Life hands out lessons — brutal, beautiful, and sometimes baffling. Here are ten truths that show what really matters (and what doesn’t):
1. Money: Only God knows who will be blessed. Money can change circumstances, but it cannot guarantee character, loyalty, or peace.
2. Marriage and Divorce: Couples can stay together for years and still part ways. Time alone is no promise of permanence.
3. Religion: Only God knows who is truly worshipping Him. Appearances don’t prove devotion.
4. Children: Only God knows who will stand by you in your later years. Love shown in youth doesn’t always translate into care in old age.
5. Wealth vs. Rich: Being “rich” often means you can pay your bills right now; being “wealthy” usually means generational assets and lasting security. If you can cover your expenses without interference, you’re rich — but wealth is deeper and rarer.
6. Death: What separates life from death isn’t the manner of your passing but the life you lived before it. A meaningful life matters far more than a dramatic death.
7. Revenge and Forgiveness: For your peace of mind, don’t harbor bitterness. Life is too short to nurse grudges.
8. Education: Education won’t automatically make you successful, but it teaches you to distinguish right from wrong and opens doors of opportunity.
9. House: The nicest house on the street isn’t necessarily the best. There will always be someone with a prettier place — comfort and pride matter more than vanity.
10. Relationships: Never humiliate your spouse in front of your children. When you grow old, children remember how you treated their mother. They may distance themselves from you — even decide where you’ll be buried — because family loyalty runs deep.
Women keep memories like safes: some things they forgive, but few things they forget. The three that remain etched are:
How you treated her — kindness, respect, and small daily courtesies lodge in memory forever.
Money borrowed — loans and debts are remembered, especially when they affect trust or independence.
The man who deserted or betrayed her — abandonment, betrayal, or the wrong partner leaves scars that time rarely erases.
Women also never forget the promises that were broken and the quiet sacrifices they made that went unnoticed; those sting longer than any public slight. They remember the first time someone truly listened — a single moment of understanding can outshine years of lavish gifts. They never forget being minimized, spoken over, or dismissed in rooms where their voice mattered; respect lost is hard to reclaim. They remember who stood by them when everything else fell apart — loyalty becomes a permanent ledger entry in the heart. And finally, they never forget the small daily betrayals: missed calls, cancelled plans, the slow fade of attention — that slow erosion teaches them more about a person than any grand betrayal.
Mogaji Wole Arisekola writes from Ibadan.
