by Isaac Oluyi
In my over 3 decades of existence on the surface of the earth I have had the opportunity to interact with three different teachers. I have been impacted one way or the other by all of them. My experience in life has made me to tag two of them as ‘rich teachers’, while the other one a ‘poor teacher’.
In 1984 I lost my father to the icy hands of death. He died at a tender age! Despite the fact that he died young, he achieved so much. He actually became a director in one of the Agencies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at 38. This is not a mean feat! I work 9-5 with an Agency of government today and I know it is not easy. My father was the breadwinner of the family. He was our all-in-all. When death called, events in our family took a downward trend. My mother was a petty trader with just a First Leaving School Certificate! Things got so bad that we could hardly have a meal per day. Despite the downturn, she did not give in. The situation brought out the best in her.
One event that qualifies her as one of my rich teachers happened in December, 1984. During the festive period, everybody was preparing for how to make the period a memorable one. People were buying new clothes, chickens, goats, rice and all sorts of things. We became crestfallen and dejected because we knew nothing of such would happen in our homestead. But my mother shocked my siblings and me. She invited a tailor to our house to come and take our measurements. At first, we thought she wanted to do ‘April Fool’ for us, but this was December. We reluctantly allowed the tailor to take our measurements. After the tailor left, we enquired for where and how our mother got the money to buy a new cloth. She further amazed us with her response “I took out some of my old wrappers and loosened them.” From this singular event, she taught me to always turn problems into opportunities. Instead of brooding over any situation, she taught to think out of the box and make the best of the situation. With the simple solution she proffered to a hitherto big challenge in our eyes, we had a swell time at Christmas as we wore something ‘new’. My mother was a rich teacher; she taught me by example. She introduced me to “Problem-Solving 101”.
The second teacher I had an encounter with was a poor teacher. He taught me how to play the school game, without any recourse to the reality in my society. He taught me how to cram facts and give him back the same facts in the exam hall. He judges me based on my ability to return those facts to him. He uses all sorts of superlatives to praise my performances – Good, Very Good, Excellent and so on. In fairness to him, I played this game very well as I always stood out. But what I have experienced after leaving the four walls of the classroom has shown to me that there is a gap between what my poor teacher taught me and the reality in my environment. The facts I crammed in school are useless unless they are applied to solve problems and add value. Following the example of my poor teacher has given me a huge ego and enhanced my status. At least, I can speak jaw-breaking vocabulary!
I have however not just been all about big words and egoistic lettered person. The turning point in my life came when I encountered my third teacher in 2007. This is a man that is qualified to be called ‘my super rich teacher’. He took over from where my mother and my poor teacher stopped. The first thing he told me was that “To survive in the race of life, you must know how to combine aptitude with attitude”. He said “Your aptitude can open doors of opportunities for you, but you can only maximise such opportunities with the right attitude”. I reflected over the first lesson he taught me and discovered that I had not fared well in this area.
It would interest you to know that I met my third teacher 6 years after leaving the university. Within the space of 6 years I had worked in almost 10 organisations. I would take the appointment and once something got me irritated I would resign. This happened on so many occasions to me, but I learnt my lesson in a bitter way later. I had resigned from a place of work with the hope of getting another one immediately. How wrong I was! I was in the labour market for 6 months without anything tangible to do. During this period, my wife became the breadwinner! At this point, I knew I had got it all wrong. I did all sorts of menial jobs to bring back my pride. After some time, I got another decent job. One lesson that I learnt from this unfortunate episode was never to rely on one’s aptitude alone in life. I thought my brilliance would always give me jobs. But I later discovered that the world is peopled with so many brilliant people who work like elephants but eat like ants. After this reflection, I went back to my super rich teacher to say thank you because he was right.
Like the Yoruba people in South-western Nigeria would say “expressing gratitude for one good deed attracts more good deeds”, my expression of appreciation brought about more teachings from my super rich teacher. He asked me to sit down and further told me that “apart from combining aptitude with the right attitude, you must learn to create a space for yourself”. He said the best way to create a space for yourself is to discover your strength, which I will like to call “purpose”. He said there is enough space for everyone and so there is no need for unhealthy competition. The best person to compete with is yourself. This second lesson of creating a space for myself has helped me tremendously. I have since identified what is my strength and in line with what my mother taught me I have always solved problems with my strength.
I must say here that my three teachers have been of immense help. While my mother (my first teacher) taught me to always see roses in thorns, my second teacher taught me how to cram facts to bamboozle people and my super rich teacher has assisted me in striking the balance between the school game and the life game. To my three teachers, I am grateful and to my readers I hope you have learnt one lesson or the other from this tale. See you at the top!
