THE RICH RAT: THE DANGER OF WEALTH AND PRIDE
THE RICH RAT
THE DANGER OF WEALTH AND PRIDE
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian
novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern
African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart,
occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely
studied, translated, and read African novel.
Achebe also wrote other
novels No Longer At Ease (1960) Arrow Of God (1964), A Man Of The
People and Anthills Of The Savannah (1987) that have to date boggled the
minds of literature students, play writers and enthusiasts worldwide.
He has also written many
stories that teach and admonish the reader about life.
One of such stories is about
a wealthy man who had the misfortune of his house being overrun by rats.
On one occasion, a rat
swallowed a big diamond he had in his possession and he was left distraught
since he was unable to identify which of the rats had swallowed his precious
stone.
He decided to contract
someone to find the rat that swallowed his diamond.
The rat hunter arrived and
to his utter shock saw over a thousand rats huddled up together and one that
was sitting alone in a corner.
He immediately went for the
one that sat alone, killed it and to the owner’s surprise it was the one that
had indeed swallowed his diamond.
With great jubilation he
asked the rat hunter how he knew the exact culprit without much inspection.
The rat hunter told him “when
idiots get rich they don’t mix with others”
When fortune smiles on some
people they acquire a new personality, a new lifestyle and a new circle of
friends. They abandon people they had always related with and go for new
friends they didn’t know hitherto.
I know a politician who won
an election and relocated far from his constituency and avoided the place he
grew up in like a lepers’ colony.
Some even desert their
nuclear and distant relatives. They become detached and unreachable.
When danger comes it is easy
to isolate them for attack.
They are no longer
surrounded by a human shield.
A young man grew up and
lived in middle class Shomolu in Lagos. Mother luck smiled on him and he got a
job in a merchant bank then. He relocated to Victoria Island and developed a
taste that puts a lie to his humble beginning. He completely dissociated from
Shomolu.
Some years later, the
merchant bank liquidated and he couldn’t afford the ostentatious lifestyle any
longer. He attempted going back to his roots but he not only didn’t fit in
again, he was no more accepted.
Depression got the better of
him and the rest of the story is better not told.
The political appointee
The Council Chairman
The Councilor
The Assembly man
The one who just got a much dreamed about job
Or you just secured a plum
contract with promise of much lucre
When God answers your long awaited
prayers, maintain your normal profile.
Don't be proud.
PRIDE, THEY SAY, GOES BEFORE A FALL
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