You are richer than you think

By Anne Mukei

Last week, a friend who works in the jua kali sector was invited for a high profile event. She called me with the good news; she was going to meet this personality she was dying to see.

According to her, a meeting with this person would change her life.

She was honoured and excited; she looked forward to the event that was to be held three days later.

There was only one hiccup though — she had no clue what she was going to wear. We both agreed that she had to look her absolute best. There was no two ways about it.

Of course there was the option of buying a new outfit, like women are wont to do on such occasions. But this too, seemed impossible, since she was dead broke.

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She also was not able to buy on credit; and she had earlier on made a promise to herself that she would not get into the habit of borrowing money. But she was tempted to borrow, if only for the last time.

Then that evening, as the aura around her was starting to dim, she had an ‘aha’ moment!

She would comb through her wardrobe and see what would suffice.

She immediately rushed upstairs and turned on all the lights in her bedroom (she did not want to miss anything) and embarked on her mission.

‘aha’ moment!

She was not gone deep into the task when she saw the hanging belt of this lovely yellow dress she had bought a while back but only gotten to wear once at a far corner of the wardrobe.

 She had completely forgotten about it, and now she was screaming out of pure joy and relief.

Her story reminds me of the time when I stumbled upon a Sh500 note at one of the folds of my handbag at a time when I was very broke. I was so glad that the sun suddenly seemed to shine brighter.

It is amazing how we never seem to keep tab of what is happening to us, and of the things that make up our lives.

Only when we are forced to dig deep into our reservoirs do we notice that we are indeed more endowed/equipped than we initially thought.

Sort of reminds me of the euphoria we feel as a country when we discover oil or minerals at a remote part of the country. Then we set out to exploit the said gem, reveling in the fact that we are indeed wealthy.

In reality, we are richer than we think. We just need to open up our eyes and see all the prosperity we are endowed with.

Maybe then will we value ourselves better, and stop taking things and situations for granted.