Comparison

Between two worlds...

“Faith! Faith!! Did you hear the testimony Divine gave in church today?”, my father shouted from the parlour.

“Of course, I did. I wasn’t sleeping”, I quipped back from my room.

Of course, I didn’t say that. I wouldn’t be alive to write this story if I had.

“Yes Sir, I did”, I said, like the good boy that I really am.

“Hundreds of thousands”, my father reminisced. I rolled my eyes like a nagging wife asking for money to cook soup, after all he couldn’t see me.

Let me give it some context…

I’m sure you remember Divine from Prophet Tales. You can look it up below if you haven’t read it.

So yeah, he was my classmate in nursery and primary school, and now we’re teenagers. He’s older than me by a year.

So, this time, he gave a testimony in church that he was owing hundreds of thousands, and there was pressure on him to pay and by God’s grace he was able to pay.

Look I’ve been in this position a lot of times. Especially involving him. Most times, it seems my parents would rather have him as their first son (sobs).

So my father was comparing him to me. As per, he could get hundreds of thousands to pay back a debt. He didn’t say where from or how. But we’ll leave all the ifs, buts and maybes.

That was the testimony he gave. Now here’s the raw and uncut version of that testimony…

One day after work we were just chilling and taking pictures. Then he got a call from someone and he picked it and went to one side. Now we were in the same place so I wasn’t eavesdropping (rolls eyes). And this is what I heard

Divine: How far? I don tell you sey I go pay you your money naa. Abeg, these guys never pay me too na why I never pay you. Just give me small time

Caller: Omo, this thing wey you dey talk, e be like sey you go talk am inside cell o. Cuz all these stories I no dey like am. See as these guys dey on my neck dey worry me since.

Divine: Abeg, just give me small time. I go pay you your money.

Now, riddle me this. Imagine me, going to tell my parents that I borrowed a hundred thousand naira for a business I was doing that failed, and the guys I borrowed from are on my neck and they want to lock me up with police. My mom would probably go hysterical and God forbid, lose it. As for my dad, he’ll start a tirade about how I’ve always been bringing shame to the family since I was in primary and how he has washed his hands out of anything that concerns me. “If police want to come and carry you, let them come and take you and go abeg”, is what he would see.

But of course, they don’t see that side of the story. It’s the glamorous part they see. And that’s the dark side of comparison…

Since the Bible said the love of money is the root of all evil, I won’t argue with that. But I dare say, comparisons are the branches of all evil. Greed, adultery, fornication, fraud, theft, suicide, and depression all come from this singular vice.

I personally detest it when people compare me to others, others to me or others to others. Cuz it’s not a fair system of judgment.

I once had an eye-opening experience. On a particular Nigerian music channel on YouTube, there was this girl rapping, like freestyling. And she was so good. When they asked her how old she was, she said she was 17. I was 18 then and I was like, this girl is far better than me, and she’s so young. Then they asked her when she started rapping.

This chick said she had been rapping since she could speak but really started when she was 7. Seven, my guy. So that’s 10 years she had been rapping, with the right support system and all, supposedly. Compared to me who had been rapping for just 5 years at that time.

If I had counted it that she was younger than me, I would have seen myself as a failure and someone who couldn’t make it. Not knowing she was actually older, in the craft that is.

This is the system of comparison that bedevils us nowadays. “Is that not your mate doing this, doing that”.

Do you really think anybody has mates in life?

No two people, not even twins have the same journey in life. Phases and timelines are different.

Compromise

With comparison, comes the temptation to compromise. When you are being compared to someone continually, there is the urge to want to conform to the mould of that person or group of persons. But God made each one of us different and unique. So we should never try to be another person.

Let our only comparison be our past self.

If only we just try to improve on the previous version of ourselves, with no external pressure, it would be a wonderful world, really. Everyone breaking their individual boundaries and pushing the grain farther and farther

Is it possible? Well, it’s completely up to you

I’ll close with this quote I saw one time.

Life is an exam but most people fail by copying others, not realizing that the questions are different.

Be better than the past you. Love you all

P.S.: Quick announcement.

After months of hoarding, I have decided to put out my first single of the year. The name of the song is STRONGER

It will be dropping on the 15th of September, 2023. See y’all then.