This world has always been a painful place for each and every living thing and when I say, “living thing”. I include animals. But let me first put aside animals, mankind has to fight its way to earn a decent living but only a few manage to do that, and I wonder why it happens that way.
It is easier to say people who are on the street are there because of poor life choices. It is common to say a widow who hawks fruit to put food on the table for her children didn’t have to have children. It seems like we don’t know what people are going through and it is true nobody knows what a street child goes through. Nobody knows what those who always stretch his or her wire-like hands to beg what to eat.
We don’t even understand why they had to beg their entire lives when they should be driving nice cars but if we were in their shoes a day or two, we will really understand what it means to be poor.
When I see these people sometimes, my heart swells with pain and tears involuntarily begin to find their way through my cheeks. I just want to cry because, in my heart, I know they didn’t choose that beggar’s life. There were times when they had great plans for their tomorrow. There were times when they had visions and goals to execute. They had once believed in a brighter future but unfortunately, life turned out to be cruel to them.
The plans and dreams they had for long nurtured are deeply buried or they are far distances away where they cannot reach them. We should not pass by these people when we are going to work. They have a lot of stories to tell. Who knows if they could have been like us or even more than us if luck was on their side?
Let us not make fun of these people just because they are poor. Maybe the money you have and all the wealth you have was given to you so that you extend a helping hand to the needy. God uses people to bless others. And you could be one of the few that God has chosen to bless others.
You never know what has been given to you was given so that you touch people’s lives with it. You have to use your wealth well. You need to change someone’s life because one day, we will die, and we will never take with us wealth or poverty to heaven. A place where the righteous will go after death, we e will take with us the deeds of a lifetime. They will act as our passports to that beautiful place above the skies. They will make you remembered on earth because those whose lives were touched by your generosity will always want you alive and that will strengthen your relationship with God.
I know this will be painful to accept but we are not going to be here for more than one hundred years. But what we do in our lifetime or the days that were given to us is what will count. We are too small to fight for our own needs; maybe you, your family and that is all. We need to go for a bigger family, and this means we need to share what we have with the less privileged.
Maybe you have more than 100 million South Sudanese pounds in your account and many businesses within or outside the country. You need to donate half of what you have to charitable courses because, in the end, you will benefit more than the people you have helped. You will one day go where this material wealth would be of no use.
I hope if not many times, you have once attended a burial ceremony of once a fulfilled rich man. I hope amidst tears. You must have seen one strange thing and it will also happen when your time comes. They are not buried with their material wealth. If there is one thing that follows them to their graves, it is the coffin and nothing.
This shows that all the material wealth is vanity, and we need to be very careful with what we have. We don’t need to hoard wealth because we will not take them with us. Help human beings and support unfortunate kids. This is what counts. Send disadvantaged kids to school, feed them and clothe them. This is more refreshing than buying a V.8.
Helping others is not a weakness; it shows that God helps people through you. Let others climb those success ladders through you so that they achieve their small goals.
I know you have once heard of Microsoft magnate Bill Henry Gates. Apart from being the richest man on earth. Bill Gates is also one of the greatest philanthropists alive. Most of his wealth goes to charitable organizations. Even in Africa, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding most of the health organizations. No idea as to why they are doing this?
The Gates family realized that a life well lived is a life lived for others and that is why he uses his wealth to help the unfortunate majority. In days to come or 50 years from now, the Gates family is not going to be there, but they will leave this world a better place than they found it for others.
I don’t mean you have to be rich enough like Bill Gates so that you help the struggling humanity, the little you have when it is shared with the needy can make a difference. Nobody has ever been poor by giving. Giving is something that we must always consider if we really want to live a happy life. We need to put others first before our selfish interests.
Make up your mind today and calculate the time you have spent on earth and the days left for you to leave this world and when you are done, think about the good things you have done in your 60 years of life and if you can’t find any, then be the reason why someone smile. Be the reason why someone wipes his or her tears. And after all, when you are going you will be sure that you have planted hope in the hearts of people.