A student in one of the universities in the Southwestern cities of Nigeria left the library late in the afternoon and boarded a taxi to her hostel.
She felt reasonably safe because it was still daylight and there were two matronly looking women in the cab. She came to in a darkened room where she discovered she had been kidnapped by ritualists and was being prepared to be sacrificed.
She pleaded for mercy and called on God to save her but after a while accepted her fate and prepared to meet her maker. Then a miracle happened, one of the young men in the house came into the room where she was kept, commented on her beauty and youth and started to converse with her. He saw books in her bag and read out the name on one of them asking her if it was hers. She confirmed it was hers and suddenly a woman came out from one of the rooms and mentioned a name. She then proceeded to ask whether she knew the person who had the same surname as her. She was confused but replied that the person in question was her mother and upon hearing that, the woman told her companions to release her immediately and get someone else.
When she asked why, she replied that the girl’s mother was too good to suffer such a loss and so the girl was released to live to tell her story.
Every time I recollect that story I have goosebumps because I am aware of how the story could have ended if her mother had been “bad”, how the strange woman would have rejoiced in the fact that she could repay her enemy back in her own coins. How the girl was saved purely because of her mother’s goodwill and deeds.
It’s good to be good.
I have often imagined how the woman could have known the girl’s mother. It is unlikely that they were friends because if they were, they would have recognized each other and she wouldn’t have revealed herself to the girl.
I think it’s more likely that they were acquaintances or that she had heard of her mother through someone else the mother had helped. It could be, that she was somewhere and someone she respected had spoken well about her. Or it mught well be that she knew of her in the neighborhood in which she worked or lived. It could be, that her relative had worked with the mother and she had treated her with respect and kindness. It’s strange the things people we don’t know, know about us. It will surprise us that people we don’t even acknowledge have an opinion about us-
The security men in our estate, our neighbor’s domestic staff, the cleaner in another department etc. It’s unbelievable at times what impression a gesture that we think nothing about has on people and how it affects how they see us.
I learnt early in life to always treat people well in spite of their looks, age and social status.
I was about 7 or 9 years old when I came across a book “Uncle Arthur’s bedtime stories” and one of the stories in the volume I read made an impression on me which has lasted even to date.
The story was told of a 4-year old boy who got on the bus with his mother and mistakenly stepped on a fellow passenger’s toes. He immediately apologized profusely and was so well mannered that the man being very impressed, asked him several questions about himself which he answered. Subsequently, every year on his birthday, there was a present that arrived in the post for him from “your friend on the bus”. After a while he couldn’t remember the incident, yet year after year the presents came.
One winter, they had little money to buy coal or wood for the heater and his mother was very sick. In desperation, he called the coal board, ordered a much lower quantity than he normally would, explaining his circumstances and left his address. He was surprised to get a whole truckload delivery of the coal at no additional expense with a tag from “your friend on the bus.” Alas, the man he met so many years ago, on whom he had made an indelible impression had risen to head the coal board.
The stories I have recounted taught me the value of being good, treating people well irrespective of their status and the fact that nobody knows tomorrow.
That lowly person you meet today can be of great help to you tomorrow. That domestic staff can end up being employed as a domestic staff in the presidential villa and would have more access to the president than ministers and politicians.
We live in a society where people are beginning to abhor being good and kind to others. Horror stories abound about how somebody was kind to another to his detriment and it is true that some people will take advantage of our kindness and even repay our good with evil. I am not advocating that we allow people to trample over us and our feelings, we owe ourselves the right to refuse to be taken advantage of by others. I am, however, urging us to be less self-absorbed, more conscious of the people around us and to ensure that we do not give in to the basest of human nature as we all have the inclinations to be selfish and insensitive.
We are a very religious people and we outwardly revere God. However, we tend to maltreat and disrespect Man who is made in His image, most times because, we have a sense of superiority to others that makes us feel we are better than them. I am of the firm belief that God is interested in people and wants us to be so interested. There is a part of God in every person that was created and we should begin to value people in the same way as the God we serve does.
There are many benefits in being good and kind to others but the main benefit is that we help ourselves and our loved ones in many ways we can never foretell.
We can never tell what the future holds for our children and/or relatives, where they will go, what they will do, who they will meet and what will become of them but it is undeniable that our deeds (good or evil) will speak for or against them if not now surely in the future.
Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” — Desmond Tutu