adetoluesqs post 379404

A man went to a rich man's house, found him seated in the company of his friends. He greeted the big man and in tears, said: "Sir, I am a poor man. I ate last yesterday afternoon and have had nothing to eat again since then. I have been looking for any kind of job without luck. My wife has delivered a baby boy at home last night and she too has eaten nothing, preventing her breast milk from flowing. The baby has since been crying out of hunger. I came to you to plead for assistance. I do not need money, just foodstuff, even that, no need to give me directly. I prefer your driver accompany me, deliver the items directly to my family and see things for himself." The rich man thought deeply, then called his driver and said: "Here, take this N50,000 and a bag of rice. Take this man to his house. If he shows you a woman with a newborn baby, give him the money and the rice. If, for any reason you don't see them, return the gifts to me." The driver took the man in his car and they drove into the city. They reached a house and the man entered, then came out and said that the nursing mother was not in. The driver said the husband should phone her to come back to enable him fulfill his duty. The man said she had no phone. The driver said he would then wait till she returned. When the man noticed the driver was bent on doing as his boss ordered, he looked at him straight in the eye and said: "I have a proposal for you. Forget about woman or no woman. Take the rice and give me the money." But the driver refused. The man then said: "Ok, let's do it this way. Take the rice and let us share the money". Still the driver refused. The man finally asked him: "How much do you really want?" The driver said: "I want nothing other than either to see the woman and hand over the items to you, or I return all to my master". The man looked at him angrily, hissed and simply walked away. The driver returned home. 🌹 When the man walked away, the driver stopped at a roadside shop and told the owner he needed cash urgently, so he would sell his N20,000 bag of rice for N15,000. The shopowner quickly paid and offloaded the rice. The driver went home and informed his master that he had carried out the assignment. His master asked him if the poor man's story was true and he said he really saw the nursing mother. The master then said: "Good. Now take me to the family to enable me assist them more properly". The driver took the rich man towards the city, but while the car a/c was on, the master noticed the driver was sweating profusely, his hand was shaking on the steering, and his speech was incoherent. The master ordered him to park and asked what the problem was. Seeing there was no point lying, the driver confessed to the the other man's and his own guilt. He handed over the N50,000 and the N15,000 for the rice and begged for mercy. He then drove them back home. The rich man told his friends what happened and said: "This is the problem with our society. Someone will seek your help. Unknown to you, he is a fraudster. If you help him, he has cheated you and will continue. If you don't, you feel guilty because you are not sure. Society will also say you are merciless. Similarly, someone will ask for a job, like this driver. If you reject him, you feel you are fuelling social problems. If you employ him, he cheats you. What kind of society is this? How can this problem be solved? Who can correct this anomaly?" Neither the rich man nor his friends could answer the questions because honesty has become a rare commodity in our society. Food for thought..