Write a story to illustrate the saying: As one makes one's bed, so one must lie on it

Answer Details

As One Makes One's Bed, So One Must Lie On It

Chidi and I sat side by side throughout our senior secondary years, yet no two boys could have been more different. While I spent my evenings bent over my books, Chidi spent his in the company of a boisterous crowd who called reading a waste of youth. Whenever I warned him that the final examination was drawing near, he would laugh and say, “There is plenty of time. Enjoy today, my friend.”

The months slipped by more quickly than either of us expected. As the examination approached, I revised calmly, for I had covered my syllabus little by little. Chidi, on the other hand, suddenly awoke to the mountain of work he had ignored. He borrowed notebooks, begged for summaries and tried to swallow two years of learning in two frantic weeks. His nights were sleepless, his eyes red, and still the knowledge would not come.

The results were pasted at last. My name carried the grades I needed for university, and I was admitted to study law. Chidi failed woefully and had to sit at home for a whole year, watching his mates move ahead while he registered, at great cost, to rewrite the papers he had thrown away.

One quiet afternoon he visited me. There was no laughter in him now. “You warned me,” he said softly, “but I would not listen.” I placed a hand on his shoulder, for there was little comfort I could offer. He had made his own bed of idleness, and now he had to lie on it. His story taught me, more sharply than any lesson in class, that the harvest we reap is grown from the seeds we ourselves choose to plant.