Growing up in Nigeria is funny, and not in a good way. Most people are struck with the mentality that money is everything due to brutal living conditions, which is terrible; money is important but not everything. I recently came across the phrase “black tax” on twitter and it doesn’t make any sense to me that taking care of your family would be considered a burden, or a tax, especially when you’re in the position to care for them.
Some people immigrate and their entire focus is on getting better lives for themselves, completely forgetting the village it took to train them or help them attain success. There is no such thing as black tax, and people should eradicate the notion that ‘you don’t owe anybody anything‘, that’s a lie, search your soul and be grateful to the few that helped you up, family or not.
One Sunday, Pastor P preached about a letter Apostle Paul wrote in the bible about slaves, and he wasn’t referring to slaves in the traditional sense of ‘a person owned by another person’, this referred to being slaves to material things, like money, career, mortgage, etc.
The sermon made so much sense to me because it’s an infinite loop of worry with a handful of people today, we strive for good education, and then work towards getting better jobs, and then we continue working towards landing the best jobs – there’s nothing wrong with ambition, but remember to pause, breathe, and live in the present.
Side note: Incognito Blog is accepting guest writers and collaborators; send a brief intro and your writing portfolio to me@incognitoblog.com for a chance to share your story and/or writing skills with our spectacular readers!
