27/09/2019
I DIDN'T WRITE THIS, BUT I ENDORSE IT WHOLE HEARTEDLY!
Years ago in Mount Carmel Catholic church, a priest during his sermon told the congregation a story.
He said he was heading from Niger state to Lagos state and around Gwagwalada, Abuja he saw a young man hawking gala in that morning gridlock.
The priest wound down his glass and bought four sausage rolls from the energetic hawker.
His friend, a preist was surprised and said to him
"You ate before we left this morning, what's the need for the gala you bought? Are you hungry again?"
"No, he replied. I'm filled but I had to buy that gala from that young man. Did you see how athletic he is? He is trying to make a living in an honest way and I just want to support him.
That young man chases after moving vehicles and catches up with them just to sell one gala. Imagine what he'll do with all that energy if he doesn't sell enough gala to hold body and soul together and starts holding guns?"
That story has been stuck in my heart for over fifteen years now.
A friend from my street in Owerri told me something his father does every Monday.
His father is not Bill Gates or Aliko Dangote but according to him, every Monday morning, when his father enters a 'keke' to work, he pays for everyone in it - on Mondays only.
Sometimes, we can help keep the society sane and happy by doing little things - things we see as nothing.
That beautiful girl who sells pepper in the market can make do with your hundred naira patronage.
If she sells airtime and you can get airtime from her, do it. Banks are rich already. Your patronage can keep her away from the roadside on cold nights.
You don't have to drive all the way to the mall to buy cucumber and apples, that woman at the junction may be hoping on your patronage to feed her children tonight.
If you buy chicken in the market and can afford to pay hundred naira to that young man who wields a sharp knife and knows how to use it, patronise him.
Encourage him, your patronage may take him back to the market tomorrow rather than make him consider what he can do with that knife tomorrow morning.
Add some value to the lives around you, give people hope and reasons to push on.
Greet the girl over the counter at that office, smile back at her, she's human.
Say hi or thank the concierge who opened the door for you at an eatery, he's human too.
Someone said to me months ago "you are the miracle someone is waiting for".
So I am saying to you to you too, you are the miracle someone is waiting for.
Stop holding back something you can freely add to the lives around you, do the little you can.
Be a miracle, happen to someone today.
May love never depart from your corner.
