Anybody Can Become Great In Life

It's sometimes sad the way people belittle others, thinking they are worth nothing or could not even become successful. It's not really about the present but the future that really matters, and we are so blind to this.

Alhaji Adams as he has always been addressed, is rich that he could afford to take into custody a few members of his extended family, he also caters for his workers and runs his business and Islamic school too.

This school is where we attend after we are done with Western education in the morning to afternoon time. It's basically all about Islamic knowledge.

Things have been going fine on our end since we were just kids then. Little did we know about the reality of life. All of a sudden we relocated from where we were, which was under his custody to somewhere else.

At first, we were a little surprised about the decision our parents took. Mixed feelings came into the picture because we were sad to leave behind our friends we had been together for years but on the other side we were excited about the new residence we were about to move in and the new way of life we get to live far different from the lifestyle we were used to before.

“Inside this bush?” My sister asked with surprise.

Mum smiled and replied, “Yes, this is where we would live now”.

I was happy because I knew I would have the freedom to farm and enjoy nature in its natural form compared to the crowded area we lived in before relocation.

“Ooh ohh, it's a frog” I happily ran after the frog after seeing it in reality for the first time. We never saw one before apart from those in textbooks at school.

In my mind, I knew there would be a lot of changes in our new way of life. Our new apartment doesn’t even have a fence so as not to talk of gates.

“So mum, are we secure living here?” My brother questioned.

“We are safe, this is how people live here, look at those houses too” Mum pointed at the other buildings closer to us. They had no fence too, just a few are fenced.

The fun part of it was that we could even easily visit our uncle’s apartment just a few walks from ours. The last time we saw him was when he came to visit in Lagos and he also came with some Arabic textbooks for Alhaji Adams school. That was the last time we saw him.

We were so happy to be united with him and even his family again. We saw his Islamic school and wasn’t even up to the standard of the one we attended before. But there was that peace of mind attending it compared to that of Alhaji Adams.

Over decades my uncle’s institution started improving gradually till it became a standard institution. He started receiving lecturers from abroad to lecture in his school and the so-called bushy area we relocated to turned out to be an amazing city. People migrated in groups.

We were so happy for his success. And we also hope he continues to achieve greater heights.

It was when we grew older we later got to understand the reason why we relocated. Alhaji Adams had been so cunning, that he didn't really care like we thought he was. All he was after was his selfish interest. My uncle was harassed and abused just because of his present situation. Little did they know that the worst thing to ever do to a man is to underestimate his potential.

Life went on, My uncle later met with Alhaji Adams but he didn’t react based on his past experiences with them. He actually proved to them that he is worth more than they have thought about him. They gave him his respect but their expression was so bitter and regretful.

I also had a similar experience with some family I lived with at school back, this was when my uncle told me his experience.

“Abdulqudus, Grow greater, become a better version of yourself and those who trashed you will be your amour against stains” I was so moved by his words and experiences.