01/04/2024
In primary school almost everybody wanted to be a pilot, doctor, lawyer, nurse, newscaster, engineer, accountant, soldier, scientist, "bank manager" and other fanciful or supposedly high end jobs that children, per their socialization thought were good or prestigious jobs by the standards of the day.
As we aged realities began to dawn on us. Some of us were quite sharp in the classroom, but terribly useless in extra curricular activities , got bullied a lot. Others were fantastic at sports, but not much was going on for them in the classroom, others were the stars of cultural performances in drumming, dancing and singing, some knew maths like something but could never define photosynthesis or identify a topic sentence.
Then the money part...some people lost their parents and had to fall out, some too realised their destiny is to push truck and sell tomatoes or do galamsey and not to be solving for x on the number line. Some too knew they wanted to born 15 so time no dey, they had to leave school and start fast.
The courses got more difficult as we progressed and those who felt this nonsense must end stopped somewhere, interests began to change, socialization also changes alongside, the soldier wannabes saw that it's not really their cup of tea cos they were too short, the accountants realized they liked science better, and some doctor wannabes also realised selling g string and organizing people's wedding for them was more rewarding.
Some of us too never quite knew what we wanted to do so we kept studying any course that looked challenging and interesting.
What am I trying to say? What we become or don't become is a complex web of socialization, family, economy, fate, cultural beliefs, circumstances, opportunities, connections and the relevance of your family on the food chain in this messed up country.
