“ A rolling stone gathers no moss,” as the saying goes, but a stone cannot roll on its own unless an external force or pressure is exerted on it.
Ndimadi Nnamdi was born in a rural area of Badagry. He did not live a normal life, meeting himself in a dysfunctional family, and lived in almost all Lagos segments, “IBILE,” so it is called, which means Ikorodu, Badagry, Ikeja, Lagos Island, and Epe, which he just passed through in his exploring days.
Nnamdi came from a family who values what was said by people and believed it dearly due to illiteracy and poverty, and this had affected his growing up.
“ Nnamdi can't grow up here or live with us without turning to another thing,” Ma Ndimadi, Nnamdi’s mother, said with a frown that said it all.
“ What happened?” Pa Ndimadi, Nnamdi's father, replied, chewing a guava stick in the early morning, standing beside the house wearing his favorite Osiagwu wrapper.
“ Elder Silvinus said that he saw him leading the street urchins to the village square.
He claimed that if our son continues like this, he will end up being a gangster or worse, becoming useless one day,” she concluded with a face that showed concern and worry.
Without thinking about the information, though it was right, what about the motives of the speakers? No one knows
Pa Ndimadi brought out his phone and called his younger brother, and that day was the day Nnamdi left his roots for a distant settlement without a plan for how his life should go. Getting there, Nnamdi saw the living conditions of his uncle and decided not to stay there for long
“ Nnamdi, I confirmed you just left secondary school years ago
Why don't you go further?” Uncle Sabinus asked, sitting on an old chair in a room where his wife and six children lived too.
“ Papa has no power to further my education, as Brother Chukwudi and Sister Chinasa are still in the university" Nnamdi answered, holding on to his leather bag which was collected by the children roaming around the room, and this made him desire freedom even more.
“ As you can see, I am managing; you have to manage too," Uncle Sabinus said after handing a cold bottle of soft drink to Nnamdi, who was trying to feel comfortable.
Hitting him that he has to work to feed himself.
Then, being sure to live a better life was what always made Nnamdi move; anytime he saw an opportunity, and had had nothing to wait for.
His issues aggravated when his mother usually called him and asked for monetary support to alleviate his home back in the village.
One and a year later, Nnamdi moved to Ikeja where he worked as a security guard. He slept at this hostel and lived his life attaining his desired freedom.
One fateful day, he couldn't believe the voice he heard.
“ Polycap!!” he screamed in joy, hearing his childhood friend after years
“ Nnamdi, I am on Lagos Island; a work that pays well awaits you here, Polycap said after several compliments between them and knowing that Nnamdi is the most hardworking of all his friends.
“ What is the work all about?” Nnamdi asked without a second thought.
“ It is house maintenance, and it has accommodations, Polycap replied, and Nnamdi couldn't hold himself.
“ Better pay, better apartment, and more exposure" rang like a bell in Nnamdi’s heart, and after reckoning, he handed over his resignation letter to his employer a week later. The following month, Nnamdi was living on Lagos Island.
Every morning, he would sweep and clean the apartment where he worked, which was a mansion, and after that, he would be on standby to do any errands till night, and the stress wore him out after a year.
“ You can't have everything,” Polycap told him when he noticed that Nnamdi wanted more.
“ Are you Oliver Twist?” Polycap replied when Nnamdi asked him if they were going to continue the work for the rest of their life.
One day, Nnamdi was tired and just rested a while, and he slept, which took him to heaven. Then he felt a tap that woke him suddenly to see Polycap.
“ Nnamdi, you have forty missed calls,” Polycap said.
Nnamdi jumped up and went outside immediately, but at the end of the day he was given a sub-charge of ten percent out of his pay because of his mistakes.
“ I wanted to go back to school,” Nnamdi told Polycap, coming in
“ I don't buy that idea; you will be starting all over again, " Polycap said, raising his eyebrow.
“ I don't mind, Nnamdi replied.
“ I just wanted this freedom that is rooted in growth,” he concluded, and that night, he did not sleep well; he was sure to calculate how to cope with the schooling.
His dream came to pass, and after he graduated, he headed to his roots for a visit.
On his way home, he saw Elder Silvinus, who served as the catalyst that made him leave, and thanked him for being the external factor that made his stone continue to roll without gathering moss.
Elder Silvinus smiled sheepishly and continued walking with his walking staff.
Nnamdi got home and couldn't believe the change he saw; his home was no longer rural but urbanized, and his family members welcomed him home and were very happy that he came back a better person.
Nnamdi was sleeping early the next morning when he heard a noise from outside.
He took his brush and washed his face to see what was going on, and as he came out, he heard, “That is him,” and he looked towards the voice to see Elder Silvinus pointing at him as a few sets of people moved closer.
“ What happened?” Nnamdi said, looking lost and confused.
“ He is the leader of the hoodlums disrupting the peace of the village,” elderly Silvinus replied, but Pa Ndimadi burst in anger, "Now I understand; my son’s sins ten years ago are what you wanted him to pay for”
Nnamdi remembered with a flashback.
The day he walked past Elder Silvinus with his group of street urchins without greeting him was the sin he sent him out of the village for
He smiled hearing that Elder Silvinus's children later led the street urchins, and now two of his children were well-known touts.
Elder Silvinus believed sending Nnamdi to exile without the protection of his family would make him miserable and lose himself, and become the useless entity he wanted him to become because of the lack of opportunity, but Nnamdi's rolling stone rolled up and down without gathering a moss and came back with experience, exposure, and manners.
It was that day that served as an eye-opener for the Ndimadi family that sometimes you can value people's opinions, but to believe them blindly and act on them without thinking can be detrimental to the consumer.