The poor are truly satisfied, grateful even. They want food, they want shelter, they want sex, they want children and they want to be left alone. The basics, really
The middle-class however possesses aspiration - the hankering, the itch to do more, be more, achieve more, just never ends. Ambition is a powerful, intrusive, increasingly petulant demon. It never leaves you. It builds a shrine in your head and constantly tells you, “You can’t stop now. Why do you want to stop now? See how far you’ve come. Keep moving, damn it! Did Michelangelo stop? Did Malcolm X stop? Bill Gates nko? Heck, did Jesus stop? Only death should stop you. Get your ass up and KEEP MOVING!”
It’s a curse, I tell you.
Nigeria isn’t designed to support or endorse Aspiration. That’s the problem. And that is how your ambitions become a terrible thing - where there are no facilities, structures or commonsense to allow you build or grow.
For aspiration to thrive, you first have to encourage critical thinking. Aspiration thrives in environments that permit objective analysis, critiquing and insightful reviews, and discernment. We have to first be a people given to refinement to some extent for us to see the importance of growth.
Middle-class growth is, again, distorted by fast-money, Bobrisky shenanigans and Hushpuppi lunacy, random-criminal excesses, and political indiscretions.
Eventually we would erase the true essence of middle-class, that category that tells the story of hard work without miracles, wealth without cutting corners, fulfillment without infringement.
Middle-class is folding up. All we will have left will be The Rich, The Poor, and The Hustler.
In proper societies, there’s a healthy space for people to aspire. You can get bank loans, you can pay for a brand new car monthly without shitting on yourself, you can buy a house and pay for 10 years. You have access to loans, credit facilities. All of these have their disadvantages, of course. But it is what it is. It is a system that teaches you Discipline. If you don't make smart choices with the funds and facilities available for you to grow your middle-class dreams, your loss.
These are the risks you take; a level of sweet comfort for your family.
These are the risks you take; a level of sweet comfort for your family.
Middle-class is where most of the stories are told – of consistency, diligence, patience, dedication, conscientiousness. All the qualities even your spiritual books tell you about are drawn from the lives of the middle-class.
Now this: There is nothing quite as frustrating as making money, desiring to leave the country you make money in (owing to its lack of decency to any worthy idea or lifestyle), and not being able to make that financial transition to the country or continent you wish to settle in.
It’s akin to prospering in Hell. However in Heaven, you just haven’t figured out how to make bread. So you stay in hell because you make a whole lotta dough. But it’s still fucking hell, and your essence is cut short; your peace and decency is re-negotiated every damn time.
That’s middle-class living in Nigeria.
It is hell. The dissatisfaction you feel even when you make quite a healthy sum every other week, is the worst type of anguish there is. Spending that hard currency on things that come at ridiculously steep prices. The most mundane licking at your sweat, leaving that spittle of confusion and irritation.
Nigeria is a nuisance for the middle-class.