It Pays to Treat People Right by Lanre Olagunju.

Undoubtedly, human beings are the most treasured creature on planet earth; unfortunately, men don’t treat men as such. No society can succeed beyond the premium it places on people, after all government is all about people and people alone.

The parallel reason for the irreconcilable differences between the western world and the poor third world countries like ours is the premium placed on human. Developed countries dwell on the understanding that human capital is the richest and most crucial recipe for economic development. To that effect, they value education, provision of food and water, fine art of hospitality and good health that her citizens may function optimally.

In fact, we think otherwise and it shows. Here people die for very wrong reasons, or how else do you explain that young and old alike die of treatable and curable diseases like malaria and absence of drugs in our hospitals. Asking for electricity is like asking for too much but humans aren’t meant to live without basic survival needs like food and water. Today, bad roads claims lives each day as if granite and coal tar have all relocated into extinction. Little wonder why we as a people despite our dreams to prosper will still wallow in the anguish of poverty.

Young people aren’t the leaders of tomorrow anymore, but leaders of today- so we claim. Although our actions can’t be more contradicting. In fact it’s like we’ve taken an unconscious oat to replicate the wrong deeds of the older generation and we can’t be any better for it. It shows when we scam foreigners on the web and also when we celebrate our scammer friends and relations. Lately, there is this advancement, witchcraft has been successfully rebranded into a money making machine.

“Service to humanity is the best work of life”-so says a creed, and the only way to be impactful and fulfilled is to serve humanity by the giving away of oneself. The shocking irony is that only those who give themselves to others make a meaning out of life. After all, the worth of our days will be measured by what we gave and not what we earned. There is an urgent need to ensure that greed and self centeredness die a natural death by birthing the zeal to help, serve, encourage and inspire others.

The scarcity oriented society we live has succeeded in making us aware of one thing and that’ self and ourselves alone. It is understandable that one’s environment has a whole lot of influence on the mind. Therefore the default in a country like ours is to be greedy, self centered, embezzle and be awfully stingy. Any act short of this can be possibly tagged non -Nigerian.

Let the truth be told, even your future helpers might desperately need your help now. It should be noted that every broken relationship is a broken bridge. Relationship is everything, and only those who have mastered the act of treating others right can love genuinely. When we treat others right, the success we pursue endlessly will be replaced with abundance of wealth, joy and most importantly fulfillment. If all of our net labor is to make ourselves just a little comfortable, then we are by all standards the most miserable creature.

Learn to look out for the genuine interest of others especially those who are despised. Help someone solve a problem, encourage your neighbor, buy someone a gift, call that old friend you haven’t seen in a long time, keep loving that irritable and cocky roommate, go visit that friend who is lying lifeless on the hospital bed.

Great men like Nelson Mandela, Bill Gates and Henry Ford just wanted to solve a problem, and in return life has furnished them with all the wealth and fame they couldn’t imagine, reason that God can’t but reward those who nurture that which he created in the fullness of his power.