Last week, as I dragged my lazy bone out of bed to go keep faith with my morning routine in my gym, to serve some punishment to my body. My intercom rang; it was The Punk Place security notifying me of the stubborn young man who aggressively insisted that he wasn’t going to leave till he sees me. As I lazily walked to my garden to meet this “won’t take NO for an answer” youth waiting to see me, in my head I already apportioned 3minutes with him,
so I can get back to the first business of the day. I came face to face with a tired looking, angry, frustrated young man who from his looks was weather beaten by the harsh reality of our environment. Not again, the voice in my head screamed.
As I sat and listened to his stories of woes, I felt like hugging him, not because I was insensitive to what’s happening in his life, but pleasantly surprised with his diction, spoken English, his logic was too matured and too cultured for a 26yr old Biology graduate from Uni-Lag. Long story short, he didn’t come to beg for money, he just wanted someone to talk to because like he said, he was practically going insane. Never
been able to secure a job, desperate to find fulfillment with himself because gradually his mind was failing him. He left me shocked that morning because he also turned down the money I offered him after our conversation. He said to me, “I have nothing in my pocket but I am not here for the money, I just need to talk to someone, I just need something self-fulfilling, I need to know what to do.”
With no other thing to offer him I decided to enroll him in my University of Hard-Knocks… In UHK (university of hard knocks) by fire by force, you will learn the skill called rugged ability. Where you get hurt, get f..ked, make mistakes and corrections with so much intensity.
To graduate in UHK, you need Skills that can be had by anyone willing to pay the price to get them, skills that are quickly becoming extinct. I am talking about skills that cannot be taught in a classroom or in a textbook, skills you can only learn by doing, by learning how to fly after jumping off the cliff. Shey you know. No successful person has had it easy, everyone that has managed to accomplish his/her dream paid a prize, if they didn’t their father did, if not their father then someone else did. Because life is hard, anyone who must conquer must play hard. The bitter reality, no one gives a s**t whether or not majority of our graduates are hopeless. It simply means that OYO is your case.
I dey tell people every time say the only solution to joblessness na self-reliance. If you dey wait for white collar job, tori olon is your name. If you dey fast and do night vigil to get job, your name na miracle. As a young person or old maybe, never let any situation drown you, try your best in everything and let all the things that didn’t work for you be lessons for your future. Some have the ideas but are probably confused how to start because, no money for pocket and nobody send you, but whatever it is that you want, put all your hustle in. Gradually no matter how slow, your dreams would begin to take shape.
My biggest problem with young people of this day is that they have no patience at all; they want it like now now now. Some are even brain washed thinking that praying hard enough will bring them good fortune. They spend all their time in church praying for a miracle while they should be out there
strategizing. Such pity… hard work and tenacity is what pays. Everything must have a beginning, if no one is willing to help, start from the scratch, no matter how little, water it and let it grow. Help might come along the way when people begin to see your zeal and push but if no one does, keep persisting anyway. Waiting to start on a ‘reasonable’ pay or job might leave you stranded, frustrated and hopeless. Somepeople are even afraid to start small because their peers will laugh at them but that is total rubbish, if you give a care what people think then you are probably already doomed from the start.
I started from the scratch, my parents didn’t help neither did their friends, if your parents don’t believe in your dream who will? I relocated to my village after returning from America because I couldn’t pay any bills living in town and I had already fallen out with my parents, I stated selling at a beer parlor while I nursed my dream and strategized how to rise with it. In life, one has to finding a way out no matter how bleak it gets. Success is not for those who give up along the line or those who would not begin because there was no one to give them a push.I was really impressed by this young man I met because even though he had been stock and didn’t know what to do, he rather wanted to be taught how to catch fish rather than be given fish. He sought a way and certainly he would find. Sometimes you need to consult those that have been there before you.
For every single move you make, people are watching you, when you stand out and is determined about that particular thing you believe in, someone might just be tempted to invest in you.
The situation of the country should already be a warning alarm to all but only the graduates of the Street University and the members of the University of Hard-knocks would know. Nothing takes them by surprise. Nah thing…
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