Awoof dey burst belle is a common saying in pidgin. It implies that free things have side effects. Who doesn’t like free things? It is normal to jump at free things. The human brain is wired to buy into free things. A tip from seller from buying your product, a girl who gives in to every guy that woos her, a free subscription, the list goes on. As long as it is free, then there is no harm, isn;’t it? The general thought is since I’m not paying for it, then it is to my advantage.
We all know money is a limited resource, if we have a chance to get free things, it means we are saving costs. Everybody wants o save as much money as possible to use for other pressing things. That is why other words like discounts, bonanza, price slash and the likes catch our interest. Nobody wants to pay for the milk, when the cow can be gotten for free. That’s another saying I twisted to suit this discussion. In the real sense, it means something different entirely.
Like everything that has a good side, it must have a bad side. Some time ago, I went to the store to buy some items and they had freebies. People were rushing for the freebies. I was lucky to get my share before they ran out of supply. On getting home, I found out that the freebies were barely two months to expiration. This is a clear case of the side effects of free things.
There was a free class I enrolled for, my zeal to finish was frail. Supposing I paid a fortune for that class, the manner in which I was handling it would have been different. What I’m saying in essence is that free things do not motivate, we handle them with a lackadaisical attitude.
Another case is living under the roof of one’s parents, you don’t really get to appreciate the freebies- the food, house rent, clothing, advice etc. We believe it our parent’s responsibility, it comes with the territory. But the moment we are on our own and start paying for things, we understand and value what we spend money for. As individuals, we should always expect free things, we must learn to pay the price, the sacrifice even Jesus’death was not free, he had to use his blood.
We shouldn’t be caught in the free mentality trap, there is no free food even Freetown. We should learn to pay the price, go the distance and do the needful. This gives a feeling of fulfillment than it was given freely.
