Today I was fortunate enough to meet a very happy young Nigerian entrepreneur named Ramon. The hotel organized for him to take me around to my meetings and to be honest, I am very lucky because he is nothing short of spectacular. He has such great energy and he is always smiling and very humble. He is not bitter at life, but instead he is willing to work to the best of his ability to provide for himself and his family. He had the troublesome task of working with me, I am easy to deal with, but I am particular as anyone who is paying for services should. Today I had a number of fittings and errands to run – he was always on time and more than willing to go above and beyond. Overall, today was a great experience, and I am happy that Ramon is helping me for the remainder of my time here – I am looking forward to hearing more about his story.
Upon entry into the vehicle, I told Ramon that his name was very Latin, he replies, “You would know about such things because you are so fashionable.” I nearly bursted into tears, you had to hear him say it – hilarious! He asked my name, I said, “Well that’s tricky, because I have three (3) first names and people call me all of them sometimes in the same conversation… My name is Rrrrrrroberrrrrrto Allllfonso Fe-leee-pe, but most people call me all three: pick one.” I began to tell him about how his name is pronounced in my culture he said people often call him, “Raymond.” I said, “Which do you prefer,” he said, “Something to the extent of, You are the boss so you can call me as you please.” My tone got serious, Ramon, this is YOUR name and you can control who says it, how they say it, when they say it, remember that… client or not its YOUR NAME. He must have thought I was joking because he started to laugh and said, “Thank you sir.” I said, “I’m serious” as I began to pump Michael Jackson – Off the Wall: the fun was just beginning…
Just to give you a visual of how happy the guy is…
the happiest man in lagos: Ramon.
Back to Michael…
So Off the Wall comes on and we both randomly start to sing, looked at each other in shock: we both knew the mainstream portion of the song, but hummed the trickier parts – it was like a deleted scene from White Chicks. After a few commercials, Lady Gaga comes on, I know the words, I asked him if he knew who this is, when the hook drops he shouts, “Lady Gaga!” The guy brought a few smiles to my day which helped make me more comfortable driving everywhere with him. It was certainly helpful to hear from someone who grew up here about the culture and how things have been changing. Sadly, for you, this place is painted in the wrong light too often, but that’s society. Sometimes you have to see things for yourself.
On to the subject of this post which is sharing, my very good friend J. Matthew was so kind to give me a parting gift before my trip: worth more than money or any night club owners bbm, it was a book: Food Rules by Michael Pollan.
Transatlantic Sharing
Earlier this morning, over breakfast I actually I read the book. The day’s developments made me feel like I needed to give and decided to share it with Ramon today to see how he felt about it given that we come from two opposite sides of the world, I wanted to see how he felt about it. I know how I feel about it, but maybe sharing it with him can help give both of us a better reaction to it. Maybe it wont, but it doesn’t hurt to share. I had an errand to run at a friends place and while I was gone Ramon might have read 40-50 pages in the book and he loved it. He handed it back to me and thanked me for sharing. It was at this point that I realized that I should let him have it. I never saw someone so happy to receive a book, he said, “he wanted to change his diet and be more aware of the things he puts into his body.” I had no comment, all I said was, “If you give me your email and address I will send you some books my friend and when you are done share them with your closet friends. He couldn’t believe it..
I am just one person and I am no better than the next man, but if I can make a difference in the life of another so can you.
xx
RAF
2 Comments
paying it forward….nothing better.
nice post felipe.