It was a bright Sunday afternoon. I
had stopped by at a KFC restaurant for a small mid day snack but ended up
getting more than what I bargained for. Shortly after I arrived a family
arrived and took a table just by me. They proceeded to have lunch and in
between their meal I saw the mother try to hand the oldest a 200 naira note and
ask her to go get another drink but before the money could change hands
properly, the youngest son grabbed it from his mother and refused to let go.
All pleas to get him to let go of the money fell on deaf ears - he just held on
tightly with his little fingers while his mother tried to retrieve her money
from her little boy.
By now, everyone on their table was
running out of patience with the little boy and his mother finally decided to
forcefully pry the money out of his hands. This didn't go down so well with
him, and he began to do what all little children his age do in situations like
this. It started with little sobs and grew into full blown crying when he felt
he wasn't getting the needed response. You can guess that at this time I wasn't
concentrating much on my meal anymore (amebo mode activated). A second round of
begging had begun now as the little boy's cries was beginning to garner he and
his family quite a bit of attention from surrounding tables. In a bit to keep
him quiet and not cause a scene, his mother reaches into her bag and pulls out
a shiny, brand new 10 naira note, and hands this to her son. "Have this
instead", she says. "See, it's newer and more shiny". This
seemed to do the trick as the little boy's tears died up instantly and he
refocused his attention on his unfinished meal.
I stared in disbelief at the mother
and her child wondering what term to give to the scene I just witnessed some
moments ago. Do I call it deception on the part of the mother or just myopia'
on the part of her child. I left shortly after finishing my meal and thought
long and hard about those words: "Here, have this instead. It's newer and
it's more shiny". I tried to think of how many times I was that little
boy, being short-changed and giving up real substance for glitters. Oh! How I
regretted those times. But then, I blamed myself for not being mature enough to
distinguish between substance. Reading this, you also might recollect times in
the past when you caught the glitter bug and unknowingly exchanged something
you should have held on to with something else of very little worth. You
probably regret it and wish you had someone to blame - "I only trusted
what he/she said. Is it now a crime to trust...?" No, it isn't and while I symphatize with you just like I did with the little boy in the story I must
point out that it's also not a crime to ask reasonable questions - even of
those we love. It also isn't a crime to weigh options carefully even when the
one offering is a trusted friend or family member.
Lastly, if we were to carefully
review our state of mind while making those choices we end up regretting in the
future, we will most likely discover that at the heart of wanting something
newer and more shiny is the age-old desire: greed. It caused the fall of man
and ever since then it has caused the fall of more men (and women alike). So
what's the solution, you ask? Contentment! Contentment and a great deal of
discernment. Sometimes what we really need isn't something newer or more shiny.
Sometimes all we need is the maturity to discern between gold and mere glitters,
and the courage to respond to an offers of glitters with a "No, thank
you". (You can add an "I'm touched by your generosity but I think
I'll hold on to what I have for now" for a little effect).
Towards a better humanity,
Diazno
.
