By Ustaz Mark Bang
When this man (me) has an empty pocket, he begins to use the modality of economics. For I know, maybe one, two, or three have no money; they hungered and felt disappointed for having used up the money wastefully.
I personally feel hungry when I completely have no money in my pockets, and when I have it in abundance, I even sleep joyfully without experiencing any pain in the stomach.
How about you, her/him? Do you too feel the same thing happening to me here? The answer is obviously yes. How do I stop this thing from happening in my life, the best question one could ask her/himself? Yes! I have to be wise enough in using money perfectly well, for we know that the empty pocket, empty stomach, and broken heart teach the best lesson of life.
Only careless individuals forget what had happened in her/his life days, months, or years back. Uniquely, take a look at spending money when you earn less; most of the people who spend less are those who earn less, but those who spend much are those who earn much. You can’t spend the same expenses as a ministry or any businessperson spends.
For these are grouped in the first class, and some of us are just the laymen, so please we need to be very careful to compare ourselves with those who are 200 miles away from our reach.
A hungry stomach will teach you the value of food because when you are hungry, you will know how important the food is, and at that time you will not see anything fancy to eat but anything to calm your hunger. Even at that time you will realize the value of each grain of food, and maybe you will never waste that again in your life.
An empty pocket; well, it will show you the real world you are living in. Because without money, you actually can’t have anything. In todays fancy world, even your close ones will show their true faces when you have nothing to offer them.
A broken heart will teach you to value others feelings because without getting hurt, you will never know about pain. It teaches you to respect others feelings, and then probably you will never try to hurt anyone. Also, you start knowing your true self when you are broken. Living in poverty teaches you the best.
It teaches you not to be wasteful, to appreciate what you have. When you grow up with nothing, you learn to work for every single possession you have. When you work for and pay for something, as opposed to just having enough cash to buy it again new, when it breaks or gets dirty, or if someone just gave you something, you take care of it better and appreciate what little you do have, as you have had to go without in the past. Even if you are sitting on the bottom of 5-gallon buckets at a dining table you got at a yard sale for $5, you cherish what you have.
Growing up in poverty with the lack of everything also teaches you how to be innovative—to work with what you have. If you need to make, fix, or build something and you don’t have the money or materials to get new items that you need, you assess what you DO have and figure out how to make do with the materials you have. That ability to be innovative helps out in future job situations as well.
A broken heart, along with the lack of everything, really teaches how to appreciate people. Not to place the value of possessions over the value of people. A floor, roof, and four walls do not make a home. What makes it a home is who is there. People are worth more than possessions and cannot be replaced like possessions. Remember, every single thing that is built or made to buy is designed to break down at some point.
That is so that people will buy more of it or buy it again. Otherwise, companies would only have to manufacture, at the most, one per person. People, on the other hand, cannot be made again. So learn to listen, accept, and not judge people and appreciate them.
You are also more apt to be more altruistic when having a history of poverty. You are more willing to “give the shirt off your back” as you know what it’s like not to have one. You also know that no matter how bad off you are, someone has it worse. So it is more in your nature to be more active in charities that help out the homeless, the sick, and the poor.
However, an empty stomach will bring you to tears at night and keep you from being able to fall asleep, an empty wallet will bring you embarrassment around others as you can’t afford to “keep up with the friends,” and a broken heart will hurt you to your core, but just as you can’t get a rainbow unless you weather a storm, you cannot become a better person at your core unless you weather bad times.
Hunger, poverty, and emotional brokenness are words that have opposites. Such as having a full stomach from a delicious meal, having enough money to live comfortably, and being emotionally content.
Due to the way our brain processes such sensory input, the more we experience a thing, the greater capacity we have to experience its opposite. I have found that seeking this balance has helped me deal with deep despair. Resulting in the ability to experience a deeper, longer-lasting sense of optimism.
Besides helping us appreciate having what we need, hardships can help us discover the incredible resilience of the human spirit. This alone can make hard times seem less permanent. It’s like I can’t deny that I always find a way to survive. And if I survive, I can regain my strength and make a comeback. “Public Staunchest Ally”
The writer of this article is a human rights activist, writer, and professional teacher.