn't figure out any particular special attribute that the book has. And perhaps that was why she did not need a lot of thinking time before giving out the book.

And when it comes to people who have walked into my life or our paths  have crossed I am even more careful. I don't lose a friend unless it is inevitable... I have learnt to look at life closely and in the course of 'my study' I have realized that nothing happens by accident. No meetings just happen... I mean there is never a coincidence. I am saying this with conviction because a lot of people got into my life 'accidentally', but right now I would be lost without them.

So, next time before you do ANYTHING, remember, THAT WHICH YOU WANT TO DO could be all that stands between real happiness and eternal nostalgia for someone else.

Let us be especially careful with people's emotions this year. They are priceless.