EPISODE IX: I’M NOT DONE
The big city has shown up in so many
ways in my eyes. At one point, I felt like I was lagging behind. That I had
lost direction of my life and I was going to amount to nothing. However, the
big city kept me safe. It allowed me to keep an open-mind even when I was
feeling different things. And several years later in the big city, my life
has changed significantly. I am almost graduating. And I have also registered
noteworthy milestones as a person. I am glad that I have worked hard through
different lens of the city. The mere fact that I have come this far does not
mean that I haven’t had challenges. I have experienced challenges. Different
challenges for that matter. And I have one experience that remains clear in my
mind. The challenge I faced is still fresh in my mind. Do you still remember I
told you that I was the only teenager among adults?
When this experience happened, I had
not enrolled at the University yet. I was still apprenticing at the engineering
company. And different clients were coming to the office. Real clients focused
on the agenda. They asked for the service that brought them to the office.
These clients did not care who was serving them. All they cared about was getting the service they needed in the best way. Then there was a second group
of clients or people. They would come to the office and ask for one of the
company owners. And I would joyfully inform them that the owners are not in
right now. They have other commitments outside the office and I will be
handling clients and different functions in the office in their absentia. I would
tell them that I am handling operations at the moment. Part of this group could
understand. However, there were some who were having problems trusting a
teenager.
They thought that I did not know what
I was doing at the company. So they would not ask for what they needed. Some of
them could linger around for some time and then leave without saying a word. In
their mind, they were seeing a child and perhaps, the issues that they wanted
to discuss with one of the owners were too complex for a teenager. So they kept
to themselves until the owners found time for them. I had these cases for some
time. And they were perplexing me as much as, they were interesting. I could
not understand adults. And one of those things that I could not put together
about adults was the idea of breaking communication and taking offence with the
broken communication. I was there. I was ready to listen. I could serve them.
Yet, some adults could not speak up their mind. I could guess some of their
needs. However, I could not fulfill those needs. If, no one expressed desire for them to be met.
I wondered why some of these clients
could not understand that if someone leaves you in charge of their important
functions. There is always instructions. I had that instruction. I was well informed
and prepared to handle complex issues when the owners were not there. I was
ready and that is why I came every day to the office. For instance, the owners
had told me that if there was a matter, which was proving too hard to handle. I could redirect the concerned people to one of them on
phone. Some of the people who came to the office and started showing trust
issues did not ask if, there was a way they could communicate directly with the
bosses. And since they did not say a word to me. I could not connect them on
the call or even use other communication techniques. I could not help them
beyond stating to them when the owners will be back in the office.
In other occasions, I could ask some
of the people who were not speaking what they wanted. And some could not put a
word to their needs. So we all ended up in a stalemate. No progress being made
on that day. I could not tell whether these clients really had genuine issues
or were loitering around. However, something was clear. They were having a
difficult time trusting a person they considered too young to understand what
they wanted. Yet this teenager, knew so much about the company and the
business of the organization. I had received proper orientation. I could
perform different tasks so well. In fact, I was very good at the main business
functions. I knew how to handle clients. I could serve them regardless of their
needs. And I had a connection line to a different office, which picks up from
where our office stopped.
I had their solutions. All they needed was to ask. However, some clients were not seeing beyond the child-like face. Their
attention was misdirected. They focused on the wrong thing at the right time.
Some of the clients with trust problems were not seeing the potential in front
of them. And this is a problem in modern society. In fact, some adults are
really prejudiced to an extent that they rule out young people so quickly
without understanding them. One thing that some adults don’t know about
teenagers is that they know a lot. Young adults understand a lot of things and
they have intelligence too. The knowledge and wisdom that teenagers have can
only be tapped if, adults trust them. Trusting young people is the best way to
help them develop confidence in their work. Trust helps them make meaningful
progress.
A man listening to a demonstration of how get things done Credit/MART PRODUCTION
The problems of trust impacted me
during my initial stages of my apprenticeship. However, when some of the same clients ran into me multiple times in the office. They had no choice but to trust.
I was there to stay and they could decide whether they wanted service or
judgment. Either way, the business had to continue. I was at the office to work
and being young had nothing to do with how I work. But things changed. The same
clients that used to have problems ended up loving my work. Because they could
always find someone to carry out functions for them when they needed those
functions. My bosses were busy. It was hard to find one of them in the office.
They could not spend the rest of the day in the office because they had tasks
outside the office. That actually, was one of the reasons I was brought in as an
apprentice. The bosses needed someone who could be accessible in the office all
the time. To enable operations to run seamlessly inside and outside office.
The challenges that I encountered
taught me something based on the behaviors exhibited by people who were having
a trust problem. I learned that human beings sometimes, struggle to find
solutions to their problems. When in reality, their solutions are right where
they are. Maybe, We can blame how people are socialized in society. It is true
that the way people are socialized determines whether they make progress or
experience obstacles. Some human beings are prejudiced and they struggle to break
free from those prejudices. The overall image around a child and young people
is flawed. People associate children and young adults with naivety. People don't think that someone can be a child and still be intelligent. Some adults think
that children are ignorant. That they don’t know much about the world around
them.
This perception is wrong. Modern
children understand a lot of things. These children are smart. And smart kids
know how to create things or even solve problems. Society and adults should
stop underestimating children and young adults. The wrong perception placed on
children and young adults is a burden. It is a burden because it prevents them from accessing
opportunities to grow, learn, and develop into responsible human beings. I
personally think that when it comes to teaching children how to think, age
should not be a variable. Adults should begin empowering their children at a
young age. In fact, telling these kids important information at a tender age is
good for them. Such messages are never forgotten. Children grow up with them
and they also remember important messages. If, progress has to be registered in this area, culture must shift.
Parents and adults should feel
comfortable saying some things to their children or children in their lives.
This is the only way to create visionary future leaders. Current leaders should openly teach the current generation. Leaders should model right
behaviors and practices, which make young people want to become something in
the future. When I juxtapose the challenges I went through with where I am now.
I see obstacles. For example, what would have happened if, the current bosses
in the engineering company looked at my face? What if, they had looked at that
face and concluded that I was a child and as a result not ready? Could I still
be telling this story? Could I still have accessed the privilege of being at
the Central Business District? Could I have developed into the person I am
today?
If, my current bosses could have
concluded that bringing me to the company could be too overwhelming for a
19-year-old. Maybe, I could not have learned how to cross a street in a busy
city. If I would have only interacted with the big city when I was a student,
I strongly believe that I would have possibly faced monumental challenges in
the city. For example, I would have mistakenly thought that everyone cares about me
and in the process trust everyone. However, by the engineering company taking
me in at that stage of my life. It took a risk that benefited me immensely. My
world opened up. I was able to see life from different angles. I learned about
the different segmentations in society on one hand and on the other hand, I
learned about various existing stereotypes in the same society. The stereotypes
in particular, would have consumed me.
Teenagers are not done enjoying each others company Credit/Kat Wilcox
Stereotypes for example, require one to follow a
certain nonexistent straight line. I am not cut out for straight lines. I don’t
follow straight lines. I love living my life trying out different things and
possibilities. The different things and possibilities become my learning opportunities. And I love learning
occasions. Learning is how I grow and refine myself. And sometimes, classroom
is not enough. Classroom does not teach people about life in general. The
classroom is limited to a certain extend. Therefore, people need
opportunities outside the classroom. These outside opportunities teach people
what they did not learn in the classroom. The engineering company was that
opportunity for me outside the classroom. It was a different world altogether.
I had never been to the corporate world. I did not know what people do in the
business world.
The company gave me chances to
understand what goes on in the corporate world. And I learned how corporate
thinks and it was an important lesson for me. Being at the corporate world at
my age was a new prism. The angle was interesting. And I wanted to explore it.
The experiences I gained at the corporate world will stick with me. Further,
the challenges that I faced shaped me in a certain way. The challenges taught
me about different perspectives in the marketplace. The way people perceive
something determines whether progress exists or not. Such things are really
important because you have to witness them to know that they exist. Nobody
talks about the hidden not so pleasant parts of society openly. People focus on
the perfect world. Yet there is no perfect world. Human beings and
societies need to get over some things, especially those that create division
and result in other people missing opportunities.
For instance, if society and the
various socializations that people go through continue to judge children as
children or young people as children. The world will not evolve. Children and
young adults carry potential. Society should learn to see them as equal
opportunity members of society. People who have their own mind and words. The
hope that children and young adults carry is worthy respect. It should be
respected and given opportunities to sprout and flourish. Teenagers should be
exposed at the right time. The dreams and gifts that the generation of teens
carry are very important to society and the world. Prejudice and wrong perceptions should not stand in the way of opportunities
that children and young adults should access. Society must open up and see life
as it occurs. Life is fresh and new every day. No one should place an obstacle
on it.
It has so much to offer. And we can
only get much out of life by opening up opportunities. We should see potential
not the color or age of a person. And young people have a lot of potential.
They only need to be exposed to the right programs and opportunities. Society
needs more people who think outside the box. Even though I don’t know what is
normally outside the box. But the point for you is think differently.
Innovate your thinking. Stop being limited and following outdated societal
stereotypes. I appreciate that someone thought differently for me to be where I am
today. If my current bosses thought like some of my clients, I
doubt whether there could be a story today. And that would be a shame because I
have so much energy and potential. Someone needed to trust me and I am glad
that it happened.
My future looks incredible right now.
I will not have too much problems in the future. We stand apart with my peers.
Most of my peers are subscribed to the single-sided frame of life. They are
mostly doing just classes. I haven’t seen most of them connecting with the
market. They have not placed themselves in the middle of the marketplace and
determined where their current skills and knowledge fit. I would not be
surprised if some of my peers, experience culture shock when they graduate. Me
on the other hand, I will not suffer from the same because I have interacted
with the market and I know how it thinks. The connections I have made between
my education and the marketplace have taught me something about career. And I
have learned that textbook is so different from reality. You only need to come
out and see how different textbook and market look. My experience inside and
outside the classroom is a tool. It will serve me very well when I officially join the marketplace as my own person.
.webp)
.webp)
Comments