Many times we fail to make some decisions because we’re afraid of what the outcome will be like. We get sink into our imagination so much that we forget to live out the reality.
It’s okay to be afraid of failure, but what’s not okay is when we fail to act.
Allow me to tell you the story of a child who refused to rebel because he was afraid of what his dad would do.
Dekunle was a very bright student who has always loved education. His father was a driver who finds it difficult to make ends meet, while his mother was a petty trader. Life was pretty hard for his family and Dekunle believes that with education he could bring his family out of abject poverty. His father has always supported him the best way he could, he made sure he attended good schools throughout his primary and secondary education, but after Dekunle finished secondary school his father lost his job and could no longer afford to fund Dekunle’s university education. He called Dekunle one night and told him to find a trade he can learn as school is now too expensive for them to manage. Dekunle cried so hard, he felt like his dreams were crumbling before his eyes. But there was nothing he could do, he had to listen to his dad and help his family somehow.
After lots of thoughts and evaluations, Dekunle decided that he would learn how to barb hair, he believed that it’s a skill that could easily make him survive in a community of students because he still had the mindset of going back to school after learning the trade, Little does he know that his father had a different plan for him. He told his dad about his choice but he was turned down, his father told him that he was once a Barber and the trade was not a very lucrative one. Dekunle felt disappointed but he didn’t like to argue with his dad. He really should have argued because the same thing happened when he told his dad that he wanted to become a disk jockey (DJ), students love to party and a DJ could easily make money on campus, but his dad refused again, saying he doesn’t want his son to be jumping from one party to the other so that he would be able to focus on his studies. Once again Dekunle agreed with his dad, if his father said it’s wrong then it is wrong, there was no point in asserting.
He tried so many other times, choosing different skills to learn, from graphics design to web development to video coverage and many others, but his father always managed to give an excuse. It’s either he doesn’t like the skill or it’s too expensive for him.
Dekunle felt dejected, and he was getting tired as time was going. When he felt like his father won’t accept any skill he chooses to learn, he decided to get a job to support the family and save up for school. He got a teaching job in a primary school which paid him twelve thousand naira monthly, it was not much but it was better than nothing. He did that for six months until his father called him up one Sunday morning, he said he has finally decided what he wanted Dekunle to learn and he would take him there the next morning so Dekunle should get prepared. He told his father that he has to go to work but his father said he doesn’t have to go there anymore. It was like a dream to Dekunle, he felt the urge to argue with his dad and turn down his decision, but he didn’t do it because he felt that his father wanted the best for him.
He followed his dad to the shop that was going to be his new workplace, it turned out that his father wanted him to learn carpentry. When they got home at night, Dekunle’s dad told him that he could not sign a one-year apprenticeship contract as that was their initial agreement, he signed two years instead, then he went ahead to ask Dekunle if he was happy with the skill he chose for him. Dekunle was not happy he felt like shouting at his dad, he felt like his own father was trying to ruin his life, he wondered how he would manage as a student Carpenter and it didn’t make any sense to him, he also wanted to repel the fact that two years was too much for him to learn a skill that would be of no importance to Him on campus, but he knew that if he did that, his father would remind him of how he was an apprentice for five years. All the drama he could have created in the house that day happened in his head and he finally gave up, he accepted that he has to learn the skill his dad chose for him and he has to be there for two years, unknown to him, he was going into a different life entirely, a life of pain, depression, and fear of uncertainty.
To be continued
Romeo writes 