#MyWordForToday is #Wealth

#MyWordForToday is #Wealth. 

In writing on wealth I would like to talk about the "Tragedy of Commons". This is because wealth, like abundance, is often associated with having "material possessions, riches, a state of affluence".

However, as we all know, wealth is not confined to a profusion of material possessions. The Old English meaning of wealth simply meant  "the condition of well-being". 

The Yorubas of  Southwest Nigeria have this down pat because to us, wealth (oro) is often differentiated from simply being rich (owo). 

My tribe believes that being wealthy is far superior to just being rich. Our interpretation encompasses well-being, having well-rounded children, kindness, charisma, class, pizzaz (this is an important one 😄) and education - such a person will be referred to as being wealthy. 

This presupposes that you have both inner and outer wealth. The former, being a state of a wealthy mindset, one of well-being where your mind is settled enough to allow you to make plans for your now and future. 

No one can deny the importance of having riches. From it comes comfort, access to influence, influential people, luxury items, or simply being able to help others by virtue of your money.

The problem with outer wealth is many times we don't know when to stop. We keep amassing wealth,  many times we are unscrupulous about how we make it. 

This is not a post to denigrate anyone but bring into focus that while material wealth is important, undue fixation on it causes problems for the entire world. And this is the link to my reference about the " Tragedy of Commons. 

The tragedy of Commons typically arises from the inherent conflict between an individual's self-interest versus the interest of the community over a shared resource.

In the Tragedy of Commons, individuals tend to choose to be selfish with the commonwealth of a people. 

A Governor for instance (an individual) converts the commonwealth of a people to his personal use, creating a ripple of immense effect, in fact creating a catastrophe.

This is, of course, a simplistic view but nonetheless explains the grab-grab mentality we seem to have. 

And the grabby person doesn't even have to be a powerful person to set off this tragedy. 

It just takes one individual that thinks to take more than enough from a shared resource.  And when he does, it is to the detriment of the other members of the society.

The tragedy often becomes pronounced because all the other members watching him will also begin to take care of their own interest. A vicious cycle is created.

COVID-19 in spite of the many tragic moments has brought to the fore many lessons we ought to pick from.

No matter how much wealth we own, when we die, we will be buried in the ground with either a Muslin cloth or in a piece of wood.  

No matter how expensive these are, they will ultimately be eaten up by the soil.

 We have to rethink the way we process wealth. Prioritising inner wealth over the outer one, being wealthy in compassion, empathy, kindness and integrity will forever trump having loads of material wealth that help no one. 

The Yorubas are wont to say "under a shitload of money is a league of rotting maggots". This means the route to excessive riches is littered with bodies, rotten ones. 

Money is important and necessary. A lack of it is stressful, but undue focus on it is very harmful not just to one person but the society at large.

I'm going to leave you with this thought: 

"The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel, it's poverty by how little" William R. Alge

Bibireosefowora 💌