Sheila stepped out of her house hurriedly as she was running late for work. As she got to the bus stop, she realised how late she was to catch her usual early morning bus and therefore had to stand for a while. Before she knew it, the clouds had gathered and it started drizzling. Little by little, the winds became stronger producing a whistling sound. Still, there was no bus headed in her direction in sight. Rather, private car owners drove speedily past her and other pedestrians that had increased at the bus stop. Most of the car owners had no one in their cars except the person who was driving; in other words 'space dey for moto'. She tried to flag down cars, but it seemed like the drivers accelerated more without blinking an eyelid. The rains came down stronger and she was drenched from her 22"Argentine deep curls weave to her black Aldo doll shoes!
As myself and my friend Biola drove on the streets of Lagos, we approached a traffic light and slowed down. A little boy with patched clothes ran towards our car and started to clean the windscreen with a windshield cleaner and cheap soap. My friend stopped him immediately and rebuked him. "Why you dey clean my glass? You no see say e clean before? Comot for here" "Abeg Aunty i never chop, come buy gala for me" "I be Father Christmas? Go ask your mama for gala" " Abeg Aunty, i dey hungry". The light turned green and we sped off.
"Thank God for this N200,000 alert, time to turn up this weekend" " Hi James, how are you doing. Please James i need your help. I'm really down, I need N10,000 to take care of some of my needs. My account is red, I don't have any money, please my friend" " Ah, you asked me quite late. If you had asked me 3 days ago, i would have even given you N15,000 sef. But right now bro, I'm managing. I don't have any money to spare, sorry" Really?
Did you say Love Your Neighbour or Love Yourself?
You have just hit the nail on the head! Indeed a food for thought. People re self-seeking and it's just sad esp bcos dese re d self-proclaimed devotees, born again, religious people. No love whatsoever! It's a give-and-take. Nothing goes for nothing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we do not help out of fear. Fear of being used, fear of being taken advantage of, fear of being seen to be "Father Christmas", fear of being perceived to be weak, fear of fear.
ReplyDeleteImagine stopping to pick up a stranger and he/she walks away as if you want to kidnap her? Imagine the story of the woman who gave a "beggar" some money and the beggar appeared to her in her dream to rape her. A colleague lent money to someone. Almost the instance she returned the money by transfer, the guy's phone screen cracked.
Stories abound. The giver is afraid, the receiver is afraid.
I am even afraid of you!