ABSTRACT

This ESSAY attempts to deeply explore RICHES and its DIVERSE CUSTODIANS. We’re all familiar with the much-loved biblical maxim that “money answers all things” - which ultimately projects financial freedom as being next to nothing when it comes to this natural world of ours. So it becomes understandable when folks get dead-hooked in various professions, fields of endeavor, passions, hustles, and whatnot; just to SECURE THE BAG and amass GREAT RICHES.

The EXTOLMENT that comes with such financial establishment sparks sensations that are quite uncommon among TOMs, DICKs, and HARRYs. It takes more than being a BUSY BODY to amass riches that can provoke such SUPER GLORY; calling the GLOBAL VILLAGE’s attention to ITS CARRIERS. The earth indeed has its fill of MONEYBAGS. But filling the earth, even more, is the alarming number of wanna-be moneybags: you?? them… I, MOST DEFINITELY!

But you see, there’s “Riches” and there are RICHES. There’s “Wealth” and there’s WEALTH. There’s “Glory” and there’s GLORY. They all count for FORTUNE. Even so, there’s “Fortune” and there’s FORTUNE. While many LOWER CLASS
POPULATIONS would gladly settle and die at the MIDDLE-CLASS cadre if opportune, there are those who consider the UPPER CLASS their BIRTHRIGHT; and they want nothing less - even those from the HUMBLEST OF BACKGROUNDS.

Those breed launch into the earth to undertake diverse adventures as means of acquiring these coveted riches and its glorification thereof. As is typical with adventure games, you keep playing, moving from level to level. The slightest of mistakes can end the game. You have to attain mastery of the game through hard diligent learning and recurrent losses. The more you master it, the more you manage to meander across levels - and the closer you get to WINNING.

But real-life adventures take quite a different turn of events. While the course of adventure in games is a one-way process, that of real-life adventure does not stop at being a two-way process: it goes further to be a three-way process, four-way process; as the spirit leads. So, those wanna-bes disperse off on a wealth hunt with great GUSTO, determined to never look back until the price is secured: the MONEY, FAME, POWER, BIG BOY STATUS – AT WHATEVER COST!

Imagine the feeling that comes with being the CENTER OF ATTRACTION on account of your RICHES: the groove that comes with being a STARBOY. Everyone wants to identify and curry favor with you. You become THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE, the NEW GOD that most folks will gladly abandon their OLD GOD(S) for. The girls want to be with no one but you. From being the least desired, you become the DREAM GUY that the PRETTIEST OF MAIDENS want to have FOR KEEPS.

You become all-round appealing: everything you say makes sense. Nothing you do meets disapprovals: you’re always right. You’re the SWEET that every tongue wants to LICK, the LIQUOR that DRUNK CHAPS want to SIP, the HARVEST that SOWERS want to REAP, and the FIGURE that EVERYONE wants to MEET. Jetting around the world is SPORT for you. You even take the PRIVATE JET thing to the next level, journeying in a CONVOY OF JETS IN THE AIR.

No one has ever seen a convoy of jets in the air. So, automatically, you become a RECORD BREAKER. Many folks covet your extravagant lifestyle. Your life is all shades of GLORY and HONOUR. But be that as it may, all these are nothing but VANITY - in the opinion of certain people. They can TELL THAT TO THE BIRDS though, not the WANNA-BE BIG BOYS. These guys don’t entertain such CRAPPY TALKS. They want to win, to succeed, to become RICH - at all costs POSSIBLE!

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INTRODUCTION

They say the sky is big enough for birds to fly without clashing. The waters are amply massive to drown all the earth. Likewise, there are ENOUGH RICHES TO GO ROUND. The bible even makes clear that “the portion of the earth is for all”: (Ecclesiastes 10:19). But if that’s the case, what then is the deal with the alarming number of paupers in the world’s nooks and crannies? What’s the deal with financial preys and their predators? Need I mention victims of Political brouhahas?

But you see, those are the sorts of questions that WANNA-BE BIG BOYS don’t stick around to ask, or ask for too long. They couldn’t care less about paupers and preys and victims. Oh, they actually do care: they care enough to NOT WANT TO BE LIKE THEM! How I wish these riches were easy to acquire. Although the earth’s portions are for all, securing a portion for one’s self requires more than a sense of entitlement: one must make moves: – MONEY MOVES!

“No PAIN, no GAIN!” “No STORY, no GLORY!” “The VIOLENT taketh by FORCE!” I could go on and on with excerpts from the deep orientations that govern the minds of these wanna-bes; as they reach out to LAMBANO what they believe to be their portion of the earth. Generally, nothing comes without a price. And here’s one thing I know about a price: IT MUST BE PAID. That wouldn’t be a problem for the wanna-bes. They are down: – DOWN FOR WHATEVER!

Having supposedly been rightly oriented toward amassment of riches, they must have been fairly enlightened in the area of PRICES and their PAYMENTS thereof. It could be the STUDY HARD/WORK HARD policy as a pathway to bagging BIG BOY RICHES, or the SOFTWORK/SMART WORK approach as a means of stepping up to the BIGGER BOY LEVEL of riches, or SOME OTHER PATH, definitely a SUPERIOR PATH; as a means of bagging the BIGGEST BOY RICHES.

It doesn’t matter the price to be paid. As long as the REWARD thereof is the PRIDE OF LIFE, it’s a GO for the wanna-bes. It takes a GREAT DEAL to be a BIG BOY. Being a BIGGER BOY takes even more! But it could take EVERYTHING to secure a place among the BIGGEST BOYS; – the ones who can paint a NEAR-PERFECT picture of the FAMED GOLDEN STREETS OF HEAVEN. Depending on your APPETITE for riches and glory, you can be any of THE BOYS!

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THE BIG BOYS (UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS)

Perhaps I could start my analysis of the BIG BOYS with the 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria: (I’m Nigerian by the way). 3 years of Pre-Primary Education followed by 6 years of Primary Education. Another 3 years of Junior Secondary School followed by 3 years of Senior Secondary School. Then comes 4 years of Higher Education. But it’s probably no news that this system has not achieved its objectives as envisioned by the National Policy on Education.

The reason for that failure is simple: the system is poorly implemented. Howbeit, it has been the DOING of many BIG BOYS! The highly educated business professionals and specialists from different fields of endeavor: doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, and CEOs. These, and the likes of them, make up the UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS. They are the BIG BOYS! They have their privileges, their blessedness, their recognition, etc. They have status: highly-rated men of SUBSTANCE!

Merely being an undergraduate of LAW or MEDICINE is a REVERED STATUS. I see LAW STUDENTS march on campus in FLASHY UNIFORMS on a daily. They can easily be singled out in a multitude of students, especially THEATRE ARTS students who are said to be mostly dressed in “RAGS.” LOL. Underqualified wanna-be law students even get dumped in the Theatre Arts department, and their disdain for the department is something obvious enough for even the blind to see. LOL again. But what if I told you that this essay is brought to you from the DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE ARTS?

The same goes for students of MEDICINE/other PROFESSIONAL COURSES. If merely being a POTENTIAL BIG BOY can rouse such reverence, what happens when things blow up and these potential big boys become ACTUAL BIG BOYS; by working their way to the UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS? Short and simple: they’ll RUN THE SHOW! But that’s all it is: “run the show.” They aren’t the ones who MAKE THINGS HAPPEN, and they most certainly aren’t the ones who CALL THE SHOTS!

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THE BIGGER BOYS (LOWER-UPPER CLASS)

When it comes to MAKING THINGS HAPPEN, give it to the BIGGER BOYS (those at the LOWER-UPPER CLASS). These are those with NEW MONEY: money from investments, business ventures, etc. They have the potential to climb to the upper-upper class (the biggest boys). The thing with Bigger Boys is that they find no fulfillment in merely RUNNING THE SHOW (like the Big Boys). So they don’t just STUDY/WORK HARD: they WORK SMART! You can call it “SOFTWORK.”

They MAKE THINGS HAPPEN in the sense that they CREATE and MAINTAIN their own riches. They are not necessarily literates, as they don’t necessarily PLAY SAFE by threading the SAFE ZONE of ACADEMIA. They want to be more than mere “ADMINISTRATORS” - who majorly RUN THE SHOW in their different fields of expertise while only occasionally MAKING THINGS HAPPEN. Bigger Boys are in the habit of making things happen BACK-TO-BACK. It is what DEFINES THEM!

Their GLORIFICATION is “OVER THE BAR!” The highly successful footballers, filthy-rich/famous artists, multinational business gurus, and so forth. I would have loved to add TOP POLITICAL JUGGERNAUTS to the list though - if they weren’t mostly infamous for amassing ILL-GOTTEN riches. You will agree with me that the splendor that radiates from the above-mentioned personalities is simply OUT OF THIS WORLD: take other of the world’s top superstars for instance.

One could be tempted to deem these guys as belonging to the upper-upper class: the BIGGEST BOYS. Luxury mansions everywhere in the world, frequent acquisition of fancifully sophisticated automobiles that sell at mammoth prices, and their aesthetically extravagant lifestyle. But as magnificent as the BIGGER BOY CADRE is, it is not as prestigious as the BIGGEST BOY CADRE. The bigger boys are WEALTHY. But you see the biggest boys? they are EXTREMELY WEALTHY!

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THE BIGGEST BOYS (UPPER-UPPER CLASS)

The biggest boys have more money than they could possibly spend. The same can be said about the bigger boys though. The biggest boys are EXCEPTIONALLY RICH, the same as the bigger boys. These two are actually segments of the UPPER CLASS. Hence, they have quite a lot in common. They live in exclusive neighborhoods, gather at expensive social clubs, and send their children to the finest schools. As might be expected, they also exercise a great deal of influence and power; both nationally and globally. But then, a couple of factors differentiate this SEEMING TWIN.

Unlike the lower-upper class (bigger boys), the upper‐upper class (biggest boys) is made up of ARISTOCRATIC and HIGH‐SOCIETY families with OLD MONEY (who have been rich for generations). Again, unlike the bigger boys, these extremely wealthy biggest boys live off incomes from their inherited riches. They are the GODS OF THIS WORLD: the ROYALS, the ELITES: the ones who CALL THE SHOTS! This is what the biggest boys are; that the bigger boys ARE NOT!