Humans and Their Ways.
One thing I've come to understand in this life is that humans would always be humans. It doesn't matter which location you reside in, we are the same everywhere and this is why we need to make an intentional habit to be better and different from the norms.
I read the story of a wonderful man on Hive and he explained how his former business partner ran away with his money. The guy siphoned the funds into his account and then stole the business from him. What really struck me the most in what he said was that the money that guy took from him was $1 Million and he said "losing that fund knocked me back 25 years". It means, it took him back to how he started 25 years ago. It's a lot of money to lose and it's saddening that some people don't understand the negative effects their actions have on others. They focus only on themselves and no one else and it's disheartening.
This made me remember what happened after we lost my dad too. I got inspired to write this post after I saw my brother's comment in the comment section of the said post and I felt the need to share this too. He already mentioned the basics in the comment, so let me just delve right into it.
My dad started a company with a man back then and they usually receive funding from Germany, I think. So, before he died, they have been waiting for this funding and there was a hitch. It didn't come as at when due and it wasn't long that he had issues with his health and eventually passed away as far back as 2006. The funding they had waited for a while for eventually came I think 6 months after dad passed away. With the exchange rates then, I would say the 50,000,000 Naira was around $385,000 then.
Our former driver was still working with them in the company and he was the one who came to the house that evening to tell us the funding had come. We waited, expecting to see what his former partner would do. It was I think 3 days after that he called my elder brother on the phone and told him he would love to see us. In the midst of grieve, we were happy, at least. We were already calculating how to spend the money we haven't received no matter how little it is. I am sure he called us because he knew we must have heard about the funding since we still have a few loyal people in that company.
We got there, sat down at the familiar conference room and he came in. He spoke with us, asked what we were up to. I was still in my final year then while my brother was about to go for his service year. We explained to him and that was how the story started. He said they owed a lot of money before the funding came and he had used all the money to offset the bills including salaries for workers (and I don't know why he didn't mention the salaries being owed dad since he said he used it to offset salaries and I am sure he paid himself salary too, right?). He said they were left with 300,000 Naira ($2,300) and that in good conscience, he borrowed money from my dad which was 110,000 Naira ($850). So he said that's what he would pay us in a few days. He gave us 3,000 Naira ($23) as we were leaving for our transportation.
I can remember leaving and I was laughing with my brother. That moment changed everything for me and I got to know that loyalty of some people is conditional...it's only when you are around or it changes when they see a better offer. It was a defining moment for me as I learnt never to expect anything from anyone. What belonged to you won't still be given to you, how much more things you didn't even work for? This is why I am always against those who have entitlement feelings. There are those who think the world owes them or certain people owes them, so when these people didn't turn up, they hold a grudge and resent them. I laugh when I see people like that and I've said many times that no one owes us anything. We have to work for what we want and still, that doesn't mean we would always get those things at the time we want it.
Humans are tricky and money has ruined a lot of relationships and damaged a lot of institutions. We need to lower our expectations where humans are concerned because when that nature kicks in, there is little we can do but the best we can do is to guard and guide our own mental space so we won't feel disappointed when human nature kicks in.
Life will always happen, humans would always be humans but that doesn't mean we have to stop living. When what you rightfully gets denied, you have to seek alternatives. You have to seek ways to do things better and improve yourself. Here I am...still standing, still dreaming and I am glad he acted the way he did, maybe that kind of amount would have ruined us all back then not because of how much it was (we didn't even know how much we might get) but we would have fought on who gets what. Life happens and we have to get on with it...
Thank you for your time.
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I had to re-read that story over again. Some people can be so mean.. I wonder wether they think they would remain in this world forever , or do they think that they would take all that money along to the grave.. well, not everyone have same heart as yours or mine. We all are wired differently