WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN? BY OJO-IBUKUN TIM

What Shall It Profit A Man? Article Review

GENRE: ARTICLE
TITLE: WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN?
WRITER: OJO-IBUKUN TIM, NIGERIA
REVIEWER: JOSEPH ODURO, GHANA

Man's insatiable thirst for wealth has sieved the goodness gifted us by the present. In this frame rests the author's argument, which refers to the famous biblical quote by Jesus in the Holy Bible (i.e., what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?) With no intent of buttressing the essence of the present with the "rhetorical question," he seeks to refer to the brevity of man's soul and how we are oblivious or unconscious of this truth in our course to achieve wealth and victory.

Meanwhile, the act of risking one's life in pursuit of victory could be traced to the very nature of the stakeholders of socialization. These sects are wired with a radical sense of making wealth which subjects all other values to inferiority. Such saturation of life purpose with the acquisition of wealth and victory by any other means possible impedes the growth of human relations and living the present to its acme.

The search for victory and wealth has given birth to a partitioned society, and has created a viable society for the growth of self-centeredness and individualism. This reminds me of the fascist Nazis who saw themselves superior to all other countries and those who failed to submit to their beliefs. The former Soviet Union holding communitarian beliefs in high-esteem led to the loss of lives of millions. The segregationist and racists Southerners of the United States deemed it right to preserve cultural ideals and identity to perpetuate the execution of blacks who dwell on their lands. Thus how far we have grown partitioned as a society giving much repute to race and other bigotry values whereas the larger human society is disregarded.

It behooves on us as individuals and as society at large, to review our perceptions of victory and to understand, that the end does not justify the means; in the same vein, our pursuit for wealth should not alter our human relations.