The struggles continue
I am sure that many people who stumble upon this letter will understand where I am coming from and the point I am making. Few people who have not been in this situation may never understand the plight faced by a young man struggling to find his feet. I know that I am not the only one in this boat but I feel that I should echo out my mind. As the saying also goes that he who hides his sickness dies with it. I wouldn't want to die of hunger in case there is food around me so I can eat and survive.
Most of the time, life seems unfair to most young people. Especially young graduates like myself. Am I a young graduate? No, I do not think so. Next year will make it a decade since I came back from national youth service as a graduate with a second class upper degree yet nothing to show forth as fruits from the school I went to. No good paying job that can make someone comfortable or at least to say that I've been to school.
As a man, finding your feet is one of the different things people barely talk about. Teaching in a private school is one of the necessary evils orchestrated against graduates in Nigeria. It would have been better if one had not even had the experience. It's a waste of time, effort and everything. Before you realise yourself, years are gone and nothing to show for all the work you've been doing. Using your knowledge to develop another person's empire.
Let it be known to the world that I have resigned from such evil form against me. For the past nine years of my life, I've been in the school environment, shaping lives and building destinies – as beautiful as that might seem– but I am still struggling with finances. Lots of bills are piling up every day, yet every day I dress well for work, which will not save me on the day of my troubles. I think it's better if I resign. Just as I did. In this case, the fear of what to eat and put on can finally devour me because I've finally made up my mind.
Fear of survival has caged me for too long and I have refused to remain in that bondage. Every night I find it hard to sleep because of the situation that I've found myself in. Every night and day I think on how to break free, I think about my day of exaltation, I think about how to marry, I think about how to start a family, I think about how to help my parents that are aging, my younger siblings growing up and looking up to their elder brother who is the first and only graduate in the family. Would a job of less than fifty thousand take care of all of this? Thinking about this always brings depression and disappointment.
My mates who learned skills while I left for school that year are all family men with wives and children doing well for themselves. Most times I regretted going to school because it appeared as a fashion formed against me. I also believe that my sponsor must be thinking the same when they see my mate.
I wish I could find my feet in the water so I can be established to carry other people.
It's exactly 2:30 am and I decided to let the world hear me.
I am yours truly.
Thanks for reading my letter.