VALUE-O-METER

It was one of the hot afternoons somewhere in Dambuwa, ‘Sok-City’ (Sokoto state), I sat alone at a corner in my lodge just to meditate. As I meditated, I suddenly remembered something that happened at an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Gallery during my university days and I burst into laughter, I laughed and laughed as I refreshed my memory on that great incidence. Not to bore you, let me give you the gist. On this fateful day, after series of lectures coupled with a very stressful day, I had to find my way home under the hot sun of the sun shine state - Ondo State. Realising the need to withdraw the very little amount of money remaining in my account, I was on a mission to sweep out the little change in my account and probably the least denomination any ATM could dispense. Mounting the stairs of the beautifully built ATM Gallery, I immediately got into the gallery and located the machine that was meant for special people like myself who had come to sweep out the last money in their account. As usual, the queue was relatively long that I had to be the eighth on the queue (I guess). While waiting for my turn, other members of the “Account Sweepers network” joined the queue behind me not paying attention to other machines. Meanwhile, a young engineer who was working on one of the construction sites in the school walked into the ATM Gallery, looked around in awe and tried to understand why eight people were standing on a queue waiting to use the ATM while other machines had just two persons on the queue. Still wondering, he joined the short queue and made his withdrawal; as he headed for the glass door soliloquising about the funny “Long and Short Queue ATM Model”, he paused and turned to the users in confusion saying openly “Excuse me, what is happening here, why on earth do we have just two people waiting to use this ATM while that other ATM has about eight people on the queue?”. As soon as he finished speaking, we all couldn’t help it but laugh with some of us laughing more hysterically upon remembering what had brought us to that ATM. My school was approaching the end of the semester and almost all the students were financially humble (you know what that means right?). The unfortunate thing is that the engineer never got a response to his question other than a weird reaction which left him more confused. Leaving confused, the engineer gently left the ATM Gallery. Let me save you the stress and not leave you confused like the young engineer. The fact is that the ATM with two persons was dispensing a thousand naira while the ATM with about eight people was dispensing five hundred naira - now you get the gist! Most students who had less than a thousand naira in their accounts were waiting to withdraw their last five hundred naira to sustain themselves pending the time they will get their next allowance from home or sponsors. Others had up to a thousand naira in their account the previous day just to wake up that morning to discover that their banks had rudely removed some unexplainable yet little sum of money that has reduced their hallowed savings to nine hundred naira plus. Hence, they had no option than to remove their five hundred naira and recharge their mobile phones with the rest. Here is my discovery - In life, men will only pay attention to what gives them value. Value is all about the ability of someone or something to solve people’s problems or meet the important immediate needs of people. As long as the ATM with the long queue was concerned, it offered value to those who used it, their waiting was worthwhile as long as their needs were met. Value is not about how much you have or how expensive you are; it is about your ability to touch lives, meet people’s needs and solve problems with the little that you have. People will only gather round a person or system that offers them value. Value is your only ticket to relevance in life. I leave you with these questions: What needs are you meeting? What problems are you solving? How many lives are you touching with the little resources you have? How Valuable are you? Value-O-Meter! #In_Christ_Alone.