When I was 19-year-old, I just completed high school and was aimless. I spent most of my days wandering around. Like most teenagers, I just felt hopeless. My father had already passed on. Mother did not have the financial means to support me. I worked odd jobs to make ends meet.
I landed a job at a small printing business. I did prepress work and operated the presses. The idea was to learn graphic designing. After a while, I realized I wasn’t learning much. I spent more of my time working at the press than the computer. Moreover, they were too busy to teach me. It felt like I was wasting precious time, especially when most of my colleagues were in college or doing something useful with their lives.
An older brother had just arrived from the United Kingdom to set up a plastic factory in Ghana. He brought along some office supplies.
One day, I found an ad by the roadside about a one-year graphic design program at the University of Ghana. I was interested but I had not saved enough money to afford such a program. Since I was interested, I asked my brother from the UK to help me, but he was tied up with other priorities. I asked a few other siblings. They also said the same thing. I was disappointed and felt let down. Not knowing who to turn to for help, I came up with this dubious idea.
I carved a plan. I took one of my UK brothers’ office printers. I sold it to a family friend who deals in printers and technology equipment. I told him it was a gift from my brother and needed money badly. Since he trusted me, he did not question anything. I told him I needed money to pay for a University program and he gave me the down payment right away. I quickly enrolled in the program and started classes.
After a few weeks, I came home and my brother from the UK was very emotional. His eyes swelled with tears when he could not find his expensive printer. He shouted from a distance, “Who took my printer?” He suspected another older brother and believed he was capable of doing such a thing. This incident created a feud amongst my siblings. The accused brother decided to go to any length to prove his innocence. He visited the shrine of a voodoo priest (native doctor). His quest was not only to prove his innocence but to reveal and punish the culprit; even, if it meant taking that person’s life!
When I heard that my brother had left to see a native doctor, I got nervous. I knew I was in big trouble and could die as a result of this. I had heard horrifying stories of people visiting native doctors to prove their innocence. I did not feel comfortable. I kept watching the clock when they left. I prayed.
My brother got back from the native doctor with a warning. He said, “The native doctor is giving the culprit one more chance. The culprit must come forward or face harsh punishment… death.”
My heart dropped. He stopped and stared at me and said, “One more thing… the native doctor did not disclose anyone but suspects it’s a younger sibling.”
Out of fear of dying, I opened up and told them the truth. I was embarrassed and ashamed for stealing my brother’s printer and causing a feud in the family. I apologized for my behavior to the family.
I lost the wonderful reputation I had and became the kid whom no one could trust any more. It took forever to rebuild that trust with the family. Everything that went missing in the family was blamed on me. It was a hard lesson and one that I would not forget.
The take away from this story is that we all know that stealing and lying is wrong. These are basic values we learn at home and school. Yet some of us take this risk. You cannot compromise these values. There is nothing more horrifying than the damage it does to people, especially the emotional pain it causes. Worst of all, is the humiliation and shame it brings to ourselves.
Whatever situation you find yourselves in life, compromising your values is not an option. It will ruin your reputation and embarrass you.
Never compromise your values. It will always come back to haunt you.