Equal Value Different Fruits

It is how bitterness festers, it’s fuel is
always foolishness especially from the
aggressor who lacked the ability to see
tomorrow
What it does to the unwise is uncanny,
it weakens them while making them
assume they are strong
They forget that a day of reckoning will
come and their victim will never forget
even though he or she may forgive!
Mind your words!
Kind words cost the same as unkind words
but the fruit they bear are far from similar
Words are time bombs, they will blow up
in your face at the worst possible time
and may deny you access to glory later
in life
It is better to speak kind words than to
be hurtful in your expressions
The young never forget
He was in SS3 and needed to pay for
his WAEC
It had been a turbulent year for his parents
He went to Bashorun market with his
older sister
They went to see their father’s younger
sister who had a shop in the market
All they needed was 3000 naira
They helped her at the shop throughout
that day, then his sister told his aunt
what the need was
This young man is brilliant and would most
likely pass WAEC and Jamb too in one
attempt
Please can you help us with 3000 Naira?
so that he can register for the exam?
The aunty could have said “I don’t have
enough to spare, but I will try and be
praying for you”
It would have been enough but she was
not wise
She said “Did you get to SS3 yesterday?
If your parents are responsible would
they not know you would write WAEC
and save towards it?
She said so much
This was their aunt that his father trained
through secondary school
Not even a word of grace!
The young does not forget
Strangers paid that WAEC fee and he
passed
He never went to his aunt’s house again
or asked her for anything
The weight of her words had built a
permanent wedge between them
His aunt of course did not notice the
change, she went on living her life
His younger brother went to his
Aunt’s house to spend the holiday
one year
His aunt gave him 10000 naira when
he was leaving
Before he got to school, his aunt had
called three other people in the family
She lamented that the young man told
her that he doesn’t have school fees
and clothes to wear
She said she gave what she had but it
was not her responsibility to cater for
her older brother’s children
The people she called didn’t caution her,
they escalated the whole issue
The first said “Is it by force to get an
education?”
The second said “Why be a burden
on someone else?”
The third said “They should drop out and
learn a trade if schooling does not agree
with them”
They forget that the young remember…
Years later the two young men made it
The first was a multimillionaire
The second was a billionaire
They had the kind of money that the
devil cannot touch
They began acquiring properties and
building dynasties
The family couldn’t ignore them anymore
The aunt wanted a piece of the pie but
her conscience was heavy
The others who like her spoke reproach
to glory became uneasy
They had a meeting
What do we do now?
The aunt said “I have money and I don’t
need anything from anybody.
Let everybody mind their end of the rope!
The others agreed too
But greed is a terrible thing…
One of them sneaked into the young man’s
phone and wrote a report of the whole
meeting
Twenty talents of silver
Is a generational price
Somebody must work hard to get it
The young man told the snitch he has
forgiven
He held no grudge against them and their
scathing words of the past
There was however a lesson to be learned
in the whole scenario
Even though they didn’t offer to help at that
time
A kind word would have put them in good
stead for the future
What would it have caused them to show
some empathy or kindness or grace
What offense was so vile that a kind word
would be too expensive to give?
Let us all learn from this!
Especially backbiters, backstabbers
bitter and unforgiving parents
Your children are listening and learning
Remember this
Speak kind words
Forgive
Remember that the young always remember
Make them remember good things!

-GSW-