The lizard and rat were best friends and like best friends, they do everything to tether. They eat together, sleep together and play together; a real definition of the inseparable. What made the friendship all the more marvelous was how they managed to maintain a good friendship despite their differences.

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On this fateful sunny day, these two friends were taking a stroll in the forest and then they came across a lake. The lake looked enticing and very clean and since it was sunny, the lizard suggested that they take a bath so as to feel refreshed. The rat thought it was an awesome idea and before you know it, they were both in the water, splashing and singing all over the place. One could tell that they were enjoying their bath.

Sokn after the bath which didn't last for long, they got out of the lake and were set to continue their stroll. Just then, the rat became shivering convulsively. At first, the rat thought it was something he could contain but as it got worse, he couldn't even stand on his feet anymore. He soon collapsed and shivered like mad as the fur on his body stood on edge.

Seeing this, his friend the lizard became scared out of his wits as he tried to bring his friend back to normal. He rubbed his limbs and belly to increase the blood flow but it seemed that was futile. Luckily for him, Mr tortoise was passing along the route at that time after collecting some wood for his wife. He saw the situation and assessed it. He then called on Lizard to help lit some of the wood he's collected to provide sufficient warmth for the rat. After alot of wood had been burned, they managed to bring him back to consciousness and he was then taken home for further care. When he recovered, rat vowed to himself never to have anything to do with a lake nor any other water body for that matter. He then realized that he was of a completely different nature from his friend the lizard. His nature doesn't provide him any resistance to the effects of water whereas the lizard's nature ensured that he doesn't have a problem with that. Despite them being best friends, it doesn't really mean they have to be the same in every aspect. They sure must be differences. Just because something works for someone doesn't mean it would work for you.

In the above story there are two things to learn:

1.Respect, acknowledge the differences you have from those you care about.

1. Just because something works for someone doesn't mean it would work for you too.

There's a saying in my language that can be translated as, "if a person dances in a market and had money sprayed on him as a sign of appreciation, you might get beaten by those same people if you dance in that same market". This simply means that your friend's way may be totally different from yours. That doesn't mean anything as long as you still care and love each other.

Knowing the differences.

Let me sight an example with myself. I and my best friend are in the same school and infact studying the same course. I bet you might start thinking that since we both study same course then we read together but that's not the case. We do everything else together save studying. Infact I can say that I hate studying with her because the mode of study is not the same. While she's a person who grasp things faster when she reads out loud, I prefer silence. She scribble on her blotter as she studies, I do that after I study, and many other differences. We still ask ourselves about things we've read, but never reading together.

What works for you.

When we were in secondary school and were preparing to write JAMB(for my non-Nigerian friends JAMB is an examination that you must pass in order to gain admission into the university), alot of my colleagues then were busy applying for Medicine and Surgery and engineering simply because their friends where doing the same. They failed to assess themselves before venturing into such things. They simply went "since my friend is going to study that, then I will go the same". At the end of the day they end up not meeting to the requirements or even if they get the admission, they become unable to keep up and they get withdrawn. What works for someone might not necessarily work for you. Know thyself.

Thanks for reading.

Yours Layly,

❤❤❤