Hidden agenda

"Hey! How are you?" A simple greeting but has a very deeper meaning that can sometimes gives us creeps especially if it was from someone whom we haven't talked to in months or years. It may be from a past lover, a former acquaintance, someone we have met from a mutual friend or a complete stranger.

Has anyone texted or messaged you out of the blue? What is the first thing that came into your mind when someone would ask you how you are? Usually we would respond to that greeting but at the back of our minds we know that there is a hidden agenda why they suddenly messaged us. Some would offer an insurance then some would invite us for a business seminar or a gathering and some would ask us for money. However, there are still those who would call, text or message us out of the blue just to catch up. Keep those kind of people. But what if they would ask us to help them by borrowing some money? Should we ignore them or should we help them?

Have you experience borrowing some money from family, friends, relatives or acquaintances? I am not going to deny but I have borrowed some money from my family and friends before when I needed a big amount of money. I did not ask my dad for help because I know he would say a lot of things so I tried borrowing from my late aunt whom I am not really close with because she seldom visits the Philippines. Of course I chose her because I know that she had some money but I got declined and I only ended up with a lengthy email on how dismayed she was on me. In short, I got an earful. I resorted to my friends and I had to divide the money that I needed to be able to accumulate what I needed. Instead of owing 1 person some money, I owed a lot of people. No worries, as I have already paid them when I already had some money. Have you already paid the people you owe money too? Have you also been rejected? How did you feel? It hurts when we expected too much but I am still thankful not because I got my way out of that predicament but also because I learned a lot of things. I learned that we should NEVER EVER use someone else's money. I also learned that not all people will really be there to help you in times of need. We all have different problems, different needs, different thinking and different upbringing and not all the time they can really help us even blood related especially if it concerns money. I also learned that we should not pay a debt with another debt. Yes, somehow we have solved our problem for paying our debt but we still owe other some money. If we are to pay a debt, it has to be from our hard earned money. Lastly, I have learned the
importance of having work and saving money. Ever since then I put it on my mind that if it is a financial problem, I myself should be the one to solve it because I am in that predicament because of me and it is my problem and not somebody else's.

But have you ever experience when someone asks for your help and they want you to lend them some money? How do you deal with them? Back in the days, I used to lend anyone some money because I had faith that they would pay me back and some did but others did not. Those people were from work so it was ok for me to lend them some money. If a person is someone whom I have not seen in years and is not family related would ask me for some money, I doubt that I will be able to lend them some. I think majority of us would also do the same right? How sure are we that they will pay us back? Although this is still a case to case basis. If I know that those people are in dire need of money, I would extend help in the best way that I can and it may or may not be money related.

We all know that there are people who are really trying to work for a living and then there are also those who live by owing other people some money. Lucky are those who never have to worry about their finances. I feel sorry not only for the people who lend some money and never got their money back but I also feel sorry for the people who live by owing other people some money. There are a lot of factors why people resort to loans, pawning their most valued item and having that courage to ask someone for money even from people that they do not really know. I am just wondering if they feel any shame especially for those who like to owe people some money. I just hope that they would realize how hard it is to earn for a living. I also hope that they would live a life without owing people some money. Being a person who had a lot of debts, I feel like life is even harder and heavier when we have debts. I hope that they would start paying them back and experience living a debt free life, a life wherein you do not owe anyone either some explanation or some money.

Before I end this let me just ask you, how have you been? LOL. Did you think I had a hidden agenda when I asked you that? What if I did? Will you lend me some money? Kidding aside, if you owe other people some money, at least remember that those people had faith in you that you would pay them back. They helped you because they trusted you. How would you feel if someone will borrow money from you and they would not pay you back? You do not want that to happen right? So pay up, work hard and start saving.

April 12, 2022

P.S. lead image is a photo of our piggy bank that we opened last year.