Beyond our stay here on earth, I doubt if there is anyone of us who would not want his name to outlive his existence and for the right reasons too, not minding what we believe or disbelieve.

You may not believe this but in the olden days, rich men (and women) pay authors to write about them in their books to immortalise them. The reason is simple, book remains one of the easiest means to document history.

Hear this. The kindness you show and the lives you touch while you are alive, not the accolades you receive when you are alive, immortalises you. If you do good, you don’t need to pay anyone to write about it. Posterity documents events more than any paid author.

The world grows bigger in size and inventions but it gets smaller in connectivity. Oftentimes we are reminded that the world is now a global village where information travels at the speed of light. Someone asked me if there is still anything like voluntary help. I think there still is, only that they are very few.

I have seen fellows boast how they made the other fellows whom they are on account of the help they rendered when it was within their reach. Sometimes, they go public with sense of entitlement that they deserve to be repaid in equal measure and even more. Must kindness go with strings attached? I saw myself asking.

I have seen fathers boast that they did a lot to make their children who they are and deserve to be repaid. I have seen mothers remind their children that if not for them in their lives and I’m left to wonder if someone gets decorated just for doing his job.

Please, don’t get it twisted. A responsible child should cater for the welfare of his parents. It is not only biblical, it is rewarding but a responsible parent does not wait to be repaid by his children. Rather it should be a parent’s wish to see his children give his grandchildren a better life than he gave his own children.

Humanity is fast losing its value as every little act of kindness comes with strings attached. People render help not necessarily because they believe in it but because they expect rewards from the same source, whether directly or indirectly. Making beneficiaries of your help feel indebted to you negates the purpose of our existence.

I don’t really see anything wrong publicising acts of charity but if the publicity is not coming from a third party, I am left to wonder if it still qualifies to be called charity. If you helped someone and choose the social media to announce it, it’s not different from being paid for services rendered. Money doesn’t have to exchange hands for payment to take place.

The good thing about kindness is that it comes back to you in multiple fold from sources not even imagined. No man makes the other if God does not enable him but this is not saying that one should not be grateful to his benefactor.

Does humanity still have a face? I think it does but the true face of humanity is that which has no strings attached. If you must be kind, remove the strings.

©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr
05 September 2022