Are you a Mackerel?

By Tope Popoola

The Jackson Hartfield International Airport in Atlanta USA is reputed to be the busiest airport in the world in terms of human traffic. It has to be. I have never had to stay so long on a queue – and there are usually several of such queues at any time in this airport – to clear immigration as I have many times had to do at the Atlanta Airport.

On a trip to the US, our flight arrived at 7p.m. but I did not make it through immigration, customs and baggage claim until over two hours later! It is a marvel though how organised things are even in the midst of the hectic passenger traffic. I once took a train from town to this airport to catch a flight to New York City. In the rush not to miss my flight, I forgot a book and a cheque of $100 somewhere in the airport. By the time I landed in New York, a staff had called one of the numbers I wrote in the book to report that the book was found! But then, today’s piece is not about Jackson Hartfield Airport, although it is related to it.

Somewhere in the airport as you clear security on your way out of Atlanta, is an advertorial on a lighted billboard on which was inscribed “Female mackerels can lay half a million eggs at once. They have no time for building relationships. But you can!”

Of the several advertorials on the walls of the airport, this one caught and sustained my attention. I cannot even remember the company that placed the advert there but all the while that I waited for my next flight, the inscription was all I could think about.

The success journey is quite like the life of the mackerel. It’s a journey that can birth several acquaintances but very few relationships. It is instructive to know that many people in the quest for success are lonely; for the simple reason that they hardly have time to actually build solid relationships. Many times, they use people rather than cultivate friendships.

I have noticed however that one remarkable difference between flash-in-the-pan rich people and those who are truly wealthy is in the quality of their relationship network.

Success at the expense of people is one of the highest forms of failure. The success that isolates you from everyone around you is nothing but misery and loneliness. In building wealth, highly successful people also build bridges. The logic is simple. Your net worth is greatly enhanced and sustained by your network. Nobody succeeds all by himself. We all need people who play various roles in our lives at different times. From the teacher who used to encourage you to succeed in your elementary school days to the driver who taught you how to drive.

From the clerk who moved your file from one table to another when you were chasing a contract to the person whose signature made it possible. God positions people at strategic points of our lives to move us forward even as the devil also positions people at strategic points to move us backwards.

Unfortunately for many of us, it is easier to remember those whose interventions in our life delayed or frustrated us than we do those whose involvement helped us to achieve. Look around you. Your office. Family. School. Your neighbourhood. Your village.

Your business circle. You will no doubt find that there are many heroes that you have not celebrated enough because you thought that, having done whatever they did in your life, their time was over and you had latched on to new alignments that will definitely fizzle out as soon as you have used them to carry out your next agenda. In the process, you simply load your card of acquaintances, junking the card afterwards since you only need the airtime.

When this happens, you are actually building up a relationship deficit that will eventually haunt you at the most critical points of your life when you suddenly discover that you know people, they know you, perhaps they even applaud you and your achievements, but you have no FRIEND! And what is the value of life without real friends to share it with?

The one downside of success is the fact that it attracts sycophants like sugar attracts ants. Unfortunately, the bloated human ego panders to flattery because it feeds off the labyrinths of sugar-coated accolades that may not even have a foundation in reality. But when the chips are down Mr. Big Shot, do you really have FRIENDS?

Or, are you a female mackerel? Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!