This reflection struck a chord – I laughed at the initial thought, yet a deeper sadness followed. Haven't we all witnessed individuals who poured their heart and soul into their endeavors, only to fall short of the perceived mark of success?
Perhaps we need to adjust our perspective, to consider a broader understanding of what influences outcomes. Countless individuals work hard, prepare and ready, yet the opportune moment, that elusive stroke of fortune, never materializes for them.
The inherent irony lies in your own acknowledgment of this very phenomenon. When you speak of someone whose success can only come from GRACE (my interpretation), isn't that, in essence, another name for luck?
The concept of luck is often filtered through individual lenses. Some perceive it as grace, others as a divine blessing, a breakthrough, or even providence. Regardless of the label, it represents an unforeseen act of goodwill. It's difficult to deny that this element weaves through the stories of virtually everyone who has achieved success in life.
We often hear narratives like, "He hustled tirelessly until his breakthrough finally arrived." This "breakthrough" itself often carries a significant element of chance.
Allow me to illustrate. MKO Abiola, by all accounts, was a man of immense intellect and diligence, yet he remained in poverty for a considerable period. While his persistence was undeniable, his eventual wealth wasn't solely a product of it.
Providence and luck played pivotal roles, beginning with the scholarship he secured. Scholarships, in their very nature, involve a degree of fortune. Numerous highly qualified applicants are overlooked, while others, perhaps with less apparent qualifications, receive this life-altering opportunity. Can we definitively label this as mere preparation?
Both successful and unsuccessful applicants often demonstrate hard work and readiness; fortune simply smiles on one. Had MKO not received that crucial scholarship, his life's trajectory would likely have been vastly different. Many of his equally hardworking contemporaries never achieved similar heights, while he, in turn, became a source of luck for those around him. His subsequent contract with ITT was another instance where being in the right place at the right time played a significant role. Perhaps his most significant stroke of luck, as he himself acknowledged, was his meeting with Simbiat. Coming from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds – Simbiat from a privileged home, MKO from poverty – her choice to embrace him and her family's acceptance of their union was not a result of meticulous planning on his part. He didn't strategize his way into finding such favors; he simply fell in love while pursuing his own path. Many others have experienced similar connections without the resultant wealth, highlighting the multitude of factors at play. Furthermore, MKO's network, a crucial element in his success, also contained an element of unplanned encounters and fortunate connections. Look at us here, many of us just met here without prior notice or expectations or plan. That is how connection starts. If it worked for us, it is not because we are more hardworking than people who are on groups where all they do daily is to abuse each other and lose vital connection.
Consider Aliko Dangote himself. Regardless of the term you prefer – luck, chance, or grace – its presence is undeniable in his journey. He didn't choose his family. He came from a wealthy family that gave him an advantage. That is luck! People born into poverty didn't choose it in the womb just as people born into wealth did not choose it. That is also luck. People who are born into families that give them good upbringing are luckier than those who are born to families where children are told to go and survive at all costs, crime or whatever. And some people born into bad families had the chance of meeting a good man or woman that changed their life trajectory. That is also luck in disguise, not their smart plan.
Even in your own life, upon reflection, you'll likely identify pivotal moments, chance encounters where you met someone or went somewhere, and everything changed. You didn't orchestrate every single step; those unforeseen occurrences, those moments of chance that provided crucial leverage, are what many refer to as luck. For some, luck manifests as an unexpected benefactor appearing to fund their business – a scenario far from an everyday occurrence, despite the countless individuals who diligently work hard, plead, and even endure hardship to secure the capital needed to launch their dreams. Their failure to secure this vital element is a clear absence of luck, or what some might call a lack of grace. A lot of people going to church and mosques to pray every day seeking grace, underrated favor, blessing are seeking this. I am not talking of miracle seekers though. Therefore, my brother, the extent of our control of life is perhaps more limited than we often believe.
Reflecting on a recent conversation, I wrote the following verse from the Quran, another from the Bible, and even Ifa...all pointing out the same thing:
Do they not see the birds above them with wings outspread and [sometimes] folded in? None holds them [aloft] except the Most Merciful. Indeed He is, of all things, Seeing.
So when we pray, for ourselves or our children, often, what we seek is not preparation, hard work, or diligence or plan – we clearly already have these things; at least many of us already had them [aside from lazy people] – what we seek is what we in science call a catalyst in a chemical reaction. It is luck, it is grace, it is a source of good from anywhere our leg walks and our business resides. We don't know how it works or where it will come from, we just need it to accelerate or perfect our own progress.
While I know some people are lazy, some people genuinely worked hard to achieve their goals. Success and failure are not that simple. This is another reason I tend to be very realistic when I see people blame politicians for the poverty of people. They think just having good policy will pull people out of poverty. I cannot write enough to state this is wishful thinking. It is a poverty mindset even though it sometimes comes from salary earners. Salary earners hide behind their employers. They earn money, save, and live large. But their life is exposed when they lose their job and now need to embark on a journey on their own. Business owners, on the other hand, know what it means to run a business, seek opportunities, and suffer through delayed gratification while they pay their staff. It is people that make wealth and poverty, and not the Government. Government only provides security and the environment; you cannot legislate success and failure. Our home upbringing plays more roles in how we see success and failure than Government policy or the party in power.
As I always say, a people who think it is good to have more children without finding means to create more wealth to care for the children are manufacturing poverty. No amount of free money will save them; it is a mental thing. When parents display the trait, their children will follow. The problem is not having more children; the problem is their poverty mindset. The hope that Government or someone out there will fund their kids and make them successful.
Lastly, a lot of people measure success and failure in terms of Naira and Dollars. These are the most foolish people God has created (in my view). There are thousands of people who, if they preserved their money and accumulated wealth, would be richer than Dangote. These people simply did not pivot their lives on the fulcrum of material acquisition. If and when you hear stories of people they have helped, including those who later became richer than them, you will marvel at what they can do. Many people are happy to live on a small amount of money in exchange for peace of mind, while many simply made a choice to let their money go elsewhere instead of accumulating it. Success and failure, therefore, can't be measured in Naira and Dollars. Some people simply don't care about money; I have met a lot of them capable of making more but chose to be where they are. They are not poor, not hungry, and not envying anyone. A lot of people have this Naira and Dollar but are largely miserable and suffer failure in other human endeavors.
I am Isqil Najim
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