Of Money, Of Double Standard, Of Betrayal

If you ask anybody to choose one thing that they want in Nigeria, the likely answer you'll get is money. As a matter of fact, we all want money and abundantly too. In a world where the competition for every resources is immense and quite frankly unbalanced, it's hard to ever think of taking a break from the hustle and struggle, unless you want to remain at the bottom rung of the ladder.

In my parents' generation, the acquisition of wealth was praised but only if it conforms to certain standards. While it was important to acquire wealth, it was more important to do so diligently, morally and lawfully, but in today's society, those stuffs do not even matter anymore. These days, the desire and drive to acquire wealth has pushed to people to forget that there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the way thereof is destruction. Nobody cares about diligent and hard work anymore. People now go to any possible learn, legal or illegal, moral or immoral, just to acquire wealth. This is one of the chief reason for the rapidly increasing crime rate in our society, particularly in my Country Nigeria.

People no longer have standards, morals or values. In my parents' time, morals and value was held in higher regard than wealth, but that's not the case today as we can see. It's now wealth above all else. Even amongst friends, money can become a problem.

There are some friends that are closer than brothers, they seem to have such unshakable bond. Well, put a certain amount of money into the mix and you see them at their worst behaviours. This is mostly seen in the conflict that usually arise amongst co-inventors and co-founders. They say the bond of friendship and brotherhood can not be easily broken, I say try getting at it with money. Nowadays, people agree to things that will be beneficial to them, and when it's not beneficial, they start to fault the arrangements.

If you know me, you'll know I'm very particular about my friends. I am very selective when it comes to those I call my friends. I literally handpicked them based on compatibility, moral values and common interest. So naturally, I can bet and vouch for how they will respond in different circumstances and how they will see things, and I've mostly been right, or so I thought.

A situation came up some time back, and thinking that I know my friends and how they think, I thought i know on what side they will stand for the sake of fairness and justice; was I in for a shock! Their sense of fairness and justice seem to have metamorphosed into the direct opposite of what fairness and justice ought to be, just because it was going to be financially beneficial to take such a position. I was quite disappointed, but I finally learnt a valuable lesson. You only know people do much.

Conclusion

It's important to have a circle of friends that you can vouch your life for, but its important you also know like I came to learn, that everybody has a price.