BE WITH THE PEOPLE BETTER THAN YOU, ALWAYS!

Growing up was hectic for me. My father wasn’t poor when he was young but he wasn’t rich by the time I was born. Ok let me explain! I was born when my father was 73 years of age (*coversface, yeah right but that wasn't of my own making), which in itself isn’t a crime.

However, the crime is; How do you raise a kid when you are 73? My father didn’t care, obviously because he still did it when he was 73 without protection but thankfully I had a relatively young mother so all my life I had a mother figure than a father figure. I loved the experience though because it helped me understand the soft side of women. Back to the rich dad poor dad issue I started with.

When I was much younger, I realised that my father had affluence. People came from all over to salute him and seek for his opinion even in issues as trivial as triviality can be. He killed rams and goats and chicken EVERY Christmas (I am not exaggerating) and we had over 50 people, family, friends and foe coming over to chop our rice and meat. I was about 3 – 5 years of age. Being the last born of 6, I watched as my elder siblings cruised the hood with my fathers’ car and one day I can never forget that incident, they bashed the car, broke the windshield. My father immediately sold the car. I heard the reason he sold it was because I was in the car and as a deterrent to their wanton living.

That could as well have been the last time I saw anything like wealth exhibited by my father. I realised soon afterwards that he sold his massive printing press, (i.e the heavy equipment’s) located in the building we lived in and only relied on the meager monies he made from his one storey building rent. We went from the living like kings to barely surviving. Partly because my father was aged and his son’s never took the initiatives to take over from where his strength started failing him. I just suddenly discovered that there was never enough at home to eat; we always had needs, oh, I mean NEEDS!

My young mind just couldn’t comprehend it. I was quickly removed from private school as far back as 1987 and enrolled in a public school, thankfully it was a very good public school. I graduated to the college and all I knew was I saw kids from private primary schools in the same college with me and VOOOMMMM, I left my own local group to associate with them new kids on tha block. You see I love competitions a lot. I want my time with the best and I love to learn so I left the group that I was the champion and went into the group that I may not stand a chance of being welcomed. They called me all sort of names (i.e my mates from the same public primary school), snitch, low self-esteem etc but I knew if I was to be the best, I must be among the best. For me at that time, the guys from the private schools were the best. They carried this kind of swagger that was so obvious for the whole school to see.

I wasn’t intimidated by it at all; I was actually feeling like that was where I was supposed to be. Among the Princewill’s, Bola’s, Demola’s, Deji’s and co, that is where I am supposed to be not among the Taju’s, Sala’s and Sikirat’s (pun intended and dont expect me to have their links....lwkmd).

I never settle for less in whatever I do. I don’t listen to the voices of doubt both inert and exert. Oh, trust me, a lot of times these voices are so loud it can out-shout the little whisper of hope but consistently following through that desired route will land you in the end you processed in your head. It is a long and lonely route but a sweet end you will get.

I came to fall in love with the English language because the new set of guys I met speak English and not in vernacular as my old set used to do. They dressed smart so I was forced to do same. They loved R’Kelly, Nas and Tupac songs and I was getting to love ‘em too. We went to lits, end of the year parties in adjourning schools, chased girls and what I didn’t know was that I was being exposed to the world and its endless possibilities. If I was in my old set of group, I probably would have ended up being what I didn’t want to be. I would probably never have chosen my present career (maybe not have gone to the Uni). I would have lived short of what my life naturally should pan out to be. I would have been SO miserable.

Never settle for people who wallow in self pity or the many reasons things can't be done around here. Never be involved with people over bothered by the incessant reasons to fail. Never be involved with people whose mission is to be in the lowest ebbs in life, the efferversantly poor (mentally, materially and physically) self apologist. I remember myself and Demola always coveting the great things of life and sometimes we will traverse the area with nothing on us or in our pocket but with the self belief that the world is ours. Today, the world might not be ours yet but the vision and the path to owning it is getting even better.

Life never drops goodies easily; you have to struggle with blood and sweat to get what you deserve. I have come to realise that the more goodies you want from life, the more you have to best the best out there. This is not an article about you trying to be better than others but identifying the person that is the best in what you intend to be better at and try to best his accomplishments.

I remember vividly well when I hanged out with these guys from the private schools and they talked about the novels they read and how interesting the stories were. I would go home, pick up my sisters novel and read all night. And the next morning, I saw a guy playing the piano not so well and I would go back home, borrow a neighbours piano and practice so hard till my thumbs sore. I pushed myself to the limits and today… I am still on that journey!

This article is dedicated to my late father, EVANGELIST S.O ATOLOYE (1910 -2002) May you Rest in Peace. Amen