THE THINGS THAT MATTER

A SELFIE WITH THE CHILDREN

The things that matter

At worst, every person truly desires to be happy. It is all we are chasing. However, it is very rare to see a real smile; a smile like that of a baby, pure and innocent. It seems that the more we grow, the faster our smiles fade away. An elderly woman said to me on my birthday, “Romeo, truth be told, it doesn’t get any better from now”.

However, every one of us has been happy before. Do you remember what occasioned that warmth in your cheek and made you smile? Is there something we are all forgetting?

What we must not forget

A few days ago, I took a trip to a remote village in my country, Ghana called Beporkorkor in the Assin Fosu District of the Central Region. The place is deep inside forests, quite cutoff from the district capital. It was the most organic and natural experience I have ever had. The village of just about 200 people had everyone I saw smiling plainly and terribly friendly (no one seemed careful to welcome us and also, the welcome was communal). There exists a chief in the village but he was not an authority figurehead; just a representative of some sort. These people were cut-off from urbanization but they seemed much more content and happier.

My friends and I went there on behalf of a not-for-profit organization called Friends of Purpose in Christ Foundation. We had been there the year before and successfully built a borehole for the community. This time, we were there to checkup on the borehole and to distribute some new cloth we had received from people abroad. See below our welcome party:

Do not forget that giving makes you happy.

This article is not about the villagers (I am sure they won’t mind my calling them so). It is about what I discovered before, during and after my visit to the place-about myself!!- I realized that once I agreed to give something to someone who needed it, I simply became happy and started looking forward to the act itself. Then, when I arrived at the village and started doing the distribution, I saw that I was totally at peace with myself and had forgotten about everything me. Just seeing the happiness on their faces made me happy too. It was magic. Straightforward. When the exercise was completed and we’d returned home, a friend said to me. “Something has changed about you. Why, have you received money from someplace?” He thought that happiness could only come from receiving. On the contrary, happiness comes from giving. It is a puzzle right?

See the road to Beporkorkor

The water they used to drink

Giving is always better than receiving.

Many of us have forgotten how to give. If we used to do it, we don’t do it anymore. We’ll rather wait to receive than to give. I have realized that, only in making the effort to make someone happy, can you also be happy. This is a timeless rule. Jesus Christ said, “Give AND (then) it shall be given to you.” If we really want to be happy, we must return to giving; it is that which matters.

How then do we give?

So that we don’t forget about giving, the act of giving must be routinized. I am talking in terms of deliberately drawing a timetable for giving that covers each the year, complete with all possible reminder mechanisms SO THAT WE DON’T FORGET. As for the money, you won’t ever have enough. Don’t mind that. Just plan to give what you have. Also, giving must not be limited to money. We did not share money in the village, we shared cloth, what in Ghana is called ‘second-hand’ cloth. You can also give shoes, bags, coins, food, water, shelter, etc… GIVE IT REGULARLY.

Now about Beggars

I don’t think if a beggar truly has, he/she would be sitting begging; at least, there’s fun to have, isn’t there? Therefore, beggars probably do not have and that is why they beg. Ignore the rumors that beggars are lazy rich people. At worst, you are giving for your own benefit of happiness.

Learn to give. Give to be happy.