That was a popular comment credited to General Yakubu Gowon of Nigeria when he was ousted as the Head of State of Nigerian government in 1975 by General Murtala Mohammed while attending an OAU summit in Uganda.
Immediately after his overthrow as the President of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon went into exile in the United Kingdom to live with his family in London and subsequently pursued a Ph.D. in political science at the University of Warwick.
It was in February 13, 1976 that Col. Buka Suka Dimka coordinated the retaliatory military coup against the incumbent Gen. Murtala Mohammed, a President of barely six months.
A confession made by Dimka after the aborted coup led to the indictment of Gen. Yakubu Gowon in London.
General Gowon was then invited to Nigeria to answer to the allegations, but he decided to remain in the United Kingdom to continue his postgraduate studies.
It was at the Warwick University, while on a student queue for food, that a press correspondent from Nigeria sighted him and had a short interview on his fate from a President to life as a student queueing for food, that he responded humbly that the world is a stage.
2. THE WORLD IS A STAGE, SO LIFE IS A STAGE
Without an iota of sentiment, “life is truly a stage”.
We are all on this stage to exhibit our potentials, moving from one act to the other, from one stage of life to another, and changing acts as we grow in age and in class till death.
Our acts are different from one another.
Just like in a typical art theater, there are many actors, each performing a role, and ultimately they all form a story that not only amuses but teaches a lesson at the end of the drama.
Everyone also has his own spectators, and those are the people whom we are travelling together, watching how we fare — our families, relatives, friends, neighbors and colleagues.
All of these spectators are there with different objectives. Some are watching us with positive intentions of advising and to encourage us; these are very close family members and true friends. While some are watching to deride and to laugh at our shortcomings, challenges and failures. Others are there watching us only to be amused, to use our success or failures as lessons to check themselves and be better in life.
There are various stages of life and acts that determine if we are successful or failing. One stage predisposes the next.
1. CHILD stage
This is a stage to be with the biological parents for bonding and affection and for home training lessons capable of building him or to mar a whole lifetime. A child also starts attending preschool and elementary classes.
2. YOUTH
At youth, one is expected to be in college, and to complete school and get a job.
3. ADULTHOOD
Adulthood is a stage expected to be in marriage (if interested or if found) and to start an independent or a family life, to move out from the parents home and to establish a new home and be responsible and be an independent person.
4. ELDER
He is required to have his children (if married and if God permits). A stage to be very responsible and taking good decisions for themselves. Adults are also expected to be good role models and ambassadors of their homes with the right values to administer justice in the communities, leadership in religious places and possibly to be in situations of overseeing the affairs of government institutions.
5. OLD AGE
It is the last stage before death when it is expected that children have good potentials to take care of their aged parents. Old people are expected to be custodian of traditional values in the society.
Philosophers and scriptures define life through different perspectives and parameters, setting examples in different ways including spiritual, philosophical, physical and moral ways:
A. Life is a CULTIVATED FARM
Where plants grow from beautifully fragile young seedlings to become matured crops with fruits that are harvested and replanted into new crops while parent crops grow old and die (showing the philosophical and physiological meanings of life).
B. LIFE AS A WATER VAPOR
A vapor that appears for a short time and vanishes away. James 4:14. This expresses the physiological and spiritual sides of life.
C. LIFE AS A WAR
Viewing life as a war means approaching existence as a continuous, strategic battle against challenges, adversity, and internal struggles. It implies that survival and success require resilience, discipline, and constant effort—much like a soldier in combat—to overcome obstacles and achieve goals.
Key perspectives on this analogy include:
- The Internal & External Battle
- Constant Preparation
- Overcoming Setbacks
- Resilience & Support
D. LIFE IS A LONG WHIP
A Yoruba musician sang:
Atorilaiye, to ba fi siwaju, a tun fi sehinni.
Life is never a bed of roses nor a bed of thorns. Life is a whip dangling forward and backwards between roses (success) and thorns (failure).
So, the philosophers say: “it is not over until it is over”.
It is over at death because as long as there is life, there is hope.
Religion also teaches us to have faith and absolute hope in God who is our maker. He knows us, our frame, and he controls time and season.
E. LIFE AS A MARKET PLACE
Life is often likened to a marketplace, acting as a temporary, bustling venue for purpose, exchange, and hustle.
Just as in a market, individuals arrive with unique purposes to “buy” or “sell” value—trading time, skills, and effort—before eventually departing, highlighting the need for focus and preparation over aimless wandering.
What you put in is what you get out, like a computer.
Garbage in, garbage out is a fact of life.
So it is necessary to plan and act well for a fortunate ending.
Some individuals trade away their opportunities in the morning time only to suffer at night time, while those who are focused and with good foresight put all their efforts to things that matter in the daytime so as to reap bountifully in the night time.
Jesus said in John 9:4:
“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, life from whichever perspective you want to see it is truly a stage where every knowledge, value, skill and virtue expressed above must be applied so as to benefit good harvests of a night time and a reward acruable to believers in an after life.
Life is not a joke and it is not an accident to be taken recklessly because it involves stages of which its latter stage is so fragile, frail, delicate, so sensitive and demanding of an intentionally productive start up phase.
Also, because life is a stage, we must all take it with the hope if the present stage is not successfully encouraging, there is hope that the next stage can be better.
Because life and destiny are in accordance with stages, and it is not over until it is over.
If you want, I can also convert this into a properly styled Word document layout (with headings, spacing, and font suggestions for presentation or publication).