Some years back I had like most adolescent thought I was quite old enough for any situation, until it dawned on me when my Grandfather passed away, I was the one entrusted with most of his valuables, what you will normally call “memorabilia”. He was a successful man... quite successful if you ask me.
During preparation for his burial, we were so confident of a hitch free ceremony, because one of my uncles had assured us that he had confided in him shortly before his passing away that substantial amount of money was in the bank, of which I was the only signatory as next-of-kin. The proof the bank require from me was a 14-digit account number with which the withdrawal will be activated.
A duplicate copy of his pass book containing this number was previously in my custody for years, but I threw all caution to the wind, at the attempt of memorizing the number. Even sometimes playfully, not knowing that one day, it would ring a bell, and besides I thought to myself, what for? I made frantic effort traveling all the way to Lagos to inform the bank of his death as there was no mobile phone in the country at that time, claiming such a huge amount of money would require a personal appearance at the bank’s head office.
After two days I was invited to come with proof which may either be just a verbal quoting of the account number. I mustered all courage to try my luck since I could not remember where I misplaced the passbook, Sad enough, I missed just one digit as I could not recall the full 14 digit account number, on the spot, right in front of the bank manager, hard as I tried for 3hours, and sweating profusely like a wounded lion. Alas! It was just too late, I quickly decided to make a trip back to Abuja which itself took almost the whole day.
Getting to Abuja, I got another shock of my life as I was told by the house-maid that all papers in the store has been burnt as instructed by my uncle who said my late step dad’s apartment should be thoroughly cleaned up. I gasped for breath and almost fainted, while I then, made attempt to confirm from other members of the family as the burial ceremony is just days away.
Although, the situation was salvaged and interment, burial ceremony and thanksgiving went on beautifully. It took over two years, after this embarrassing incident, before we could claim my late step dad’s money in the bank, Imagine, what if I got arrested for impersonation? What a big lesson! The experience taught me how I had taken all my brain power for granted. Little did I know a little forgetfulness can cause such untold embarrassment, suffering and delay in such crucial situation, Imagine, if I had memorized those account number and quoted them correctly it would have changed the whole scene. Nevertheless, that day, I have since then vowed not to let that happen again, and right from that moment, I started to focused probing into the human thinking faculty and became so fascinated by memory power more so, my greatest joy for the past 16yrs is always the sense of fulfillment I experience helping others, realize their full potential in at utilizing this amazing power to accumulate success in life. I could not imagine it happening to a family less fortunate. I know better, because it had once happened to me.
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