As a youngster, I grew up knowing that one can earn a living through hard work, perseverance and commitment. My father will always sound it into our ears (my siblings and I), that a good name is better than all the wealth in this world. Also being privileged to see my mum (now late) grow her small business into an enviable organisation through hard work and dedication, helped in shaping me to becoming the woman I am now. These moral values I held unto and I must say they have really helped me a lot in life.
Recently, I travelled on a business trip to Abuja. On the day I was to travel back to my base, I called for a cab but was advised by the hotel porter to book for a ride on the Bolt app. I thanked him for his thoughtfulness. As I proceeded with the booking, it appeared that the ride I chose had a female driver who called me few minutes after to ascertain my location which I directed her on how to get there. On getting to my hotel to pick me we exchanged pleasantries and headed to the airport. Along the way, I was curious to know why she chose to be a driver so I had to engage her in a conversation and queried her choice of profession. She shared her job search experience with me, as she revealed that at some point she was faced with a situation where people were trying to take advantage of her to offer her a job. After fruitless searches, she decided to take the driving offer when the opportunity came and she has no regrets doing it after all because at the moment she is able to take care of herself from what she makes without being a burden to anyone while looking out for other job opportunities.
I was really impressed by her decision and commended her for doing the right thing because there is “Dignity in Labour”. Eventually we got to the airport in good time, we exchanged numbers and bid each other good bye.
Presently, in our society we are faced with many young men and women with this kind of experience who ended up using unemployment as an excuse to engage in illicit means of livelihood instead of looking for what is available to do.
The days of “Dignity in Labour” are gone because our society puts money above all other values and applaud people with no verifiable source of livelihood. For this reason, we are faced with the alarming increase of social vices among the youths today.
It is important we all understand the implication of what we condone and kick against this menace which is eating up our society by the day. Parent should try as much as they can to inculcate moral values in their children and in order to teach them good values, they have to live by example. Let them teach their children that there is “Dignity in Labour” no matter the kind of jobs they find themselves doing because work gives you a sense of worth, esteem and respect. Work is honourable and dignifying.
On this backdrop, I encourage the youths to take pride in work, as no particular job is indispensable and all jobs are complementary. Instead of embracing illicit means to earn a living take up a job no matter how little it may be and stop looking for cheap success. Success is not a product of luck but hard work.
With Love,
Tricia Iwuoha
