/CANDID TALKS

CANDID Talks

THE CHOICES WE MAKE...!

  Some of the choices we make in life have catastrophic implications. When we make decisions without careful considerations and; especially, when we ignore wise counsel, we are faced with disastrous future consequences. The Instructor says; 'Wisdom is profitable to direct'!

  Moses was happily married with three children; Or so it seemed. Of course, he rented a modest two-bedroom bungalow; where he had a small compound for himself. He had a Volkswagen Golf car with which he conveyed his children, to and from school. Many of his extended family members looked up to him for financial and material assistance.

  Curiously, Moses chose to be a smoker! Some of us had tried in the past, to persuade him to drop this deadly habit without any success. Of course, you are aware of all the efforts we made in that regard. But he was always clever at defending any of his dogmatic life principles. Without a doubt, he often wins in such arguments. He has many examples of Christians in the Catholic Church who smoked. He would show you a list of rich and influential Europeans or Americans who smoked.

  Besides, he would argue that no Pastor had been able to show him a verse in the Scriptures of God, where cigarettes was particularly mentioned or criticized! At times, when a man is genius or crafty in an evil way, you will pray not to encounter him in conversations. By nature, such a man could easily convince the devil to repent! If you meet that man on issues concerning his dogmatic principles, you will require the Grace of God to come out unscathed. That was Moses for you!

  Moses had a small furniture workshop in town, which he managed successfully. This business was well located. And it has acquired machinery which includes; Diesel Generator, electrically driven mechanic tools such as, Plane, Driller, Saw, and Paint Sprayer.

  Since he has carved a name for himself in this trade, his apprenticeship and clientele was considerable. But everywhere in this money spinning workshop was covered with dust! The whole environment was polluted with saw-dust or wood dust. Not to mention the diesel engine smoke. The suffocating but poisonous emissions from the paint spraying machine worsen the already polluted, stuffy stench of the workshop atmosphere.

  As an entrepreneur and a skilled Craftsman, his decision to personally oversee all aspects of the business was undoubtedly, unquestionable. But he chose not to wear a protective mask! Obviously, this was a dangerous workshop attitude that was contrary to the ethics of his trade.

  Moses could easily quantify the number of cigarettes he smoked per day. Of course , he was proud of this achievement. But there was no way he could estimate the damage they had caused him; neither did it occur to him that the wood dust he smoked each day cannot be quantified. Characteristically, he would take things for granted.

  Moses had a nose for business and profits. So, he bought his wife a milling machine (grinding engine) for her business. He watched her wife's business for some time and realized that much of her revenues came from grinding dry pepper and dry casava. Consequently, he advised his wife to concentrate on grinding these two commodities only. He didn't consider the hazardous health implications of this choice. And like Moses, she would grind dry cassava and pepper daily; sneezing and coughing profusely, without a covering mask!

  On a daily basis, after smoking cigarettes, wood dust, generator carbon exhaust and paint fumes in his workshop; he would retire to the pepper choking environment of his wife's business at home. Always, he turned deaf ears to advice about the usefulness of a protective mask. This maybe partly due to illiteracy and also because of stubbornness. It was only a matter of time before his health started deteriorating. Even his wife's health began to fail. He wasted much of his savings on hospital bills.

  Unfortunately, he managed to survive for only thirty-seven years! He was asthmatic and endured cardiac arrests much of his short life. Eventually, he died of heart failure at a private hospital. Although, some of his extended family members believed that Moses was killed by witches who envied his prosperity. While some others thought his wife had a hand in his death.

  However, we are not careful to reiterate here that; 'There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction '. Moses made some very wrong choices in his life time. So , he paid the ultimate price! And the Instructor concludes the matter by saying that; 'God has no pleasure in the death of him that dies'.