AGBO JEDI: THE POWER OF RESILIENCE (Lesson from a young hawker)
AGBO JEDI: THE POWER OF RESILIENCE
(Lesson from a young
hawker)
Last Wednesday, I was in a lounge owned by a friend in
Ibadan. The lounge is situated in a popular park.
A party was going on in the park. From where I was seated in
the lounge, I could see all the happenings of the party.
Suddenly, an high profile political associate of mine walked
into the party with some other well-known politicians.
I know the celebrant and other politicians at the party but
since she (the celebrant) didn’t invite me to the party, I respected myself by
not gate crashing. The high profile politician that came in early with his
entourage was someone I had been planning to meet for an important discussion,
so I took the benefit of his presence at the party to engage him.
I walked into the party to greet him and others and
requested for his audience when he is done partying. I went back to my seat
inside the lounge afterwards
An hour later, my associate came to join me with his crew
and we started discussing as planned.
Here comes the crux of this story.
A boy of about 15 years old came to stand by the windows and
was begging us to buy from him bottles of herbal remedy for pile that he was
hawking. He particularly mentioned my associate’s name which he overheard from
the praise singer my associate was lavishing naira notes on earlier. More
people came into the lounge and couple with the unrelenting disturbance of the
young hawker. We decided to move into the
About thirty minutes later, the young hawker found his way
to the window of the VIP section and started begging us again to buy his ‘agbo
jedi’. Most of us were angry with him but my associate called the waiter to
bring the young hawker in. We finally bought two bottles of the herbal remedies
from him. I asked him why he was hell bent on selling to us? His
response: ‘I have been in the park all day without selling at all. I just have
to make a sale before going home’.
He kept following us out of the hundreds of people at the
park. We were just seven in number. He was convinced we would buy from him if
he kept pushing.
He finally succeeded.
It was a strong message from a young hawker. When we learn
and endure from resilience, we are most likely to enjoy the following benefits:
Have greater ambition.
Feel more hopeful and optimistic.
Find it easier to maintain emotional stability.
Be more resourceful.
Find it easier to delay gratification.
Feel more connected to others in their personal life and the
world as a whole.
Have greater satisfaction with life overall.
I went home that night and couldn’t just stop thinking about
the lesson from young hawker.
Whatever you do, whatever your ambition, you may not succeed
the first time, or even the second or the third trials. But by being consistent
and resilient you will succeed on the long run.
A man contested for president of his country three times
unsuccessfully only to win at the fourth trial.
Keep your eye on the target and you will hit it at last.
(Adapted from a story by an unknown author)
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