by Darasimi Oshodi
Sometime ago, I took my wife to the hospital for treatment of cough and catarrh. It was our first time of visiting that hospital to see a doctor so we had to obtain a new patient’s card. We paid for the card without stress but it was not the same with obtaining the card. Since my wife was not feeling too well, I had to help her obtain the card while she sat down. The queue that confronted me where I was to obtain the card was scary but I did not have any option but to fall in line if I wanted to get the card. There were about five disorderly lines (the disorderliness actually accounts for why I cannot be exact about the number of lines) being attended to by two persons – the number later increased to three.
While waiting to be attended to, I observed something: some people who just joined the queue were attended to before those they met on the line. A man who was behind me found his way to the front and he was attended to before me. My first reaction to the man’s attitude was to wonder at his impatience and disregard for order. But it didn’t take me long to come to terms with what I concluded was the reality of life. I thought to myself that there was no need to blame him because his action only exemplified that life will hand to you what you demand of it and not necessarily what you deserve. In life, some people wait for a good fortune to drop on their laps like ripe mangoes while others go about life with such a determination to make life give them what they want. This does not mean I support disorderliness. In fact, I am a firm believer in the first come, first served principle.
Another observation I made while waiting to get the card was that patients who knew hospital officials enlisted the support of such officials to help them get whatever they wanted quickly. This also did not anger me because I have come to realise that relationships can help you get ahead in life or take you where your knowledge or status may not take you. These patients who knew hospital officials were only enjoying the benefits of the relationships they had developed. And I am not one to blame the hospital officials for calling in favours in their workplace. Where else would they call in such favours if not in their workplace?
I eventually obtained the card ahead of some people I met on the queue but my wife and I had to leave because the hospital was apparently short-staffed and the crowd was too much for the doctors on duty – I think there were just two doctors on duty. We went to another place (we didn’t go there at first because my wife could not locate her card). On getting to the other place, my wife saw a number of people she knew and she was quickly attended to. She saw the doctor who prescribed drugs for her. We got the drugs and left.
I learned two lessons that day. Number one: make your demand on life. Demand from life what you want. Stretch forth your hand and grab or seize from life what you want. Don’t just sit down waiting on life to give you your desires because most times life will not give you what you want or even deserve but whatever it feels like giving you and that is why some say life is not fair. I am sure the prosperous -those who have learned how to make their demand on life- will not tell you that life is not fair. The second lesson I learned was the need to build relationships with people. We have to make relationship building a top priority. We need to be aggressive in forging relationships with people because we do not know when such relationships would yield great rewards for us. My inspirational teacher would always say that your net worth is determined by your network. The network you build will ultimately determine where you get to in life. Your relationships determine how strong you are. Your network is an indication of how influential you are.
If you still want to make your life count this year, then do these two things: make your demand and build your network.
Darasimi Oshodi is a blogger. He blogs at Darasimi Oshodi and tweets from @Aristotle274.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
