MY TEN NAIRA NOTE.

MY TEN NAIRA NOTE.

A visitor came to our house one afternoon. He left me a ten naira note at his departure, just like any 'responsible' visitor would do to a child.

After he left, I took the money to my mum for safe keeping, hoping to take it to school the next day. This happened when I was still very young. When I asked my mum of the money the following day, she told me she'd used it. My heart was broken, I began to cry. Seeing that I wouldn't stop, she offered me twenty naira to pacify me, but I still did not stop crying. I wanted 'my ten naira'. I bluntly refused taking the twenty naira because it was a green note, but mine was red. The value was of no relevance to me, but the colour was. Mum had to find a way to get me a red note, that was when I stopped crying.

Even as adults, many of us still behave like my younger self in the story above.

• You want to be with A or B because they appear neat, packaged and lovely, without bothering about their relevance. 
• You wish to possess that particular thing because it looks nice, but forget to think of its importance. 
• You want to go to Lagos, Dubai, Paris, because they are beautiful places, forgetting you it might not be relevant at the time.

Fact: We tend to stick to people, want things, visit places, because of appearance, not value. We get comfortable and feel satisfied with mediocre appearance that we are no longer able to recognize people and things of higher VALUE and Excellence when we see them. We give preference to, and chase things of temporary relevance, ignoring the ones with a higher degree of importance, because we are overwhelmed with the magnanimity and the façade of the trifling beauty they possess.

Quite pathetic! Learn to ignore nugatoriness. Seek to discern and recognize QUALITY, VALUE and RELEVANCE, no matter how much, or to what form they may be disguised.

Written By
© Mfon Ekott.