All is not gold that glitters

A song writer wrote a song which sought to advise people not to stress themselves when they see others who appear to be doing very well, compared to their own lives.

It is one of my favourite songs in Ga and the part I remember due to its moral value is “…hyɛn hyɛn jeee shika, jeee hyɛn hyɛn fɛɛ ji shika…” meaning all is not gold that glitters.

Human beings have a natural tendency to com­pare their lives with others. It could be their classmates, their neighbours, their church members, their sib­lings or others.

This tendency has been exacerbated by a social system where respect for a person is accorded based on the area within which one’s house is located, the size of the house, the car one drives or the school your children attend.

These things can put enormous pressure on indi­viduals who do not have the moral fortitude for rejecting wrong things to engage in immoral behaviour to be­come accepted in society.

Some ladies have had the shock of their lives after giving themselves to men they met and thought they were rich, only to realise to their utter disappointment later on that the men were not as rich as they por­trayed.

There are men who are specialist in this con job activity. They portray themselves as well-to- do and keep changing vehicles they borrow from friends to attend various functions.

Out of envy some ladies have tried to take their friends’ boy friends from them only to realise to their shame and regret that the men had nothing to their names. The fancy cars, the clothes and the display of affluence were all a farce. All is not gold that glitters after all.

Stories abound of some crazy bahaviour of some students who were willing to go to whatever extent possible to portray them­selves as being from affluent background. The story was told of a guy I knew back in school, who pulled one of such stunts.

The story has it that one day, he was among a group of students who sneaked into town and when they were returning to school they had to use the main road.

Along the way, they saw a nice car approaching and this guy shouted “hey that is my father” and quick­ly jumped and hid behind some flowers. Later on, the truth became known that his father did not even have a vehicle.

I heard a sad story from my sister about her class­mate who introduced her own mother as her grand­mother when she paid a surprise visit to her in the school. They later also got to know that the woman their classmate introduced as her grandmother was indeed her mother and that she lied as a result of a façade she had put up as a girl from a rich home.

The question is, are you aware of the experiences that the person or people you find so admirable—and to what degree you wish you were like them—have in their lives? I once heard about a man whose wife filed for divorce from him a few months into their marriage because he was consistently wetting the bed at night.

If you envy such a man because he drives a nice car and everything seems fine with him, will you be prepared to endure the anguish he goes through each night? I also listened to the testimony of a 32-year-old lady who had a similar bed wetting problem and the terrible times she went through until she received deliverance from God.

The key to happiness in life is learning to be happy with what you have and putting your daily trust in God to improve your circum­stances rather than worrying about your problems, as the Bible plainly warns in Mat­thew 6:27, “which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature.”

By Laud Kissi-Mensah