PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU

PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU

“It’s about to rain.” Jennifer said in anger. Her facial reaction and countenance fell immediately she noticed the angry and gloomy face the sky made around 4pm. She wasn’t happy for two good reasons;

1. The incoming rain would ruin her plan of going out to see her friend who had been operated upon.
2. The power holding company would need 3-5 days to make sure all their cables were no longer wet with water from the rain before restoring the electricity. She would have no way to charge her phone.
   While she scowled and cursed in silence, some of us (her siblings) sang songs of thanksgiving to the God who created rain and sleep and prayed He looked kindly on us and rained the more so we would sleep for a very long time. If only she could read or hear our thoughts!

Helpless, Jennifer returned to her room, very sober and mute. My siblings and I also returned to our rooms, amidst singing and rejoicing. Without wasting a minute, I jumped into my bed and made way for sleep.

Fast forward to 18 hours later (10am the next day), it was still raining. The power supply had not been restored. In fact, it was obvious we would not be noticing any power supply anytime soon. That was at least very obvious to everyone in my neighborhood and almost every Nigerian who patronized the power holding company. Not restoring light when it was raining was a trait they had sworn never to leave behind.

Eventually, we all started thinking like Jennifer. All our phones had gone off and there was no way to communicate or even watch movies via Netflix. Almost everyone was tired of sleeping.

If we had a way, we would have called the company to restore power (light) even though it was raining, but none of us was neither related to the President of the Country nor the Governor of the state. Our only resort was our generator.

Few minutes after starting the generator, something terrible happened; there was a knock on our gate. Some of our neighbors had left their homes for ours in the rain, with a thousand and one gadgets (phones, laptops, lanterns, powerbanks e.t.c) to charge. This was terrible because it was raining and the gadgets were much. Although we didn’t like the idea, we endured, faked smiles and let them come in. They stayed in our home, charging their stuff and watching our movies. While some quietly plugged and sat down to watch movies, others made their ways into the kitchen to see if there was any food left. One boy even opened the refrigerator in search of water. Funny!!!

What happened in the next couple of hours shocked everyone till today. The power holding company restored the power supply (Light). “NEPA” my younger brother shouted. We thought he was trying to prank us until we saw the red light on the indicator bulb. Indeed, what had never happened in the past happened that day. It was a miracle!

Hurriedly, all my neighbors unplugged their stuff and left our home in silence. The highest they did was say “Thank God.” They thanked God for changing the minds of the authority to restore light. They didn’t thank us for allowing them charge their stuff for some time. I felt both pained and happy. I was engulfed in a slurry of mixed emotions but I let it slide. I learnt a very big lesson that day; PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU!!!
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• PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU if you have nothing that is of value to them. Value here means Discipline, worth, self-esteem, skills, principles, emotional intelligence, money, impact, innovative ideas e.t.c.
• PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU if you do not contribute to their growth and development.
• PEOPLE WILL LEAVE YOU if you are not successful. Nobody likes to be associated with mediocrity and failure. Step up your game and see people claim to be your relatives.
  Thanks and God bless.