BY JONATHAN ABIMBOLA
Benson went wild with jubilation at the sight of the multiple figures. How did Baruwa manage to work this wonder? What could be the source of his fabulous wealth from which he could offer him a half-a-million Naira lifeline? His curiosity and delight struggled for supremacy as he waited anxiously to receive his childhood buddy who had just proven to be a friend indeed.
Few minutes later, Baruwa arrived. Benson welcomed him joyfully and thanked him profusely while making a playful gesture to prostrate to him as a God-sent “messiah”. His visitor-friend who has been away for almost eight years had barely taken his seat when Benson popped the question.
“Ol’boy, tell me, where did you get this kind of money?” he asked impatiently.
In response, Baruwa reminded him of something seemingly insignificant that happened about six years ago…
Back then, Benson was living extravagantly, having secured a lucrative job with a telecommunication firm. All advice from his friends and relations to keep a low profile and invest more for brighter post-employment days fell on deaf ears.
One day, Baruwa (who was out of town running his post-graduate programme) called him to solicit financial assistance. Of course, the amount involved was not beyond his capacity. Reluctantly, Benson obliged him after much delay.
However, Baruwa did not need the money. He only deceived his friend to get it in order to seize a priceless investment opportunity on Benson’s behalf. He went ahead to buy a million units of some emerging high prospect crypto-currencies in his friend’s name.
Expectedly, the investment yielded bountifully as the digital money appreciated over the years. Now that his prodigal friend has lost his job, the undisclosed investment has become his saving grace – the very source of that N500,000 “miracle“ bail-out!
Dear friend/reader, all our everyday actions and decisions – whether they are taken deliberately or inadvertently – are like tiny seeds. They possess the power to germinate into tender plans, which if tended by means of similar or related acts/moves can produce fruits or result of unimaginable proportion.
For instance, when you graciously meet the need of someone, you are actually sowing a seed. Every help you render to anyone is a seed planted. It may take a long time; but it will surely sprout. And the harvest is bound to follow.
On the other hand, if you block a subordinate’s opportunity to rise; when you frustrate somebody’s earnest effort to make headway, you may forget all about it. But like a seed, it will bud; there will be a consequence – even if takes decades.
Again, treat a man or woman – especially someone of a low social status with respect and go your way today. Later, perhaps much later, you will receive a royal reception in some unknown places. It may even be your child that will reap the fruit in terms of getting a VIP(very important personality) treatment in an unfamiliar territory many years after.
In the reverse, when you treat anyone shabbily and in a contemptible manner simply because he/she does not belong to the class of the affluent in the society, the seed will germinate; like a tender plant, it will blossom. Eventually, the consequence will manifest.
Going further, when you choose to enjoy the best of luxury today because your current income can sustain it, you are sowing tiny seeds. When you fail to plan for tomorrow, but opted for a flashy, flamboyant lifestyle, you are watering some tender plants unconsciously. Sometime later, a sudden twist in the tide of life may cause a harvest of lasting gloom that will make you bite your finger in bitter regret.
If, however, you decide to toe the line of modesty even when you can afford to live big, you are likewise sowing seeds. Delaying your gratification will certainly enhance your capacity to set something tangible aside for future empowerment and latter days’ prosperity.
Dear friend, every penny spent to further your education or pay your children’s tuition is an investment – a seed sown for tomorrow. All the money, time, energy and material resources channelled into the welfare and progress of others – including total strangers, are not by any means wasted. They are rather stored, nay, planted. And, like every sown seed, they will re-emerge in their multiples in the season of harvest that is sure to come.
Knowing full well that whatever is given out will return in greater magnitude, it is high time you invested everything at your disposal to foster a beautiful tomorrow and forge an enviable posterity.
