By ADESOLA AYO-ADERELE
I and some young colleagues were discussing our professional journeys at breakfast this morning.
As I narrated my professional experience and how I ended up where I am, one of them quipped: ‘Wow! Olórun gbé ògo fùn òle!‘ (God has favoured the undeserving).
I laughed, but I didn’t allow the irreverent conclusion to go unchallenged.
First, I told him that in the context of our discussions, there’s no scriptural backing for that nonsensical statement that I’ve also heard in church gatherings and which the average unserious individual uses to justify personal failure on account of inability, deliberate neglect or absolute refusal to strike the iron while it’s still hot.
As a Christian, I recognise the place of grace in the life of God’s own, but I also recognise that professing faith without requisite labour amounts to insulting the integrity of God’s word.
Seeing the shape that my job was assuming about a decade ago, in addition to personal desire to go into corporate or development communication on my way to final retirement, I painstakingly saved for two years to enable me to return to school.
I was 50 by the time I earned a fresh degree.
My kids also introduced me to online certifications in marketing, communication, and Web editing; with Iniobong helping with one or two upskilling that I paid for while she taught me graphics illustration and whatever else online.
I learned photography on my own and could edit videos on my phone.
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After failing some job interviews on account of my ignorance about how to draft communication strategies, I asked friends in the field to send me examples, and big sis Angela emailed one to me…
As for those liars who stand the truth on its head by testifying about getting appointed or employed into positions they don’t qualify for in the name of Olórun gbé ògo fún òle, they have no business decrying the presence of fake doctors, nurses and midwives in hospitals; or the tragedy of fake lawyers in courts; or the atrocities of fake policemen or soldiers…
All of these propped up my CV, in addition to my extensive media experience during which I won reasonable numbers of national and international awards that took me to incredible places, including Stanford.
Yet, someone could look me in the eye and say all these were achieved because God appropriated someone else’s success to me or that I’m unworthy after all the efforts and prayers?
The guy, arguing his point, said if I considered that I couldn’t have been the only applicant for a job, then I’d realise his point of view.
And I told him that if that’s the way it works, someone with a secondary school cert might as well have been employed to do his job, which only a PhD holder like him could do.
Somehow, he agreed.
As for those liars who stand the truth on its head by testifying about getting appointed or employed into positions they don’t qualify for in the name of Olórun gbé ògo fún òle, they have no business decrying the presence of fake doctors, nurses and midwives in hospitals; or the tragedy of fake lawyers in courts; or the atrocities of fake policemen or soldiers, because their spurious gods who appropriate unmerited blessings to the layabout might as well be at work.
