[A Short Story] Life Lesson With Morals

Life Lesson With Morals

BÍ A BÁ KA ẸRÚ, INÚ ẸRÚ A BÀJÉ –

(a lesson from the past against needless ego boosting and hurting other’s feelings)
***

Jiboye is the first son of a very rich man and that made him very obnoxious. He treated every one of his father’s slaves with disdain and respected no one.

One day, he went to his father and asked, “Dad, how many slaves do we have in this house?”
His puzzled father looked at him and replied: “I have got so many slaves that I don’t know how many there are but what do you need the information for?”

Jiboye replied, “I think we should count the number of slaves we have so that everybody will know how much influence you really have.”

“But don’t you think that would hurt their feelings, being counted like goats?” His father asked.

“Who cares, they are slaves, aren’t they?”, Jiboye countered.

“Alright”, his father said with a sigh. “Summon all the slaves for a headcount this evening and it will be done in the presence of all the family members.”

Later that evening, when everybody was seated, the rich man started to call the slaves one by one to introduce themselves. After every slave had introduced him or herself (a process which took some time as the slaves were rather many), the rich man declared:

“Everybody seated, thanks for your patience. By now, all my slaves have introduced themselves but there is a particular slave here who has not introduced himself and whom I will introduce.

He pointed at Jiboye.

“This young man here is the son of a female slave who died at childbirth. When he was born, God had not yet blessed my wife with the fruit of the womb. So, we adopted him and reared him as one of ours. Jiboye is a slave and not my son at all.”

All eyes suddenly turned on Jiboye who bursts into bitter tears. In a tearful voice, he cried: “But master, how could you do this to me?”

His master replied: “remember what I told you; when slaves are counted, their feelings are hurt.”

MORAL:
Every human being, regardless of stature, is a creature with feelings that can be hurt. Avoid saying hurtful words or doing hurtful things to people simply because you are better off. Every human being deserves his/her dignity and self esteem.

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