“No be im papa money in dey take flex life?”…
“If no be for im mama money, wetin he get”…
“Person wey dem born with silver spoon too dey form hustler”…
“Omo olowo too wan dey form streetz”…
These ring a bell right?
Well, there has always been some sort of unspoken rivalry between people born into wealth and the people in the middle class who are steadily trying to create wealth for themselves.
This unspoken tension that exists may be so because there is a constant effort to downplay the success story of rich kids. Some belong to the school of thought that these kids easily get whatever success they desire on a platter of gold.
But really, let’s cut some slack because no matter how much one has or is entitled to, if you don’t put in the work, wealth can disappear in a twinkle of an eye. So instead of the notion that they get whatever on a silver platter, I will rather say some level of effort is put into ensuring an already set dining table doesn’t scatter.
On the other hand, some rich kids will hardly accept the pivotal advantage their family’s/parent’s wealth affords them. They would rather give off the impression that their wealthy backgrounds have no influence on their success story.
Instead they’d prefer everyone saw the level of their hard work being equivalent to the effort people from the other class put in. This seems to be a problem as some people get touchy when rich people deny the privileges and advantages their wealth affords them. Some argue that no matter how insignificant these privileges are, they still exist.
And maybe life isn’t fair for not giving everyone the silver platter because others have to work harder to get to this dining table which they would still have to set themselves.
The constant need to deny the influence of one’s wealthy background seems hypocritical and maybe petty. This gives other people a reason to make snarky remarks. You see whatever benefits or perks or advantages life gives you, embrace it with your full chest and be unapologetic about it. Stop trying so hard to make your success story fit into a narrative of “na who suffer pass to reach the top be the real deal.” And for real we should scrap this mentality of “na me suffer pass.”
Also, there is no award given to “na me suffer pass” so when next you feel the sense of belittling someone else’s achievement because you have it harder than them, think twice because this kind of reeks of spiteful jealousy.
Popular musician, David Adeleke aka Davido proudly accepts the influence of his rich background hence his chant of OBO – omo baba olowo. Regardless of this, he has been able to create his own success story without trying so hard to convince people that his hard work is also consequential to his success.
On a final note, it is distasteful to downplay anyone’s success story because they seemingly had it easier or the odds were in their favour. Again, this life no balance so let’s just live and let others live. Ciao.
