On Monday 9th October 2017, I rushed out of the house very early in the morning to get to the office early enough to do something I should have done during the weekend. I have a friend that usually drops me on her way to work so I didn't know I left the house without a kobo. Yes I left the house without my wallet, money or even ATM card and I didn't notice until I got off the car and was left on my own.
I found myself at Garki about 6:45am - well dressed and have no money on me to take me to the office! I was standing for about 10mins thinking about the possible options I've got, I remembered someone said "If you're broke and proud, you're as good as dead" LOL this got me thinking the more, how am I supposed to stop someone on a Monday morning and beg for 50 naira to take me to the office when I'm corporately dressed? Time was ticking and I was almost running late for work so I walked up to a small park at Rita Lori junction Garki market and saw a man in green trouser and green cap calling for people going to my route but I couldn't enter the car because I don't have money to pay. I walked up to him and said in a gentleman's voice "Good morning, my name is Emmanuel, please can you help me with N50, I need to get to the office" He looked at me from head to toe and replied "Oga, you look like a responsible man, what happened, why are you begging for N50"? I simply explained to him that I was rushing and forgot to leave the house with any money. The man said ok sir and handed me N50 immediately. WOW, I was out of words to say to him, I only said, "Thank you sir, God bless you, I really appreciate" and left for work.
I got to the office and couldn't stop thinking about the very simple but powerful lesson I learnt that morning. I realized how little things can make such a big difference in our lives. Until that day, I would not have thought a day will come that I will ever beg for N50 talk more of asking an "Agbero" on a Monday morning but I did! The more I think about this incidence I discover something new - life lessons that are key to our existence.
First - the old saying "Dress the way you want to be addressed" is still very much relevant. The first thing the man did when i begged him for N50 was look at me from head to toe and after that, two things could have crossed his mind 1. He could have said to himself "this one that can wear expensive cloth and shoe but dont have N50, he must be a lazy man or 419 or a corperate beggar lol... 2. He could have said to himself, for him to be able to afford this things, he must be worth more than N50. Whichever one he thought about, the ultimate thing is that he met my need.
Another thing I learnt from the incidence is that, no matter how much you're worth or how much you have in your bank account, never look down on anybody or think they can not be of help to you. As far as I'm concerned, that moment, the N50 was worth more than a million dollar to me because it met my need and I know now what it means to be in need and what it means for a pressing need to be met.
Finally, I learnt that our "help" mostly doesn't come from the "rich" or "highly influential" people. Our most basic needs and help is with those people we see everyday but we do not appreciate. It must not necessarily come from a road side conductor like mine, if only we will be bold and humble enough to ask for help. The social media generation is one that is full of lies, pretence and deceit and a lot of people have missed out of golden opportunities for their needs to be met just because they have claimed some standards on social media that they can't live below people's expectations anymore, forgetting that getting to the top is easier than remaining at the top.
Back to my story - the following morning I went back to the park to meet him and of course he could not believe how much I gave him in return for his kind gesture. What he didn't know is that he met a very big need in my life the previous day. He was super excited but his joy cannot be compared to mine when he gave me that N50. We had to pose for a selfie afterwards and guess what? He's now my friend. I hope you will not see this as just a normal thing, I hope you will learn something from it and be good to people always, your returns may not be direct from same person like that of my friend's own but could come in different ways. Besides, we all need to be good to fellow mankind, it helps the world get better.
If you have picked a different lesson from this story or have had a similar experience in the past, don't hesitate to share with me in the comment box.
Cheers.
