In 1998, I saw a Nollywood movie (I can’t remember the title) in which the daughter of a wealthy man got into the University. She misinterpreted it as freedom. She lived such a life that her parents were not aware of; she could not afford that. In time, she took ill. She was diagnosed with HIV. Then, her father had to be brought in. As though it was not incurable, the doctors laboured but the disease wore on. The father kept upgrading to bigger and better hospitals. When it was obvious that she was dying, the father called the Chief Medical Director and said, “Doctor, please do something; I want to spend money.” The doctor responded that there was nothing they could do as the disease was yet incurable. Summarily, she died. That was the first time I saw that money sometimes fails.
After each of the world wars, Germany was reported to have had to redenominate their currency by dividing by 1,000. There was the story of the man who went to buy a loaf of bread with a wheelbarrow full of money; it took so much to buy bread. On the way, he was distracted and by the time he came to, someone had poured his money on the ground and made away with his wheelbarrow. The money was so useless that the robber poured it on the ground. That is another example of the failure of money.
In more recent times (2015), Greece was running out of money. People had money on record, but in reality, the nation was out of funds. Money was rationed, and the nation could only beg to borrow more. Again, in contemporary times, money failed. Reminds of the primordial days of trade by barter, when no one needed money.
Why then do we have so much faith in money?
Why does money give us so much assurance of security?
If we bear in mind that sometimes money fails, we would not lean so much on money.
For wisdom is a defence as money is a defence,
But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.
King Solomon.
Hmn, serious food for thought