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Hello Mi Neighbour | Journey from personal poverty to personal prosperity

Published:Wednesday | September 18, 2019 | 12:00 AM

 

Hello, mi neighbour! Is it by choice that some persons experience personal poverty while others experience personal prosperity? Do you believe that you were born to be rich, or poor? What quality of life do you think the Designer designed for you? Think for a few minutes. Think…think…think…

Few really think they were born to be poor. Why, then, can’t the majority make ends meet? Every month it’s the same story: insufficient cash. Food, clothing, shelter, medicine, transportation, school fees, etc, are causing more grey hairs than anything else is.

By now, you would surmise that, in this context, I am positing that personal prosperity means the ability to manage life without begging or borrowing. If you drive a motor vehicle, you can tank up on demand. If you are sick, you can visit a private facility rather than joining a long line elsewhere and wait for days to get medical attention. To top it off, you are at peace with God and man.

What personal prosperity does not mean, however, is a problem-free life. Problems come unexpectedly from unexpected angles, people, places, and things. Personal prosperity precludes no one from the gamut of emotions experienced by humanity: anger, sadness, happiness, frustration, joy, etc. These are all part and parcel of ‘livity.’

That being said, back to my opening paragraph. By now, you would have done a bit of thinking. In my bias, I address the poor who think that poverty is a hand dealt them by their Maker. Stop! This is what your Maker says: if you “delight in the law of the LORD; and in His law he (you) meditates day and night…you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season. His (your) leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he (you) does SHALL PROSPER”.

Yes, theologians and agnostics may disagree, but based on my reading of this promise, none was born to be poor but have been made so largely by greed, ignorance, laziness, etc. And I know the circumstances story, but that’s another story, for another time.

And listen to this story: some years ago, a wheelchair-bound gentleman called me, in need of help. His wife left him along with their child, out of frustration. He was unemployed and had no money to maintain the child, but he did not accept that situation as life’s lot for him. Long and short, we donated some funds to him, which he used to start a micro-chicken rearing business. When we last spoke, not only was he supplying his community chickens, but also at least one hotel in the region. He had also refurbished his house, and the child was doing well in school.

Because this neighbour did not believe that he was born to be poor and to him poverty was a mental condition, his circumstances were not allowed to pauperise him.

Among the myriad ways to transition from personal poverty to personal prosperity, here’s a simple one: give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.

A good place to start is at the list below.

Let’s begin the journey from personal poverty to personal prosperity today.

Have fun!

Thanks to neighbours

- Yummy Bakery, for act of neighbourliness.

- Elsolvida Travel and Tours for kindness.

- Everybody’s Pharmacy for act of kindness.

 

Neighbours’ requests

- Neighbour, lost household items owing to a misfortune. Asking for a few pieces.

- Merdella, St Elizabeth mother of five -aching for help. In need of plywood and zinc.

- Twenty-two-year-old neighbour in Portland is asking for a TV as she goes on her own.

 

To help, please call Silton Townsend at @ 334-8165, 884-3866, or deposit to acct# 351 044 276 NCB. Alternatively, send donations to HELLO NEIGHBOUR c/o 53 Half-Way Tree Road, Kingston 10; Paypal/credit card. email: zicron22@yahoo.com. Contact email: helloneighbour@yahoo.com. Visit hellomineighbourja.blogspot.com Mr Townsend exclusively manages the collections and distributions mentioned in this column and is neither an employee nor agent of The Gleaner.