By: Oluwatoyin Hawal Momolosho
Everybody experiences life from different perspectives; the more of it you encounter, the more you learn. If you didn't know, life is like a circle with different turns at different times. The person who turns to you today might turn to someone else tomorrow. Please help others if you are currently in charge of doing so, since life is a series of turns. When the time for judgment calls, exercise caution when assuming legal authority!
In my high school years, I was perceived as one of the disappointed students, even by my peers in the same group. However, I eventually realized my mistake and started to follow in the footsteps of my friends who were more knowledgeable than I was. And that's what brought me to my current standing. They're all very respectable!
But once I discovered that I should take my studies as seriously as my friends did, I tried to buy a lot of textbooks that would be helpful to me. The textbooks included Essential Government, A1, A to Z, Invisible Teacher, Get ready in Literature, and others. However, "Get ready in literature" was my favorite textbook. I was so devoted to the textbook that I didn't purchase many novels while I was in school. As a result, I was never on time for literature class because our literature teacher would only accept the books that he prescribed. Then, I would be sent out for not having purchased the novel when it came to the reading. All I needed to study was the synopsis I had in my Get ready in literature.
Interestingly, from the day I started junior secondary school, I had a special friend named Abdullahi AbdulGafar (Akirimonu). He had an exam one day, so he lent my textbook so he could use it for study. He did, however, have a literature textbook called "Exam Focus," which had more extensive in reading than my "Get ready in literature." But the day he handed the book back to me, some seniors entered our classroom to look for Akirimonu. I had no idea why they were looking for him, but I was the only one who knew where he was hanging out with our other friends.When I told them he wasn't around, they decided to give it another go at a later time. After a brief break, we were together when they returned. Initially, I had assumed that they had reached a consensus that had caused them to arrive so large, but after hearing their speech, I understood that they had intended to lend the textbook that were seen in his hand earlier that day. He pointed them toward me when they asked him. Since I knew a few of them, I had no choice but to lend them. Everyone was kicked out of the event because they wanted to use the textbook I had lent them for their impending "WAEC" exam, which was just around the corner.
Unfortunately, my favorite textbook had not been returned for three weeks. I checked the schedule for their examination and discovered, to my amusement, that they had completed the literature review in the previous few weeks. At that point, I strolled over to Akirimonu to look for them and our other friends so I could get my textbook.
Once we arrived to their classroom, the story took a different turn. The textbook I had lent to one person had been borrowed by nearly five others without my consent. The last person to borrow the book was a female who destroyed it and said a goat had eaten it. How could a goat have eaten pages one and two of a textbook before turning to pages ten through fifteen for more food? How did that come to pass? My friends helped me to cool off after I became very angry and expressed optimism.
Initially, my friends and I insisted on getting another brand-new textbook from her. However, in order to see the lady, we had to walk a considerable distance from Adeta Government Day to Adabata, where she resides. Without getting a satisfactory response from the victim, we continued doing that for nearly five days. My friends didn't initially accept my decision to stop collecting after those five days, even though I had changed my mind. After much discussion, they respected my choice and forgot about getting the new textbook in exchange for getting my old one back from her.
I was in the same situation the past two weeks when I misplaced someone's important item and wasn't sure how to proceed—paying the person or finding a replacement—to get it back. He became upset when he realized the item was missing after a few minutes, but he later apologized and said he wouldn't try to get anything back. Thoughts of what I would do if my belongings were misplaced by him crossed my mind, but I was carried away. I didn't think I would either. I continued to fall more in love with the guy right away.
Towards the end, I wondered I wouldn't have been able to escape the situation I had gotten myself into if I had gotten a new textbook back from the woman. I therefore believed that what I had done at the time had been returned to me. Wow! It's true that what goes around, comes around!
I truly appreciate everything my friends did for me back then, and I'm grateful that they stood by me. Those like Ojibara Abdulhammed, Abdulkareem Abdullateef (Onikunkewu), Abdullahi AbdulGafar (Akirimonu), and AbdulGaniyu Abdullateef (Babadudu): I respect you all. I sincerely appreciate all of you, so thank you! You are, in fact, the wonderful people who supported me and helped shape who I am now. I'm toasting your journey to greatness.
Oluwatoyin Hawal Momolosho, a creative writer, budding journalist, and community developer.
He can be reached via:
oluwatoyinhawalbolaji@gmail.com