‘Brokaosis’

Seeking to lighten the burdens of other people, helping out or getting involved in initiatives that will benefit your society is only right. I call it ‘personal social responsibility’. But, those whose burdens are being made less burdensome must also be able to tell between kind gesture and obligation, but unfortunately most of us can’t.  In our midst are people whose only ability is the ability to receive and to live happily at the expense of other people’s toil. If you ask me, except your life is as selfless as that of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), I am saying separate yourself from such people.

You owe nothing to a people who cannot even wish you well if you‘re nothing and that’s not uncommon here. Even religious people tend to pray for those who’re affluent and they’ll tell you that prayer is bought, but they fail to realise that benefit has to be caused by an investment of some resource. If what you give is what you get, then expecting from someone you’ve never been there for is not unlike a castle in Spain.

Until you’re seen to be doing well, until you go against all odds, break out of that mediocre social position that they had predicted for you, until you mount that social ladder that they thought wasn’t for your type, you’ll be considered a nonentity and will remain irrelevant until you’re able to create a new identity for yourself.

If you want to be treated like a hero, you got to be able to pay their bills. And that’s the time you’ll know how related you’re. That’s the time they’ll try to detach you from your family and from genuine people who were there for you. They’ll try to foster ties that never were, but only to feed on it. They’ll freely surrender their will and be subjects to you. They'll act helpless without you, but for as long as they’re living off you.

This is why dependent relatives of successful people do not only extend to the extended family, but even beyond the extension of the already extended family. So your mother’s kindergarten classmate’s niece, your uncle’s neighbour, your father’s sixteenth cousin, your grandma’s childhood friend’s adopted daughter, the son of your grandpa’s namesake, etc; all of them and their wasteful desires will become you responsibility and failure to meet their terms is translated as stinginess, even if you genuinely don’t have it.

It has an effect and I think I have found a new word for it. The word is ‘Brokaosis’ (brəʊk’əʊɪsɪs). It’s a noun and an ailment to be precise. It’s a chronic fever caused by impulsive dependency. And it is infectious because the givers that are being used will bleed dry and become users too, thereby rendering everyone within their circle broke. And we’ll all know the cause, but hypocrisy will not allow anyone to talk about it. Some will hate it when others prey on others but justify their own hunt. Sad!!!