Have you ever felt like you are not good enough??, second fiddle in every activity, a side character in your own story and no matter what you do there's always someone better. Meet Shwarzak the prodigy, born into a family of Five. He lost his dad as a teenager and had to relocate to a whole new city to complete high school. After three years, He came back home to work at a waste industry as it had a huge pay and incentives for a young lad with just an secondary school certificate. The job was enjoyable while it lasted and about nine months in, Shwarzak had a terrible accident at work and his left fingers were hurt. It took weeks of health seeking and in the end the only solution was to amputate two of his fingers as there was no money to treat the already infected arm, it was truly dark times in the johnson family.
The healing period crawled like a snail, days turned into weeks and weeks into months as Shwarzak could not wait to immerse himself back into the world once more. One would expect him to wallow in a pool of regret caused by his predicament but no it served as a wake up call and he vowed not to be incapacitated by this minor set back pushing him to achieve excellence in everything he could think of and then some. This incident shaped his life, serving as the catalyst that molded him into the very man he is today.
I met Shwarzak in the second week of February 2020 at the Dean's office during registration, found out we both grew up in the same neighborhood even though we never met and decided to become roommates since he already had a place and was searching for a roommate.
Zak as we all agreed to call him as his full name made people commit tongue suicide was the complete definition of 'I can do it all'. He could waltz into any situation and completely own it . He played football like it was his birthright, his moves were so spot on that even professionals could not help but to admire his athleticism. He was so good that a month into our first semester in year 1 he was already a starter in the school football team in general not excluding departmental and faculty level competitions and at the end of every semester we had to make room for more medals as they seem to flood in at every football competition. Zak was a beast on the field
If Shwarzak wasn't showing off in the field, he was either rapping in Hausa (a native language in Nigeria), singing or just outright being a lyrical genius. Damn this boy could hop on any beat, floor it like it was his business and even when he played with it , the results were bangers after bangers after bangers!, Zak could do it all. He was an unlicensed seasoned electrical engineer, he could fix gadgets, He was an incredible painter and thanks to his delicious meals i did not straight up die from food poisoning as it was no secret I was a horrible cook up until year 3. To add insult to injury I recently discovered that Zak was also a proficient plumber, I guess losing two fingers on his left arm after high school to an industrial accident did not restrict him from productivity and I bet he can predict the future if he looked hard enough but will he?? I guess We will never know.
Do you know what's worse than having a roommate that can do it all?? It's the fact that he puts zero energy into all of this and gets the best results. I could spend days on a single project/ problem with nothing to show for it, all bro had to do was show up and there you have it - Solutions! Solutions! Solutions . At first I was in awe, slightly jealous and largely intimidated by how one person could be so good at everything with me constantly judging my worth. It did not take long for me to feel like a sidekick as people always referred to me as Zak roommate instead of my real name. But the best thing about Zaks was that he never made me feel that way even though he was older, treating me like an equal, always carrying me along like a brother and a friend.
Over the years, living with Shwarzak became the best thing that ever happened to me in school and I honestly believe that I wouldn't have made it through smoothly without him. I can't recall countless times he chose to skip out on class just so I won't return to meet an empty pot after a hectic lecture day . The guy had a heart of gold and a giving spirit to match it up ( if no be Zak where I for dey see meat and egg chop for school🤣🤣).
Till this very day, I still carry some of the lessons learnt from him and if I could have it in another life, Zaks would not be a roommate but an older brother.