BOOK REVIEW: A tale of a poor wise man

AUTHOR: Lawton Bentil

Author Lawton Bentil has launched his latest book, “A Tale of a Poor Wise Man,” This compelling satire delves into the themes of personal leadership and the continent of Africa, offering a poignant commentary on the nature of wisdom and its application.

The book centers around Asiedu, a protagonist endowed with profound wisdom that is evident through the counsel he provides. However, despite his insightful advice, Asiedu is financially destitute, with three wives, eleven children, and no properties or farmlands.

This paradox serves as a central theme in Mr. Bentil’s narrative. Set in the meticulously fictionalized village of Bibiman—translated to mean “Africa” in English—the story uses this symbolic location to critique a certain type of wisdom prevalent in the continent. Bentil tactically employs Bibiman to denote the geographical setting of this wisdom, which, despite its depth, lacks practical application and tangible results.

The book narrates the story of Bibiman, a city besieged and its inhabitants held captive, which Asiedu saves through his wisdom. However, the subsequent disregard of his counsel underscores a recurring fate for the wisdom of the impoverished.

Mr. Bentil emphasizes that true wisdom is not merely intellectual but should manifest in tangible outcomes, such as financial stability and generational wealth.

In a powerful message to his sons, Asiedu advises, “While you live, make full proof of yourself. Make sure you die empty, make sure you are not called a poor man. Work hard and be consistent at it. Buy lands and properties. Make sure you leave an inheritance for your children’s children. Wisdom is good, but wisdom is even better with an inheritance. Learn and be wise. Follow instructions and be honest.”

“A Tale of a Poor Wise Man” underscores the unfortunate reality that the wisdom of the socially or economically disadvantaged is often undervalued or ignored. The book ultimately encourages individuals to strive for wisdom and use it to improve their lives and secure a prosperous future for subsequent generations.

Opanyin Afriyie’s poignant observation, “Nevertheless, the poor man’s wisdom is always despised, and his words are not heard,” encapsulates the book’s core message and serves as a reflective conclusion to this thought-provoking tale.

Lawton Bentil’s new book promises to be an insightful read, blending satire with a deep exploration of wisdom and its real-world implications.

POVERTY

Africa’s problem is not poverty. Because poverty in retrospect has not been the problem. The real issue is the way the mind of the poor man works. African leaders travel a lot around the world. They see all the nice buildings, skyscrapers, bridges, working systems, and structures in other countries and when they return it’s as though they saw nothing. That is the manifestation of the poor man’s wisdom. Wisdom is not in knowing things, but in applying things.

It would be an insult to call the black man an ignorant man because he or she is not. He or she knows something but it doesn’t get him or her rich. So the problem of Africa is not knowledge but application. Poverty is only a manifestation of a certain kind of wisdom. This statement means that any time a certain problem exists, poverty is later seen.

The problems are countless. Some of these problems include bad and selfish leadership, weak structures and institutions, the thinking culture of a place, giving unreasonable excuses, intense partisan politics, lack of practical courses relevant to a country, lack of enabling environment for entrepreneurial growth, overly skewed to religious beliefs and the supernatural, unregulated & politically motivated media undertakings, the imposition of existing political powers and structures determines the position of the law and many more

Poverty is not about not having money, possessions, assets, and properties. Poverty means a lot of things and financial poverty is the least of all forms of poverty. Poverty has nothing to do with money, it’s just a state of lack of something. There are worse forms of poverty like Poverty of ideas, Poverty of the spirit, Poverty of health, Poverty of peace, Poverty of love, Etc.

If you lack ideas concerning how to do something, then you are very poor as far as that particular thing is concerned. The lack of formulated thought or opinion concerning an approach to resolving or managing an issue indicates that you are poor in terms of ideas.

All the billionaires in the world got there because of their unique ideas. A recent report released by Wealth X showed that of the World’s ultra-wealthy, those that had a net worth of 30 million and more. 68 percent of them were all self-made and it seems every other study backs this conclusion. Warren Buffet self-made billionaire, Howard Schultz was born in poverty, Oprah Winfrey was born in poverty, Jeff Bezos self-made billionaire, Elon Musk self-made billionaire, Sara Blakely was a self-made billionaire. What is it that this people know that you don’t know? The problem is your equation is all wrong. It all started in the form of an idea.

I can tell a country with a bright future by the way ideas are harnessed, groomed, encouraged, and nurtured through meticulous and intentionally laid structures. A country where the youth are always building things and creativity is encouraged. That country will prosper.

THE SOLUTION

I’ve seen many things growing up. In my country, we still use gravel and coal tar for road construction because they are the most economical materials when available within economic haulage distances.  The sad part is that in no time the roads get bad. After many years, that is still what we are using. It’s as though we are stupid and don’t learn. Understanding simply teaches us that foolishness must stop.

We don’t do politics with the general well-being of the people. A leader who does that lacks understanding. If you exploit the very people who voted you into power to your advantage, then you lack a certain level of understanding. They institute structures and do not keep them. There is a clear separation of powers among the executive, judiciary, and legislature on paper and by knowledge but not in practicality. Who is fooling who?

Understanding is a lifesaver. What we call maintenance culture is a product of understanding. What we call quality control systems, are all products of understanding. What we call customer service management is also a product of understanding. Understanding prevent wastage. It also ensures that we don’t spend money chasing customers to come back and buy a product instead of knowing them, keeping a database on them, assigning relationship managers to them, and serving them better than competitors.

If you miss the role of understanding in business management you will always spend doing damage control. It is not about starting a business, it’s about keeping it to posterity. A lot of old companies cannot be found today. While others have stood the test of time like Johnson and Johnson, Coca-Cola, Guinness, and many more.

Some may disagree and say probably they lost their relevance. With understanding you always stay relevant. Even if customers don’t show interest in your product anymore because of changing times, or probably because of changing tastes and preferences, do fall on understanding he will teach you what to do. No one keeps money better than understanding. Banks can be robbed; vaults can be robbed not understanding. Understanding is your asset.

The financial side to understanding means that understanding ensures that your children’s children come to meet the benefits of your labor.  Understanding is money in disguise. Even the moral qualities of understanding can equally be quantified as real cash in the long term. Understanding produces good character which is even far better than having wisdom. For you can have wisdom and bad character making you a fool.

Understanding the need to observe working principles, how systems and models work, and implementing them will catapult you into stardom. It is more difficult to be rich than to get rich but understanding makes both easy. It carries the essence of the value of things and the need to avoid abuse. Befriending understanding alone puts you on the path to greatness and the fulfillment of your divine purpose. Real and durable riches come only by understanding.

WISDOM

Wisdom is a very powerful thing. It’s even better than weapons of war because you can win most wars by not fighting. It helps us in so many ways. Most of the beautiful creations of this world are the works of wisdom. Typical of wisdom, it produces things, starts things, and builds things. Guess you’ve been wondering why you have not attempted buying land to build. And why some have also bought the land but just can’t seem to start. We don’t build with money but with wisdom.

It’s a sign of great wisdom to look out for results. Wisdom teaches the living to give cognizance to real things. In the same way, wisdom manifests itself through tangible things like buildings, and houses, solving a problem, preventing a problem, and many more. So your wisdom is not in your head or in the ability to make sense when you speak. So I want to appeal to your wisdom to product works, if not we can question the wisdom you carry. For wisdom is tangible and can be seen, felt, and touched. For the wisdom that cannot be seen and felt does not exist.

Wisdom is profound and its benefits are enormous but can be narrowed down to two major key points. Wisdom does two things; solves problems and prevents problems.

Wisdom helps to reduce one’s expenditure. Some problems can cost you your entire life savings or even sometimes result in regular monthly remittances. But that small still voice called wisdom can make this seemingly surmounting problem disappear. The cost of procuring the machines or the raw materials needed for production for example. The cost of owning a fleet to successfully run a courier business. Then suddenly, this wisdom causes you, to rather resort to the country’s post which can provide an alternative temporary solution with the best rates thereby enabling you to start your operations. The person concerned now has available money for food, clothing, and shelter and to subsequently pursue potential projects.

Wisdom also prevents problems to the extent that it can even take you out of a curse. Some curses are self-imposed. It only takes wisdom to escape them. Wisdom will for example teach you that is not every battle you need to fight. Some you need to flee from them. When some image tarnishing deals and some mouthwatering temptations are avoided. Wisdom always wins.

It always kills its beast. Some battles when you start, never end. Wisdom is profitable to point to the emergency exit. Which may look like foolishness in the short term but will result in wisdom in the long term. When the problem is prevented, there is a lot of disposable cash for the individual to use for food, shelter, clothing, utilities, pending projects, and a surplus for miscellaneous.

HAPPINESS

If you visit the mortuary, then, this wisdom will visit you. You would suddenly realize the meaninglessness of life and the need to be happy while you are still around. It’s never about getting married, finding that romantic partner, getting a well-paid job, having businesses, owning assets, and having great possessions. The purpose of our lives is to be happy. A lot of people think money therefore is the way out. That makes me laugh all the time. Even success is not the key to happiness, happiness is rather the key to success. If you love what you do, you are successful.

Nâz?m Hikmet (The great Turkish Poet) once asked his friend Abidin Dino (Turkish artist and well-known painter), to draw a picture of HAPPINESS. He drew a picture of a whole family cramped up on a broken bed under a leaky roof in a shabby room but still with a smile on each member’s face. The painting became very famous. Yes, happiness is not the absence of suffering but the acceptance of suffering. See the good around you even in trying situations.

Happiness is not complicated or expensive. What makes happiness expensive is your understanding. True happiness is like a rich man with no money. Just as poverty has nothing to do with not having money, in the same vein being rich has nothing to do with having much money. Poverty is just a state of lack of something including happiness. So if you are not happy you are very poor.

If only we’d stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time. The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not. He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe. Realistically, there is no path to happiness I must say; happiness is the path. Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved despite ourselves. We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.

I have met people who do all kinds of things just to make money but are very sad. Now I ask you, what was it all for anyway? For most of you, it was never about the money. You wanted to see people happy. Money is just a paper or a number on the screen. Its value is backed by our belief in its value. From the very start, this was never about the money. Paying off the mortgage, traveling around the world, and never having to worry about your financial situation. It was the freedom you were looking for. Your destination wasn’t anything money-related. It was a feeling, a sensation, the ability to do what you want and any time you wanted and never having to worry about whether you can afford this or that. How am I going to pay my rent, pay my children’s school fees and things like that? The reason for all this is to never worry about money again.

There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means – either may do – the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier. Man is fond of counting his troubles, but not his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. I think a truly happy person can enjoy the scenery while on a detour. Sign up for positive vibes only. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

The world is full of people looking for spectacular happiness while they snub contentment. Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges either. It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it. Life is too short to be unhappy.

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. If you want to be happy, just be.

There is only one happiness in this life my father once told me. He said to love and be loved. Knowing the essence, some chase after happiness, but the prudent just choose happiness. It’s even sometimes more important to be happy than to be right.

To be happy, enjoy the little things. Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to be like. Just be happy with what you have, but be excited about what you want.  Happiness also means approving yourself. If you want people to be happy practice compassion, and if you want to be happy too, again practice compassion. It’s never about being rich, it’s all about being happy. To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. Over the years, I have realized that a great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness. Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

THE HOME OF WISDOM

Happiness is the home to every result-oriented wisdom. Simply, every working wisdom must end up with happiness. At the end of the day, your wisdom must find rest by making you happy. If the way your mind works is not able to make you happy please check it. You are your responsibility by far. Your wisdom determines how happy or sad you are or you become. At the end of the day, every wisdom can be weighed.

Happiness is as important as wisdom. If your wisdom doesn’t make you happy, please check it. It must however be emphasized that your wisdom determines what you would refer to as happiness.  Happiness is the result of every wisdom. What is the use of having results-oriented wisdom, and yet remaining sad?

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