The First Thing I Bought With My Salary.
There is always this feeling of fulfilment and sense of responsibility when one uses the very money he/she earns personally to acquire something. Life provides us with different opportunities. Some persons were privilege to come from wealthy families while others were not.
It shouldn't be a surprise for you to find out that some persons even at age 20 still depend on their parents for everything, all the money they ever got were the ones their parents give to them. They continue to enjoy the coverings of their parents and not even know what it means to work heheh, To such category I am sure they won't really understand what it means to use your own hard earned money to acquire something.
I remember the first time I started teaching, that was two years back, I felt as if it was that very moment I became a man. There was this joy and sense of responsibility that filled my heart. I am a kind of person that doesn't like to be a burden or responsibility to someone.
I have this high sense of fending for myself and those that needs my support. Anytime, someone crosses the line and starts acting too nice, to an extend of trying to provide for me, I start feeling uncomfortable and consider it as a threat.
I love it when I am able to purchase whatever I want with my own income, it makes me feel alright guess is something normal with every youth, we love independence. Though life is not designed for man to totally live independent, no matter how wealthy we get, either directly or indirectly we will be relying on others.
What really matters is that the relationship should be beneficial to both of you. Like a win-win kind of a thing. my parents have really catered for me. The did a lot for me before I started working and even while am working they still are helping me till date. No matter how independent I am, it is only on the outside but my parents are still my backbone hehe.
It's high time we young men and women realize that we can not be totally independent from our parents except in the case where they are both late, else a parental responsibility never ends.
So what's all the pride for? As soon as we start touching little money we want to be worshipped even by our parents hehe.. but you still eat Mama's food when you visit the village, when you are broke mom or dad sometimes lends you money, are you sure you are really independent? Sometimes it's not even our parents it could friends or relatives, we need others to survive, that's why I see no reason why we boast over anything at all.
Truly there's joy in taking responsibilities, but the fact that we can fend for ourselves doesn't not mean we are independent, this is the error most of us make , we disregard our parents and speak to them anyhow because we feel we can now provide for them and take care of ourselves. Things ought not be so.
Let me not go to far on that aspect, back to the main subject. Like I said earlier on, spending our own hard earned money is always accompanied with a feeling of respect and has honor.
During those days I was working, the first salary I received was seven thousand naira (about 17 Hbd). That day was like heaven to me, I felt like I have just arrived hehe. Though the money was not big but I was so satisfied and happy to receive it. It was like a golden medal given to me.
Thank God for Nigerian economy, things are hard, so after receiving my money, I was so careful not to spend it anyhow. I had to sit and make a list based on relevance or necessity so to say. At the end, I came to the conclusion that I was going to buy a shoe because the one I was using to go to work has worn out and ofcourse you know as a teacher I need to dress well and wear something nice. Moreover i can't walk to school barefooted.
So I called a friend of mine who specializes in making foot wears and we made arrangements and after the bargain, we stopped at one thousand five hundred naira ( almost 4 Hbd) I transferred the money to his account and when he finally brought my shoes, I was so excited not for anything, but for the fact that, for the very first time, I was able to use my money to buy something I will be using for myself.
I treated that shoe with a lot of care and respect, I valued it above all the ones my parents used to buy for me. Guess what? Even when the shoe grew old and got spoiled I still kept it some where in the house. It reminds me of my money hehe. There were other things I did with the money as well, like bought food stuffs for the family, and ofcourse recharged my phone.
In conclusion, when we use our own money to acquire something, we value them a lot. We have to work to get money inorder to satisfy our needs. It is very good that we know how to manage those resources we earn. Though they might be little but a good and proper management of it, will take us a long way.
This is my entry for week 48 Edition 01 contest on Hive Learners community with the title The Very First. Feel free to check it out