After secondary school everyone in my set had dreams they wanted to achieve, mostly big dreams and also fare ones. Some wanted to go to university, some to learn a trade. But some, like Uju , one of the girls in our set, just wanted to blow. Her own dream was simple: the soft life or nothing.
Uju was that one kind of girl who always stood out, she was popular, she was fine, and she carried herself like someone that was born to be famous.
She used to say:
God no go shame us. I must make am before twenty
A few weeks after our graduation, Uju began posting new stuffs on her Whatsapp status. New hair, new outfits, new nails, outings, fancy slippers and all.
And one day, she posted:
“Abuja move 💼🛫”
And we didn’t see her again for a while.
Most of us were still trying to find our footings, some doing JAMB lessons, others learning various trades, but Uju was already chilling, in hotels and lounges, posting fast foods, phones, even cars. I even started to think that she was living the perfect life. She would always drop money quotes online like she is really making it way big in Abuja.
I thought nothing will ever catch up with her, in fact I thought she was really doing well. I believed that consequences only happened in movies or extreme cases.
But somehow I also felt something was wrong because it felt like she was flying too fast without checking the weather.
It had lasted for so long that most of us had really come to accept that she did have the soft life. But things did take a turn.
2 years later, the girl moved back to town, there was no posting on Whatsapp status, no announcement, no iPhone, no braids. Just one worn out bag and slippers on her foot.
She was silent all of a sudden, she didn't even come outside for days, I could tell she was really ashamed of herself.
Her best friend later spilled the tea to us.
Uju had been linked to a woman she called her "boss" who hooked her up with rich clients in Abuja. For a while thing were going smooth and sweet. She got new phones, good food, the hotel life. Her boss always told her to cooperate well with these clients so she could make it real good in life.
So from there she met a rich man who became her boyfriend and she was living with him. Well what she didn't know was that the man was the devil himself. When he was satisfied with her, he beat her, took back everything he gave her and sent her packing. She even had to beg a trailer driver to give her a free ride back to the East. Before then she had called her boss severally but she blocked her, then her phone got stolen and even the friends she had there abandoned her.
I could see that the girl who once posted "No stress zone" now looking like stress in human form.
It was hard for me to believe that someone who looked like she was winning in life could fall so hard, her downfall was something almost unbelievable. It left everyone in shock but most people knew what was up for that kind of lifestyle she chose.
That was when I remembered what my grandma used to say before she passed:
*“The one who always looks up doesn't see what's on the ground
Uju was always looking up, chasing the flashy life, fast money and social media validations but forgot to look at the ground to know where her feet was going. She didn't see the traps she was stepping on, she only wanted to fly so high and she forgot to check if her wings were real.
Well I was glad that at least she learnt her lessons and other teenagers will learn too from her and know better not to succumb to peer pressure because not everything that shines is gold, some may be fire in water reflection.
When my granny used to say that adage I thought it was normal talk just like other sayings and that those things don't really happen in real life but Uju's story completely proved that idea wrong.
So yes, "the one who always looks up doesn't see what's on the ground" so it's always good to watch our steps, and I really hope she learnt her lesson and begin observing the ground.
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