- Experience, they say is the best teacher. Perhaps you have had a good number of teachers. You have had a thousand and one type of experiences.
Sometimes, they are good and enriching experiences and some other times, they are very unpleasant and energy-draining. Everyone loves good experiences. But it does not happen every day. Your next experience may not be a funny one. How you wished you never had such an experience. For it was a stressful day full of bad experiences. But the truth is that we do not choose our experiences most of the time. Some time they badge on us. Most times we are not prepared for some of our experiences. And when we are not prepared and ready, something nasty and embarrassing happens. In our unguardedness, we look for some one who would be of some help. We want somebody to stand -in -the- gap for us and provide us the needed solutions. Sometimes we are successful. And at some other times, the day refuses to break, and the boiling water refuses to be hot.
- It was on a Tuesday evening; the day was hectic and rough. You seem to have gotten up from bed from the wrong side. From that moment on, the day was something else. All your encounters seemed to be something else. Things seemed not to be adding up properly. You do not seem to understand. But you feel being worked up and anxious. But you cannot pin your hand on anything serious. You continued to manage your life. But it was not as if everything was in order. But life went on. The time does not seem to be moving. It was as if everything was at a stand- still. You were still unable to unravel the mystery. But in your resilience, you refused to give up. You continued to do what you were expected to be doing. In the course of your work, you experienced a momentary glimmer of joy in your mind, and shortly thereafter, it faded away. But you remained somehow unruffled. When the day was done, and you were about to go home, you wished that such a day never dawned. It was getting dark, and you wished you were home already. You dashed to your car and put your other belongings in and headed for your home.
- Barely 10 minutes from the office, you heard an unusual noise from your car, coming from the burnet. You went on, imagining it was the usual noise you have been hearing. Of course, and suddenly the noise ceased, and you went on. After about 5minutes your car began to jerk and gradually you pulled to the roadside. On your arrival, as if you had reached your destination, the car stopped completely. All attempts to kick-start the car proved abortive. You reached for your phone and called your mechanic to give information. His phone was switched off. You tried that of your partner, there was no way. Meanwhile, every other car moving in your direction were moving at a top speed as if you were a suspect already. You became more confused. You dashed to your burnet, opened it, looked as if you could fix the challenge. That was not your profession. You could do nothing about it. You must wait for that uneducated mechanic to come and fix it. You yelled and yelled. You were getting anxious. You continued to try the phone numbers of good friends that would come to your mind at that moment of uncertainty. Suddenly one picked and you narrated your story. Sorry, he replied, he was out of town to a meeting in Lagos. Your anxiety level began to increase with speed. The darkness continues to thicken. And no one has come to your rescue.
- In that ungodly situation, when no mechanic appeared, when no car stopped by to ask what was wrong, when no traffic officer came around, when even your partner, friend, wife or husband could not appear, it seems life has no meaning. You began to ask yourself, where were all those your friends. Why could you not reach them in the phone? Why were their phones switched off at that hour? What must have gone wrong? All these and more were the questions going on in your head. Yet they were not solving the problems. You were still stranded. You still needed some assistance. You needed someone, known or unknown, an Angel, a human being, man or woman, Igbo or Hausa, tall or short, rich or poor, you needed urgently some one to stand- in -the -gap and provide you solutions. Period! That is what life is.
- Like a star from the blues, a car began to come towards you, slows down, asks from within, what the problem was? You began to run after the car, trying to give information about the situation. Your joy increased when the car stopped. At a stage you were afraid, what that could portend. But suddenly you heard his voice, and it seemed like a familiar one. You began to summon courage. He came out of the car with a torch light. Lo, you did not know him. Yet he was ready to support. Asked you again what the problems were, and you narrated. Like a professional he asked you to open the burnet. He fiddled with one thing or the other and asked you to kick-start the car .You readily did. And to your greatest amazement, the car kicked and was able to move. And like a flash of light, the man disappeared, and you could drive home. You wondered who the man was but could not get his identity. But you thanked God for such a person who could stand in your gap and provided you solutions. And you wished him well. A thousand and one idea were going on in your mind as you raced home. That too is how life is.
- Back to Caritas Nigeria, the engine of the Organization does not need to breakdown before you stand in-the gap to provide solutions. By our work and by our trainings and professions, we are always being expected to provide solutions. In fact, the whole of life enterprise is to provide solutions. Professionals are known to be solution-providers. And you are to some degree a professional in your own right. There are things you can uniquely do to make others better. Life is at its peak when we can provide solutions. Poverty and misery for instance, could be mitigated when we provide solutions. It is about sharing our experiences and knowledge. If the man passing by, the Staff that was stranded, had behaved like the rest of men and women, not stopping to ask questions and offer solutions, probably the Staff would have stayed longer in that agonizing state of quagmire. We are being called to share the knowledge we have and stand in the gap and provide solutions to others. Remarks are rife that our Staff in the Finance and Grants units and some in some other program areas, across the states and regional offices are not always eager to stand -in -the- gap and provide solutions. I do not wish to believe that. But I am aware that some people are afraid to share their experiences and knowledge should others outsmart them. But, that is already an evidence that you did not know the job well. No one can take away from you, what you have known. Knowledge is power and it empowers when shared with others and visions and horizons are thus widened.
