Countless times I have looked back to my childhood or even watch live carefree lives and I think to myself "The things I'll give to experience those simpler times again". A time where I don't have to worry about when the next meal comes from or the things I need to do to beat the odds that plagues living in a third world country as a struggling adult. Before the cock even the cock crows, millions of people are already awake, preparing to get to the business of the day (which includes going to work or the quest for one) calculating bills to pay, loans to settle and to struggle for a better life all whilst fighting the fear of failure.
The world we live in today runs on "money-centric system" with life rewarding only those who have the financial capacity to take what they want. You wake up in the morning, the first thing on your mind is how to make money and right before you go to bed, your mind run circles about how to do better the next day. People work so hard running a neverending race with no destination in sight, too busy to even ask the question "why?", "what I'm I even doing all this for?", "is it truly worth it?".
For as long as I can remember, I have always seen people wake up super early to go to work so that they can afford to put food on their table and struggle to settle their basic needs which makes me wonder if that's what life is truly all about. I have seen people spend a major part of their lives chasing money only to end up not achieving the very thing that have spent all life searching for. I hated it, the child in me never wanted a piece of paper to control his life but that was nothing but a feeble dream. Don't get me wrong money will always be important, how do you expect someone who is fighting for his life to discover his purpose when he doesn't even have the means to his breakfast for the day. Money comes with a certain form of security that is impossible to attain in its absence, there is literally nothing under the sun that is achieveable without financial prowess but is that what life's truly all about?. I have always in the philosophy that "Money is never an end itself but a means to an end". This brings me to why I do what I do, so sit back, relax and enjoy a little story.
Generated by CHATGBT
Right before the third term of my primary 5, my father promised to buy me a video game console (Sega) on the condition I graduate at the top of my class. I worked my ass off and my hard work paid off because fortunately for me, I held up my own end of the deal. I rushed home to tell my father the good news and after he told me to get dressed so we could go buy the very thing I have been dreaming about for months. Just as we were leaving the house, I told all my friends to get ready as I would not be coming back home alone but with the most popular video game console. My father and I went to different shops, asking for the price of what I was owed and in my mind hoping to get the best price for it. After about an hour or so in the market, my dad finally turned to me and told me he won't be getting me the game anymore as he just remembered he had to buy me a new bag and books since I'll be starting secondary school. The way my heart dropped the moment he said those words to me ehhn, I literally cried all the way home. I never forgot about it neither did I forgive my him for it untill my late teens. In my head I felt he betrayed me for breaking a promise but as I got older I realized he didn't do what he did because he wanted to, he did it because he could not afford to buy me a Sega video game because of too many responsibilities that buying it then would only end up hurting him later.
This is why I do what I do, this why I fight every single day - To make sure none of my kids experience what I did. To a lot of people, this might not seem like a valid reason but till this day looking back to this experience and what followed after makes me want to do better, be better for my kids. I wake up everyday to live, grow and become a better for the ones to come. I want to build a life where my kids don't have to feel neglected because I can't come through for them, where circumstances don't make me break a promise. This is all I ask for and if I can get this what more can a man ask for but if you feel there's always somethimg more then I am open to suggestions
Ps: all images belong to me except the third which was generated by CHATGBT