My course mates, photography trainer, Claudia and I posing for a click in front of RNTC building in Hilversum, The Netherlands. Credit: RNTC
We now live in a world of buy, buy, buy and possess. Some of us believe having ‘enough’ money in our accounts is all that counts. Almost all of us at one time or the other have had difficulty defining ‘enough money’. The more money we have, the more fears we nurse. We never want to return to our previous status. Our fears grow as we spend. I’ve read and listened to people say you can only be happy if you meet all your ‘heart desires’. But what is the true cost of happiness?
Some shared beliefs
Many of us run the race of life hoping to get to the finish line before others. Life to us is about competition; how fast we can run or outdo others. In fact, as a Christian, I’ve gone to churches inLagos where the preacher’s message was basically about wealth. “…if truly you’re born again, you will have everything in abundance”. I have to realise that happiness doesn’t take such a complex route that we always ply.
They thought it was all about money
On 29th January, 2015, a man packed his luxury car on the Third Mainland Bridge and jumped into the lagoon. His desire for more money ended right there. Whatever pushed him to killing himself was a mystery that Nigerian journalists couldn’t uncover till now. Today, it was reported in the newspapers that a 49-year old Gynaecologist and Chief Consultant of a hospital in Edo State(Western Nigeria) injected himself with yet to be disclosed substance. He later hanged himself with his belt in his wardrobe. These individuals seemed well to do. They had luxury cars, one was even managing director of his hospital. They couldn’t have been poorer than the old man who knocks at my gate hoping to get a tip to feed himself and his aging wife. I’m sure they were better than the old widow whose husband left her with nothing and lives in an uncompleted apartment down the street. She lives alone and very depressed. She’s now seen almost by everyone as going crazy. They were far better than the lady who had to rush to church begging for N6,000 ($30) to pay the medical bills of her 8-month old baby in a neighbouring hospital. They are better than those beggars on the streets who sit under the sun and in the rain beckoning on others so they can eat. Has it ever bothered you why they committed suicide?
Breaking the Ice
Let’s break it down; money comes to us all with fears and need to grab and grab. Some of the things we grab end up prompting a new set of fear in us– “I want to drive the latest car”. Now that you have it, you want to drive the latest one. Every latest purchase is replaced with a better one after a short while. Consumer products hardly outlive six months. There will always be better options again and again.
So, how do you feel when you see people in need and you turn away from them? Around you are people needing help. They are everywhere. I’ve seen people struggling and others comfortable. I’ve seen extreme poverty…I’ve seen a mother cry over her inability to feed her baby. I’ve seen old people knocking doors to beg for food. I’ve seen people betrayed for money. I’ve seen lovers killing each other over a deal, I’ve seen and heard people trade their family name for money on the alter of indecency. All to make money!
The True Cost Revealed!
I’ve found out that happiness comes from happenings around us – the smile we help keep on the faces of others; the hope we give the hopeless, the word of courage we share with the destitute; the food we share with the hungry; the difference we make no matter how little.
Knowing that your action is the reason your friends and neighbors smile, is striking a cord on happiness. Moments when you share the little you have will always come back to you with memories to make you happy.
Your expensive shoes would wear out but those you protected will not. Kindness is a baton, when you pass it, you get happiness in turn. It’s a silent contract between humanity and posterity. It starts with your desire to help others. No amount of money can buy the desire; just as no amount of money can buy you happiness. It is exclusive. Why do you think some people volunteer to help others? How easy is it for some to cross thousands of miles and lend a helping hand to fighting the deadly ebola virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. How profitable is it for them to leave their families and friends to help others who are in need? The answer is a secret and the secret is such activity comes with a lot of happiness. The feeling you get when you help someone succeed.
