Human life is filled with a lot of complications, some we are proud of, while there are others we wished never occured. As a human my actions are guided by one principle "Action begets consequences". In life for what ever action you take do not believe it ends there, there will always be a consequence for it either good or bad. This principle guides in any life related decisions and being intentionally in what action I decide to take but even for a person like who is concerned about his actions, I make mistakes. It always sounds funny to me most times, I consider myself to be an over-thinker, so thinking about every info without missing any details is kind of my thing but there are times I just choose to overlook somethings.
During the process of acquiring my higher diploma in mass communication at Moshood Abiola polytechnic, slow and steady the final semester approached which is something that reminds everyone that final year project is approaching. It is not always a pleasant experience because it cost a lot of money and effort but it is a requirement for anyone who wants to graduate. The time came and we were all shared under different supervisors and mine seem to be the type that pays attention to details but I wasn't bothered. Eventually we all went to our project supervisor with our project topics written on a sheet of paper and placed in a file, that day felt like we were on our way to meet our creator.
It is only when your topic is approved that you can proceed with your project and we have seen people get stuck in project approval stage for months. Well we all lined up in front of him while he does justice to everyone's file, the look on each student face is enough to tell what happened to their topic. It got to my turn, he changed some variables in my topic and it was approved. The topic was "The role of mass media in ensuring sustainable agricultural development in rural areas" I went back home and proceeded to proposal. I was selected as the group leader of my project group which allowed me to always receive first hand information from our supervisor before anyone.
As a result of my closed relationship with him I was able to learn a lot about our project supervisor attitude and it was obvious to me that he is the kind of person that cares a lot about his reputation. So even if someone like me should mess up he wouldn't hesitate to discipline me. Everything kept going as it should but along the line, when I got to chapter 2 my project supervisor decided to change "mass media" in my project topic to "Radio" which makes it "The role of radio in ensuring sustainable agricultural development in rural areas" it wasn't really a big adjustment so I just went with the flow.
As time goes on our project defence was approaching which means we have to take our project materials and proceed to printing. Before printing my hand cover I informed the man about the change in my project topic just to make sure he doesn't make any mistake. When he was done I took the hand cover copies to my supervisor. On the day of the defence, before the whole activities began we have to take project copies from our supervisor's office to the project defence coordinator. Since I'm the group head of my project supervisor supervisees, it is my responsibility to pick up the project copies. While in my supervisor's office, one thing led to another and I saw my project copy, I was tempted to open it just like everyone else in the office with me, just to check if everything was ok.
While flipping through the pages, I got to my abstract and I discovered that it was still my old project topic that was there, I don't know where the error came from but at that moment I just froze because I'm aware that defence was in few minutes and I don't want to give any of the external supervisor a reason to deduct my mark during the project defence. I took my project copy and I ran back to the cyber cafe for correction, it felt like my heart was in my hands, it was something I could have easily discovered, how could I easily forget to check my abstract. Why doesn't really matter at that moment, I got it fixed and I ran back to my supervisor's office and submitted it back without my supervisor knowing. I only had that privilege because I had access to his office.
My project defence went well but that little forgetful act made me more inclined in paying attention to all details. The funny part was that within me I knew I intentionally didn't go through my project when I received it after it was printed because I believed the guy is a professional and all errors would have been amended, well I'm glad he proved me wrong. It has become a reoccurring issue anytime I trust someone to get things done for me perfectly without supervision, I always end up in a mess, that is why till today I prefer to get things done myself or watch them do it like a hawk just to avoid complications.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Why so forgetful" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
All pictures are mine or else stated otherwise