No Need For Shame!
There are certain things that happen sometimes, and I just can’t help but shake my head because, in all actuality, I didn’t know about them. When you listen to how absurd some things are, you’ll wonder if a town hall meeting was held and people just unanimously agreed to make such decisions or act a certain way in given situations. Well, that’s exactly how it is and what it’s been turning into.
As we come across more people, as we climb the ladder of society. You get to find some unspoken rules, many of which would be understandable, and you’ll see the reason why you should comply. And for others, you’d find yourself scratching your head for a long time, wondering why such a thing is even up for discussion.
You see, something somewhat crazy happened a few nights ago. Throughout that day, there had been steady power, and it made me a bit careless. I thought I could trust NEPA to keep the light on through the night as usual, so I became too relaxed. However, to my shock, they took it in the early hours of the evening. And that’s when I realized that my power bank and laptop weren’t really charged. My phone was charged, but with the power bank, I could go longer without needing power. And with the laptop, it was even worse. I had some work to do, and I also needed it for work the next day, if I didn’t charge it somehow, I was going to be disappointing a number of people.
So, I decided to buy fuel for my generator. At first, I had no plans to buy fuel, because I had believed that the light would be sufficient for me. I was wrong. So, I just needed something to last me the night, nothing much. 3k sounded okay to me.
So, I went to the fuel station, and while I was buying, I noticed another customer acting shifty. What made him catch my eye was how he cozied up to the attendant, as if he wanted to tell a secret. I even saw them hold hands for a while. But it wasn’t in a romantic way, it was in a very suspicious way. Then, he picked up his keg and left the station.
The attendant watched as I was looking at the customer, and he smiled. He even began to laugh. It turned out that the customer had only gone there to buy fuel for N900, which was slightly above the price of a liter. However, the guy was ashamed of that fact because the fuel he was buying was so small, which was why he was acting off. He moved close to the attendant and squeezed the money into his hand, as if it were a bribe. The same way you bribe someone when you don’t want people to see you. And once he paid, he picked up his keg and left.
When I heard the full story, I also found it funny. This was the first time I was hearing that people were ashamed of the amount they were paying for stuff. Like, it didn’t make sense at all. Back when I was in school, there were moments when I even bought fuel for N500, simply because I just had to charge my laptop, even if it was for thirty minutes. And I was never ashamed of it.
This speaks a lot about the insecurities that the guy has, because if he feels the need to hide the fact that he bought N500 fuel, then what happens when he starts buying fuel of N10k? When he gets a car and starts buying fuel of N15-20k at once, what will he do then? He’ll also feel the need to show off and announce to the world that he’s spending that amount of money.
The attendant told me that I’d be shocked at the number of people who behave that way. Many buy fuel, and treat it as if they were buying contrabands, and others buy it and treat it as if they were buying football players and needed the world to know. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I’ve been at the fuel station once, and a man drove in with his car. He didn’t mind that other customers were there, he started badgering the attendant to hurry up and sell to him because he wanted to fill up his car tank and also one keg as well. He was looking to spend about N40k, and thus, the attendant had to ignore everyone else and focus on him.
These are the people. Because when they have to buy fuel for 3k, they’ll be very humble. But buying fuel of 30k will bring out their beasts. I’ve never been such a person. I’ll never be the kind of person who will be ashamed to spend money that I worked for. Ever since I started making my own money, shame stopped being an issue for me. Because the people you’re trying so hard to impress won’t even bother to increase your purchase to the ‘required’ standard.
You could be at the supermarket, and everyone else is buying things worth hundreds of thousands, but that should never bother you. Just pay for your 10k purchase and leave. The same way if you buy things worth 2 million. No need to advertise it and show off. Pay for it and leave.
The last thing anyone should ever feel is shame because of how much they’ve made, especially when it’s not as a result of a lack of effort. We just need to do better, because in the end, the only opinions that really matter are ours. Everyone else is just a noise maker.
