I woke up this morning with the thoughts of my friend on my mind. For the first time in six years, I will be living a whole year without him being around. And no, he didn't die; he just moved away to a different city due to a work opportunity that he got.
I'm happy for him. I actually was one of the few people who knew about the offer and encouraged him to take it up because it looked like a good offer, but you see, when I woke up this morning, I realized something really sad, something I didn't really think of until now.
You see, I realized that the last six years have been wasted years for this friend of mine because he literally has nothing to show for it. He had moved over here to school in a polytechnic and struggled to finish his national diploma. But unfortunately for him, he's the one seeing himself through school and at the time, could only afford the fees of his first year in school.
So by the time he got to his second year, he was out of money but attended class and wrote his exams; he just didn't pay any fees. And not paying fees means not getting your certificate.
Then he got a bit of money later in the future, but rather than pay off the previous fees, he felt it would be better if he instead applied for a Higher National Diploma, and maybe he could just finish that and pay for everything all together.
Unfortunately, that plan didn't work either, and after his first year back, he dropped out entirely. It's been years now, and life hasn't been kind to him. No one anywhere is helping, and he could barely look after himself, let alone pay off his academic debt to continue schooling.
And now, after six years of hanging around and hoping for a miracle, he has finally decided to pack his bags and go try elsewhere. The good thing in all of this, though, is that he could always come back any time to pay off the fees and at least get the certificate for his national diploma and, if possible, complete the Higher National Diploma that he already started.
Anyway, while I'm sad that he's going away, I'm happy it is for a good reason, one that I hope helps him become a better man and also someone who no longer has to depend on anyone to get what he needs.
