Success. Real and Unreal.

Real Success

Definitions defer. I like to see success as a twofold thing. You do not just either fail or succeed, you could also have real and unreal success.

Unreal Success: the success you later come to regret. Here is a for instance-

(Man enters a tasteful and large reception office. Receptionist is reading a gossip magazine.)

Man- Good Afternoon.

Receptionist-(looks up at the man and glances to the front page of the magazine she was reading. He is on the front page. Smiles in recognition.) Good afternoon Mr. Francis, welcome to the Lagos Elite society. And congratulations on your boat and you purchase of an estate.

Man-(gives a deep-belied laugh) Thank you. Don’t always believe what you read in the papers, they exaggerate things. Hehehe.

Receptionist- (Laughs at the man’s dry humour.)

Man-I am here to see the president about joining the Society. Is he in?

Receptionist- He is not in Sir, but I will give you a form to fill which I will pass on to the President when he arrives. He will get back to you. (She hands him a form to fill and directs to the very spacious and lavishly decorated visitors room.)

Man sits and fills form. When he gets to Occupation, he pause and chews the end of his gold pen. He considers for a while. He writes “importer/Exporter”. He returns the filled form to the receptionist and hand her a wad of cash. She appreciates him profusely as he leaves. She sits in her chair and shakes her head. Arrogant men she met saw them every day. One of the perks of her job. Good thing was their arrogance made them give her money every day.

Francis is in his beach house relaxing. He was deep in thought. He thought of how far he had come in one year. Just this time last year, Banana Island sounded foreign to him. He was hawking gala at Ikeja under-bridge. Life had been hard. He lived with seven friends in a shoddy little room close to the bridge where he sold gala. He had come to Lagos two years before then to work for an ‘oga’. He was a sales boy for his well-to-do cloth selling boss. His boss used to go to China, Turkey, Dubai and many other countries to buy clothes for his several boutiques. They had just gotten a warehouse full of new goods, worth about 12million naira when the whole Balogun market based warehouse had been ravaged by fire that December. When the boss heard, he had gotten a heart attack. Business had gradually crumbled as the sales boy in several stores had looted the boss’ goods. Francis had been laid off by the boss’ wife despite his honesty.  Francis tried to raise capital from several friends and acquaintances but none offered to help. While selling gala at the bridge, he had come across his friend who had come from the village with him and had disappeared. He was now a big man with cars and houses. He had shown Francis the ‘way’, and after the necessary rites, sacrifices and rituals, the money had started to come in for Francis. The girl that had been used for the ritual was still alive but in a comatose state in a wardrobe in the ritual house. She had a pot on her head from which Francis carried money from fortnightly.
Life for Francis was now good. His phone rang.

Francis-Hello

 Voice- Is this Mr. Francis Nwanadi?

Francis- Yes. That is me. Who is this?

Voice- This is Mr. Geoffrey of the Lagos Elite Society. I got your request for membership form.

Francis- Ah, Yes. I came by to the club this afternoon but you were not in. How are you?

Geoffrey- Fine thank you Mr. Nwanadi.

Francis-No need for the formalities, just call me Francis.

Geoffrey- I called to tell you that your request into the club has been denied by the board.

Francis-Ahan. But why? Do you know who I am?

Geoffrey-Look, you cannot be accepted into the club no matter how much you have. We are an association of integrity, and we accept only men of repute who are highly dignified and we know their fields. You filled your occupation column with importer/exporter. Let’s be frank, we all know that is a façade. Let’s save our time and not go back and forth with this. You are denied access. When you start earning an honest living, do let us know. Good day.

Francis-What does this rubbish mean, do you know who I am? That your rubbish club. Because I am even laughing with you people. I will show you who I am. Rubbish talk. In this….

Francis looks at the beeping phone in his hand. He bursts into tears.

Like i said, this is for instance. 

Real Success

Francis is seated in his beach house reminiscing. It had been a long day at work. Whoever said that owning your own business was better than working for someone lied.  The headache just wasn’t easy. Nobody could take your business serious as you. He had had to monitor most things at the office himself despite having managers et al. He had just paid back the loan he had gotten from a close friend to start up his textile company and he did not want it to affect his company. Profits were good and he wanted to keep it that way. He relaxed and thanked God and hard work for achieving all that he had. It had been rough, but he had paid the price and here he was. He had gone from the boy selling gala at under bridge Ikeja to the major importer of textile in the country.  His phone rang.

Francis; Hello

Voice; Good day Mr. Francis Nwannadi, my name is Geoffrey Danus of the Lagos Elite society. Congratulations on the purchase of your new fleet Sir.

Francis; Thank you. Please what can I do for you?

Geoffrey; I would like to invite you to be a member of the Lagos Elite society. It would be a thing of pleasure and a great honour to have you in our society Sir. A formal mail of request has been sent to you and we would anticipate your response. Please feel free to come for any of our meetings.

Francis; Oh. That is great. I will reply your mail as soon as I can. Thank you, Mr. Danus.

Geoffrey. Thank you too Sir. Good day.

Francis stares at his phone. His heart was overwhelmed with happiness. He called his mother.

Francis; Hello mama, thank you for all your prayers….

That to me, is real and unreal success. No matter how little the price, it has to be paid to achieve success. You are truly successful when your success can be related with. God bless our hustle.