I stopped giving and it's never a sin

Greetings!

This prompt brought to my mind a friend who used to come almost every two weeks to ask for financial help but hasn’t come for about two to three years. Oh, I'm already feeling guilty for not checking on him for a long time to see if he's okay or, at the very least, if he stopped asking people for financial help here and there.

Look at what happened:

This guy, let me call him Aaron, was someone I served with during NYSC, and I was privileged to lead them in a fellowship group, NCCF. You know, those privileges and positions put someone on top, even though the pocket doesn’t always match the role. So yeah, I was very close to everyone, and due to the position, I was kind, generous, and charitable to everyone, which I didn’t mind at all.

When we finished the service year and returned to our various places to seek stability in life, I mean to get established, this guy Aaron would come every two weeks asking for financial help as little as 2k (two thousand Naira) and promised to pay it back once he had the means, but at that moment, he needed food, and he had nothing. I know life is hard for a lot of us because we were all struggling to settle down, and even at that time, I was struggling myself, but I would still give to him because I knew how it felt to be without money for food. I also considered the courage it took for him to approach me for help. So, I always gave him whenever he called with such a request.

What made me stop?

One particular evening, I got a message from a lady we also served with. She wanted to confirm from me if Aaron was okay because he was asking her for money almost every week. To her, something didn’t seem right; she felt that something might be mentally wrong with him because it was so odd the way he would come into her DM to beg for 1k or 2k.

I was shocked because I thought I was the only one he had been asking for money, and I couldn’t understand what he was using the money for since it couldn’t be just for food, especially with the fact that he was asking other people as well. Also, even if it was for food, does it mean he was depending on begging for sustenance when he could work and at least earn enough for food?

Or, if he wasn’t living with his parents, he could reach out to them for support.

After thinking about all the possible reasons for how he was living such an odd life, I decided not to give in to his requests anymore. I didn’t see the point in continuing to give to someone who was constantly begging, not just from me but from other people too. He came three more times, but I declined his requests. Since then, I haven’t seen him, and I wonder if hunger has dealt with him since then.

Although I feel bad for not reaching out to him for such a long time, I don’t feel guilty for stopping the financial assistance.

Thanks for reading.

This is my entry to the Hivenaija prompt of the week.

Photos are mine

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