Jack and Jill - The Edge of a Masterpiece by Sylvia Onyeka

Singer: Edge Golbador
Title: Jack and Jill
Genre: Soul Rock!

“Do you remember when . . .?”

It’s a trip back to the days when everything he did with his companion, Jill, provided joy.
He enumerates, in the song, specific escapades:

“We used to ride in Surulere
Take a bus to Ikeja
Spend hours on the Mainland Bridge on our way to the Island
To have fun.”

Jack further recalls his constant smiles even at things not worth smiling at (another evidence of the happiness experienced). Presently, though he only has memories of him and her and all they used to be.
There are times in our lives, when we look back at things we had done or created, and we extremely get one of these two kinds of feelings – regret or pride. Regret that we could have done better than we did; pride that we couldn’t have done it any better.
Jack opens up on his own feeling, regret:

“I’m not proud of everything we did
Just to get some Naira . . .”

It is remarkable, though, that most times, we do not see the outcome of our actions at the moment we do them. Almost always, we are carried away by the spur of present realities – “to have fun. Do you remember? It was fun. It was wrong. So wrong.”

One could tell that Jack’s regrets were triggered by something, just the way, we as humans might never know that you have something unwelcomed in your hair until someone else sees it and brings it to our attention. It is safe to say that the feeling of regret following man’s action is felt only after it is triggered by something. This trigger marks a thin line between then and now.

Then: When the action is presently happening
Now: When it has become a story

Only after Jack is made aware of his wrong, did he realize his so-called fun was a life he presently regrets living. He now calls it not just a story, but a super story adding credence to the fact that every human has a unique experience, a super experience.

“Wanna share my story; my super story.”

. . . A story constantly in a state of flux
To Jack, his then – the “fun” reached its end, and his now – regrets for the kind of life he lived was triggered by someone he met along the way:

“I met Jesus.”

Jack was given an opportunity to change his story.
Tomorrow grants us this opportunity. It allows us experience a new reality. It doesn’t always give us a new slate, but at least offers us a slate clean enough to rewrite old stories we do not like; stories that cause us to regret. We could now choose to rewrite this story rightly and share with other people or repeat the old story. This decision is left to each of our moral understanding.
Jesus was the tomorrow, the hope for a clean slate, that Jack got. He is willing to share this newly found hope with the ready hearts, with Jill if she pleases.

“Can change your story, like He changed my story . . .”

He names this new hope, this tomorrow, “home”.
Home, truly, is where the mind is at peace. Clearly, Jack no longer dwells in the past of regrets; he no longer beats himself up for not doing better then. He has found a home in the now, in Jesus. His heart is at peace. At home he feels peace – no more regrets – the mind is now able to think of positive ways to rewrite his story. Nevertheless, he invites Jill to share in this new story, this new experience.
We must notice that Jack’s “present” isn’t occupied only by regrets. It contains also a new story. Thus, we must always look to better times. Instead of dwelling on thoughts about what could have been done better, we must move on, we must cling to doing better. When, eventually, we have succeeded in rewriting our story, we now must share the good news with others, for it is in sharing our lives that we truly are able to hold one another accountable.

Edge Golbador, amidst the chaos and troubles bedeviling our world today, in this masterpiece “Jack and Jill” gives us hope that our future need not be created with the bricks of past misdeeds, rather can be forged in the fires of redemption and glory!
Enjoy!
One of my all-time best!

Written by Sylvia Onyeka
WRITER / REVIEWER / TEACHER