The Boxer, Human Struggle, and Survival
6 January 2024 By Abiodun Kareem Giwa
Raindrops splattered on the roof, causing a jazz music-like sound to disturb the early morning sleep. Was it a dream? No. It was a torrent, the protagonist realized, when he awoke. He had to go to work. He visualized walking to the train station two away and the possible struggle with an umbrella in a storm. He contemplated driving to work instead of boarding a train to New York. If he decides to go, he still faces the trouble with an umbrella in a downpour because his car is also parked two blocks from the house due to parking space commercialization that has removed a tenant's right to park in the compound.
Some lines in Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer about human struggle play in his memory. He remembers leaving his home and family at an advanced age, seeking a breakthrough. There were lonely times when he wished he was back home. The New York winter bled and taught him. He remembers the days of looking for a job without an offer, but he has remained a fighter.
He suddenly found himself in a forced dance along the street. The umbrella pulls his arm from the wind's force in one direction as he fights to keep the bag away from the water. The walk to the station could have been more joyful. Getting a train in time is still being determined because the rails are drenched in flood whenever it rains.
He had experienced a forcible change of direction from his regular route caused by rainfall. He boarded a train to Hoboken instead of New York and rode the Path train to the city. The change of direction elongated the arrival time to work. Thoughts about that experience played in his mind as he noted the train was running against schedule.
The train suddenly appeared eight minutes behind schedule and on a different rail for trains heading in the opposite direction. Passengers confirmed it was heading to the city but using the opposite direction line to avoid flooded rail. There was a stampede to get to the other side. People ran down a staircase to the station's ground floor and again to the first floor where the train sat.
This morning's experience rekindled the survival of the fittest syndrome. Compared to less fortunate people sidelined by ill health or loss of vigor, you must be strong to keep moving. He remembers countless days wading through sun, rain, and snow to and from work. It is a miracle arthritis has not caught up with you. Many are not so fortunate.
The challenge began when he saw guards in heavy snow guarding the New York Exchange on his way to the 40 Exchange Place office of Sottile Security - his first employer after a stint at the Car Wash, where he worked for six months while awaiting immigration papers. Among the guards in the cold were women. If women could do it for better pay, why wouldn't men?
After about two years with Sottile, Mulligan Security opened the door for better pay with a trendy suit as uniform and sent him to stand guard at Goldman Sachs. The thought about college and a good education came next to place him about the evil in his country that stood between him and the former. He visualized knowledge acquisition as preparation for his eventual return home for an excellent job.
But Nigeria still needs to improve and remains under the weather, discouraging qualified citizens abroad from returning. What to do in the alternative? Continue working in America and forget about Nigeria. If Nigeria improves, good; if it doesn't, nothing spoil. In the good old days, when the country was in better condition, college graduates returned home for good jobs—those days seemed buried in the past. No longer the days of the Golden Fleece as a ticket for returning home. The lesson here is education opens doors of opportunities either here or at home.
There is no comparison between when you arrived in America and after you had lived there for a decade with sound knowledge acquired. Settling down and having your family joined you is considered a desirable goal. It is difficult to abandon the achievement for a journey back to the unknown. A lesson for those leaving their countries coming to America is that survival here requires hard work, tenacity, and determination. It is a story about Rome not being built in a day and that nothing is impossible under the sun. But it would help if you fought to win, and the fighting spirit interned you.
Some lines in Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer about human struggle play in his memory. He remembers leaving his home and family at an advanced age, seeking a breakthrough. There were lonely times when he wished he was back home. The New York winter bled and taught him. He remembers the days of looking for a job without an offer, but he has remained a fighter.
He suddenly found himself in a forced dance along the street. The umbrella pulls his arm from the wind's force in one direction as he fights to keep the bag away from the water. The walk to the station could have been more joyful. Getting a train in time is still being determined because the rails are drenched in flood whenever it rains.
He had experienced a forcible change of direction from his regular route caused by rainfall. He boarded a train to Hoboken instead of New York and rode the Path train to the city. The change of direction elongated the arrival time to work. Thoughts about that experience played in his mind as he noted the train was running against schedule.
The train suddenly appeared eight minutes behind schedule and on a different rail for trains heading in the opposite direction. Passengers confirmed it was heading to the city but using the opposite direction line to avoid flooded rail. There was a stampede to get to the other side. People ran down a staircase to the station's ground floor and again to the first floor where the train sat.
This morning's experience rekindled the survival of the fittest syndrome. Compared to less fortunate people sidelined by ill health or loss of vigor, you must be strong to keep moving. He remembers countless days wading through sun, rain, and snow to and from work. It is a miracle arthritis has not caught up with you. Many are not so fortunate.
The challenge began when he saw guards in heavy snow guarding the New York Exchange on his way to the 40 Exchange Place office of Sottile Security - his first employer after a stint at the Car Wash, where he worked for six months while awaiting immigration papers. Among the guards in the cold were women. If women could do it for better pay, why wouldn't men?
After about two years with Sottile, Mulligan Security opened the door for better pay with a trendy suit as uniform and sent him to stand guard at Goldman Sachs. The thought about college and a good education came next to place him about the evil in his country that stood between him and the former. He visualized knowledge acquisition as preparation for his eventual return home for an excellent job.
But Nigeria still needs to improve and remains under the weather, discouraging qualified citizens abroad from returning. What to do in the alternative? Continue working in America and forget about Nigeria. If Nigeria improves, good; if it doesn't, nothing spoil. In the good old days, when the country was in better condition, college graduates returned home for good jobs—those days seemed buried in the past. No longer the days of the Golden Fleece as a ticket for returning home. The lesson here is education opens doors of opportunities either here or at home.
There is no comparison between when you arrived in America and after you had lived there for a decade with sound knowledge acquired. Settling down and having your family joined you is considered a desirable goal. It is difficult to abandon the achievement for a journey back to the unknown. A lesson for those leaving their countries coming to America is that survival here requires hard work, tenacity, and determination. It is a story about Rome not being built in a day and that nothing is impossible under the sun. But it would help if you fought to win, and the fighting spirit interned you.
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