23/07/2024
Whatever you do to earn a living legitimately, keep your head in the game and don't let anyone ridicule or shame you into leaving it. In August 2019, a man keeping ₦5,000 weekly with me from his barrow-pushing business started disturbing me to collect everything he had saved.
He had stopped saving since March that year, and I wanted to know why, but he blanked me out till he tried to collect the money. It turned out he was briefly in a relationship with a lady who told him she couldn't stand being the girlfriend of a barrow pusher.
It might’ve sounded like motivation, but that young man had no other source of legitimate income, and he had to live with the shame of the lady he loved ridiculing him till he walked away.
"I want to use some money and buy two new wheelbarrows. I found someone to ride the second one."
I gifted him the money to buy and told him we wouldn't touch his savings.
He has moved on to open a provisions store now and managing well, but whenever he remembers those words the lady told him back then, it hurts his self-esteem.
To you reading this, I hope people's words don't get to you and make you frustrated with your business or life. Let them spray money and show off; that is none of your concern now.
Keep your head in the game; your time will come.
Till we get to the Promised Land, I shall be waiting for when you will pass me a glass of water and thank God for the gift of grace for the race.
Martin Beck Nworah
