There was this guy for whom everything seemed to be nice and dandy. I mean he was living a very ‘comfortable’ life in his own way, if money meant comfort. His story is that somehow he made money, I mean real money. How he made all that money is another story from which industrious authors could spin all sorts of thrillers, suspense and even in some instances, horror stories! I mean if you don’t think there wouldn’t be horror stories in the process of making lots of money, well you have to rethink the whole stuff. And when we say money we mean which makes real difference in someone’s life. And this guy we’re talking about made all the money with such astounding speed that the rumor mill was in overdrive in no time. I mean there are times when you just can’t blame people for speculating all the wild stories and even for thinking, largely creative, conspiracy therapies. We might have talked about the still mysterious green creatures just dropping out of the skies but we still are waiting for the stories of real hard money falling out of the sky! So one sure thing about this guy we’re talking about was that the money couldn’t have fallen out of the sky. Period!
Why did we bring up this person? Well. This is where life gets real nasty. No one really knows how and why but is guy hits the bottom with such a thud that the news, to use the current favorite term, went viral! It was breaking news in its own right and I didn’t think there is anything wrong with that. I mean, the guy made sure that the world knew what a good life he was leading and tried to take the whole spotlight for himself wherever he went.
However, that doesn’t mean he made a lot of friends within the larger society. By friends it is meant not those who practically crowd him with the only intent of milking some cash or other benefits out of him; it is meant real friends who don’t have the slightest intention of asking or even begging him to do one thing or another based on his financial muscle; friends who would really be concerned about his fate and wished him all the best life. Mind you, before he practically sprinted up the financial ladder and landed in a completely different world this was just another village inhabitant who brushed shoulders with those down the financial ladder at the humble bakery and small shops.
After his fall the whole story took that nasty twist as people expressed what they thought about him through actions or inactions. People just acted as if they never saw the guy let alone know his identity. Yes, you guessed right, after life nuked him in ways he probably never anticipated, see started to be seen in his former village where he literally has nothing to do since he changed residence a year back and never, even by accident, came back to where he spent much of his life from birth to his early thirties. Even villagers who knew him from his childhood until he kicked dust in their faces and practically fled the village as if his life was in danger. This is not some mob action where people might discuss a crucial issue, rich some form of an agreement for some group action. No; people just passed by him as if he was the total stranger they never saw and even crossed the road if they saw him coming their way.
He reaches a stage where he could take it no more! Why doesn’t he stay away from that village? Well that’s a very good question as an interviewee short of any substantial thing to say would try to sound smart. (Look, wouldn’t you say it’d be redundant to say, “That’s a good question,” as it is loaded with all the dangers of making all the other questions worthless. I mean, after all, anything less than good is worthless! People have been following the interview for more than an hour and at the hour and seven minutes mark the interviewee breaks the news that all they’ve been listening to was practical nonsense as he blurts out the worn-out phrase “That’s a good question.” The frustration would be universal; “What! What the hell does that mean! We have remained stuck in our seats for so long and he tells us now it was all for nothing!)
Anyway the fellow we’ve been talking about was so frustrated he manages to convince one rather reserved fellow to have tea with him. The guy reluctantly agrees after he gets the green light from a couple of friends; “Listen to what he has to say! You’ve nothing to lose!” So he sits with our freshly-broke fellow. As anyone would guess and the guy later told his friends who convinced him to meet the fellow it was a tense meeting. As the story goes the first question the guy posed was; “Why are you ignoring me?” What! It was a question that took the reserved fellow aback. He never thought this would be about him. It wasn’t as he’d learn before he could formulate an answer he should give. The riches-to-rags fellow then says something like, “The whole village is avoiding me. What did I do to them? I never hurt anyone. Am I not their son?” The uncomfortable villager who reluctantly came to the meeting didn’t offer any answer. How could he have any! After all, he isn’t representing anyone and even he treid to say a few things some slip of the tongue might burst through the walls of the small café and stain his reputation in the village as the reserved and well-behaved person who is example to upcoming youngsters.
The fellow didn’t utter a single word that he heaved in ways that ruined the good feelings the villagers had for him while he still lived there years back. Not even a few words like, “Of course, there are weaknesses on my part…” Such people never think on this line. Their ‘blink and blip’ ego and forced arrogance, which is not washed of, prevents them from taking the blame for all the wrong on their part.
Anyway, I brought up this story as we’re in times when many people, especially youngsters seem to join the ‘millionaires’ club’ overnight and turn a hundred eighty degree swerve from their former fairly comfortable reputations to forced arrogance and misplaced ego which makes them act in all the wrong ways with undisguised contempt and disregard towards the very society which brought them up. There are numerous such sad stories where largely sudden windfalls of hundreds of thousands and millions of birr, (even dollars!) creates badly ‘reengineered’ souls out of those of whom it was said “He is a well-disciplined young man who respects the young and the old equally! Everybody loves him.”
Does Money Mess up Brain matter!
BY EPHREM ENDALE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 11 MAY 2025
