by Michael Ace

“When the dead man walks, the living man should rise; If you dey for warfront you get hit by surprise”
– Olamide, Responsibility

It has become a routine for me to soliloquize every time I walk on the street. I haven’t lost a bit of my sanity, I’m just always stormed at the way able bodied men sit by the road side with bowls before them expecting hustlers like me to drop money in there. Some of them who believes in ‘if Mohammed doesn’t go to the mountain, the mountain will come to Mohammed’ will stand amidst the crowd, get whatever they can even if they have to scream it out of you.

The problem is not that you have rendered an assistance which is one of the arms of humanity, the problem is not that you’ve helped them feed their belly and give their families a means of livelihood (if they have any), the problem is not that you’ve put a smile on someone’s face; the problem is that you will meet them on the same spot again the following day. The problem is that the token you sacrificed for them will never suffice. They will keep begging and begging until you begin to wonder if these people are actually helpless or lazy.

Abraham Lincoln said and I quote: “though good things come to those who want; they are leftovers of those who hustle”.

We don’t get the chance to choose what becomes of us before birth. If we do then I’m sure no one would be born in a manger and each and every living soul on earth will be related to the most influential and richest men. But whichever weakness one is born with, it’s a responsibility to take it upon oneself and scale through the hurdles; and if it’s filthy to get your hands in the dirt, wet yourself with your sweats and dig into the treasures in the earth, then the world will be void of the sun, stars, gold and everything that stands as referent of success.

The nuisance these people constitute to the society is on a swift adverse as they symbolise a larger percent of rawness and filthiness that stigmatize the streets. People say there are no jobs in the country; I say there are jobs just that you may not find the one that suits your economic need- you hardly find the job that pays your bills and best compliments your academic feat or skill level. Nevertheless, before the best comes, one has to make do with the good and survive with the better. There are several ways to live than doing by the mercies of others- those you are indirectly choking.

The fact that some certain circumstances have pulled you towards detriment in the past isn’t an excuse to live by alms even when the physically impaired tap into their initiatives and get mighty things done.

You are a failure only if you choose to be. If you don’t hustle, who will?

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

The author tweets @lordace32