Another Day. Another Risk.

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Risks are a part of life, and if we aren’t taking them, then we aren’t living at all. Because the only way that we can ever really grow is by taking risks. As babies, the only way we could learn to stand and walk was by taking the risk of falling. If we had never overcome the fear of falling, many of us might never have been able to start walking.

There are risks everywhere, and they can’t be avoided. Taking risks is risky, and not taking risks is also risky. Going out every day is risky, and staying home all day is also risky. People have gone out and gotten hit by a bus seemingly out of nowhere. And just last week, the world was shocked by the tragedy of the plane that crashed into a building. Where the inhabitants believed they were safe. So honestly, no one is safe.

But still, we live life. We learn to live in spite of risks because we know that it’s what makes life worth living. The uncertainty is what adds spice to life. The reason life is so interesting and fun is that it’s fragile and uncertain. No one knows what tomorrow holds. No one knows what will become of the decisions they make today. That’s just how it is.

So, for me, what was the most recent risk that I took? When I saw this topic, I’ve been racking my brains, trying to think of it because I take risks every day. It could be business-wise, career-wise, or even academic-wise. Every move I make could end up being a step forward or a step backward for me. However, nothing has ever scared me the way I was quite rattled last week.

I had to deliver something sometime last week, but I didn’t know the exact place I was going to deliver it because the delivery location changed at the last minute. The person I was going to meet switched it up because they were no longer in the place they told me they would be. It was actually simple, I was to wait for them on the main road. Just a bit off, enough to be away from traffic and in the shade.

I picked a tree and decided to wait there. At first, I saw the usual thugs in the streets, trying to control traffic and solicit for cash. But I wasn’t worried about them, I knew how to handle myself in such an area. However, I soon noticed that there weren’t just thugs in the area. I realized that there were some guys who just made me uncomfortable. They were in shops, some were in shades. They had way too many POS machines that I had never seen before, they were all unbranded. There were laptops and phones as well.

It seemed like these guys were scammers of sorts, and that was their den. It didn’t make sense because it was right there, by the side of the road. As in, who would be bold enough to do such a thing by the roadside? And even worse, they were all smoking. Their eyes were red and they were all on one form of high or the other.

Now, I wasn’t scared because I felt they would scam me. I clocked them for who they were the second I saw them. Actually, I was actually scared because I knew that such a place would be a magnet for only one set of people: the police. The last thing I wanted was to be in a strange place when a police raid took place. And as per the Nigeria Police doings, just being there could be enough to give me stress for the rest of the day.

I wanted to leave, so I left the tree at once and returned to the main road. Choosing to stand in the scorching sun. But I still wasn’t comfortable, because I could feel them all around me. The smell of weed and shisha was thick in the air, and I wanted it nowhere near me. It was as if I were standing on a time bomb, and it could go off at any time. My eyes were peeled; every time I saw a shuttle bus, my heart skipped, and I was terrified that the police were there for a raid.

Funny enough, I wasn’t there to deliver a contraband or anything ooo, just documents for church related activities that had to be handed over in person. This was the same trip that the rain stopped me from making the other day. Yet, I was scared as if I had committed a crime, because of how badly our Police system has been treating young men.

Anyway, the person I came to see eventually turned up and apologized for keeping me there. He said that I should have stayed in the exact place where the vehicle stopped me when I arrived, because that exact place I had gone to take shade was a favorite of the cops. They came at random times and picked everyone they could. That only confirmed my fears.

Staying there was a big risk for me, because if those guys had decided to raid, I probably would have been telling a different story. Yeah, I didn’t do anything, yeah, I’d tell them that. But that won’t matter. The minute you enter their net, that's it for you. Investigations and all that is just non-existent, and if you’re lucky, you’d be allowed to leave with only a bail. Some people get prison sentences simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So yeah, it was a risk. Once I noticed the danger, I could have left at once, insisting that I drop off the documents in the church. But I chose to wait. And thankfully, nothing happened. I did my job and came home in one piece.

Isn’t that great?

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

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_{This post is inspired by the second topic of this week which is The Risks We Take. Feel free to try it out.}

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_{N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.}

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