It does not matter the level of qualification you have or the background you come from, your status notwithstanding, there are things that you cannot achieve alone. Yes, even success is not achieved in isolation, there is a need for the input of others, and so are many other things in life. A point will come in your life when you will realise that your individual ability is very limited but it can be amplified by the help of others. The easiest way to entreat the help of others is by becoming friends with them.
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A few years back, I boarded a bus to go from the Eastern part of Nigeria to the Nation's capital territory, Abuja, in the North-central. While we progressed into the journey, everything was moving well until when we got to a place known as Lokoja in Kogi state of North-central, the bus broke down. All attempts to get the bus fixed by the driver did not yield anything positive and the two options left were either for everyone to find their way or wait for the backup bus that was coming, which will take up to 2 hours to arrive. Waiting for extra 2 hours or more, for the bus to come, will mean that I will enter Abuja late at night and may not be able to find my way to where I was going to. Many of the passengers were already beginning to find their way.
At that moment, I was thinking of what to do, and picking another bus will mean I have to pay again, which I did not plan for. Right there where I was thinking along the road, a car passed by and then stopped and started reversing back. I was about getting scared because the path was pretty lonely, but I looked around and some of the passengers were still there. By the time the car came close, he wind down and to my surprise, it was my childhood friend. He called out to me and asked why I was standing by the road, and I narrated the challenge to him.
He told me that he was actually headed to Abuja and that I can come in so we will go together. It was unbelievable that help could come that fast. Now the amazing part of it was that, while growing up, the boy normally stayed in our house (and even had lunch with us) because his parents were bankers and would come back very late. After some years, they moved away from the neighbourhood when his parents got transferred and we lost contacts until that day. Imagine if I had been cruel to him or had stopped his friendship, that moment of help would have eluded me.
When I got to Abuja, he asked where I was going and I told him, he took me there and waited until I finished what I came to do. He asked if I had where to sleep and I told him I will find a hotel. He volunteered that I come stay in his apartment. That was how I got both a free ride to Abuja and free accommodation and when I was leaving the next morning, he still dropped me off at the park with some packages. All these were because of friendship. You do not know what you stand to gain from friendship.
The truth is that even what people call "connections," sometimes, are built as friendship of the past. Every opportunity you have to form a good friendship with someone should not he abused and should not be overlooked. Your friendship of today may become your connection of tomorrow. However, you have to understand that friendship will require sacrifices to be made and it is a two-way thing. More so, you have to also prove yourself to be friendly in order to be qualified to have a good friend. Before expecting your friends to make sacrifices for you, how many of your friends have you made sacrifices for? Imagine someone wishing for people to go a mile for them whereas they cannot go an inch for someone else. How ironic.
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It is worthy to note that friendship is a vital necessity to achieve success because every successful person is a product (or subset) of another successful person. But one thing you need to have in mind is that you must first fulfil the requirements that you want in a friend before you will look for someone else to fulfil it. A good friendship begins with you.
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