Lead image by me, the other image from Unsplash.
I'm sure we have all heard the Aesop fable titled the tortoise and the hare. I heard the story when I was very little.
The fable
The hare always made fun of the tortoise for being slow so they decided to have a race and the fox was their judge. During the race, the hare was already ahead but decided to rest a bit to wait for the tortoise to catch up and fell into a deep sleep that lasted for hours. Unbeknownst to him, the steady-going tortoise already passed him. By the time he woke He rushed to finish the race but the tortoise won hence the saying 'slow and steady wins the race'.
Moral lessons from the fable
1) Slow and steady wins the race: if you're persistent, consistent, and take one step at a time, you'll be better off than someone carefree and fast.
2) Overconfidence: The hare could have won, it was obvious but he lost because he was carefree and decided to sleep. He underestimated his opponent. Even if you're talented than your opponent, humility is still required.
Growing up, I always saw examples of this story in real life. There is always this extremely smart person who doesn't read as much as she should, her classmate who isn't as smart as she is would get better results than her. She was overconfident but someone else with determination had overcome her.
It's saddening that the exact opposite is happening these days.
Real-life illustration
The tortoise
Bola finished at a Federal University, she struggled to make a first-class, shuffling 2 jobs to pay her bills. She often volunteered and did everything within her means to build up her curriculum vitae. Her parents had no 'connection', this means someone in a higher position to help. She was desperate for a job and she was qualified enough to use her degree to get one.
The hare
Maria finished at the University of Toronto, Canada. She was sheltered all her life, her parents are influential and she even went to the best secondary school in Lagos. She was expected to come back to Nigeria to work as per her agreement with her parents.
The fox
In this fable, the fox represented the judge, here it represents the CEO of the company that both Bola and Maria had applied.
The job had required some of the few skills Bola had, her interview had been flawless, they were impressed by her intelligence and what she had to offer. It was clear that Bola had a passion for the Job.
Maria told her parents that she didn't have time to come to the interview in Nigeria as she was busy at that moment. Her parents pulled plugs for the interview to be held online for her. She didn't have what they wanted, it was clear.
Unluckily for Bola, Maria's interview had only been a formality. The CEO of the company was Maria's father's friend. It had been decided right from time.
This is one example where being resilient and smart like the tortoise doesn't matter. Bola had been slow because she didn't know anyone to help her in the company.
The real world prefers someone who can get the job done fast. A company prefers someone who can get them to make profits on time, not someone who will spend ten years making a single profit.
The real world prefers someone who has a figurative long leg like the hare, long leg means 'connection', someone like Maria who has someone in high places.
Foxes these days don't judge fairly, they practice nepotism these days, in real life especially these days, the hare would have won because the fox would be biased because the hare was more skilled or that the hare's mom is friends with the fox.
The real world isn't fair.
Beginning of this year, I had to secure an internship placement, I and my friends went to several companies to apply, some asked us before we dropped our letters if we knew anyone in the company, we said no and they told us not to bother applying. Most told us that they'll get back to us, they didn't, when we contacted some, they said they were not accepting interns yet only for us to see some of our other coursemates get accepted, they knew someone there who pulled the string.
Maybe there are still fair foxes out there but the unfair ones are more popular these days. I'm yet to see one. I paid a sum of twenty thousand nairas for three months to intern instead of getting a placement that'll pay me almost that amount every month or even interning for free.
It makes me sad when I think about this, I'm used to this system as I've started looking for an individual that'll pull strings for me for my next internship next year. It's annoying that everyone sees this as normal and there's nothing I can do about it. I just hope it favors me one day.
Have you had experiences like mine before?
Thank you @ErdoV for sponsoring me, I appreciate all my sponsors for encouraging me, you guys are the best, please do check them out
Thank you for reading
October 23, 2021
©Deeepensiverse.
The system that was designed to help us has been changed to frustrate us. It is really annoying and it's hard to accept it as the new normal. I am sorry you had to go through that. I wanted to apply for the civil defence job many years back and I was told to pay certain amount... I think around 30,000 in 2009 or so. I paid and it didn't work out still... I only got 10,000 back.