A choice called poverty (6)

The poor is hated even by his own neighbour: but the rich has many friends – Proverbs 14:20

Have you noticed that poor people talk a lot? The problem is not with talking. It is what they talk about! Sit for two hours in a bar/lounge and you will understand. The environment that poor people create around themselves can be very toxic and disempowering because apart from lewd jokes and banter suffused with a heavy dose of caustic language and negativity, they hardly have anything else to share. They will talk about the weather, economic problems, leadership problems, prevailing hardships, the opposite sex, wealthy people who are not willing to help “the poor,” a relation who didn’t help when needed, failed and failing marriages, the latest player in the soccer league, etc. In that alcohol-laden atmosphere, you will hear all the panaceas to national problems as people in leadership are consistently lambasted for ineptitude, even when the discussants are spending the money collected from the corrupt leaders. Yet the conversation among the same people who complain of lack and the prevailing adversity in the country is oiled by several bottles of different liquor which they bought with money collected via the benevolence of the very people that they deride. Many people spend the productive years of their lives in this cycle of mental dysfunction and disconnect. This is why wealthy people, in order not to pollute their own thinking, stay away from the company of the poor, something that the poor consider arrogance. While the poor rattle away, the rich listen more to the cry of their environment and spend significant time thinking of how to solve them.

To the poor, every difficulty is an opportunity to grumble, complain or find someone or an institution to blame. Wealthy people on the other hand, see difficulties as invitations to growth and to expand their mind. Instead of complaining like everyone else, the wealthy mindset understands that every man functions at the level of his knowledge. He understands that his problem is as big as his ignorance. So, he seeks knowledge beyond his present level! I learnt from one of my mentors that whatever you are looking for in life is also looking for you. However, in many instances, the reason you don’t have it is because you have not developed to the level where you can find it or it can find you. It took me a while to process it but when I did, it opened my eyes to the reason I personally could not get certain things I desired in time past. I put this understanding to work and I have found out that it works. Whatever you have mastered, you are able to control.

Fear is a universal experience. At various times in our lives, we are confronted with fear, especially when we find ourselves in situations that seem to overwhelm us or over which we have no control. Fear is essentially a product of helplessness or hopelessness in any given situation. No matter how clear a man’s vision is, the journey towards it will present several challenges that can sometimes be overwhelming because of the unpredictable outcomes. Such unpredictability can come from relationships, calculations gone awry, disappointed expectations, government policies, technology, business losses, bad news. The list is endless. However, the real problem about fear is not what happens TO us. It is about what happens IN us and how we respond to what happens to us. One fear that stands out among others is the fear of failure which the best of men exercise at the beginning of any venture. Life offers no guarantees. This is why it is a daily adventure into the unknown. However, we can participate in shaping the future by our responses to the events that guide us into it. The poor are paralysed by the fear of failure and so would rather not venture. The fear of failure is the reason a salaried worker who has a bigger vision would never contemplate resigning to start something for himself. Most of us would rather toe the line of survival rather than adventure into what we term “the unknown.” All the disciples of Jesus were afraid when they saw Him walking towards them on the waves of the sea in the middle of a storm while they were struggling to keep their boat afloat. Only Peter dared to ask Jesus if he too could join Jesus on the water. At Jesus’ invitation, he actually stepped out of the boat and walked on water without any problem until he shifted his focus from the source of his instruction and focused on the surrounding storm.

Your focus will feed or starve your fear. Wealthy people experience fear like any other person. The difference between them and the ordinary person is that while the poor hesitate to do anything significant because of their fears, the wealthy make bold moves in defiance of their fear! As someone has rightly said, faith is nothing but fear that has said its prayers!

A young man once came to me for help. At the time of our engagement, he told me that he and his wife had graduated from college five years earlier but were yet to get a job. They were graduates of Business Administration, yet neither of them could come up with an idea for enterprise even when I asked them what they could do. Neither of them had added any value to himself or herself either through the acquisition of soft skills or some other marketable skills. One of the fixations of the poverty mindset is the entitled expectation that somebody somewhere must provide them a job just because they brandish a college degree! The wealthy mindset on the other hand is constantly thinking of how to solve the problems that emerge from popular gossip. Helping people by solving problems is the legitimate way that every wealthy person makes their money.

Is it a crime to be poor? Of course not. But every man has a choice not to be. Nobody was created poor or destined to poverty. Finding ourselves in a state of temporary lack is not an indication of poverty. Even the rich sometimes get broke. Real poverty is an internal dynamic, a mindset that does not totally commit to being an asset to others in life’s field of play. Each one of us was born with a definite value proposition to enrich creation. The challenge that many have is in never making any effort to discover their own value proposition. Some discover it but never develop it. Others develop it but never fully deploy it.

Wealth requires work, but it does not necessarily respond to hard, sweaty labour. Much of the work of the wealthy is in developing strategies that enable them to engage others effectively in the deployment of their ideas and dreams. The poor constantly pursue money, but the wealthy constantly pursue purpose.

In life, those who know ‘how’ will always get a job. But they will always be employed by those who know ‘why.’ The choice is yours!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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