I know the world is not fair – that’s just the way it is. We can’t fight it. There’s this TikTok video I watched the other day. I love it. The guy was commenting on Bill Gates’ daughter’s post on her graduation day. Here’s what he says, verbatim:

The guy (wearing glasses dramatically): ‘Oh, okay, so I just wanted to make sure I was reading that right. So, Bill Gates’ daughter… She graduated from medical school. She is sooo much better than me cos let me tell you, if Bill Gates was my father, I would be contributing nothing to society. I would have no types of aspirations or goals.  I would probably never work, ever again. I would be increasing the carbon emissions day by day, jetting around the entire world, yachting around the south of France, yachting at the Amalfi Coast. It would be like nothing you’ve ever seen before. You give me one summer, I would have every page on my passport filled with stamps to the point that I would need a new one. I would be so unf***whatable with that type of money. It’d be a sight to see, and this girl is just out here like, ‘Imma get a medical degree’, like hell, I’d buy the whole damn school. I wouldn’t attend it, but I just might purchase the whole school, because, why not?’

Friends, I’d say the same. I say the same thing (in my head) when I see my landlord’s son, and whenever I hear my neighbours gossiping about him. The landlord’s son is older than me – probably in his early thirties. My landlord, I hear, has three sons, and a set of twin girls living abroad. I know two sons – the thirty-ish year old who is the last child, and his elder brother who’s married with kids. He comes around every once in a while, to check on his father’s property.

This thirty-ish year old, let’s call him Softie, does NOTHING guys. So, their dad has given each child a few units – they collect rent, and it’s ALL THEIRS. Softie lives here, as he’s the last child. Guys, he wakes up at around 11 am on most days (yes, I’ve mastered his routine), basks outside briefly as he waits for his Bolt Food Delivery, and then his girlfriend comes over, and then see them in the evening either going to buy food, or collecting Bolt Food at the gate. I see him through my window, as I write proposals for EcoNjia (www.econjia.com), following up with clients, etc. I think to myself, ‘Yoh! It must be nice. It must be really nice to have money coming in, without you having to lift a finger.’

I can’t relate. Children of ‘common wananchi’ toil the earth. This is good toil, I like it, but if my dad were Bill Gates, EcoNjia would probably be inexistent. I’d be at the Amalfi Coast, or just perpetually in bed, or hiking somewhere niiiceee. All that is possible for Softie just because he was born where he was born. He didn’t choose it. We have to work to eat because we were born where we were born (and because we are responsible??). We did not choose this life.

Life is interesting. I like it.

I wish you all the best, if you’re labouring. That labour fills you with joy and satisfaction, and/or, pays your bills. That counts for something. Remember to be grateful. If you’re like Softie, take me to the Amalfi Coast, please.

Thanks.

Yours,

Njoks.

Bill Gates’ money would be really nice though.