Greetings!
One simple truth I know is that, no matter how selfless we are in rendering help without expecting anything in return, the "Thank You" is highly valued. This little appreciation goes a long way toward softening the heart of the giver and telling it that it has done well.
Even God, who has everything in abundance, expects the receiver to show appreciation by saying Thank You whenever He gives out a token.
Why am I hammering on this Thank You?
A few months ago, I had someone, Precious by name, chat with me on WhatsApp. He's a big boss when it comes to affiliate earnings; he has a telegram group of 3,000 members, and he is also a member of my WhatsApp group. We aren't close to be called friends but we chat once in a while especially when it comes to online earnings.
When I saw his message, I quickly responded, and the next thing he threw at me was that I should help him with 200 naira because he wants to pay for something online but his money is not complete.
That wasn't his first time asking me for help, and I have been turning him down because he asks for huge money, but considering the fact that what he was asking at that moment was very small, I decided to give it to him.
But then, I had just 1,000 naira with me, which I intend to withdraw from the POS and use for dinner. The money will be rendered 'useless' if I remove 200 from it.
I didn't want to turn him down at all; at least let me sacrificially use the 200 to enter his record list of generous people.
Image is mine
I messaged him, told him about my situation with the last 1,000 naira with me, and asked him to drop his account number.
He dropped his account, and I did the 200 naira transfer immediately.
I messaged him that I'd sent it; he read the message (blue tick) and snubbed. I thought maybe he's busy to confirm he has received the money with a reply, but he never messaged.
Minutes turned into hours, and hours are still counting today.
Although the money is small but I felt his ingratitude. His ungratefulness kept reminding me that I used part of my feeding money as a sacrifice and felt fooled.
I just locked up; I didn't message him again, and he never said anything; he just behaved as if nothing happened.
It was so unbelievable to me because I had never done that to anyone. I show appreciation with even a $0.01 gift.
A miracle happened that day.
That event occurred exactly on February 14th this year, Valentine's Day, and one of the biggest telecommunications companies in Nigeria was gifting their lucky winners things like Samsung phones, recharge cards, data, and vouchers worth 10,000 naira.
I was lucky that day to win a 10,000 naira voucher, and I used the voucher to purchase a 20,000-mah powerbank from Jumia.
With this effect, I never considered the ingratitude nature of Precious.
I learned that giving is good irrespective of the attitude of the receiver, because oftentimes, when we help, it's not mainly the person we are helping, but we are doing what we are mandated to do. More also, we should be smart on our giving
I didn't remove Precious from my contact list; he's still there and I'm patiently winning for the day he will come for a again.
As for the feeding that day, I used the 800 naira remaining to buy any food I could.
Thanks for reading🙌