Published via Ecency

This theme is a great one, I must say.

I will begin with what my dad once told me. He said that when you don't have what you are spending on, or when you don't have kids, you might carelessly want to take certain decisions.

One cannot say he or she is wealthy when he doesn't even know what to spend on.

Oh! One with zero kids earning a normal salary is comparing himself or herself with someone with five kids.

It is only when you know what the money that one has is being used for that one can truly say he or she is wealthy.

My dad, for instance, is considered wealthy by some people because he drives a car and owns just his humble apartment.

Hmm! That notion is wrong. Those liabilities are just a cover-up. His kids are draining his pocket daily.

In fact, out of the little that he has, he gives. However, he avoids certain demands—not because he cannot pay for such a demand, but because he knows what is at stake if that demand is attended to.

A Yoruba proverb also says, "Igi gogoro to ma gun mi loju, a to oke ni a tin ye."

It means that a sharp stick that wants to injure my eyes, I would have dodged it from afar.

You don't need someone to tell you that it is a no-go area when you know the detriments it will cause to your family's health. You avoid some unnecessary expenses even if it is going to affect your relationship with such an individual.

Wealth

I think that wealth in the hands of the wrong person can be used wrongly.

I also fathom that the way wealth is gotten also affects an individual's method of spending it.

A person from a well-to-do home—or let me say, a person who creates his or her wealth from zero, not someone who has generational wealth—would know how another person feels and would respond from sympathy or empathy.

He or she has the mindset of "I was once there and I know how painful it can be. I know what you might be feeling."

Hmm! A person who was born with a silver spoon—a person who was born without knowing what we call hunger or SAPA in Nigeria—can never relate.

They would propose things beyond your normal expenditure. They will expect you to buy expensive material as a jewel. They would think that life was created for them.

Funny enough, some of them think they are above certain individuals.

I can remember someone motivating me that I should be like Dangote. I should be ready to build factories and many more.

I told the person, Dangote was from a wealthy home. He is, in fact, given licenses that ordinarily a non-wealthy average Nigerian would not be given. However, we can say that Dangote managed his opportunity wisely.

Now, does money really change people? Yes, money changes people. There is no way one billion enters my account that I won't change.

Ha!!! You are joking. I will complete the dilapidated building that I am currently living in.

In fact, my steeze and composure will change. However, I think I will still be the humble me.

Money in the hands of an already pompous person changes nothing; instead, it has a way of intensifying the pomposity.

A humble person who knows how uneasy it is to run life with nothing might remain humble.

A person with wealth who knows that he or she can lose his or her wealth one day would be humble.

A healthy person would want to stay healthy to maintain the wealth. The saying "Health is wealth" will hold for such an individual.

Some people who know what is at stake—especially gamblers or traders—will think calmly by not reacting violently to every situation.

But truth be told, financial success or wealth is a reflection of the heart of a person. Success reveals people's longings, and it also reveals who they have been all along.

It also tells you what they are and what they are careful of.

However, everything—everyone—is liable to change.

I thank God that many wealthy people today are generous and kind.

I hope that I have been able to speak to us all about the wonderful theme brought to us by the IU contest.