AIR CLINIC WRITING CONTEST: POVERTY THE ELDER COUSIN OF DISEASE.
I remember twenty years ago when I was little girl from a rich home with cars and drivers at my disposal and housemaids to order around. It was fun growing up having a constant menu for each day then daddy made a wrong business decision and it all went South. The housemaids were the first to go then the drivers and the cars and it seemed like we will never wake up from this nightmare.
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Eating thrice a day turned to eating once a day or two if you count having to drink garri at night as food. Mummy never cared about the number of meat in the soup but suddenly she started cutting it according to how long she wants the soup to last. Funny isn't it? That's what poverty can do to you.
Daddy used to be a disciplinarian that wouldn't let us visit a friend let alone have a boyfriend. When things got so tough and he couldn't use his car as taxi again after the ordeal he suffered in prison for 48 hours after he was alleged to have aided a suspect to escape, our survival solely lied on mother and me of cos. I had to do something but then at 18 what could I possibly do other than have a boyfriend to help out with money. My Rich Dad would have scolded and asked tons of questions how the money came about but my poor Dad was too hungry to want to chastise. We needed food and his health was frail. He was hypertensive, he needed his drugs.
Although now I have a job and could afford what I want, I still haven't stopped cutting the meat and counting it before cooking with it.
Poverty is the elder cousin of disease. Just like diseases are undesirable, poverty is also undesirable but then diseases can be treated but poverty messes up with ones mental state and it's only cure is getting out there and making money.
The mental health is the worst about poverty it so shrinks self esteem
You are absolutely right.
Telling someone in poverty to go out there and make money is like telling an obese person to lose weight. That's stating the goal, but not the means. Getting out of poverty is all about motivation
Poverty is enough motivation. Nobody wants to be poor. As a poor person you suffer a lot. What more motivation do you need?
It is not the same for everybody. Some people are poor because they doubt themselves in every opportunity. And some have wrong perceptions towards wealth
I wonder what that wrong perception is tat would make you rather choose to remain poor. Doubting yourself and not willing to try will keep you getting the crumbs and someday when you can't afford the crumps you wanna try harder
I strongly believe you dear, poverty is the elder brother to disease... Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece
Thank you so much for reading
I can relate with this, from being rich to poverty is the worst thing that can happen to someone....
I don't wish that for even my enemy
Hmmmm I'm speechless. This got me bothered actually if it was a kinda fiction or real story.
It's real