Came across this law by Sunday Adelaja, and I bet this will help
you.
It was a sunny day, breeze coming from the nearby river; birds singing
as only could be heard in Africa. The peaceful and serene atmosphere of the
nearby forest communicated the rest and peace that God Almighty Himself had
implanted in nature. Yet, despite the obvious blessings of nature all around, a
young lad of 13 years old was looking for a way to end his own life.
He had heard several times of people writing and talking about suicide.
The meaning was clear to him. He knew suicide was a means by which people ended
their own lives. His dilemma was however, just how did they make it happen.
How? Thoughts of poisons came to his mind. “That is not a bad one,” he thought.
“But where do you get poisons?”
This young 13 year old boy’s mind was so clouded he could not as much as
notice or pay attention to the still call of nature to behold her beauty. He
was immersed in his own frustrations and anger so much that it will be an
insult for him to have been told that there is anything beautiful in the world
he lives in.
That young man is your writer today. My name is Sunday Adelaja. Will you be interested in knowing the reason that almost led me to suicide at the tender age of 13? As absurd and bizarre as this might sound, the reason is just because I couldn’t get money to supply myself with breakfast, lunch or dinner for several days running.
In the part of Europe that I live today, hardly will anyone believe that
it is actually possible for a kid as young as 13 to go several days without
food. This is in Europe. The reality of our world however is that on the other
side of the world, on the continent of Africa, my story is not a lonely one. I
will not be exaggerating if I say that millions of kids are in the same
condition of living as I am writing of right now.
How will our world live with the thought that in the 21st century, there
are actually millions of kids that would rather go through the pain of suicide
just to avoid the pain of hunger? Let me tell you friends, the cruel reality is
that, as long as we are living in such a world where some go to bed hungry, and
others live in opulent wealth, we are all guilty! The reality is that so long
as there is poverty in our world, we are all indeed poor. The conditions of our
environment talk of the reality of our soul. We are all as rich as the world we
live in. If the world we live in is poor, we are all poor not minding our
opulence, wealth and riches.
Poverty is a reality in our world. It is a cruel, wicked and heartless
reality. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) states that every year,
consumers in industrialized countries waste almost as much food as the entire
net food production of sub-Saharan Africa (222 million vs. 230 million tons).
The amount of food lost and wasted every year is equal to more than half
of the world’s annual cereals crops (2.3 billion tons in 2009/10). In actual
fact, no one should be hungry talk less of contemplating suicide in our world.
The world produces more food than is needed to feed all the inhabitants of our
planet; but because of the heartless and callous attitude of the people and
nations who have this wealth, we are forced to live in a world where some throw
food away while others die for lack of food.
I would however not sit down here and whine all day long about how unjust our world is. I have come to the conclusion that the world will not become just all by itself. Unfortunately, people are people; they are first selfish, egocentric, before they are considerate or compassionate. People don’t really care what is happening in the world they live in as long as they are okay. That is just the cruel reality of our world.
Recently, I started to observe the panic response of wealthy nations to
the plight of immigrants and refugees trying to escape their home lands in
search of better lives, most of who in the process perished at sea. All of a
sudden, nations and Prime Ministers began to offer asylum and refuge to the
survivors. I laughed out of amusement, not because I was mocking the kindness
of these people, but more because, I wondered why it had to take such a grave
tragedy for them to notice that the rest of the world has been languishing in
need and want all the while.
I’m sorry friends, that is the nature of man. Until pain and devastation
happens to us or at our backyard, we don’t really notice that this has been
going on around us all the time. It is only when we personally feel or
experience the pain of loss and tragedy that we normally come alive with a
heart of compassion. Otherwise, we just live our lives caring only about how to
make ourselves more and more comfortable. If I had one car, I am thinking of
how to get the second one. If I had just one apartment, at that time I am not
thinking of some poor homeless kids dying in some countries, I am rather
thinking of building a house. This is just the reality of human nature.
I will not say that only the rich individuals and wealthy nations have
these moral challenge. It is common to all. Even in those countries where
millions are dying on daily basis, there are many others who could easily
afford to take care of others. But just like in wealthy nations, they too are
busy with getting more comfortable on a daily basis.
It is because of my awareness of this egocentric nature of man that I
have come to the conclusion that the best way to resolve the problem of poverty
in Africa and other developing countries, is not really through distribution of
food or money. My personal journey from a 40-hut village to an international
speaker, has taught me that the best way out is to empower our people with
knowledge. The reason behind my suicide attempt, as I was later to discover,
was really not the lack of money or food.
The main reason that led to my poverty, which almost killed me prematurely was lack of knowledge. I have since come to discover that even in wealthy nations, this menace of ignorance especially in the area of money is as deadly as in my 40-hut village of Idomila. Ignorance is indeed the biggest enemy of all.
When it comes to poverty, the biggest reason for it is still ignorance.
I therefore make bold to say that poverty is not a product of productivity or
lack of it, even though that could be its consequence. The real reason behind
poverty is THE IGNORANCE OF THE LAWS OF MONEY. It is that ignorance that later
leads to lack of discovery, lack of productivity, lack of sales, lack of
opportunities, and it leads to lack of services, etc.
Where that ignorance is present, poverty is a possibility. That could be
both in Africa and Europe. I have since come to the conclusion that to liberate
Africa from the grip of poverty, we must first empower Africa with the
revolutionary knowledge of the laws of money.
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