...continued...
In the last post, it was discussed that as we journey through life, we gain experiences and no matter your age, you keep learning to gain more experiences, either through shared experiences or personalized ones. The bottom line is, whatever you want to gain in life, it will have to cost you something.
I remembered the story of a professor that was driving to another state. On the way, the car developed a fault and he knew absolutely nothing about cars. He stood there, hoping for any kind of help. A man on the bike moved closer to him and asked what the problem was. He explained the best way he could and this man told him to wait for just few more minutes that he would send a mechanic to him as one wasn’t too far off, and he was also rushing somewhere.
The mechanic came after few minutes and checked. He noticed the problem and picked a big stone, hit the head of the battery and asked the prof to go inside to start it. The prof did and the car started. The prof was surprised and thankful and asked the man for his bill. The mechanic said #10,000 (naira; our local currency). The prof exclaimed and questioned the mechanic why he would request for that. The mechanic simply said, 1,000 naira is for the energy I used in lifting the stone, and 9,000 naira is for knowing where to hit with the stone; my knowledge.
Knowledge also gives us experience. The truth is, if the prof had known what to hit, he wouldn’t have requested for the help of the mechanic. In life, we always pay for what we don’t know, which in turn gives us a valuable experience needed as we go through life.
I recently contacted a furniture maker to do a makeover for some chairs I kept in a spare room. He charged me a certain fee and I have no problem with it because I know the work he has to do there. When my grandma heard how much he charged, she told me the price was too much. I told her all the man has to do, she still insisted. I kept quiet, at least I am the one to pay for it, not her, so why drag it with her. I know the price isn’t too high, compared to how much they sell a new set of chairs out there. I paid gladly for what I didn’t know how to do. He has the experience based on learning, something I didn’t go through, so I parted with my money to use his own expertise. Like I said earlier, gaining something in life has to cost you something.
I also called a generator repairer for servicing and she said the same thing. When the guy was done, I had to go back to her to make her see what the guy did and all he bought. This was the one she finally agreed wasn’t too high. She confessed she heard people say the guy is expensive and I told her, the issues that made us call the repairer might be different. The point is, if I knew how to do it by paying the price to gain the experience, I would have saved a lot of money in the long run. Because I don’t have interest in knowing it, I still have to pay for it.
Things we get in life will cost us, more so the invaluable experiences we gather along the way. Even if someone shared their experience with you, they already paid for what they are offering you for free, and still, you sacrifice your time too for it. Pay the price that you can pay, and live and learn as you journey through life. We should only pray never to pay a price too steep for a bad experience.
In life, we might not get what we paid for, but we will surely pay for what we get, one way or the other.
May you get more out of life than a cup of tea.
Thank you for your time.
My pen doesn’t bleed, it speaks, with speed and ease.
Still me,
My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
Olawalium; (Love’s chemical content, in human form). Take a dose today: doctor’s order.