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The Richest Poorest Man

Is Money all there is to life?

By Dean GeePublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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The Richest Poorest Man
Photo by Sarim Naqvi on Unsplash

I grew up in apartheid South Africa. The government propaganda had us all fooled. The country was closed off from the rest of the world and the government censored everything. Some people who spoke out about the injustices would ‘have an accident’ or meet an untimely death.

We would hear from people overseas that there were certain atrocities taking place, but none of us in the country knew any better. The government controlled every bit of communication. It was a capitalist society with communist regime media control.

Given the years of indoctrination and the fear mongering of government communication, the older generations had government propaganda firmly entrenched in their belief systems.

Crime was increasing as a direct consequence of sanctions and the rise in unemployment. Given the History of South Africa, there was already racial tension because of wars in previous decades between the races.

The more the sanctions bit, the more the unemployment, the more the crime, and the more the government could spin their narrative on just how evil certain people groups were.

One day while I was out walking with an older family member, I recall being told that I should never trust a black man, that they will ‘ steal the milk out of your coffee’.

That same day, we came across a black man, modestly dressed, walking on the other side of the street. This was a suburban street, so there was little traffic. My older family member started talking to the black man. This confused me, because we had all grown up believing that black people are evil. Yet here was my family member speaking to this black man? He had earlier told me, I should have nothing to do with black people?

He winked at me and said he was going to ‘test’ the black man. So he said to the black man, “I have lost all my money and I am hungry. Do you have any money for me?”

He was expecting the black man to say that he also had no money and it was usually black people who would ask white people for money, because of the unemployment amongst the black people being very high and getting higher because of sanctions. The sanctions were actually hurting the people they meant to help, as is normally the case.

The response he received was unexpected. The black man smiled and seemed quite happy to accommodate the request of my older family member. The black man offered him half of the money in his pocket. This would have been half of what he owned in the world. This was not a man of any financial means.

Because of the kind offer that my family member had received, we stood and spoke to the black man a little longer. We asked him where he lived and where his family was. He told us he was on his way home to his allocated township. In those days black people had designated areas in which they lived, called ‘townships’. Tightly controlled by police, black people couldn’t just live anywhere. What struck me was the friendly and happy demeanour of this black man. He seemed happy to be alive and happy to be going home to his family. he was happy to share half of what he owned with my relative.

In African culture they have a philosophy called ‘ubuntu’ it means. “I am because you are” This is the power of their culture, and I believe it stems back to tribal roots. They realise that each of us is reliant upon others to live and thrive. This man was rich in happiness and a feeling of community. Rich in care for his fellow man and for his family.

After we had chatted a little while longer, my older relative told him he didn’t need the black man’s money. We said our goodbyes.

The black man happily went on his way to his family.

The character and willingness to share impressed my older relative . When the black man had continued on his way, he said. “Did you see that? He was willing to give me half of his money so I could buy food.” I could see that this had a major impact on my older relative.

We walked home talking about other things. True wealth is care for others, not how much money you have.

Imagine if we all just helped one person, what an impact we would collectively have on humanity.

Conclusion:

Is wealth all about money ?

Can we be wealthy and happy without having every material want fulfilled?

I believe that some people are rich in integrity and love, rich in care for others. I believe that these people are wealthy in emotional well being and love.

humanity
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About the Creator

Dean Gee

Inquisitive Questioner, Creative Ideas person. Marketing Director. I love to write about life and nutrition, and navigating the corporate world.

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